Then he danced. Not well. Not gracefully. But freely.

The Blondes cheered. A security guard yelled at them. They ran, laughing, down the ramp, John’s heart hammering with something he hadn’t felt in years: delight.

John thought. “I tried a new flavor of yogurt last Tuesday. Strawberry.”

He kept the kazoo on his desk. Just in case.

John Persons had a lifestyle that most people would call aggressively ordinary. He woke at 6:15 AM, ate a bowl of bran flakes, commuted 22 minutes to a gray cubicle, and returned home by 6:00 PM to watch nature documentaries with the volume set to an even number. His entertainment was safe, predictable, and beige.