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The student knocked on the door of the apartment, which opened while his fist was still clenched. A wiry man stood inside, with facial hair that pointed chaotically in every direction. His limbs were thin as treetop branches, his digits were practically chopsticks with joints.
“Are you Derrick?” Asked the man to the student.
“Yeah. Are you Gerald?” Asked Derrick to the man who he previously only knew on Kijiji.
“Yeah,” said Gerald. “Welcome. Please leave your shoes right there.” Gerald was pointing to Derrick’s right, but it was only when Derrick walked in that he realized what precisely would accommodate his footwear.
“Uh… why is there a swirling sphere of darkness next to the door of this apartment?” Asked Derrick.
“Oh that’s just a black hole,” said Gerald. “It’s pretty tiny if you remove the magnets and protective glass, which are just there to prevent things from falling in.”
“The glass has a hole in it,” said Derrick.
“Uh yeah, that’s where you keep your shoes,” said Gerald. “Don’t worry, you can grab them from the bright hole on your way out.”
Derrick weighed his options and realized finding a new pair of shoes would be a lot easier than finding another available apartment in the Kitchener Waterloo area before the school term started. So he took off his shoes and held them to his right. When he let go of the shoes, they fell sideways into the black hole’s gravity well, lost to space and time.
“So uh, can I see the room?” Said Derrick. In his stage of life and his world’s stage of economic development, he could only rent a single room in an apartment to himself.
“Right this way,” said Gerald. His thin arms were an effective indicator of direction. “You’re in the university right? Studying engineering?” Gerald asked.
“No, just math,” said Derrick. But before they could enter the bedroom, Derrick noticed something on the living room wall.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Derrick. “Is that the set of all sets that don’t contain themselves?”
Gerald rolled his eyes. “Let’s be real, no students actually live in the living room.”
Each part was written in 15 minutes in a Joy of Writing session.