A confusing hallway encounter.

I really wanted to know what Sarah was going to come up with for what we were to each other. I couldn't believe the Gullibility Ray(GR) really worked, let alone so well. She really seemed to believe even the things I told her that she did herself. That's seriously gullible. Even with all I told her though, it still must have left her with a lot of questions. Like what else we had been getting up to in the last few weeks that could explain our sudden closeness, or how she felt about me, or even when or why it all started. I couldn't wait for her to get home and hear what she came up with.

But Sarah wouldn't be home for at least another 8 hours. Which meant I had the whole day to kill.

That nonsense I told Sarah about not wasting my vacation sleeping in and being lazy as an excuse for why I was up so early. It was actually starting to sound pretty reasonable. I glanced at the GR a bit nervous, before laughing at myself. No way it was working on me, or I would have believed it as soon as I said it earlier. It's just that bullshit may not have been as bullshit as I thought. Besides after a month of vacation, I was kind of missing having something to do every day. Not that I missed work itself or my old job particularly, but there was something to be said about having something you have to do to motivate you during the day.

Of course I meant what I said about taking a few more months off, I didn't want to get a new job any time soon. Hell I might never have to get a proper job ever again, depending on who I made believe what. That was for the future though.

For now I really wanted to keep playing with, I mean testing.. the GR today, but I could just imagine the stares and questions I'd get as a grown man walking around town carrying a toy ray gun. I could probably pass it off easy enough, but the more I thought about having to either make some lame excuse, change the subject, or zap everyone I came across the more exhausting the prospect became. I mean, I love this thing and I'm not complaining or anything, but why the hell couldn't it have been a Gullibility Laser Pointer, or a Gullibility Key Fob instead? My inner tech guy started thinking about taking it apart and reassembling it into something less conspicuous, but I quickly shut that train of thought down. No way was I going to take the chance of breaking this thing. At least not yet. Its not like I can run down to the local electronics store for a spare Gullibility circuit or whatever the hell it is that makes this thing work. No, I was going to have to come up with some kind of camouflage for the GR.

I spent the next half an hour rummaging through my apartment for something that might work. What I came up with were a backpack, and a messenger bag. Both of which I had bought to carry around my laptop and equipment for work. They were pretty nondescript, and could easily pass for casual or professional, which was a plus. I eventually settled on the messenger bag, as it would be easier to quickly access the GR inside. I just had to pretend like I was reaching down for something like my keys, or a pack of gum, and zap! I could even tell people I worked independently as an IT consultant, and that would explain me carrying the bag around.

I started to really check the messenger bag out, thinking about how to mount the GR inside and wondering how big of a hole I would have to cut in the side to make it work. When it dawned on me. I actually didn't know much about the GR's construction, or how it worked. Would the cheap toy looking thing get crushed in the bag if I accidently leaned against something? Do I even need to cut a hole in the bag, or can the GR just 'fire' through the cloth and leather? Guess it's time to take a good look at my new favorite thing in the world.

I went back to the kitchen table where I left the GR and scooped it up. It was light and felt like a cheap plastic toy, but when I carefully gripped it and tried bending it this way and that it didn't budge. It definitely didn't feel like metal, but if it was made of plastic it was the toughest damn plastic I had ever encounter. I went to our combination linen and utility closet and fished out an old pair of channel locks. I set the jaws around the base of the GR's handle, and every so gently started to squeeze on the pliers. When I didn't get any give or creaking or anything out of the GR, I slowly started increasing my pressure. Pretty soon I was squeezing the damn things as hard as I could, I even went two handed and really put some leverage into it. Nothing. The damn thing was indestructible!

Ok, so whatever magical material this thing is made out of I don't have to worry about breaking it. Hell the GR would probably break me before I broke it. Which was awesome. Now I just had to figure out if it could fire through the side of my messenger bag, and for that I needed another guinea pig. As luck would have it, just then I heard a door shut out in the hallway of the apartment building. I waited a bit and then cracked my front door open to see Ms. Wilkens disappearing down the stairs, and I remembered that she usually goes down to check her mail every morning around this time. Perfect.

I ran back to the messenger bag, stuffed the GR inside, and secured it to the side of the bag with one of the laptop straps inside. Making sure the grip and trigger were facing up, and that the GR was set to 1. A bit nervous and a bit excited I slung the bag over my shoulder and waited for the sounds of Ms. Wilkens coming back up the stairs before stepping out into the hall, one hand in the bag acting like I was stuffing one last minute item into it on my way out the door. I aimed carefully out of the corner of my eye, and hit the trigger.

Ms. Wilkens was a nice woman in her mid to late 40's who had already lived in the building when I first moved in. Her two daughters had moved out the year prior, leaving Ms. Wilkens alone for the first time in 20 years. She was rather lonely for those first few years. She was also a very genuine, honest, and likeable person. So when she'd strike up a conversation with me in the hall, or in the mail room or something, I always tried to spend a little time chatting with her. Even if I was tired or in a hurry. Which is why I know that Ms. Wilkens first attempt at filling the void her daughters moving out had put in her life, was to adopt a couple of little bunny rabbits as pets. She took being a pet owner very seriously, and really studied up on rabbits so she could take care of them properly. It was one of the things she was pretty passionate about. So I knew exactly what I could use as a test.

After pulling the trigger on the GR, I saw Ms. Wilkens look down and swat at something that wasn't there near her right hip where I had probably been aiming. So far so good.

