Women's World: Part Three

Linda climbs out of bed with a weird twist in her gut, the kind that usually means trouble. She drifts into the living room and the feeling gets worse, prickling her skin. Then the TV catches her eye. There’s Diane Jones on the screen saying words that suddenly seem to belong to another life. Linda stares. Nothing looks like it did yesterday. Her own couch feels like a rental. Panic thumps in her ears, so she bolts. Outside, everything is foreign. Colors, cars, street signs—like she’s got the wrong prescription in her glasses. She slams into someone—Leslie—and the whole contact flickers, fast and hot, but Leslie just frowns like Linda’s the weird one. Linda keeps moving until Karen appears on the corner, blessedly normal. “The world flipped!” Linda gasps. Karen gives her the sympathetic but slightly-pitying smile you save for bad mushrooms and walks off. Linda races home alone. Back on the sidewalk, Leslie rubs her temple. Pictures keep popping behind her eyelids: strangers, symbols, a single, nonsensical word burning white. She fishes out her phone, types it, gets nothing. Maybe the library has real paper answers. Across town, Tanya sprays disinfectant on her station while Amanda lingers with the broom, heartbeat thudding every time their elbows brush. “My ex was such a disaster,” Tanya says, almost laughing. Amanda half-nods, half-swoons. Then Tanya mutters something else—half-joke, half-offhand wish—and Amanda’s blood sings. Tanya’s suddenly looking at women. Really looking. Leslie gets home with an armload of library books and dumps them on the couch. Still no clues. She checks the clock; her wife should be back soon. Linda steps inside her front door and freezes. A tall, leggy blonde is perched on her kitchen stool like she owns the lease. The stranger smiles. “We need to talk,” she says. Linda’s stomach drops another floor. In the salon, Amanda finally corners Tanya near the shampoo bowls. “I’ve wanted you for years,” she blurts. Tanya blinks, pink floods her cheeks, but she doesn’t pull away. Their mouths find each other, hungry and startled at once.