It was a few days before Christmas when a small meteor carrying a dormant life form from deep space got caught in Earth's gravity and landed upon the Cranburytown Industrial Park . The impact caused the ancient life to awake with an appetite for electrically charged power.
Unaware of this event, many of the townspeople celebrated the holiday in the traditional way - complete with the annual guilt of credit card indulgence and lack of religious observance.
But for a few employees at a small company called Endocorp, the holiday experience proved to be anything but ordinary as they discovered a new type of gift that tapped into their personal desires and fears'�..

Dee thought it would be a good idea to bring a Christmas tree into the office to brighten it up for the coming holiday. She was always thinking of new ways to decorate the office - her specialty was in embarrassing her coworkers on their birthdays with elaborate streamers and balloons - usually putting an unwanted spotlight on a day which marks another date in time that most would prefer not to look at head on.

Most workers commented on how she could work professionally as a designer for a party company. Although one could never tell if the compliments were sincere or part of the polite corporate banter some feel compelled to spew out much like the confetti Dee would love to sprinkle over all the company's desks.

This year, Dee thought she would write all her coworkers' names in glitter on the Christmas bulbs that would adorn the tree. She set off on this task with glee in anticipation of the end result and hopefully the appreciation of her friends including Carol, Dawn and especially, Steve, who she had her own particular Christmas wish for.

No one knows why Dee was so eager to please people but perhaps it had to do with the criticism and lack of acceptance she received from her parents.

Four nights passed and Dee diligently put the finishing touches on her creation - just in time to bring the tree into the office for Friday's Christmas party.

Arriving early to work, Dee quickly set up the tree complete with the personalized bulbs and a string of lights she purchased on sale at K-Mart.

And now it was time for the magical process of lighting the tree. But Dee had to ponder at how she would accomplish this task as most of the outlets were already taken up with the computers, lights and radios. Determined to put her marvel on display, Dee luckily found a power strip in the company's storage closet with the one extra outlet she required.

With minutes to spare before her coworkers' arrival, Dee hurriedly unplugged and re-plugged all the accessories into the strip and pushed the switch to on. As she did this, a strange green glow enveloped the entire tree as well as herself. And just as quickly as this happened, the eerie sensation disappeared. Dee thought to herself that maybe the strange
glow was a hallucination from sleep depravation she was experiencing from her crafting of the tree and the numerous cups of coffee she used to fuel her determination into the early hours of the morning.

Still somewhat giddy from the success of lighting her tree, Dee greeted her coworkers upon their arrival at their desks with hugs and handshakes. All of the employees, including Carol, Dawn and Steven went to marvel at their personalized bulb - taking it into their hands and letting the surrounding light sparkle in its reflection.

Unaware of the electrical connection they were creating with their hugs and their bonding with the tree - the employees would now act as a conduit for something that could transform their wishes and desires into a form of reality they had never experienced before.

Some hours passed at the office and soon it was time for the party to begin. Dawn began secret Santa - an office tradition where gifts were given anonymously to participating employees - by giving Dee her gift. Dee unwrapped the box to find a green Angora sweater. 'I love it,'� said Dee, remarking on Dawn's keen fashion sense.

'I think I'll wear it right now,'� she added. As the employees finished opening the last of their gifts, a glum looking man exited from their bosses office - an apparent victim of a failed interview.

Dee's cheerfulness was almost extinguished as she saw the man exit the office and proceed to the parking lost where he entered his Burgundy-colored 1995 Buick Regal.

'Lose that look of compassion,'� Dawn snapped at Dee. 'He can always console himself with some holiday drinking.'�

Steve jokingly complained, 'I'm feeling light-headed and I didn't even have any spiked eggnog yet. Speaking of drinks, I could sure go for a pina colada on some far away island.'�

Dawn thought to herself that Steve's light head was probably from Dee's unspoken desire of him which had been gathering more and more momentum over the course of the past year.

Dawn could not understand this passion. For her, the ultimate pleasure would be taking Dee to Bloomingdale's to push their credit card accounts to the limit.

As for Carol, practicality was always the word for the day. She fantasized that Dee and her would open up a boutique or sell fashion-related products over the internet.

