Evolution

When it was safe to emerge from their houses, they did so blinking against the bright sunlight (stretching and groaning as if they had just come out of hibernation). 3442 Oakwood introduced his lush lumberjack beard to the world, happier in his new identity as a rumpled loafer than he had ever been as a generously hair-gelled mover and shaker. 3444 Oakwood fell to her knees in the driveway in the midst of a religious experience, and everyone just left that alone. 3546 Oakwood wandered down the street with fresh-baked cinnamon rolls for everyone, jovial and open to friendship for the first time really (thanks to the love found in the margins of his mother's old cookbooks). And 3660 Oakwood, sparkling and smelling of sandalwood, radiant and sure-footed, spread the wings that she had grown in magical seclusion. She could feel the others in place at last (could hear them in her thoughts), and smiled warmly. It was time.