text: So I saw this prompt on writing prompts and thought it would be a fun challenge to write such a story, but keep it SFW and wholesome. The original post was apparently removed, but I felt like sharing the story somewhere else. Tim looked in the mirror one more time. "You knew you'd have to go out to the store sometime... but like this?" He reached for his jacket, but the empty coat hook reminded him what had happened. Like be could forget considering how he was "dressed" Tim instead grabbed his keys off the counter and headed for his front door. He stopped again at the hallway mirror. "This really is crazy." He said aloud. "But you can't ear cereal forever." - The first few steps to the sidewalk didn't feel particularly strange, then the realization of what he was doing hit all at once. "You're walking down your street like this. Heading to the supermarket 'dressed' like this. This surely isn't legal." It technically wasn't. However, since the event one week ago had effected everyone, even the town's police department, there wasn't much that could be done about it. You can't really go and arrest everyone for so something even the police were doing. Mr. Stevens gave a wave from his garden, which Tim returned. Everyone seemed to be living in a state of perpetual denial. Not that they didn't believe that the event had occurred, only that it was easier to act like nothing was out of the ordinary, than to make a scene every second of the day. The streets were less crowded than usual, but there was still foot traffic. Tim stood waiting for the signal to change along with Mrs. Nichols and her daughter Sarah. They exchanged pleasantries about the weather and how lucky it was they had such a nice week of warm weather. Sarah said she was happy school was canceled for the week, but her mother assured her it would be starting again tomorrow as the announcement had said on the news. As the light changed, the crowd continued on their way as they normally would. The sound of bare feet padding on the pavement as everyone went on their way. - Tim reached the supermarket, shivering from the sudden blast of air conditioning as the automatic doors slid open. Mrs. Nichols was placing her daughter into a cart and making her way into the pharmacy aisles while other patrons milled about collecting their weekly supplies. Alex was mopping a spill in a nearby aisle, but was missing his usual "junior sales associate" apron, but that was to be expected considering the circumstances. Tim made his way through the maze of aisles, tossing in whatever he thought he needed. His trip to the freezer section was much less crowded than he was used to and another blast of cold air gave him an idea as to why. "Ah Tim! I haven't seen you since ah... a week ago." John rolled his cart alongside Tim's. They hadn't seen eachother since last week at work, when the workday was cut short and everyone was given the option to work from home. "Crazy isn't it? Everyone's just..." he gestured vaguely at the air around him. Tim scanned the aisles again. "Yeah its definitely different. Only took a week for everyone to just go back to living huh?," John chuckled "well, the only options are hide in your house or try to keep some semblance of normalcy." "This isn't exactly normal John." John shrugged bashfully, "well no. It's not, but what else can we do?" He had a point. To be fair Tim was proving his point right now by having left his house for the market. "I know, I know. Just never imagined I'd be standing in Mary's like, well, like this." Tim said, vaguely gesturing as John had. "Yeah yeah... well, listen, Erica sent out that email about how we could go back in to work if we were, uh up to it. You can work from home if you want still, but I was thinking of, well going in and was wondering if you were..." Tim suddenly felt like he was running complex math equations in his head. "I... I could come in tomorrow. Getting a pit stir crazy I guess just working in my house." John smiled, "ah, well then I'll see you tomorrow!" And with that he rolled his squeaky cart toward the checkout. Tim made a few more laps of the aisles collecting the last of his groceries and joined the queue for the checkout. Mary sat behind the register, scanning each item as it came, making polite conversation all the while. Her usual store apron hung on a rung behind the counter. "Haven't seen you in for awhile Tim." "Ah yeah, well, you know." She let out a quick laugh, "No need to explain dear. I think its obvious why." Tim laughed as well, "yeah. Guess you're seeing that a lot this week." "We're all seeing things differently these days dear" she said, typing away at the register. "Alright, there's your total dear" she said, turning the display. Tim reached for his back pocket to grab his wallet, but froze. "Erm... Mary. You won't believe this, but-" "Forgot it in your pair at home?" She said, with a wry smile. "Uh, something like that." He said, embarrassed. "I can leave this all with you and run home and get-" "You're not the first one today dear, and probably not the last. Just bring the receipt back tomorrow and we'll get it taken care of" "You're the best Mary!" Tim said, as he collected his bags. "I know dear. It's why I'm still working at my age." - Tim took a longer route home. He passed through the park, where the usual activities were taking place, despite the changes. A frisbee flew by with a dog in fast pursuit. He heard laughter from the playground's direction and a few people were lounging in the grass enjoying the summer weather. He could almost feel himself being disappointed if the change suddenly stopped tomorrow. It is definitely that, a change, but it's something he could see himself getting used to this.