As Richard slept, his two already pronounced brow-ridges grew even larger as his cheekbones became less prominent. He grew skinnier, losing most of his massive muscles. By the time the change ended, he had returned to his ordinary height of 5 foot 10 inches, but his arms and legs were much longer and his trunk had somewhat shortened.
When he woke, Richard ran his hands excitedly over his body. He noticed first and foremost that the hair covering much of his form had become more sparse and less dark.
“Maybe the curse is reversing,” he said aloud.
Or that’s what he meant to say. He produced an utterly incomprehensible hodgepodge of syllabic grunts.
Shocked, he looked down to make a more complete examination of the changes. He had lost all the jungle man’s bulky frame. He lifted an arm over his head and caught a whiff of still powerful body odor.
Richard looked only faintly human, much more akin to some upright ape. He dived into his anthropological knowledge, delving far back into human origins. If he had to guess, he would tentatively identify himself as a living, breathing example of homo erectus.
He remembered middle school titters and giggles from when he had first studied in biology classes about “upright man,” an early ancestor of homo sapiens.
The giggles would probably have been amplified if his former classmates could see him now. Despite everything, he still retained a relatively huge endowment. He stared at the semi-hard organ in a confusion of shock and embarrassment.
“Fuck! This isn’t good.” Once again, Richard cringed from embarrassment as his thoughts translated into grunts and other low guttural sounds.