Even before leaving the house, Jordyn and Karyn had the vague sense that things were now different. Everything seemed to be brighter - no more subtle shades or patterns, just cheery, vivid primary colors. A lot of sharp corners had also been eliminated, replaced by rounded edges that wouldn't injure someone who happened to have an accident of some sort. Likewise, plastic seemed to have replaced metal and wood in many applications - a fortunate happenstance, as Karyn walked directly into the front door.
"Oopsie!" she giggled. "I think I forgotted to open the door. Why'd I do that?"
"Well duh, Karyn," Jordyn giggled back. "We're all ditzy now and stuff like the dice thingy said - you forgottened that too!"
"Oh yeah. Wow, that's, like, so weird. I'll be glad when we're not ditsied anymore."
Finally, the girls got the door open and headed for school. It was getting more difficult for the two of them to remember what life had been like before, but even they recognized that the eight-foot padded rails which now lined the streets hand't been there before.
"Oh wow!" Jordyn exclaimed as they left the house. "Like, things sure are a lot different now - umm, I think. I wonder what these thingies are for?" As she asked, she walked straight forward and bumped into the rails.
"Like, I guess it's so folks won't walk into the street and stuff," Karyn said.
"Uh-huh. Good idea, too. Mmkay, so now we gotta get to school." Jordyn thought for a second. "Umm, so, like, which way is school?"
"It's, um, it's - oh pooh! I don't 'member!"
"Me neither," Jordyn pouted. "We'll have to ask someone."
"Oh look, here comes a policeman. We can ask policemen anything."
"Cool! Oh, um, hiiii! Mr. Police Officer Man? Can you tell us which way to school?"
The policeman stopped and turned to them. "Uhhhh -" He blinked and stared at them. "Uhhhh - you two got nice thingies."
"Thanks!" Jordyn said with a pleased giggle. "I just got 'em today."
"I got mine yesterday!" Karyn added brightly.
"They's pretty and big and round and soft-looking," the policeman said. "That's nice." He stopped and blinked again. "What was it you just axt me about?"
"Hmmm - oh yeah! The school? Like, tell us where it is and stuff?"
The officer blinked. "Uhhhh - the signs. Ya gotta ax th' box."
"Box? Like, what box?"
"Uhhh - th' ones on the poles." He pointed to a nearby pole that had a bright green and white box attached to it.
"Okay. Thanks Mr. Policeman." They walked over to the pole. "Like, hi, Mr. Box. Can you tell us how to get to school?"
The answer came in a cheery-sounding voice. "To get to the school, please follow the yellow arrows!" A series of arrows, bright yellow and blinking, began flashing on the padded rails.
"Jordyn, look! We did it! Yay for us!"
"Whee! Thank you, Mr. Box! Bye! We gotta go to school! Bye!"
Pleased and excited by their accomplishment (and more than a little enthralled by the pretty yellow lights), the two of them followed the blinking arrows down the sidewalk. They barely noticed as the walkway arched up over and down under the streets, eliminating the need to interact with traffic. They also barely noticed that the traffic itself now consisted of what looked like overgrown plastic kiddie cars that plodded along at about 15 MPH, more often than not bouncing off one another as the easily-distracted drivers laughed and whooped playfully. One bright green car was going in a circle, the obviously confused man behind the wheel staring in bafflement at the dashboard.
Finally, the yellow arrows ended at the requested destination. The building, which yesterday had been built of a light sandy brown brick was now bright red. The ornate decorative marble sign was now the same yellow as the arrows that had guided Karyn & Jordyn, and simply read, in bold black letters, "SKOOL".
"Uh!" Jordyn whined. "Like, I wanted more arrows! They were fun!"
"Yeah, but at least we made it to, ummmm - what's this place again?"
"It's, like, school or somethin', y'know?" Jordyn said, pulling a compact out of her purse to check her face.
"Oh yeah. Wow. That's so - like, y'know, wow," Karyn explained, also pulling out a compact.
"Yeah," Jordyn giggled. "It's really just, like - wow."
