About an hour later at Katie's house ...
"What am I wearing?" the boy suddenly asked, startling Katie. She looked up at him with shocked eyes. It had been nearly an hour since she found him standing in the park, staring off into the distance with that weird blank look on his face. He was no longer talking in that monotone voice of his. Now, despite his older voice, he sounded more lilting. Like he was a grown-up trying to act like a little girl. But the thing that surprised her the most was that he was talking at all. Up until then, he only talked when Katie asked him a question or told him to do something or believe something.
"Norton?" Katie asked, hesitantly.
"Norton?" he asked, clearly confused. "Who's Norton? Katie, it's me. Tiffany. I'm your best friend, remember?"
When they were playing pretend earlier, Katie told Norton that his name was Tiffany. She thought that their playtime would be more fun if he had a girl's name. But now, he actually believed that he was a girl named Tiffany.
"Uh ... Tiffany?"
"Yeah, Katie?"
"How old are you?"
"I'm eight. Just like you, silly," he said, with a giggle.
