Mikey, now dressed as his mother had been just moments ago, dismissed himself to the kitchen. Jon could hear his heels click on the linoleum floor. He gulped at the implications of such a switch. What was going on here? Jon got up and followed is altered brother into the kitchen. He was pulling a pitcher from the fridge.
"Would you like some lemonade, sweetie?" he asked. Jon cringed at his little brother calling him 'sweetie.' He had to get to the bottom of this.
"Say, Mi- er, mom..." he started. Mikey looked up at him. "Does anything around here seem... different to you?"
"What are you talking about?" Mikey asked, genuinely confused.
"Just with, um..." Jon thought, trying to figure out how to word it. "Just with the way... my brother's been acting."
"Oh, you know how boys can be. You were his age once and I'm sure you remember the stuff we went through then." Mikey took a seat at the kitchen table and crossed his legs, causing the flowy skirt of his dress to flutter a bit. "He's almost a teenager, they all go through that phase. In fact I went through some of the same stuff when I was a girl. Why, one time my father threw such a fit over this dress that I wanted to wear to a dance, he thought it was too short; too revealing. Naturally, I snuck out of the house. I was grounded for a month! Needless to say, I turned out alright, and I'm sure Mikey will too." Mikey smiled as he reminisced about a past that was not his own.
"Well, thanks mom," Jon sighed as he left the kitchen. It seemed there wasn't a single thought in Mikey's head that suggested that he was anything but a grown woman and mother to three children. Jon was going to have to find help elsewhere. He took off out the front door and across the neighborhood toward Karyn's house.
As he crossed the blocks towards Karyn's house, Jon kept his eyes peeled for any more weirdness. At first he thought it might just be limited to Biff and Ms. Reynolds, but seeing his mom and brother trade places right in front of him was a sign of something much larger.
Jon rounded the corner to Karyn's street when a convertible passed by. With the top down, Jon could clearly see that behind the wheel was a young girl, no older than 8 or 9, wearing a man's business suit and tie. She smiled and waved politely at Jon, then continued driving, though she could barely see over the wheel. Jon picked up his pace, something big was definitely going on. He needed to find the stone, and he needed Karyn's help.
Finally, at her door, he rang the bell then knocked impatiently. After a few seconds of silence he started knocking again, and didn't stop until the door swung open. Jon froze when he saw who answered. Although dressed just as Karyn had been earlier that day, Jon now found himself face to face with Sarah McMillan.
"Take it easy, Jon-boy!" she said, "What's the matter?"
