“So what do you really look like?”

“Oh, it’s not possible for you to conceive. I mean, physically impossible. It’s nothing personal. I still think you’re cute.”

Pam sits across from me at the Spoonbender. Her eyes are almond shaped and maybe a little wide set. But other than that, there’s nothing that would tell you she’s from the fourth dimension. So I keep digging.

“I’ve seen a hypercube—a tesseract. It’s a fourth-dimensional cube, right? And it’s still made of squares and cubes, just kind of nested. Is that what you’re like? “Kaleidescpe eyes” and all that?”

She takes a paper napkin and rolls it into a tube, then takes a big spoonful of milkshake and carefully stuffs the napkin with it.

“Space cannoli!” she says.

“No, but seriously,” she continues. “Seeing—as you understand it—is totally wrapped up in 3D paradigms. The closest you can get to it in this dimension is thinking about a hyperobject—something that exists for you in the here and now, but also next week, next year, in a decade, and it changes as you move through time, and as you look back at it you can see the scope of it more for what it is.”

“Hmmm. Ok I can see that.”

“Yeah ok but it’s not like that at all.”

She looks at me with her wide set almond eyes.

“Space cannoli?”

I caught something in my 4D trap. Her name is Pam. Well, she says to use she/her pronouns, because that's the closest approximation of her gender in this dimension. It seems about right.

I went to the bus stop early to check my trap and Pam was there waiting for the bus.

“No, I’m waiting for you. You’re the one who left the trap, right? Those things are dangerous, you know. Really, they ought to be outlawed. You shouldn’t just go fishing people out of higher dimensions like that. What gives you the right?”

“I, uh, no! I mean, I didn’t...”

“Aw I’m just pulling your leg. Those things are more like free dimensional taxis than traps. You can’t miss them, and they’re great for slipping out when you need to get away.”

“Get away from what?”

“From Izzy. Hey why don’t you show me around? I’m doing a paper on 3D dating customs. Maybe you can help me out.”

And that’s how we ended up at the Spoonbender, sharing a precognitive malted.

From the instructions that came with the 4D gun from the future:

The lens must have an unimpeded view of the 180 degree target area. Make sure the legs of the mount are out of the way of all foot traffic, and that the unit will not be removed by maintenance or security workers in the area, as it can take some time until the Minkowski lines are triggered and the 4D gun fires.

When the unit has been activated and you've captured a 4D entity in your trap, you'll receive an alert on your phone. Follow all included safety recommendations when viewing the entity (see appendix 2a), and always check your magnetic Klein bottle for ruptures between uses.

The bus stop near my house must be a "thin place." That's what D'rp D'rp Gblrpbl says. And it's getting thinner and thinner.

"Thinner and thinner," he says. "Entropy is what it is. Just like how that worn spot on your jeans isn't getting any less worn, or a glass of milk can't unspill itself."

This morning I was waiting to get on the bus and people were getting off. There were four people, all different types. But each one had a word for me as they passed.

"Reach"

"the"

"stunning"

"conclusion."

What does it mean?

"No use cryin'," says D'rp D'rp Gblrpbl.

"You had a reverse Schrödinger.”

That’s what D'rp D'rp Gblrpbl told me. He’s the Fish King in exile. He’s hundreds of years old, and kind of lonely. He teaches swimming at the school.

I was telling him how I walked to the bus stop and then watched the bus drive right by me. Because I wasn’t at the bus stop. The real bus stop was down the street. So why was I standing there?

“Was there a coil involved?”

On my way to the bus a guy stopped me and asked if there was a place he could buy a coil nearby. I told him I didn’t know, but my mom’s car was in the shop because it needed a new one.

“You’re sensitive to these things,” D'rp D'rp Gblrpbl went on. “Your mind was on one reality, but your body was in another. Body won.”

But what did coils have to do with it?

Anyway, I put it on the map.

I’ve made a map from my Schrödinger's Journal—and put it on the school’s LIMINAL server so you can check it out and add to it if you want. I want to see if there are patterns where these “clues” appear. Are there places where things are more likely to change? Or places where I’m more likely to notice that something changed? Is reality “weaker” in some places? Post your own on the map and let’s find out!

Excerpts from my Schrödinger's Journal:

Best friend's hair is different. Friend says it's always been that way.

The old dusty car parked across the street was maroon. Now it's black, with flames painted on it. Still dusty.

@909seqoia909's teeth are noticeably smaller.

The alphabet now has only 26 letters.

Leaf, shadow, or moth? I just went through three phases of reality deciding which one it’s going to be. After the dots appearing on the sidewalk, I’m keeping a Schrödinger's Journal of the subtle reality shifts. I saw the dried up leaf on the tip of a plant next to the fence and could have kept on going, but when I decided to look harder it was clear it was just a shadow. I could have kept on going but when I reached out to touch it it flit away. The closer you look at things the more you shift your reality. But are they just random, lateral shifts, or is each one closer to a deeper reality? Obviously intentionality plays a role in the viewpoint of the observer.

Meanwhile there’s posters up for the Evil Scene Kids Rave tonight, but pastel polo shirts with fishnet tops and leather pants just aren’t my thing.

Woke up today and everything was a little bit different. Ok no only one thing was different—there’s a formation of dots pressed into the cement of the sidewalk that wasn’t there before I swear. It’s like six dots on a domino, but isn’t new!! There’s like dirt and moss on it. What is up with that??!

The most useful thing I've learned in class is to imagine yourself in different costumes when you're in different situations. So during my day, some people get the full mechanized armor costume, some people get the Green Man™ welcoming tree person costume, but most people get the Brazil Carnival Samba costume.