"Bad news, family," announced Dad after a couple of weeks. I'd gotten used to being a raccoon pretty quickly, and slowly began practicing typing on Mom's laptop. My raccoon claws weren't made for it, and my human typing skill was thrown out with the other sections of my human brain, but with dedication I'd been slowly able to pick it up again. It was hard to see close up with my raccoon eyes, and most colors now looked grey to me, but at least I could painstakingly look at a sliver of the internet and understand some of what I was reading. At least I didn't have to stare at the pigeons outside all day. I still had a little humanity left in me.
"What do you mean, 'bad news'?" asked Lucas. "Is something wrong with the raccoon?" I barked instinctively out of annoyance. I'd been trying to keep quiet but little things like that really set me off.
"That's your mother, Lucas. Don't be rude." I was his little brother a month ago, but we were keeping up the facade that I was Cathy so the new David could have a chance at a normal life.
Lucas smirked at me. "Sorry, 'Mom'," he sneered. He looked to Dad. "So what is it?"
"Larry did offer us a huge compensation and tremendous security. Unfortunately, I have a severe gambling addiction, and that money is lost."
The family was shaken. "Wait, what?" plead Mariah.
Even David—former Mom, you get it by now—was surprised. "So, wait, we did this experiment for nothing?"
Dad carried on. "To be perfectly honest, the influx of money triggered my addiction, and now we're more severely in debt than ever before."
I looked down at my raccoon claws and tummy. I thought about my raccoon vagina and my snout and the big ears on the top of my head.... and being unable to talk for the rest of my life. It was all to take care of the family. Now it was all for nothing. And completely irreversible. I failed to suppress a hiss, my tail twitching against my will.
"So, what now?" asked Mariah.
"Larry understands the situation and has proposed an interesting follow-up to the experiment. This will secure us financially to an even greater degree. Are you interested?"
"Is—am—I—is—you—I'm—I'm—gonna hab a tail?" Brad piped up excitedly.
"Hold on, Bradley, I'll explain." Dad proceeded to explain the new terms...