"Sure..." he said, opening the gate to Mrs. Peterson's yard. Carol could stay there for a moment while he helped....and scoped out the situation. He wasn't sure how this was possible. He hadn't used the remote on Mrs. Peterson.
He let Carol off the leash and took the bag of groceries. Opening the door to the house, he put the groceries on the kitchen counter and turned, spotting Mrs. Peterson curled up by the window, dozing lately in the sunshine.
"Miss Meredith," Cleo called. "Breakfast is here." The human looked up, then looked away as if disinterested. "Honestly....sometimes she acts like she owns me rather than the other way around," she laughed.
"I'd better get going," Rob said, "I have to finish my walk and get to school."
"Well, thank you for the help."
Rob slipped out the door, got Carol's leash, and started to resume his walk, looking around intently. A few houses down, Mrs. Carey had switched places with her poodle. In every house, he spotted animals acting like humans and the humans acting like animals. Even though Rob hadn't used the remote on those people, reality had somehow rewritten itself to make it all commonplace, that that sort of thing would happen. If Rob had to guess, he'd say that pets all across the world had switched personalities with one of their owners, usually the female one (like his mother).
