The note Tom wrote was simple, ominous, and vague:
DEAR SUSAN + HENRY:
I KNOW YOU LOVE ME, I LOVE YOU TOO. BUT I CAN'T GO ON ANY LONGER. I'VE DONE UNSPEAKABLE THINGS THAT THE TWO OF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT. YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING I HAVE HERE, BUT I DON'T DESERVE YOU. THE HOUSE IS YOURS, ALONG ALL MY MONEY AND ALL OF YOUR MOTHER'S AS WELL. I HAVE ONE LAST REQUEST: YOU WILL FIND A NEW DOG IN THE HOUSE, PLEASE SEE THAT HE IS TAKEN CARE OF. I WOULD SAY GOODBYE IN PERSON BUT I CANNOT BEAR TO. REMEMBER YOUR MOTHER FOR ME.
LOVE, DAD
Tom booted up the Chronivac, amazed that he could still turn it on. The menus and settings were just as he remembered them, although he did need to look things over a little bit just to make sure they were right. He thought he should live the last few years of his life the way his life had lived hers: a lowly canine at the mercy of humans. He thought he could at least tolerate being a German shepherd, since he loved them even though his wife hated them, but he knew being one would be quite different from having one. He insisted on keeping his mind, so that he would always know what he had lost and why he had given it up. He made sure the Chronivac would delete his original profile so that he could not be changed back even if someone did find the Chronivac and figure out what it was for. He went ahead to allowed himself to remain male, since he was still too cowardly to live a live of giving birth and getting fucked. He set the transformation to take some time, enough for him say goodbye to his old body and make sense of being a dog as it happened. However, the transformation would still be finished by morning. He would try very hard not to wake Susan or let her find him until it was done. Then, hopefully, his family would treat him like any other dog, the way he had treated Samantha.
Tom clicked CONFIRM, gulped, and waited for his transformation to begin. There was no going back now! He would meet his end on all fours, and could hope it wouldn't be worse than Max's or Samantha's.
Matt first felt the change within his ...