By the Slice

A man eating a slice of pepperoni pizza looked closely at one of the disks of pepperoni and was surprised to see that what had at first looked like a fleck of oregano was actually a very tiny man, also eating a slice of pepperoni pizza.

He (the first man) looked up in alarm. The girl at the counter, chewing gum and staring blankly, shifted her gaze slightly to look at him and grinned. Down on the pizza the tiny man seemed to look up too. In fact, he seemed to follow the movements of the larger man exactly. Seemed to set down his slice of pizza and lean towards it, placing both hands on the table so that his elbows poked out. He (they) looked up at the ceiling, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. The pizza parlor had foam ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights. They looked down to see the little men on their pizzas and wondered if they were going crazy. Wondered if they should try to pick the little men off the pepperoni. Take them home.

They stared at the pizza for some minutes. They were just about to pack the slices in to-go boxes when they looked one last time at the littler men, and saw only flecks of oregano. They (he) laughed and looked around the shop. The girl stopped grinning and turned away to busy herself with the napkin holder.

He picked up the slice and took a big bite that encompassed the piece of pepperoni. It got very dark all of a sudden, and he paused for a moment. Then he braced himself and started chewing.