Just then another Carol instantly materialized somewhere in a shop - coexisting simultaneously with the Carol who still appeared as normal as ever to her coworkers at the party in our time line.

Carol swooned as another 'Dee'� shook her arm to alert her of a customer at the kiosk they apparently owned. Everything was so real to Carol in this surrounding that she barely questioned this other reality. In fact, she joked to Dee that she had been caught in a moment of de' ja' vu' where she imagined she was back working at the office.

Dee commented that that memory must have been conjured up somewhere from the depths of hell. 'I guess so - it was Christmas time there - so it must have been hell frozen over,'� Carol joked to alleviate the alarm she felt. She was so pleased to be working at her dream job that she quickly let all doubt about the current situation to become buried in the sights and sounds of the customers passing by the kiosk.

'Here wrap this perfume - it's also Christmas time here as well - or do you need some smelling salts,'� said Dee, using a confident tone of manner that Carol was not quite prepared for.

'No just a double-mocha cappuccino will do,'� quipped Carol - still trying to convince the small voice in her mind that her confusion was due to a lack of sleep.

And just as she turned to hand the wrapped gift to the customer an abrupt voice shouted, 'Well how do you like your dream job.'� The voice belonged to Carol's former boss Wendy Cannon. 'I see you are up to your elbows in work,'� Wendy sarcastically jabbered.

Carol braced herself to retain her composure which was now poised on shaky ground at best. 'Good to see you Wendy. I can recommend some fantastic strawberry-flavored lip gloss - designed to fatten your lips up like Angelina Jolie's.'�

Surprised at her quick wit and even more at her sudden product knowledge, Carol quickly took the upper hand of the conversation. Daunted and somewhat perturbed by the jostling customers, Wendy managed to respond with a flat, 'No Thank you,'� as she negotiated her way towards the escalator.

'Oh give me a break, why can't humans ever be happy for someone besides themselves?'� Dee asked rhetorically. As Carol looked up, she saw a faint green glow emanating from Dee's eyes.

As Carol quickly rubbed her eyes in an attempt to make sense of what she just saw, the
thought of entering data on a computer in a quiet cubicle suddenly sounded more
appealing to her inner logic than this 'dream job'� as she digested the events of the last
half hour.

'Please Carol, it's time to put the pedal to the medal; No more time to daydream if Carol-Dee's Boutique is to become a success,'� Dee reprimanded.

'I'm sorry Dee - I know this next question may prompt you to call a psychiatrist on me - but where did we get the funding to start this business?'�

'Why Carol I didn't realize you have been so overworked - if you are really serious I would suggest you take a seat for a moment.'� Dee began to explain how Carol came into an inheritance when her parents died in a automobile accident one year ago.

Welling up with tears, Carol braced herself against the counter as she suddenly felt like her body was falling. 'So there always has to be a price,'� she quietly complained.

Fighting to regain her 'voice of logic'� - a phrase that everyone was always using to describe her - Carol desperately tried to remember how the day began.

But that train of thought was once again abruptly interrupted as shrieks of horror and gun fire descended from the upper level of the mall.

'Oh my God, there must be a terrorist or lunatic on the loose up there,'� cried an opportunistic female shop lifter who pilfered a bottle of perfume from the counter as Dee and Carol turned to look up the stairway.

The public address system quickly segued from the holiday musak to the sound of a booming voice shouting 'All shoppers take cover and move away from the open walkway!'�

Dee grabbed Carol by the hand and led her away from the kiosk and toward the doorway of a neighboring Old Navy store. More gun fire rocked the mall as customers scattered about in worse confusion than the last minutes of a blue light special.

A bullet ricocheted off of the wall separating the Old Navy from the Gap as the gunman was trying to make his way down to the lower level. Carol's head felt like it was about to explode from the stress overload.

Dee instinctively went to shield her friend Carol from anymore shots - but her brave act cost her a bullet wound in her shoulder. 'Oh my God, Dee!'� Carol shouted.

Reaching down into her very soul, Carol defiantly screeched, 'I never wanted my dream job to be like this!'�

But Carol's brief stint of defiance quickly faded into a daze as she saw the gunman take direct aim on her'�.


