Jon and Karyn continued walking down the quiet residential street, soon making their way to busy Pike Avenue, which was lined with commercial businesses. Jon’s attention was drawn to an advert attached to a bus stop.
Makeup Makes the World Pretty, it read in large, softly rounded letters.
Karyn leaned over to look too. “It sure does,” she said.
“Do you notice anything weird about that poster?” Jon asked.
“No.” Karyn said as she shook her head.
“Those look like guys.”
“What?” Karyn asked.
“The people on the poster… They look like guys,” Jon explained, tilting his head.
Karyn examined the poster more closely. “It’s probably one of those weird adverts for unisex fragrances or something.”
“I don’t know. They usually show a man and a woman. Those both look like guys, to me at least.”
They continued walking for a while, now finding themselves halfway down one of the main shopping streets in Lake Point.
Jon looked around. “All these signs are weird,” he noted as he examined them each in turn. While they stood there, trying to take in the scene, people shouted at them, and cars continued to honk their horns.
“What is with these people? They seem awfully rude.” Karyn shrugged her shoulders.
“Oh, maybe there’s a clue!” Jon pointed to a building across the street. A flowery pink sign bore the words “Sambryllia’s Dresses”, and several purple, pink and white garments hung in the display window.
“Isn’t that normally the arcade we hang out at?” Karyn asked.
“Yeah, and I can’t say I’ve seen it be not an arcade often.”
“Wasn’t it Sarah’s house in Zoe’s world?”
Jon nodded. “We must have got lost somewhere… That means we’ve been going round in circles.”
“This whole town seems to be laid out differently,” Karyn acknowledged.
“How am I supposed to find my house then?” Jon asked.
A woman turned round to face the pair. “Why are you two dressed so strangely?” she asked.
“Huh?” they exclaimed in unison.
“Have you been working on a farm or something?”
Jon looked more carefully at the woman and noticed some very light stubble on her chin. He realised this wasn’t a woman, but a man who appeared to be crossdressing.
He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but he was intelligent enough not to contradict a local. “Yeah, something like that.” He grabbed Karyn’s shoulder and moved them off to a side street. “I need to get back to my house,” he demanded.
“What’s going on?” Karyn asked, scared by Jon’s change in tone.
“That woman was a man,” Jon explained.
“Really?”
“Yes. Hopefully, if we get back to my house, we can find more answers.”
