"Hello?" Gary Meadows, the former father of Biff, asked.
"Hey there, this is Mia McKay..." the voice on the other end began.
"Who?" Gary said, confused.
"We met at the park...I'm Stephie's mom."
"Oh..." Gary said, still lost.
"Well, we were going to the library. There's a woman there who really inspires the girls' imaginations. We thought Stephie's new friend might want to come along."
Gary found himself saying, "That sounds lovely. Would you mind driving? I have some things I have to do."
"That's fine. I have your address. Half an hour is fine?"
"Perfect."
Gary hung up the phone, trying to figure out what was happening. Why didn't this...Mia..realize she had the wrong number and why didn't he tell her? He looked down, and suddenly realized he was wearing a dress that his wife Lorraine might wear.
He paused, suddenly feeling confused about that. Lorraine? The name was starting to become unfamiliar.
Gary shook his head as he stood up from his desk in his office and then headed out. He wasn't sure where he was headed, but ...
"Oh, Gary, you're still here," a voice said from behind him. He knew that voice. It belonged to Matt Whitman, one of his employees. Gary blinked, as that sounded wrong. No, he wasn't Matt's boss. Matt was his boss. "I thought you left already. I told you that you could leave early."
Gary turned and weakly smiled at the man. "Of course, Mr. Whitman." Then he headed in a different direction, towards the secretary's desk. Then he sat behind it and set up an out of office message on his email. He was a secretary, right? He thought about it for a moment, then smiled. Of course he was a secretary.
As he sat there, his hair became a little longer, coming down to just above his shoulders.
Gary grabbed his cellphone from his purse, not noticing how his nails had grown out and how they had been painted the color of fuchsia. He dialed a number. "I think I've found someone to babysit so we can have some time together."
It wasn't Gary's fault today was a half day at the elementary school. Things just seemed to conspire against him. It wasn't until he hung up the phone that he paused again.
Something was definitely wrong here. But he had to run.
Elsewhere, Colonel Rogers put down his phone, pleased he would be able to reconnect with his wife. It seemed sometimes, that when he was home, after a long tour of duty, that things kept conspiring to prevent them from having some time together.
He didn't regret his children. He loved them...although he worried about them a great deal. Timothy was nothing like his father. He'd never cut it in the army...not that there was anything wrong with that. Bert...he wasn't quite sure what was wrong with her, hanging around with that crazy friend of hers. And it was too soon to tell with their youngest.
