Time for a Change – Part 4
#5 of Time for a Change
? Next in the continuing series. Several of the options for this one might seem a little more far-reaching, but there is plenty of room for manoeuvre given the rapid turn around in these stories. I hope people are still enjoying them!
Jenny shook her head and sat down in front of the TV again, banishing naughty thoughts from her mind for now. She grabbed the phone again and dialled the government hotline. It seemed like the most sensible option, as if this did not go away, or got worse, then she was not going to be able to hide forever. Plus, what if it turned out to be contagious?
An automated voice answered her call. It appeared that she had a number of options, and she began to negotiate the menu with growing confusion. "Press one if you have begun to suffer unusual symptoms including constantly running nose, tinnitus, or bleeding from the roots of your hair", soothed the voice. "Press two if your limbs or parts of your limbs have become sentient." Like reading a book on medical conditions, Jenny was becoming more and more paranoid. What if the horns were a sign that her skull had become sentient?
Eventually, however, she managed to get to the end of the queue and was transferred to an operator because she did not match any of the presented symptoms in the list. "Hello, government Event hotline. This is Lester speaking, how may I help you?" The operator sounded bored and slightly dismissive.
"I...uh," Jenny tried to phrase her symptoms in a way that did not sound crazy, and in the end just went with it. "I woke up this morning with horns and dog ears! What should I do?"
There was a pause on the line before Lester came back, sounding...confused. "Did...did you say 'dog ears', miss?"
"Yes. They don't hurt or anything, but I don't know what to do." Jenny bit back a sob as Lester apparently called up a supervisor.
"I'm sorry, we really don't have anything on the books to cover this," Lester admitted. "Can you give me your name and address?" Jenny supplied both. "Ok, what I'm going to do is alert the nearest Event team to come and check you out. Just stay put and try not to come into contact with more people until they get there."
Jenny nodded, then remembered she was on the phone. "Yes, thank you," she added before hanging up.
She made herself some more tea as she pondered the problem. If the government had not heard of this happening then that meant she was probably the only one this was happening to. On the plus side that meant the Event was not causing a lot of other people to have the same problem. On the down side, it meant that they would probably not have any idea what had happened and how to fix it. She tired to not let the thought get her down as she got properly dressed.
She was just wondering if she should pack a bag or not when there was a knock at the door...