John Takes a Walk and Learns Some Facts

Misa's ministrations had satisfied John for the time being, so he decided to go out and get some fresh air. He went back to his room, automatically closing the door behind him to put on jeans and a T-shirt -- only realizing as he left that it was no longer necessary.

John had his first surprise as he walked out of the front door of his dorm. Straight across a small courtyard had been another dorm, a mirror-image twin of the one where he lived, but now the spot was filled with a grassy area and a few trees. A couple of guys were playing Frisbee.

"Whoa, I wish I knew what the deal was here," John mumbled to himself.

The voice in his head answered, "No unwanted pregnancies has meant a lower population, and thus, less of a need for dorm rooms here, so that dorm was never built."

"How much lower is the population?"

"In this country, about one-third," was the answer. "Throughout the world, about one-half."

"Wow," said John quietly as he started to stroll down the walkway. "Hmm...but I wish the lower population didn't have a significant effect on people's lives. Like there are still enough people to do all the jobs that need doing, for example. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does," said the voice. "And do you --"

"Yeah, I confirm," John interrupted.

John decided he'd head for the student center and keep an eye out for anything unusual. Along the way, the only 'unusual' thing he saw was a man and woman having sex under a tree, atop a blanket, half-undressed -- but it wasn't even exciting enough to cause him to stop his walk.

At the student center, the first thing he noticed was the bulletin board just inside the entrance -- in between "vacation rideshares" and "apartment rentals" was a section labeled "sex," cluttered with postings that ranged from "Monday Night Orgy Group" to "Curious About Lesbian Experiences?" to "Seeking Af-Amer Girl for Nothing But Anal."

John smelled the downstairs food court, reminding him he hadn't eaten breakfast. At the bottom of the stairs, he passed a door labeled merely "Restroom." Curious, he walked in.

A woman was standing at a sink working on her makeup. She had no reaction to John, who casually looked around -- the restroom appeared to be twice the size of the men's room that had been in this spot, with maybe three times more stalls, and no urinals. He realized then that his wish about the bathrooms in his dorm being coed had apparently affected the whole world, in the same way that the "no one minds being seen naked" portion of that wish had.

Back out in the main seating area, John spotted a guy and a girl sitting next to each other. Both of them were staring down at a book, but she was giving him a hand job while they read. John grinned. It was still a little early for the lunch rush, so there weren't too many students around; that was the only sex he could see with just a quick scan.

John followed his nose to the McDonald's counter. He stood behind a woman placing her order. "Pounder with cheese value meal and a Coke," she said.

He looked up at the menu board. There was a "Pounder" and a "Two-Pounder," the Big Mac appeared to have four meat patties, and there was also something called a "Super Mac" that he didn't want to think about. He actually lost his appetite a bit and turned away from the counter.

Answering an unasked question, the voice in his head said, "Since the same food supply is feeding a smaller amount of people, and there is no such thing as being overweight, food portion sizes are quite large."

"Plus there's all that working off the calories by having sex," John mused. A girl at a nearby table looked up from what looked like a mountain of spaghetti.