And somewhere in another dimension, another Dee and another Dawn appear at the same mall but it's a totally different time as well as circumstance.

'I've got the urge to splurge,'� Dawn said playfully to Dee as she swung her pocketbook back and forth in the air.

'Well we've made it the location where our splurge is to take place - but just how do we plan on financing it?'� Dee asked shouting over a rap version of the Night Before Christmas playing over the mall's intercom.

'Somehow I see gold account credit cards factoring in the equation,'� joked Dawn. How do you think Peggy Bundy on Married with Children came home with all those goodies when her husband Al worked at a shoe store?'�

Dee's attention wavered as she suddenly looked down at the shoes she was wearing; heel-less sandals that screamed the color: fire engine red.

'Well we can start the make-over right here,'� said Dee, pointing down at the shoes. 'I bought these from an outlet when I really had no money - you know - when I worked at Endocorp.'�

'Yes it seems like we were there only yesterday,'� said Dawn, beginning to experience a type of brain fog as her mind fought to distinguish between the two realities that had now been created by the presence of the meteor.

'Yeah, I swore we were just there - swilling down bad eggnog and doing some uneasy listening to some of Wendy's bad jokes,'� Dawn added.

The women then headed for the nearest shoe store on a mission to restore Dee's dignity with a new pair of shoes. 'Can I try these in size seven?'� Dee asked the sales person as she held up a black pair of stilettos.

'Well I see someone is still trying to impress a certain someone,'� Dawn joked to Dee in obvious reference to Steven.

The sales person soon returned with the box and Dee hesitated for a moment before taking the shoes from him. Her mind raced to place his face as she held the unopened box on her lap.

'What are you waiting for - next Christmas?'� Dawn snapped at Dee.

'I'm sorry Dawn, I just felt like I had seen the sales person's face before.'�

Just then a faint rustling seemed to be coming from inside the box. Dee shrieked for the sales person to return as she dropped the carton on the floor.

'Oh my God, please help us!'� Dee cried. Dawn quickly tried to reassure Dee that perhaps a mouse had entered the box while it was in the stockroom.

'Here, let me open the box,'� said Dawn adding, 'We want to shop like crazy - not become crazy shoppers.'�

An eerie sensation took over Dee whose first response was to try to restrain Dawn from opening the box. But Dawn quickly grabbed the box from the floor as she feared the disapproving stares of onlookers worse than the carton's contents.

Removing the lid, Dawn saw an orb-shaped rock with a faint green glow emanating from it. But in an instant, intrigue turned to doubt as the image disappeared.

'There's nothing in this box,'� Dawn cried in disbelief to the same sales person Dee had thought she saw before.

'Please just try to calm down,'� said the sales person whose suit contained a tag with the name Greg engraved on it.

Taking Dawn aside, Dee whispered, 'Things are really getting weird - not only did that box jump - but I recognize that sales person as a man who came to a job interview at Endocorp.'� This man also resembled the gunman in Carol's altered reality.

'I suggest we find another shoe store,'� Dawn replied. As the women walked away from the store, all the shoe boxes shook as if it were a foot wear prison break.

The women's brief attempt to regain their composure was interrupted by the ringing of Dee's cell phone.

'Who could this be? The caller ID says the call is coming from Endocorp,'� Dee cried.

Failing in an attempt to hide her tone of annoyance, Dee managed to blurt out a sharp 'Hello!'�

'Well hello to you too, Dee. This is your poor mother calling with her last few dimes to wish her spoiled, no-good daughter a very, merry Christmas!'�

'I am lucky I could afford to call you as your father is now working a second job to pay the debts you irresponsibly racked up on our credit cards - you miserable bitch!'� screamed a raspy low voice that sounded very much like Dee's mother in tone - but not in character.

Frozen with horror, Dee dropped the phone to the floor and Dawn hurriedly grabbed her by the waist to prevent her from falling down.

