Bus number 17 rolled into the station. Karyn and Jon got in line. As the line dwindled, Jon started frantically searching through his pockets. At Karyn's inquiring look, he explained. "I can't find my bus pass! I thought I had it on me, but it's gone!" Karyn bit her lip. They really couldn't afford a ticket, and that was the truth. The Truth!
"Don't worry Jon. I've got it here in my pocket. You dropped it earlier and I forgot to hand it to you." She reached into her pocket and handed him his bus pass. He thanked her with a sigh of relief.
They swiped their cards and climbed aboard. The bus looked packed. Karyn stood on her tippy toes. "There's two adjacent seats in the back." she told Jon. "A friend from school was saving them for us when she saw us in line."
And it was true. Nicole, who Jon shared a gym class with, was sitting in the back, gesturing frantically for them to come and sit. They did. They chatted for a few minutes, about home work and shopping for Halloween, which was coming up fairly quickly. They had a great chat, although Karyn had been unusually silent, leaving Jon to carry most of the conversation. Luckily, Nicole was a prattler, so the burden wasn't too great. Finally, they reached Nicole's stop. With a friendly smile and wave, Nicole departed. Karyn let out a huge sigh f relief. "Finally. I thought it would never end!"
Jon shrugged. "Nicole's not all that bad. Better than Sarah at any rate."
"I don't mean that. I mean that I could change the cosmos by saying yes at the wrong time. I mean, can you imagine if she had said something like 'boys are dumb.' and I had answered her with an affirmative? Who know's what could have happened.
Jon's eyes grew wide as he pictured the fallout. How may scientists were men? How many engineers? How many computer nerds were geekettes? Probably not enough to keep the internet running after all those stupid guys saw those nice shiny wires to play with. "Whoa! That would NOT have been good. This thing is dangerous."
"Yeah! If only there was some way that I could..." She stared at the bracelet. Then in a firm tone said "It only counts as saying as truth if I actually say the fact. I cannot make someone else's lie come true." They stared at the bracelet. It did nothing. Which, to be fair, was all it had seemed to do so far.
"We need to test it." said Jon. Karyn nodded. "Say something. Carefully please." Jon looked around the bus, hunting for an idea. His eyes rested on Karyn and he grinned. "I have have hair and boobs that are just like yours."
