Something Unnatural

The red Honda Civic pulled up beside Tim and kept pace with him as he walked from the bus stop to his home. Great. This was exactly what he didn't need right then. The window rolled down.

"Tim!"

It was Nancy. Nancy Beardy. The girl Tim had been crazy about for the past three months. The girl who was now dating the driver of the car, Tim's best friend, Gary.

"I heard about your car," Nancy said, "That really sucks."

"Hey Tim!" Gary said, leaning down so he could see Tim through the open passenger window.

"Hey Gary. Hey Nancy," Tim didn't sound excited to see them. It was because he wasn't.

"If you need a ride, you should just text us," Nancy said, "I'm sure Gary won't mind picking you up."

"Thanks," Tim said sulkily, "but the bus works. See? I'm almost home."

That much was true. Tim was just about to reach his front walk, at which point he could turn away from the heartbreak in the Honda and move toward being bummed-out in his bedroom. He didn't really blame Gary for dating Nancy. If the roles were reversed, and Tim had so desperately wished that they had been, he would have jumped at the chance to date her. She was incredible. Smart, beautiful, and wealthy. A triple threat. Tim couldn't see her very well in the car, but he didn't have to. He knew every inch of Nancy Beardy, at least the inches that she let show in public. There were a few inches that Tim filled in with his imagination.

"I mean before you get home, silly," Nancy's laughter rang like carillon bells.

Tim stopped in front of his house, and the car stopped as well. Bending down, he looked through the window, which was a mistake. Gary's smug smile caught his eye for a moment, but it was Nancy's beautiful face, her shining blue eyes, her large breasts, and those lips, the lips he had imagined kissing for so many lonely nights, that shook him. He wanted her. He wanted her so badly he could feel it in his solar plexus.

Then, without warning, the wind stopped, the birds became silent, and the world came to a pause. The world, except for Tim. He stood up, stretching his back, and looked around. Above him a pigeon was mid-flap, suspended in the air. A jogger across the street was balanced on one toe. Something unnatural had happened.

"What the..."