'If I am not dreaming, I will soon be screaming,'� Dee said with a gasp. 'That was my mother calling from what I believe to be the future accusing me of running up credit card debt I haven't even charged yet!'�

'I am going to ignore this,'� said Dawn, quickly reaching for a hand bag from a nearby kiosk and readying her wallet for the financial consequence.

'And now what better to do with a new bag but to fill it up with cosmetics,'� said Dawn in a still defiant tone.

'No wait Dawn,'� Dee cautioned. 'Maybe these events are related premonitions warning us to get away from this mall.'�

'Superstitious nonsense,'� snapped Dawn adding, 'that's the same kind of silly talk that has prevented you from asking Steve out for over a year!'�

'Come on I'll show you,'� continued Dawn not stopping to see if Dee was following her or not.

'May I have a sample of your best nighttime face cream?'� Dawn asked the woman at the beauty counter who fought to maintain a non-judgmental expression despite her suspicion.

Reluctantly the woman handed the sample over to Dawn as Dee watched with glazed eyes and an open mouth.

Fighting to speak, Dee inaudibly babbled, 'No'�no'�..no'�.'�

Determined to enjoy the remainder of her shopping spree, Dawn quickly poured the lotion sample into her hands and rubbed it all over her face.

'See, I told you'�.'� Dawn suddenly stopped talking as she felt a burning sensation from the cream. In the same instant, the counter woman fainted and sent a perfume display careening over the counter.

Unable to speak, Dawn peered into the counter's mirror to see a skull looking back at her'�..

And in some other dimension, another future possibility is being created as the meteor's connection with brain matter continues to blend the individual's unspoken desires with their unconscious fears'�.

'Time to wake up Steve. This is your tenth wake up call today,'� said Dee jokingly as she peered over their honeymoon suite's balcony to see the crystal clear blue water surrounding their island get away.

'All'�right,'� Steve replied as he rolled over and pulled Dee's portion of the blankets on their king size bed onto his unresponsive body.

'Just one more yawn and stretch,'� he added.

'Actually at one time I had frequently fantasized about having you trapped in my bed,'� Dee joked.

'Well at least I can now say I have some good reasons why I don't want to get out of bed.'� They both begin with the letter 'S'� as in sleep and sex,'� Steve quipped.

'Back when I used to work at Endocorp, getting out of bed had some negative connotations - but that was before we started going out,'� Steve quickly added in an effort to save Dee's self esteem.

Dee then playfully jumped on top of Steve as she attempted to absorb as much of his love and their luxurious hotel accommodations as she could into her memory.

'Somewhere in our wedding photo album I picture myself beaming with both delight and confidence,'� she added, in reference to her previous self doubts.

'Well don't feel bad about the past honey,'� Steve replied. 'If anyone took all the news, weather and traffic reports' warnings to heart - them and what's left of their confidence would spend the day hiding under the covers. I credit you for bravely hanging in there until I could valiantly rescue you from a life that consisted of re-watching 1980's teen love movies and going to work at Endocorp.'�

'Hence the thriving market for prescription drugs,'� Dee joked imitating the tone of a broadcast news reporter. 'But now the only drug I need is you. And by the way, you rescued me? I believe I was the one who first asked you out - remember it was a leap year which makes it acceptable for the woman to ask the man out.

'Actually,'� Steve countered, 'it was the constant urging of Dawn that made you ask me out. You know, your former coworker who suffers from attention deficit disorder unless the subject is designer fashion.'�

Dee then skillfully wrestled Steve on top of her as she showered him with kisses amidst her giggles. 'I can see you,'� she said in her best playground voice, referring to Steve's reflection in the blank screen of the television located across the room.

'Well I wouldn't mind seeing some TV on the television screen,'� Steve replied.

'Oh no,'� Dee retorted, ' We didn't come all the way to Aruba to watch reality shows and commercials.'�

'But the TV is also equipped with a DVD player,'� Steve pleaded to no avail.

'The TV set remains turned off and the do not disturb sign hangs on our door knob until the week's over,'� Dee countered.

'I just wish we could stay in this room forever,'� Dee added, as she removed the alarm clock from the top of the night stand and tucked it into its drawer.

