Cap Drop 2

 

The factory tour was taking forever. I don’t know why my girl was so interested in it. But she had been excited about it all week. There were so many types of people on the tour: newlyweds, families, single people.

Were people this invested into the behind the scenes of Ice cream? I didn’t care, I was lactose intolerant. Ice cream and I had broken up ages ago. I don’t know, maybe I was just being bitter. But so, what? There were enough people there invested in all the goings on. There were several tours taking place on cat walks below us. Our guide had gotten sucked into a history of ice cream tangent.

I went to the far back to think about something other than dairy. The railing was there and I could just lean on it and think about anything else while pretending to scope the place out. My girl could at least understand that much, she still was snapping pictures from every angle in the front. Briefly, my eyes went down, and I spotted another tour group directly below us. In the back of their group, was a pair separated like me, by the railings. Father and son, I’d assume judging by the same blond hair and the closeness of their bodies. It looked like the man was giving an extra tour pointing out things in the factory. Either that or the dumbest game of ‘I Spy.’

Was there something missing in me that kept me from being entranced by the place? Yeah, the lactose intolerance, but I meant beyond that. I mean statistically there had to be one other person on tour who was lactose intolerant too, but all the other faces were happy. My attention went back to the father and son below me when the man’s wife came, insisting she get a picture taken of her here. Literally everyone was having fun but me. My mind was beyond bored and my eyes drifted over to my side. There was a baseball cap nestled next to me. Just sitting there, perfectly balanced on the rail. I picked it up wondering who had placed it there. I hadn't noticed anybody come by and place it either, unless they were a ghost.

Cap in my hands, I looked below me. The son was sitting on the railing. After lining it up, a thought entered my head: Time to have some fun. I expected it to bounce and cause some commotion, so I let the cap go. And shockingly, the cap fell right on the boy's head. Drawn down like a magnet. He never even saw it coming. I let out a small chuckle; it was like winning at a claw machine. But then the strangest thing happened, the boy's body bucked and he rose taller. Hard to tell from my vantage point but I could see his legs stretching on the platform. His shirt spit open as his shoulders barreled their way out. His clothes began to change as his pecs hardened pressing out of his chest, hair growing over them.

“Holy shit!” I whispered.

The head below me turned up and what I saw was a man as a beard grew in on his face. His eyes locked on me. I had no idea what was running through his head, but I got a feeling I’d find out soon.