continued…

Out on the street again outside the gallery I noticed that several buildings on the next block were turning inside out and then back again to right side in. I walked down to get a closer look.

A woman dressed completely in what looked to be an outfit made of pink roses with a pink dog on her shoulder was standing across the street from the convulsing buildings. She was looking intently at them as they gyrated through each cycle. The front entrance to each building was just wide enough to make it possible to shove its inner walls and structures though. Once the inside was completely out, taking about seventeen seconds, it looked incredibly ridiculous. Kind of like a massive dollhouse exploded and reassembled with a lot of care but not much thought. After the entire thing was inside out, the whole process reversed itself, which for some reason only took eleven seconds. I approached the rose lady and asked her what was going on with those buildings.

“Well, you know,” she replied in a matter-of-fact way, “I wouldn’t want to live in one myself, mind you. But they are kind of fascinating in their own way.”

I introduced myself and she courteously answered, “Nice to meet you. My name is Pretty Polly Pink Rose.”

“Why is it that those buildings across the street are turning inside out?”

“I suppose it’s better than doing nothing other than sitting there motionless all day long, day after day after day, forever and ever and ever. Probably gives them a bit of variation.”

“I had no idea that steel, brick and mortar was so elastic.”

We both dodged a large couch and blender that was thrown clear of the heaving and twisting going on. The blender smashed in a hundred pieces on the sidewalk. The couch faired a lot better but was still scuffed up and ripped in many places.

“Well, you know, it happens more often than you might think. One day you think you’re living in a perfectly sound, respectable little apartment unit; and the next thing you know it’s jumping up and down or twisting inside out. You know, I heard once that a five-story section of a condo unit got up and danced right down the street. Wish I had seen that one. A lot of them eventually settle down after freaking out for a while but as I heard that condo was never seen again.”

“But what causes them to freak out?”

“Who can tell? Probably the buildings next to it. Or the atmospheric conditions. Perhaps the astrological sign it was built under. Or would it be the sign under which it was financed? Whatever,” she finally concluded with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“What about the people that live in them.”

“Well, I suppose they’re lucky if they aren’t inside when it happens. Or if they happen to be inside, they would be lucky to get out alive. I’ve seen people mangled very badly. It’s quite thrilling. Nasty business, of course, though. Terribly sad and tragic and all that.”

The sidewalk across the street was already filled with refuse the building was spitting out. The street was starting to get congested and the sidewalk, opposite the building, on which we were standing, was beginning to fill up as well. The whole area looked like a badly disorganized rummage sale.
“I hope no one was hurt this time,” I said looking around and not seeing any mangled people among the wreckage on the sidewalks around the buildings.

“No, not a soul. I understand the House of Legislature is supposed to be doing something about it.”

“What are they trying to do? Could they pass a law that would stop buildings from doing this sort of thing?”

“Well, I don’t know. They ought to do something.”

“But, what?”

She completely ignored my question and said, “Think I’ll go get a bite to eat until the next report comes up.”

“Next report?”

“Of a building doing this sort of thing. I follow the action.”

“Oh. Are you studying it for possible causes or something?”

She looked irritated and replied, “No. I just like to watch.”

With that she turned away and started walking rapidly down the street. The little pink dog on her shoulder hadn’t even moved the whole time I was talking to her. As she walked away, though, it turned around to look at me and barked several times.