'Well if forever means you wearing those satin teddy outfits, I'll book my calendar,'� Steve said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

Just then the television clicked on by itself causing the couple to sit straight up. A loud static filled the room and ever so faintly Dee believed what sounded like her voice speaking in a muffled tone.

'Get out of the room'�Get out of the room,'� said the voice emanating from the TV set which gave off a strange greenish glow.

'Well even if we're not watching this thing, I am calling room service for repair since we paid for satellite TV,'� said Steve, who obviously did not hear the vocal message.

Approximately 15 minutes later, a hotel employee arrived to analyze the problem. 'Hello, my name is Greg Simmons. I am here to fix your satellite connection; although I am quite perplexed as to why this would happen when we're experiencing such quiet weather.'�

In five minutes, Greg (who looked exactly like the gunman , the shoe sales person and the prospective job candidate at Endocorp) had the TV back in commission as a very happy voice on the screen narrated a tour of the island on a local cable station.

'Sorry to trouble you, Greg,'� said Dee, fighting to place the familiarity she was experiencing with his name. 'Hey, I love TV too,'� replied Greg awkwardly as he made his way out of the room.

Soon the couple was peacefully resting back in bed as sunshine poured through their window. The next hour passed with the TV set still tuned to the island's cable station as Dee's desire to find the remote waned. The programming described a water fall and its cooling effects in greater detail than most newscasters described the Democrats and Republicans policies for the upcoming election.

A few minutes later both Dee and Steve awoke suddenly as their bodies experienced a falling sensation which caused them both to brace themselves on the mattress.

Glancing out the window, Dee's faced turned white as she saw a bright blue sky suddenly replaced by a black night sky filled with stars. In an instant, the image turned to a frosty wintry condition much like Dee experienced back home.

And then again the image flipped like a slide show to reveal the night sky. At this point, the meteor's life form may have been searching for its birthplace as it frantically fed on Dee and Steve's brain matter before replacing the appropriate scenery in the window.

'Oh my God, what just happened!'� screamed Dee to a horrified Steve. 'You mean you just saw what I saw?'� Steve said as he reached to cradle his head in his hand.

'How could we both have had the same dream simultaneously?'� cried Dee, trying her best to rationalize the event.

'Is it me, or did the temperature just drop in this room about twenty degrees?'� Dee continued. 'They're not killing us with kindness; they're killing us with coldness.'�

'Let me adjust the temperature control for the central air,'� replied Steve, who was more than glad to undertake a mundane task after the shocking event.

'I can't adjust this knob, it won't budge,'� Steve complained. 'Well I say we interrupt Greg again as this room is much too expensive to suffer in.'�

'Hello'�hello'�hello'�,'� Dee repeated, as she failed to get a dial tone on the room's phone.

'Why don't you try our cell?'� Steve asked Dee.

'Because in the spirit of rest and relaxation I left it in the car so we wouldn't be interrupted.'�

'Okay it's my duty and privilege to go find a way to rescue us from this cold,'� said Steve, hoping to regain his fun loving demeanor.

'I can't believe this,'� he said, as he tried in vain to open the room's door.

'It's stuck!'� he shouted, 'I'd say right about now this hotel's management is in desperate need of an expose on 60 Minutes.'�

'What's that sound?'� Dee asked as she cocked her head sideways in an attempt to find the source of the noise.

'Ah! It sounds like running water-it must be coming from the bathroom,'� Steve said as he raced for the faucets.

Dee quickly followed her new husband into the bathroom and the door swung shut behind them with a loud thud.

'Dee, how did both the sink and water faucets get turned on?'�

'I don't know,'� she replied, 'but it feels like it's dropped another 30 degrees in here.'�

The couple each reached to turn the faucets to the off position but the knobs only rotated loosely as if they were about to come off their fixtures.

Trying the door knob to let them out of the bathroom, Steve cried in disbelief as this door was also stuck. Grabbing the handle with both hands he still was unable to open it.

Water continued to pour from the faucets and quickly filled the enclosed room as the water ascended to the height of the couple's knees.

'Oh'�oh'�.oh,'� gasped Dee shivering from both cold and fright. Steve engulfed her with his arms as best he could as they both attempted to shout for help outside their suite.

