The Great Event
The “Great Event” still defied science. No one could explain why, in the blink of an eye, the essence and anatomy of people nearby had somehow become mixed together in a sort of biological Russian roulette. Unfortunately for Paul, he had been at home surrounded by women: his wife, his teenage daughter, and the family’s housekeeper. The physical transformation was devastating. Paul watched his calloused bricklayer’s arms shrink, replaced by soft, almost luminous skin. His silhouette gained generous curves that he recognized from the housekeeper, while his impossibly defined waist seemed to have been borrowed from some other adult woman caught in the phenomenon. He raised his hands to his face. His rugged beard was gone. In its place were delicate features, his wife’s magnetic smile, and, to his absolute horror, the voluminous, impeccably styled hair of Mrs. Greta, the neighborhood gossip. Except it wasn’t quite the same. The hair was now glossy black, carefully curled and pinned...