Although they didn't know it, Jon and Gina had the same dream that night. That is, they were in one another's dreams. They were inside of some kind of warehouse or factory, Jon in his original 18 year-old form, and Gina in her original 11 year-old form, and the two of them stood on either end of a conveyor belt that sat about three feet off the ground, and was about twenty feet long.
Jon and Gina had never met before, so neither recognized the person at the other end of the conveyor belt as a series of mechanical clicks sounded, and they both found themselves locked in place right up against their end of the conveyor belt. Gina couldn't move. Jon couldn't move. They were bound to the machine.
Then an industrial buzzer sounded and a whirring noise came from the conveyor belt, as it adjusted its height on each end: Jon's end slowly chugging downwards until it was just below his belly, and Gina's end rising until it was just below her chin. Then with a gust of steam, the mechanics stopped. And Jon heard another click, but he felt this click, too, and he looked down, and there was a hatch open in his belly. Like someone had installed a small three-inch door on his stomach, and this conveyor belt had popped that door open. If Jon's hands weren't restrained, he'd have tried to close it back, but as it stood he could do nothing but watch, as another click sounded and Gina's mouth opened with a mechanical drop, sitting much wider than a human mouth should be able to sit.
All the two strangers could do was stare at one another in horror, not understanding what was happening as a lighted sign descended from the ceiling between them and settled a few feet above the center of the conveyor belt. And when it stopped, an industrial buzzer sounded from somewhere up high in the rafters, and the lighted sign switched to green on Jon's side, and red on Gina's side, and the conveyor belt began to move from Jon's direction to Gina.
For a moment nothing happened. It was just the frozen boy and girl, and the moving conveyor belt. But then Jon felt something strange in his belly, and he looked down, and a wrapped piece of chocolate emerged from the open hatch that was apparently now a part of him. As it drifted away down the conveyor belt, Jon could just barely make out the words "Friendship with Karyn" written on the little ribbon tied to the top of the chocolate.
When the item was just below the lighted sign, Jon felt another odd gurgling, and suddenly another wrapped chocolate was making its way down the conveyor belt. This one said "Education" on its ribbon. Both items were now being carried slowly, inexorably, towards Gina's gaping maw. And Gina could do nothing but stare at the Karyn chocolate, as it trundled its way over and fell with a plunk down her gullet.
Images. Memories. Flashes of light played inside of Gina's head, an entire lifetime's worth of hanging out with Karyn Black. Were these Jon's memories, or unique memories that Gina was generating in response to some stimulus? She couldn't quite tell.
A chocolate that read "Age" emerged from Jon's belly, and the "Education" chocolate fell down Gina's throat, causing another reaction inside her mind as years of knowledge came to her in an instant. "Caring For Mikey" followed out of Jon's hatch, as "Age" reached Gina on the other side.
And she began to grow. Before Jon's eyes, the young girl before him transformed into someone his own age. The conveyor belt shifted and rose so that it was constantly just below her chin, but it was definitely not only her height that was changing: the girl had blossomed into a young adult.
She seemed to settle into her new form just as the "Mikey" chocolate finally deposited itself within her, and just like with the Karyn chocolate, Gina felt a flash of memories that told her why Mikey was so important to her.
But then there was another industrial buzzer sound, and the conveyor belt came to a shuddering stop. For a few moments, nothing happened. Jon and Gina just stared at each other from either side of the conveyor belt, Jon's belly propped open and Gina's mouth held wide.
Then Gina's mouth snapped shut with a pop, and Jon's belly slammed shut with a clap, and they both heard a whirring sound from above their heads. Two giant claws, like from a toy grabber game, descended from the ceiling, each one gripping securely around the two teenagers' waists, but not painfully. With a click, they were released from the conveyor belt, and lifted ten feet into the air, then swung around until each was in the other's former position.
Gina was lowered down to the green-lighted side of the conveyor belt, and re-attached with a click. Then the same happened for Jon on the red side of the conveyor belt. A hatch opened up in Gina's belly as the conveyor belt adjusted itself slightly to her height, and Jon felt his mouth forced open wider than he thought was possible, as his side of the conveyor belt adjusted downwards to meet his chin. Was Jon shorter all of a sudden?
Then with another sound of the industrial buzzer, the conveyor belt began moving, from Gina to Jon. And all Jon could do was look over from his side, into the darkened compartment that had opened within Gina, where he could only barely make out the outlines of wrapped chocolates. Dozens of them. Each of them with a ribbon, all of them waiting.
The first one popped its way onto the conveyor belt, but it was too far away for Jon to read.
Then he woke up. And Gina woke up.