In ten minutes the frigid water rose to the newlyweds chests and was beginning to congeal to a solid form.

'I can't get the temperature controls to run hot water,'� Steve shouted above the sound of the water.

Both the couple's minds raced to what it was going to be like in their final minutes of survival.

As if granting a demented wish, the meteor's effects in this reality soon turned both Dee and Steve into living ice sculptures to become permanently captive in a hotel room they had wished to stay in forever'�.

'Ach-oooo! Ach-ooo!'� Dee sneezed, apparently allergic to the Angora sweater she was wearing at the company party back in the present reality. Dee fought to clear the fuzzy feeling she was experiencing in her head as she saw Carol, Dawn and Steve each standing stiffly as if they had fallen asleep standing up.

Her nose then caught the scent of a faint burning smell coming from the direction of the tree. 'Oh, it's coming from the Christmas lights,'� she cried.

As Dee scurried to pull the plug from its power source, each of the employee's minds were still immersed in their possible future circumstances.

Back at the mall, Carol fought to shut her eyes as the gun man bore down on her and pulled the trigger'�

Dawn shrieked in horror as she viewed her skinless face in the mirror at the beauty counter'�

Steve prepared to take his last gasp for air as his frozen body clung to his wife in the hotel room's bathroom'�

Back in the present, Dee struggled to pull the prongs of the plug from the power strip as it felt like it was glued into the socket.

A green lightning bolt of electricity shot out from the power strip as Dee pulled on the plug with all her might. Finally, the plug released from the socket and all her friend's bodies fell to the ground.

In their minds, the horror filled scenes began to distort and shimmer like waves in a pool.

Carol watched the gunman's surprise as he watched his weapon waver and break into two pieces.

In disbelief, Dawn watched her skin being patched back onto her face as the face lotion reversed direction and re-entered its sample jar.

Steve hysterically embraced Dee as the frozen water that had imprisoned them started to melt and re-enter the faucets it had come from.

The visions then simultaneously disintegrated from their minds like a bursting bubble.

Back in the present day, everybody slowly got up from the floor except Dee. Steve was overcome by confusion as he saw her lying still on the floor with the plug in her hand.

'Dee'�Dee! Are you all right! Please somebody get her some water,'� he shouted with genuine concern.

A few minutes passed in complete silence as everyone gathered around Dee. Steve gave a sigh of relief as Dee began to stir in his arms.

'Where am I?'� Dee asked in a small voice that was somewhat under her breath.

'Wherever you were, you are now here with us,'� Dawn replied.
In the instant Dee had unplugged the lights from the socket she was sent what could be best described as a computer file filled with the complete memories of her friend's three separate experiences. Apparently, the future experiences her friend's had lived through filtered back from their minds into the power strip as she disconnected the life form's power source.

While she was engaged in the struggle to pull the plug from the socket, the three experiences shot into her mind via the failing life form as it fought to retain life. Knowing that its energy source was about to be disconnected, the life form passed the memories onto Dee in an effort to save them.

The memories, which had gained safe haven in Dee's overwhelmed mind, were no longer retained by Carol, Dawn or Steve.

Dee lost her footing several times as Steve attempted to get her to stand. Managing a weak smile, Dee gazed into Steve's eyes as he caught her body. 'I'm sure glad you were here to save me,'� she mumbled.

'Did you know we are getting married?'� she said to Steve laughing. The look on Steve's face suggested he welcomed her surprise premonition.

'Yeah, well you two could have been married for quite some time if you didn't hesitate so much in admitting the obvious,'� Dawn interjected.

'Hey, it only took the Red Sox 86 years to regain the world championship of baseball back in 2004,'� Steve retorted to Dawn. 'Some accomplishments in life take longer than a sale at Macy's.'�

'This is no time to win personal arguments,'� Carol interrupted. 'Let's get Dee onto one of the sofa's in the reception area.'�

The other employees at the company cut their conversations in mid-sentence to watch Steve carry Dee out to the couch. For them, only about 15 minutes had passed since the party started.

