Step One

            Realizing I had no idea where I had been relocated, I had the brilliant idea to pick up one of the newspapers lying in the soggy grass. The ink was bleeding, but I could make out the town’s name, Appaloosa Plains. I’d never heard of it. Sounded like some kind of hick place.

            A soft buzz came from my pocket. I investigated, surprised to find a phone. It showed that I had received an email. I ignored it at first, too caught up in the fact that I had a cellphone. It could be a means of escape! As I ran through a list of who to call first, my appearance popped up in my head. Nobody would believe that I was really Vienna DeMarco. Discouraged, I nearly threw the useless thing. Then I thought of my father and decided to give him a buzz anyways. Maybe I could convince him that I really was his daughter, and then he could help me! I went to punch in the numbers. I couldn’t though; every time I tried to recall his number, my head fogged over.

            When there was nothing left I could do, I opened the unread email. All it said was:

                                    Step One: Find a Job

A job? I already had plenty of those. Actress, Singer, Model, Heiress, Popular Personality. Pfft, if that little witch that cursed me thought I was going to take her advice, then she was surely mistaken.

            Not Food woke me up in the middle of the night by running away. What a pain. I can’t believe I actually looked for the stupid thing.

            After recapturing him, I found that I was mildly hungry again. My bed wasn’t particularly appetizing, so I dressed in my grandma garb and meandered down to the festival park. It appeared to be closed. That didn’t stop me from breaking in and having myself another snow cone though.

            It was just my luck of late for my specialty blizzard one to fall to the ground. I was so disappointed that I had to make it up by creating more and eating them until the sun started to come up.

            The rain had cleared for a while, making the day a tiny bit less horrible. I heard clattering and realized that I was no longer alone at the festival. A deer was rummaging around. Perhaps he was looking for scraps like me.

            He stared at me with bothered eyes. I didn’t take offense; he probably disliked all people.

            I followed the bouncy deer, although I do not know why. He ended up leading me back to my shed. I was allowed a quick pat before he jumped away at a speed I could not match.

            I spent that day much like the day before. The only real difference was that my smell was getting terrible. I almost couldn’t stand to be around myself. And things only got worse. The following day was filled with more intolerable heat and even worse stink. The public sink could do no more for me.

            I remembered hearing that science facilities are willing to purchase bugs. I searched the internet on my phone to find an address of the one in Appaloosa Plains. Then I gathered my courage and went into town for the first time.

            Oh it was dreadful! Worse than the hick vision I had in my mind. I missed the beautiful sparkling skyscrapers of the city and the constant rhythm that it breathed through the cement. This place was just dull. Terribly so.

            I located the science building and went inside. I received plenty of stares and noticed more than one person plugging their noses. It took me much longer than it would have in my real body to find out who to talk to about selling the bug I found.

            Dr. Allison was actually somewhat decent to me. She said that she would pay me double what she normally would for anyone else, because I obviously needed the money. I argued at first, offended that someone would mistake me for some needy urchin. Then I remembered that I was a needy urchin.

            I apologized for my smell, reasoning that I could not yet afford a shower. This gave Dr. Allison an idea, which I took with chagrin. “If you are in need of a job, I have a position open. I think it’d fit you well.”

            Damn Step One.