"Can you believe some of this stuff?" Karyn said. "What's this?"
Jon looked at the item Karyn had indicated. "It looks like a costume. Not a very useful one, though. I mean, there's some interesting outfits here, but I'm not sure I'd call them 'costumes', and even at 50% off, some of these prices seem a bit steep."
A short while later, the old man reappeared from behind the curtain. "See anything you like?" he asked.
"This is an interesting shop," Karyn said. "But I'm not sure we're willing to spend the prices you're asking."
"I'll give you a special deal," replied the old man.
"You're going to sell us a magic item that has nothing to do with costumes?" asked Karyn.
"Of course not. This is a costume shop. I'm selling costumes here. But since you're my first customers I'll give you a special deal. You can have the special black light."
"What does that do?" asked Jon.
"Well, ever since that Buffy episode, it's been a great wizard's prank to turn people into their costumes. Just flash that light at someone wearing a costume and they turn into whatever they're wearing. They keep their memories but depending on the costume, their personality and skills might change a bit. If you want to change them back, flash it a second time."
For some reason, Jon found the idea of magic items oddly believable. "So the costumes are special magic costumes?" he asked.
"No," replied the old man. "They're normal. The light works no matter where you get the costume from. But why not buy some of my costumes anyway?"
"Hmm," said Jon. He and Karyn discussed it and then Karyn said, "We'll take it!" They walked out of the store with two costumes and one magic flashlight. The big time to try it, of course, would be the dance, but people did wear costumes at other times--anything from school plays to the guy in the clown suit outside the Showy Cheese Pizza kid's restaurant. Besides, they had already bought costumes and could even make more of their own....
