Suzy drove her car poorly and Emma would've been annoyed at how the ditz drove, but she was completely locked onto the laptop screen resting against the glove box door. While Heather and Jeff's sister in the back seat looked for the boys -er- dogs, Emma weighed all the options on what could be done to Tony St. Martin. So many choices. Every creature that ever lived. Every permutation of that creature. But one quickly came to mind for the symbolism of it, an ass. She remembered the Roman story her aunt had mentioned. The ultimate humiliation of an egotistical young roman man had been his transformation into an ass, the animal embodiment of stupidity and lust. The ungainly, ugly nature of one was a bonus, but to turn Tony St. Martin into the symbol of stupidity . .
Emma laughed and laughed.
She made some final choices from among the cafeteria list of attributes. Duration of new status? Permanent. Sexual desire? Maximum. Let's see him unable to stop himself from trying to fuck everything in the barnyard. Hmm, a couple minor bonuses, horrible odor, chronic drooling and hide quality as low as possible. Mental faculties? Unchanged from initial status. St. Martin knowing how pathetic he'd become was the fun of it.
She was just finishing with the details of Tony's destiny when Suzy started driving past one side of the park. Jeff's sister let out a happy shout.
"There he is! There's Tony! Tony the greyhound! There he is!"
Tony was near the edge of the park, sprinting along as was his new habit when he felt a shock. He slowed to a trot and eventually stopped. He examined his right front paw. The jolt had hit as that paw had landed. "Did I step on something?" he wondered. But his paw was fine. He launched into another sprint but something was wrong. He felt heavy. He came to a stop near the edge of the park. Something was really wrong now. He felt leaden and oddly off balance. He yelped in fear as he felt his floppy ears shoot upward. Next his little greyhound penis swelled and stretched and swelled and stretched some more. What the fuck! He grew up and up but especially felt the ballooning of his rump into massive equine hindquarters. He felt his tail change back of him and watched in horror as his paws thickened, blackened and coalesced into hoofs and his fine tan coat turned into a thick gray hide covered by hair like a car floor mat.
He shouted NO! Or tried to and realized for certain the nature of his transformation when the sound that emerged from his mouth was not a bark but a bray. "Heeeeehaw! Heeeeehaw! Heeeeehaw!"
His mind raced as he frantically tried to figure out what was happening. Why am I a jackass? How come I changed from being a greyhound? Why? Why? Why? He wondered, furiously cursing Jeff, the chronivac, everyone. He cursed himself for going along with the idea, for giving up being intellectual in favor of wallowing in the physical. Look where it got me! He jumped and kicked over and over, braying as loud as he could. At last he calmed enough to be quietly angry, grumbling and grunting with every breath as a large dollop of spittle dropped from his lips to the grass below. That was when he heard it. Laughter.
"Hi, Tony!"
"How's it going St. Martin?"
Wait, how does anyone know who I am?! Only Jeff, Jack and Eric know! But there, in a BMW convertible parked at the curb were four girls pointing at him, calling him by his name and laughing. He recognized all of them but knew that somehow Emma Chase must be the leader of the group. Sure enough, she raised up the computer for him to see.
"Don't plan on being in school Tuesday, unless you can attend like that, St. Martin. Your true nature finally came through . . FOR GOOD!"
He trotted awkwardly toward the car but they screeched away from the curb leaving him far behind.
"Let's see who's next?" chirped Jeff's sister.