Growing into the Job, Post 557: Released to the Wild, p1

"Two MegaPink chillers, a latte and a black coffee. That's twenty-one seventy-nine," the barista at the coffee shop smiled as she read the register display. "How would you like to-" 

Josie was already holding out two crisp bills. 

"Cool trick!" exclaimed the girl behind the counter.

"Eh?" asked Josie, genuinely perplexed.

"With the money," explained the shop-girl, younger even than herself, "Making it just appear like that."

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Josie had opened her purse, grabbed the bill, closed her purse and offered the cash. She hadn't intended for her movements to be so quick that the young blonde barista had confused them for a magician's sleight-of-hand, but there it was. Only now did she realize what she’d done - Wait. Had I really just moved that fast? For a moment, she was a bit embarrassed, aware of just how different she was becoming. 

But then she heard herself chuckle, and answer the girl with some self-deprecating joke. “Magic Trick. Reeeeally cool, right?” Still, she felt a little rush, a new thrill of power. Not only was her crazy living hair this new thing, but she was really strong and now apparently had super fast reflexes. Her sense of confidence and control grew even further as she paid for the coffees and took her change. She smiled at how the four extra-large drinks on the carry-out tray felt weightless in her right hand as she lifted them and turned, beginning to stride regally away from the counter.

But halfway to the door, Josie stopped.

One of the wall-mounted flatscreens above the seating area caught her eye - muted, but running subtitles. The cheerful background of a morning talk show had shifted to something that, to Josie, seemed more serious. A news alert banner scrolled across the bottom of the screen that said something about the president of that country in Europe. But it was the main image on the screen that captured Josie’s attention...

On Fox Women, the anchor's lips moved as a B-roll played: a sequence of photos and shaky vertical videos, most of them taken in city squares, crowded malls, or nighttime streets. They looked like they’d been taken from various social media sites and showed women - tall women. Unmistakably large women, often two at a time, sometimes with normal-sized men for the shocking size contrast. Not just a little tall. Towering.

Something about it immediately made Josie uneasy.

Each shot looked like a candid or selfie, often taken from below, giving the women an even more imposing look. In some, the two women being filmed wore matching workout gear or identical dresses, posing confidently among clusters of gawking bystanders. In others, they were strolling through plazas in heels, sipping wine in a café, dancing at a festival.

In every image, one detail was constant: these women were massive. Heads and shoulders above the rest. Some smiled. Some glared at the camera like challengers. And they were everywhere: Barcelona, Osaka, Prague, Mumbai.

The captions read:

"Giant Women in Public Spaces – Coordinated Social Media Campaign?"
"Not Just Girls - Grown Women, Standing Head and Shoulders Over the Crowd"

The anchor’s voice came through in snippets from the subtitles, and Josie glanced at the shadowy reflection of herself in the large plate glass window of the shop. The parking lot, where her friends and Dr J. waited, was out there, but she saw only her own dramatic figure - newly tall, newly shapely, newly athletic. She felt a lock of her hair curl at the base of her neck. 

“…these are not just adolescent girls, outgrowing the boys in their cohort…”

She looked back at the TV, a hand going to her nape, to tame the serpentine strand. 

“…the footage appears to have started coming in to news outlets after the recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Health…”

Josie released her mane, looked down at her own hand, made a fist.

“…but we’re seeing full-grown women - even middle-aged - taking part in what some are saying is a coordinated effort…”

Was she one of these women? Was she part of some great conspiracy and didn’t even know it?  Were she and all her friends, even Melissa, just tools? Weapons? To Josie, there seemed to be something eerily different about these women in the news segment. But still…

Acutely, she felt eyes on her, patrons sipping coffees and chai lattes in their seats, stealing glances at her. Were they watching the same news piece, and thinking the same thing about her, that she was part of some viral movement?

“…though no official statement from any known group or government body…”

Then, just as quickly, the segment ended - pivoting to a cheerful graphic announcing a segment on “Power Foods to Beat Fall Fatigue.”

Josie blinked. Shook her head. Tried to clear the weird thoughtfulness and  sense of danger the piece had stirred in her chest. She stood there a moment longer, the tray in her hand still perfectly level, the drinks unmoving.

Then she turned - an older man, who’d gone goggle-eyed at her figure, had opened the door for her - and she walked briskly out to the car.

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thanks so much to DeviantArtist Pierocascobox for the image used on the TV screen in this post's visuals. Check out his stuff for a look into a world we here at theBasic hope comes to pass.