Pretending to just notice her I let out a genuine smile. "Hey Ms. Wilkens! Anything fun in the mail today?" I asked.

"Only if you count being 'pre-approved' for your millionth credit card fun." she snorted. Doing little air quotes around the words pre-approved.

"What about you hun, I heard you got fired recently. Everything ok?" She continued, and seeing the look of genuine concern on her face made me swear to myself to never do anything mean to her with the GR.

"Oh yea, everything's fine don't worry. I honestly think they did me a favor by firing me. Working there the last few years was really grinding me down, and they had this bad habit of not actually paying overtime. Which I was able to negotiate into a pretty sweet severance package." I said smiling a bit smugly at the last bit.

"Holy shit, you were working like 90 hours a week and they weren't paying overtime!?" she exclaimed. "You should take them to court, I can't even imagine the amount of money they'd owe you." she finished.

"Nah that's ok" I chucked. "Not worth the hassle and time in court. Trust me, the severance package was very generous. Which is why I took the last month off to relax." I said.

"Oh hey, I learned something the other day that I think you might be interested in." I said changing the subject.

"Oh?" She replied, clearly curious. "What the scoop?"

"It actually pretty crazy. I learned that all rabbits are born both male and female, so any rabbit can both impregnate another rabbit and get pregnant by another rabbit. Really explains the 'fucking like rabbits' saying right?" I said, waiting for her to call me an idiot.

"Really?" She said with a look of astonishment on her face. "That does explain a lot." She continued, putting her index finger on her lips and striking her thinking pose.

"I wonder why none of that was in any of the rabbit biology books I read." she said starting to sound offended. "I can't believe they'd leave something that like out. What if people don't know that and they end up with tons of rabbit babies?" She continued, now starting to sound really concerned. "Oh my god! The vets didn't tell me either, what if they didn't spay and neuter both of my rabbits!?" She yelled. Now looking genuinely concerned.

I completely regretted what I said. It was supposed to be a harmless prank to get her to believe all rabbits were hermaphrodites. Now I felt like a complete ass, and was suddenly very worried about Ms. Wilkens vet getting a very nasty phone call.

"Wait!" I yelled. "You mean that wasn't in any of the books you read? Didn't you read like a hundred of those things?" I asked, trying to look as confused as Sarah must have felt during breakfast.

"I sure as hell did!" "She replied. "and they all lied to me, I can't believe how irresponsible those authors and publishing companies are! I'm gonna give them all a piece of my mind!" She finished, looking like she was about to storm off to do just that.

"Well that doesn't make any sense." I said, reaching a hand out to stop her. "Maybe what I read was wrong. After all, it makes a lot more sense that an internet article I read wasn't fact checked properly, then for all those books you read to all be wrong about the same thing right?"

"A single internet article?" She asked questioningly, pausing for a moment before suddenly sighing in relief. "God boy, you nearly had me on the war path there." she finished.

She looked thoughtful for a moment before she started to laugh. She seemed to find the concept more and more hilarious the more she thought about it.

"All rabbits." laughter "born" laugh "as both" laugh "male and female" she finished with intense laughter.

I watched her laugh at the absurdity of it, and joined in a bit distractedly. Damn this GR made people really fucking gullible. I had to be very careful how I used this thing.

Finally Ms. Wilkens finished her laughter, and wiped the tears from her eyes before fixing me with a stern look. "You shouldn't go around telling people stuff like that after reading a single internet article James! You know better than that. You're a really trustworthy and believable person, and that comes with a certain amount of responsibility." She chastised.

I suddenly recognized what she was doing as her mom mode, and wondered how many similar lectures her daughters had gone through.

"You're right Ms. Wilkens. I'm sorry, I should have been more careful. I just thought it was really interesting and was excited to share it with you, so I guess I just wanted it to be true." I said hurriedly, to try and cut off any more chastising.

Ms. Wilkens stern look melted. "Aww hun, that's really sweet." She said, and to my surprise moved in to give me a hug. She held me for a minute and patted the back of my head before breaking the hug and stepping back.

"I'll forgive you, since I know you didn't mean it, but I expect better from you in the future understand?" She said her stern mother voice creeping back up.

"Of course." I smiled and nodded trying not to look as awkward as I felt.

Ms. Wilkens had never spoken to me like that before, let alone hugged me. I felt like she was treating me just like she would her own kid, and it was really touching. But it was all because I lied to her, manipulated her, and played a joke on her. So I just kind felt dirty. Epically with Ms. Wilkens smiling at me like that.

"Well, anyway. I should be going. I wanted to head out and put out some feelers for a new job. It's important to start early to make a good impression after all." I said a bit awkwardly.

"Ok hun." Ms. Wilkens said, and moved in for another brief hug. "Good luck!" she continued stepping aside and patting me on the shoulder. "I'm sure at least one of those companies has the brains to see what a talented hard worker you are" she finished giving me an encouraging smile.

"Thanks!" I said, feeling even more awkward before making a hasty exit and waving goodbye over my shoulder.

Outside the apartment building, I turned toward a nearby park and started walking.

I was trying to sort out how I felt about my interaction with Ms. Wilkens. I didn't really do anything that drastic, but her reaction really made me feel like an ass. I manipulated her, and then lied to cover it up, and somehow ended up with her feeling closer to me that she was before. It just felt wrong.

I pondered the situation while I walked. Eventually I ended up at the park, and took a seat on one of the benches. Mulling over the implications of using the GR on a regular basis.