Franklin checked his phone. He still had about three hours before he had to be at the shop again. If everything when the way he planned it, three hours would be more than enough time. Franklin got dressed, grabbed the Speak and Say, and hopped in his car. He drove to the high school. The parking lot was predictably empty for a Sunday morning. But he knew the few cars in the lot belonged to the baseball team. They always met in the weight room on Sunday morning.
Franklin didn’t have an issue with the whole team, per say, just three members in particular. Donnie, Paul and Rich. Rich was the leader of the three and the one that had spent the most time humiliating Franklin when the teachers weren’t looking. They had been in the same class since kindergarten, calling him turtle boy (a reference to an old CBS show), pencil legs, and a dozen other derisive nicknames. Donnie and Paul fell in with Rich around middle school. Donnie was a lanky kid until recently with a long face and a grating laugh. Paul was bulky with small eyes and bad attitude. Between the three of them, Franklin had lost enough money to buy a car.
Franklin parked and practically ran through the halls. The bulky children’s toy held tightly under his arm. He stopped outside the double doors to gym. He could hear the music basting in the weight room on the other side of the gym. He steeled his nerves and pulled the door open. The gym was a big room, but it was a short enough walk. The weight room door was propped open with a large onehanded weight that Franklin couldn’t identify. As the gym doors banged shut behind him a few of the guys looked up.
Franklin walked halfway across the gym and stopped. It didn’t take long for Rich and his boys to notice and make their approach, the other members of the team coming out to watch.
“Hey, little guy, you get lost?” Rich asked. “This is the high school. I think you were looking for the kindergarten.” Donnie started his long and exaggerated laughing while Paul snorted at the joke.
“Hi Rich,” Franklin said. “Glad to hear you’re still using middle school level insults.”
“Oh, Frankie, didn’t recognize you, you’re so tiny. Did you come to try to bulk up? Or are you just here to ogle real men?” Rich started flexing. Franklin ignored the bulging muscles and the bulge in the front of Rich’s shorts.
“I don’t have a ton of time for this,” Franklin said. “I have a shift to get to.” Rich seemed put off by Franklin’s nonplussed attitude.
“Finally grown a spine?” Rich asked. Franklin pulled the toy out, ready to use it. “Ha! A kid’s toy? My kindergarten joke was right on the money!” Rich gestured, Donnie and Paul started towards Franklin.
Franklin focused on Paul first and pulled the cord.
“The pig says…” The voice called out. Instantly, Paul’s clothes vanished. The slightly chubby boy had little time to react before his body ballooned out, turning pink and falling to all fours. His hands and feet turned to trotters and a curly tail pushed out just above his butt. His face pushed out into the unmistakable flat nose as his ears expanded into big floppy triangles. In moments Paul was a pig.
“Sqeee!”
There was a stunned silence for a moment before Paul’s panicked squealing started quickly follows by the new boar running into the halls of the school, his piggy shrieks echoing through the corridors of learning.
“Wha…what did you do to Paul?” Donnie asked.
“Same thing I’m about to do to you.” Franklin pulled the cord.
“The donkey says…”
Donnie’s cloths disappeared. His genitals and stomach expanded, gray fur spreading over his body as a tasseled tail dropped down behind his grown flanks. His fingers and toes merged into hooves. his neck lengthened, a main of bristles running along it up to his tall ears. His long face pushed out into round donkey muzzle. With a clatter his fell to all fours.
“Hee haw!” Donnie brayed. He backed away nervously, trying to get a good look at his new body.
“Frankie, Franklin,” Rich pleaded. “What ever you’re doing, please stop it.”
“Awe, begging, are you?” Franklin asked. “Don’t worry I’ll get you doing lots of cool tricks once you’re a good boy.” Franklin pulled the string.
“The dog says…”
Rich’s cloths vanished. Franklin took the moment before the transformation to take in Rich’s sculpted body, after all, it may be the last time anybody saw him like this.
Rich’s face pushed out, black fur covering the top of his muzzle with white fur running down his chin. His sterling blue eyes tearing up as his hair receded into fur and his ears rose into soft triangles. He shrank a bit as all the hair on his body turned into thick, fluffy fur. His white chest narrowed as his shoulders shifted to fit his developing quadrupedal form. Franklin watched with pleaser at the changed that took place between the boy turning dog’s legs. His hips narrowed and a bushy tail dropped down. Rich fell on to all fours as his hands and feet turned into paws.
“Arf!” The newly minted husky barked. Unlike the other two former jocks, Rich cowered in place, staring at his former victim.