Franklin gave himself a moment to gloat over the jock turned dog. Rich had his tail tucked firmly between his legs. His ears were pressed flat back against his skull and the dog was whimpering quietly.
Franklin turned his attention to the human jocks that were still staring at him and the animals.
“So,” Franklin said. “I think we can all agree that nobody would believe this just happened.” None of the young men said anything. “Right, so I have to get to work. And I’m thinking that this team is disbanded for the season, hm? So, one of you should join the 4H club and take the pig and jackass to a farm.” None of the them said anything. Franklin looked down at Rich again. “For all I care, send the mutt to the pound.” Rich let out a small yelp.
Franklin turned to go but after just a few steps he hears a scuffling sound. He turned to find that Rich had crawled forward. He was still crouched on the ground and the way he had his head tilted and paws crossed seemed to convey the idea of pleading. It gave Franklin an idea.
“Beg,” Franklin commanded. The husky looked confused for a moment. Then he sat up and balanced on his rear, bringing his forepaws up and held them against his chest. Franklin smiled. He knelt down and pet Rich between the ears. “I’ll take you home with me and maybe, if you’re a really good boy, I won’t ship you off to a place where no one will know you’re human.” The dog’s paws drooped a bit, maybe from disappointment or maybe it was just hard for him to hold the pose. After a moment he nodded. Franklin smiled and stood up.
“Alright then, come on.” The husky stood and followed Franklin out to his car. Franklin opened the rear door and waved Rich in. Unsteady, the husky climbed into the back seat. Franklin got in the driver’s seat, putting the speak and say in the trunk, safely way from anyone without opposable thumbs.
Franklin got into the driver’s seat and looked at Rich in the rearview mirror. His ice blue eyes locked on Franklin’s. The teen turned and looked at the dog. “I think you know that you deserved this after the last twelve years.” Rich let out a huff. Franklin reached out. Rich flinched at first but when Franklin caressed the soft fur on his cheek he relaxed. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Franklin reassured the newly minted house pet. He turned around and reversed the car out of the space and started driving.
“But I have a job to get to, so I’m going to take you back to my house.” Rich lay down in the back seat. From what Franklin could see, he was switching between staring at his paws and looking out the window. Franklin parked the car outside his house and ushed the husky up to his room.
“Now, I want you to be a good and quiet dog.” He said. “When I get home from my shift, then I will figure out what I’m telling my parents about you. But,” franklin waned. “If my parents find you before I can convince them to keep you or they think you’re too much trouble, they will send you to the pound and I won’t be able to stop them. So, be a good boy.” Franklin gave Rich a good pat. “I think I’ll call you Rex, or maybe fido.” Rich wined gently and stared at Franklin’s feet. Franklin closed his door, glad his parents were out running errands, and went to work.
Dian, his manager, assigned him to work the register for the first half of his shift. According to her, Sunday was their busiest day. Busy seemed to be an relative term. There were still fewer than a dozen people in the store.
A twelve-year-old came to the front of the store, ready to check out. He had a bag of hard candies. He placed it on the counter and asked to know how much it was. Franklin looked it over. The candies were a mix of strawberry-crème and caramel. It took a moment to find them in the system.
Item: Baskin Hard candies,
Prod type: food
Price: 3.50
Efect type: age
“That’ll be three fifty,” Franklin said.
“Perfect!” The boy said. He pulled out a little Velcro wallet and pulled out the three bills in it and put the wallet away. He handed them to Franklin.
“You still need fifty cents,” the teen said.
“Oh, right.” The boy said. He dug around in his pockets and pulled out just enough pocket change to cover the price of the candy.
Franklin took the money and pushed the candy back over to the kid.
The kid smiled as he took the candy and left. Franklin watched the kid through the windows as he pulled out a candy and put it in his mouth. Immediately he shot up in height. His shirt and pant slit and fell to the ground in tatters as the preteen turned into a full-blown teen. As the former child stared in wonder at his suddenly adolescent body Franklin could see underarm hair, leg hair, and some hair sticking out of the top of his very tight underwear. Franklin stared at the boy who was suddenly on the cusp of manhood for the fleeting instant before the new teen rushed off, presumably to find some clothes. Through the window, Franklin could see a few of the candies scattered on the ground.