"Oh, sure, just a second. Let me get into my swimsuit," Sharon replied. Sharon then took off her casual clothes and put on an elegant black backless evening dress (after making sure Darvinol's card was safely tucked away in her purse).
"You look sensational," Candace told her.
"Thanks, I appreciate that," Sharon said, realizing that her wish had come true in a very strange way. And then she and Candace went down to the university's swimming pool. There was a small crowd of people, all wearing normal clothes, ranging from casual to elegant. Everyone complimented Sharon on her outfit.
Meanwhile, a stranger appeared in the men's locker room. This was Sean, an author who had become a character and was now forced to travel from one 1000-episode to another. Currently, he was wearing a dark robe and a magical backpack full of various items. Under the robe, he was wearing a pair of jeans. Having just arrived here from episode 424000, Sean was mildly surprised to see himself in what appeared to be a modern day setting again. That being the case, he took off his robe and put it in his backpack before wandering out of the locker room.
Sean then found himself staring at a large indoor swimming pool, where people wearing normal clothes were swimming. Some were really struggling as the weight of their wet clothes tended to drag them down. The lifeguards seemed to be rather busy rescuing people; fortunately, the lifeguards were wearing just T-shirts and shorts, though they oddly didn't even bother to take off their shoes and socks when swimming.
And then Sean realized that people were staring at him. Some were muttering, others whispering, while others were giggling.
"Look at him," Candace whispered to Sharon. "He's not even wearing a shirt! He can't go swimming like that!"
"Maybe he's not planning to swim," Sharon suggested.
"But why else would he be here?" Candace asked. "Come on, let's go talk to him."
"But I don't want to..." Sharon started as Candace grabbed her arm and dragged her along.
"Hi there," Candace said to Sean as they approached him. "Are you really gonna go swimming dressed like that?"
"Oh, uh, I suppose not," Sean said.
"See, I told you," Sharon said.
"But what's wrong with everyone," Sean asked. "Why aren't they wearing swim suits or anything?"
"They are," Candace told him, somewhat indignantly. "Look, there," she said, pointing to some guys who were dressed in full three-piece suits. They were staying near the shallow area of the pool to minimize their chances of drowning. "They're wearing more in the way of a suit than you are!"
"But people aren't supposed to wear so much when swimming," Sean complained. "That's just not right."
"Oh, and how would you dress to go swimming?" Candace asked him.
Sean had had enough. "Here, I'll show you," he said, as he stripped down to his underwear. "See, you don't need more than this!"
"You can't swim dressed like that," Candace told him.
"Oh, yeah, you want to bet?" he asked her before jumping into the pool. "Catch me if you can," he told the girls as he began swimming laps. The other swimmers were in shock at Sean's lack of propriety and amazed at how fast he could swim, since fully dressed men usually swam much slower.
After he felt he had proved his point, Sean swam back to Sharon and Candace, and got out of the pool, with his wet briefs clinging almost indecently to his body. "There, how was that?"
At this point, two security guards approached Sean. "Sir, that attire is unsuitable."
"Sorry, it's all I've got," Sean said, trying to sound flip and failing.
"You will put on appropriate clothing and come with us," the other guard told him, thrusting a three-piece suit (complete with shirt, tie, dress socks, and dress shoes) at him.
"I don't think so," Sean began, but then noticed one of the guards reaching for his gun. "Oh, fine, whatever." The guards took Sean back to the locker room, where he was forced to switch clothes. The guards hadn't brought a change of underwear and Sean didn't feel like wearing wet briefs, so he took those off to 'go commando' before putting on the suit. However, he decided to get the anti-remote belt (which was in his backpack which he'd left here in the locker room) and put it on, though it clashed a bit with his suit.
"That's much better, sir," one of the guards said. "Now, you are appropriately dressed to go swimming."
Sean picked up his backpack and frowned. This world seemed to be incredibly repressive. Perhaps there was something he could do about it. He wandered back to the pool to talk to Sharon. Maybe she knew why the world was like this and what could be done to fix it.
Wed Aug 10 10:53:16 2005
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