Alex’s body moved on its own, rapidly scooping spoonfuls of stew into his mouth. He was in a trance, unable to consume the food in front of him fast enough. The rich, fatty flavor along with his empty stomach activated an animalistic frenzy in Alex. It wasn’t until the bowl was empty that he noticed the woman standing beside him holding a stack of neatly folded clothing.

She said something to him and handed the garments to Alex. Alex made eye contact with her and with the utmost sincerity said, “Thank you so much. I don’t know who you are and I don’t even care. You’re a lifesaver.”

The woman looked surprised. She placed the clothes on the table, then pointed to him and with her other hand, tapped her ear. She spoke loudly with a tone Alex interpreted as a revelation. She must have thought he was deaf! The woman began to laugh. Alex followed suit, though his was a little more of an expression of relief than amusement. He could see how the misunderstanding might have spawned. Not knowing the language, he may as well have been deaf.

Alex felt lucky that he wasn’t deaf, though, because he liked hearing the woman’s beautiful and calming voice. It had a motherly quality to it as well as something Alex couldn’t quite place.

The woman pointed to the clothes she had brought Alex and said “Ze’o”. Alex stood up and grabbed the pants. They were gray and felt a little like leather, though they must have weighed a small fraction of that. 

Alex stepped through the leg holes, but less than a second after pulling the pants up to his waist he felt a burst of energy surge throughout his body, as if his blood suddenly became caffeinated. His heart rate began to elevate as the pants radiated a blue light and emit a low-frequency hum. Alex yelped and scrambled to remove the pants, startled at the sudden life they had. As soon as the garment had been removed from his body he stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over the chair he’d been seated in seconds prior.

The woman looked confused by his reaction. She repeated the word again.

“Ze’o.”

“What’s going on? What does that mean? What just happened?” Alex shouted, panicked.

“Tiap keb diggos ze’o,” the woman said and pointed to the pants.

Alex looked at the pants he’d ditched next to the table. ‘What could she possibly mean?’ he asked himself. Alex was dazed, knocked mentally out of place by the spontaneous sound and light that had come from an ordinary-looking piece of clothing.

“Ze’o,” Alex repeated the word to the woman.

The woman nodded, “Ze’o,” she confirmed.

Alex shrugged, shaking his head and repeating the word, trying to tell her that he didn’t understand.

The woman’s eyebrows furrowed and her hands balled into fists.

She raised her voice, “Ze’o! Ze’o!” she said.

Alex shook his head and shrugged again. He didn’t know how much clearer he could be with this woman. “Parlez-vous français? ¿Hablas español? Sprichst du Deutsch?”

The woman ignored him and suddenly began to remove her own pants. Alex whipped his head and his hands shot in front of his face.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, his confusion reaching new levels. 

“Ueio!” the woman yelled.

Alex shut his eyes, “What do you want from me!?” he cried.

The woman approached him, grabbed his wrists and moved his hands away from his face. Her grip was firm, but not aggressive. She held his head in her hands and Alex opened his eyes. “Ueio,” she said calmly, tilting his head up to meet her gaze. She let go of his head and stepped back, then pointed to her eyes and said it again, “Ueio.”

Alex realized what she was saying. She was telling him to “look”. Alex nodded slowly. He pointed to his own eyes with one hand and with the other he pointed to her. He spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, “Ueio,” telling her that he understood the word.

The woman stepped further back to make room for her demonstration. She began to remove her pants. Alex felt pretty uncomfortable as the woman slid her pants down, he continued to “ueio”. Though this woman had just fed him, she was much taller and more muscular than he was and could easily break any of his bones if she wanted to. He didn’t want to frustrate her any more than he already had.

Once the woman had completely removed her pants, they began to fade from the light, sky-blue they were before into the same gray color as the ones she had given him. She started to put them back on and as she did, she repeated the word that had given them both such a hard time before.

“Ze’o,” she spoke slowly.

With the pants now completely around her hips, she quickly held up her hand and said “Yakis’e”. The pants began to glow and hum exactly as the other ones had. Alex squinted. The glowing began to subside and the hum gradually got quieter until, finally, it stopped. The woman pointed to her pants, which were now back to being blue, and repeated the word.

“Ze’o.”

Staticky crackles filled the room, making Alex’s neck and arm hairs stand at attention. An invisible energy tickled his bare skin, making him feel like he was standing in the noise of an analogue television set. Gradually, the electrical sensation faded away and the room fell silent once more.

Alex, though confused by the extremely unusual behavior of the pants, walked over to the ones that he had jumped out of and picked them up. He examined them thoroughly, running his hand along the waistband, down the legs, then holding them up to the light. There was nothing about them that screamed “abnormal”. 

Alex bent over, put one leg through and then the other. He pulled the pants up to his waist and they lit up and began to hum. Alex felt the familiar rush of energy from before. He waited for them to cease their bizarre behavior and once they had, they were the same light sky-blue as the woman’s were.

The woman spoke. “Do you know what I am saying?” she asked.

Alex looked at her with wide eyes, stunned. He understood her!