'What is it?'� asked Dawn, in response to the puzzled look on Dee's face. Dee rested on the couch a minute before she replied. 'That man was Greg - you know, the one who interviewed with Wendy. I gave his application to her.'�

'What man was who?'� Steve asked. 'The man,'� Dee continued, 'who appeared in all your day dreams - if that's what they were.'� Dee's voice trailed off as her three friends met her gaze with no recognition that they understood what she just said.

'Wait a minute,'� Steve said, 'Did anything strange occur today? I mean anything weird besides the fact that we spent another day at Endocorp.'�

'Well, when I was carrying the box that contained the tree into the office I must have dragged it on the lawn because when I got it in it had some weird greenish stuff on it that shimmered. But other than that, nothing unusual - the only other thing that was different at this year's party was that I created personalized Christmas bulbs with all your names on them,'� Dee recalled.

'That could be it,'� said Steve, raising one hand into the air as though he was trying to feel his way to the answer. 'I mean I started feeling weird after I touched the bulbs on the tree.'�

'After I had a sneeze attack, I recall seeing you guys appear to be sleeping while standing up,'� Dee added.

'Well, said Carol, 'that's nothing new for Dawn here.'�

'The fact that I caused Dee to sneeze because of my fashionable - yet impractical - sweater gift may have saved all your lives,'� Dawn countered.

'Where is that box?'� Steve asked.

'I had one of the maintenance guys throw it out because someone in customer service thought they saw it shaking and feared a rat was in it,'� Dawn replied.

'Maybe you can retract some of the credit you took earlier for the sweater,'� Carol said to Dawn. 'Without the box we have nothing to prove this strange occurrence.'�

'Yeah, well maybe there's still some way this could be looked into as a paranormal case by some investigative unit,'� Steve said.

'Don't you mean an unexplained scientific case?'� Carol argued. 'I believe every strange occurrence will be explained by science one day.'�

In the next few minutes, Dee provided the full details from the three different scenarios to her friends.

'It's like their real experiences,'� she explained, 'we just haven't lived them yet.'�

'Well, who do we talk to about this?'� Dawn asked, while she tried to remove the look of disbelief from her face.

'We don't tell anybody about this. Not unless we want to viewed like a side show,'� Steve replied.

'I agree. I don't want to be viewed as crazy as Ozzy Osbourne,'� Carol stated.

A few hours passed and the rest of Endocorp's employees filed out the door unaware of the strange event.

As Wendy filed by, she reminded Dee to lock the door. 'Can you also take down the decorations? I don't want come back to an office bathed in green and red after my vacation.'�

Dee then smiled as she recalled Wendy's jealous reaction from one of the future realities she had experienced in her mind. She thought to herself that maybe the experiences were reminding her friends not to let past doubts cast shadows on future days. With a new found confidence, Dee assured Wendy that she would effectively manage the office while she was away.

'I see,'� said Wendy, raising one eyebrow.

'And by the way,'� Dee added with a smile, 'please be very careful if you come across any new kiosks in the mall.'� Wendy then exited the door as a look of curiosity replaced her usual scowl.

'Come on Dawn, 'said Carol, 'let's take a ride to go see my parents. One thing I've learned is that work isn't everything in life.'�

'Sure thing,'� Dawn replied. 'The trip will help me achieve my first step in becoming a former shop-a-holic.'�

Steve then worked up the courage to invite Dee to a meal at Denny's Restaurant.

'I'll go just as long as this is the first of many dates we'll have together for the rest of our lives,'� Dee bargained.

'No doubt!'� Steve answered.

As the workers prepared to exit the office, Steve proclaimed, 'No personalized Christmas bulbs next year.'�

The four employees then exited Endocorp with more wisdom about how to live life then when they had entered.

Fifty years in the future, a forensic scientist named Greg Simmons Junior analyzes a rock sample he found at the abandoned Cranburytown industrial site.

Putting the sample into a machine that performs carbon dating, Simmons thinks to himself he may be onto a discovery that will change the face of science.

An electric charge then encompasses him causing his body to shudder. Standing in the laboratory in a daze, Simmons' mind envisions him spiraling into deep space'�.




THE END

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