Back to the Store
Jasmine thought for a moment. How the hell was she supposed to explain Leland? “You’re right, it is my dealer. Sorry.”
“You guys are all cool, right? I’m not bringing you to settle some score, am I?”
“What? No! Just… Can you bring me over there?”
Maria would’ve declined if she wasn’t after some of that good stuff herself. She sighed and fished her keys out of her coat pocket. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
The mere walk from Jasmine’s apartment to Maria’s car was a display of wonders. They spotted her neighbor whom Jasmine had known for years when she was Jared. They were not only a skunk, but were walking their dog who, as far as Jasmine could tell, looked completely normal and unchanged. The person saw Jasmine and gave a polite wave. Jasmine waved back, if less enthusiastically.
Things got exponentially weirder once they got in Maria’s car. The first oddity was the gap in the car seats between the backrest and the seat itself. Maria sat down and casually tucked her tail through it so that it could rest upright behind the backrest. Jasmine sat down and found herself doing the exact same thing as unconsciously as she would put on her seatbelt. The drive to Get It Here was an adventure on its own, revealing a complete treasure trove of mephitine discovery. Jasmine’s pretty face was smushed into the car window as she gawked at everyone who passed. Interesting to see beyond just everyone’s having become, or simply being, a skunk was the fact that there was a variety between them. There were spotted skunks, striped skunks, hognose skunks, and hooded skunks. Jasmine wouldn’t have noticed if her Jared form didn’t have such a fascination with the animal.
That reminded her. “Hey, Maria?”
“Yeah?”
“I got a stupid question.”
“I bet you do.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, do you know what a human is?”
Maria frowned and cut her eye at her while trying to look at the road. “No? What’s that?”
Jasmine slumped in her seat. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
They came across the lot where Get It Here had been. The lot remained, but taking it up was a convenience store, not the bizarre novelty shop where Jared had gotten the suit. Looking in through the windows he couldn’t spot any skunk that resembled Leland. She was disappointed, but not surprised. Somebody who sells something magical like that wasn’t liable to show up when you needed them to.
Written by TheGreatJaceyGee on 31 January 2023