Boss settled back in his chair, and looked down at his supper. He'd been served the same gray matter every evening all his life. At least he thought so. It was a little unclear, his memory. Always had been, he supposed. Or maybe not. He couldn't remember.

He ate his gray meal in silence. There were others around the table, but they were silent also. Following his lead. He was Boss, after all. He shoveled in his last gray mouthful, pushed his sturdy gray chair back from the table, and stood up. He glanced around at the others, and saw that they had each stood up as well, right on schedule. Every plate was equally clean, with the same gray spoons placed in the same position at every place. Boss gave the nod and each man departed, streaming efficiently through the caffeteria door. Boss lingered at the door a moment, looked back at the table. It was untouched, yet he knew that by tomorrow it would be cleaned and reset. Who did this? What did they look like?

He sighed, and headed out the door. The hall was as gray as the caffeteria. It was only a few steps to the door of his room. It opened quietly as he approached. It always did that. He stepped into his room, and the door closed behind him. Why did it do that? Why couldn't he open and close his own door, for once? Why was everything done for him? Why was everything always the same?

Boss shuddered, and lay down on his cot. It was gray and utterly unadorned--no pillows, no blankets, not even any sheets. It took up most of the room. There was a light in the ceiling, flat and gray. It snapped off, exactly thirty-four seconds after he lay down. Why didn't he ever get to decide if he wanted the light on or not? What brought these thoughts to his mind? It had always been like this--hadn't it? Then why was he suddenly assailed with so many foreign thoughts? What made him think of changeing, if he'd never know anything else? Certainly none of the others had mentioned it. Or had they? He couldn't remember. It was exhausting to think about, and he fell into a fitfull sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a sound like cloth tearing, and Boss found himself in the hall. It looked different somehow, but he couldn't think of how. Then it dawned on him. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all gray as usual, but there was a miniscule border of electric pink running along the edges. The border grew larger and larger, until the only gray left was right around Boss's feet. This gray suddenly dropped out from beneath him, and he was falling, falling through a vast expanse of blue. He landed with a thump in a large black chair. It had cushions. Boss stood up to look at it. Then he sat back down, glorying in the feel of the chair giving in to his weight ever so slightly. There was a small black table in front of him. There were a couple of large gray boxes on top of it, one with a square of black in its middle. Boss paid no attention to these. There was something else on the table. It was flat like a plate, but square instead of round, and it flopped when he picked it up. It had a frightening picture on it, of what he couldn't quite tell. Boss screamed, and held the picture at arm's length.

A creature burst into the room, a bag swinging from its shoulder. It grabbed the hideous picture out of Boss's hand, and put it back on the table. "Honey," it said, "it's only a mousepad. I know you don't like Mickey Mouse, but it's for Michael, and you really don't use the computer that much. I think it's only fair to let him choose his own mousepad."

"What are you?" Boss stared up at the creature, petrified.

It frowned. "I'm--I'm your wife, Bob. I'm Lilian. Don't you even remember me?"

"No."

Lilian sighed. "Well, come on. We're going to see Dr. Thomas, okay?"

"Okay." Lilian grabbed his hand, and led him out the door, down some stairs. "What's that noise?"

"Michael's watching the telethon."

"Telethon?"

"Yeah, you know, the Jerry Lewis one."

Boss didn't know, but he followed Lilian out the door and let it rest. He closed the door behind himself. It felt wonderful.

Lilian led him to an odd shape. The floor here was green and brown, and the ceiling was blue. The walls were all kinds of strange colors, and Boss tried not to look at them. Lilian went to the other side of the shape, opened a door, and got in it. Boss looked confused, and Lilian opened a door for him, too. "Get in, Bob."

Boss sat down in the shape, and closed the door. He was getting the hang of this. He turned to Lilian. "Who is Dr. Thomas?"

"The neurosurgeon." The shape was moving now, with them in it. Boss bravely stifled the urge to scream again.

He looked around inside the shape. There was a square pink think in semi-transparent wrapping in front of him. "What's that?"

Lilian glanced at it. "That's a piece of bubblegum. You can have it, if you want."

Boss picked it up and took off the wrapping. He turned it over, looking at it.

"You chew it, Bob, don't you remember that either?" Lilian sounded annoyed.

He put the bubblegum in his mouth and chewed on it. It tasted wonderful. Not at all like the usual gray matter. "Lilian, why do you keep calling me Bob?"

"Because that's your name."

"No it's not."

"Don't do this to me Bob, please. I can't take it." Something was shimmering in Lilian's eyes, and Boss knew somehow that he had made her unhappy--and he was sorry for it.

"Of course, Lilian, of course it is. I'm sorry, I--I guess I just forgot." The shape stopped, and Lilian opened her door and got out. Boss watched her carefully, and did the same to his own door. He closed it with smile. Lilian took his hand, and they walked toward another shape, bigger this time. Suddenly Boss stopped. "What is a neurosurgeon?"

"It's a brain doctor, honey, he's going to help you think more clearly."

"I don't want to go see a neurosurgeon. I think fine now."

"Bob, listen to me, you don't remember anything. You don't remember how to play the bagpipes, you don't remember what to do with bubblegum, you don't even remember me."

"Sure I do, you're Lilian. Bubblegum is for chewing." Another creature came walking toward them. It had something coming out of its nose. "Lilian, what does that thing have on its nose?"

"Honey, that's a teenager, not a *thing*, and he's wearing a nose ring."

The teenager came closer, and Boss got a good look at its nose ring. It had a picture of a smilie face. Boss could only stare at it in horror, as its mouth opened in a long, evil laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boss sat up with a start. He was on his cot, and he looked around in the gray light. The door was open, and Clock-keeper was peering in. "Hey Boss, didn't you hear the alarm? Director wants another game. Come on, man, what's wrong with you?"

Boss stood up, combed a hand through his hair, and shrugged the stiffness out of his shoulders. He stepped into the gray hall, and his door closed quietly behind him.