And nothing happened.
Jon watched the second hand on his watch make five circuits. Still nothing. He pulled his pants up and left the bathroom.
The next afternoon, he and Karyn sat in a booth at the diner near their school, drinking milkshakes.
"Don't think buying me this gets you off the hook for these," said Karyn, pointing to both her shake and the bulges in her sweater.
"I said I was sorry!" said Jon.
"Are you sure we can't try reversing things?" asked a still-hopeful Karyn.
Jon shook his head. "I don't know. The rock was acting kind of weird, so I thought maybe I should hold off until I learn more about it. I didn't even bring it today."
"Hope it's in a safe place," said Karyn, and then she frowned a bit. "What do you mean, weird?"
Jon started, "It's just that --" Suddenly, a continuous high-pitched whine started up. He cocked his head to one side, trying to determine where the noise was coming from, and finally asked Karyn, "Do you hear that?"
There was a crash from behind him. He turned to look. A waitress had dropped a half-full coffee pot. Now she was walking deliberately in his direction, through the broken glass and the brown puddle. As she passed, he turned back toward Karyn. She had dropped her spoon and was getting up.
"What's going on?" asked Jon. "Where are you going?"
Karyn didn't say anything. She followed the waitress over to the other side of the diner, where all the women in the restaurant were standing in a line. Jon looked around nervously at the handful of male customers still sitting in various booths, all of whom were themselves looking around nervously.
Then a second pitch was added to the whine. Jon felt himself compelled to stand up and join the other men in a line, on the other side of the diner's front door from the females. Once he'd reached his spot, he found himself unable to do much more than blink his eyes. He was standing at an angle, so he could see the women, all standing still. He could tell Karyn had a frightened look in her eyes.
The front door of the diner flew open.
