Conditional Reality

Dialtone Snowplow lived on a farm but dreamed of an urban life. She got her chance one day when a tornado tore through her land and turned her house and barns into kindling. Dialtone chose not to rebuild. She sold her land and bought a condo near the financial district in the city. Each morning she read the newspaper at a nearby coffee shop. She watched the passersby who all smelled odd to Dialtone. She had never known people scrubbed so clean of odors. Dialtone felt uneasy watching them. She closed her eyes and smelled the sound of their footsteps.