When night came, Ty didn’t wish himself to next morning. Instead, he conjured himself a bed, in a spare room of the house that suddenly existed (and no one else could see).
The teen did think about wishing himself to not needing any sleep. But Ty liked keeping a bit of humanity for himself, despite his god powers. Plus, he needed some downtime anyway.
With satisfaction, and some thoughts of tomorrow, he slept.
***
The next morning, Ty got up the same time as the Palmers. He found himself at the dining room table, where the Palmer family and their Aunt were having breakfast. Buster was chewing on a toy right by the corner.
“So, are you guys excited for the zoo?”, asked Aunt Kathy.
“Yeah!,” exclaimed Billy, his mouth covered in syrup. The Palmers were feeding each other pancakes, with all of them giggling as they tried to coordinate their knives and forks. The only piece of clothing they had was underwear covering Frank.
Wishing up his own plate of pancakes, Ty ate too. Once he was done, he looked on as the family and Aunt Kathy chat about their lives. Turns out the kids of the family were all homeschooled, and the mother worked from home. Susie was also planning an online college course, probably in economics.
Didn’t they think they were suddenly like this? Ty thought. He wondered how much of their past life was left unchanged by their wish. Maybe the wish was adjusting things, so that the family didn’t find it all too unusual?
He thought of his own family. Last he left them, Dustin was an elephant, and his foster parents were a cat and mouse. Did Mark get eaten by June? Or maybe both got squashed by Dustin?
Ty chuckled at the grim thought. I could always wish them back later.
The family kept chatting. Itching to get to the ‘good’ part of the day, Ty muttered a wish.
“I wish we were at the zoo already.”
And instantly, everyone was standing under a summer blue sky. In front of them was a large gateway with ticket turnstiles, with a sign saying ‘Paradise Zoo’ in big orange letters, and large cutout boards of animals. The Palmers and Aunt Kathy were in their outdoor clothes, with the Palmers in only jeans, shoes, and a fanny pack. Buster wasn't there, so Ty assumed he's still at the house
The crowd was milling about, and none of them even batted an eye at the Palmers. Not their multiple heads and limbs, nor their strange kid-faced breasts
“Alright, I hope this is enough tickets!”, said Helen, as their shared body already approached the turnstile. With five tickets, (no ticket for their father-turned-cock, Ty noticed), they got through the turnstiles with Aunt Kathy. Ty casually jumped over with no one noticing.
They headed into the ‘welcome’ area, with paths going to multiple directions. Signs pointed to places like a Reptile House, an Aquatic Zone, African Kingdom, and many others. A few kids ran forth excitingly, with none of them paying attention to the Palmers.
“So, where do we go first?”, Aunt Kathy asked. Susie and Alex’s hands opened up a map, and gave space for all the family to look.
“Ooh, I want to go to the petting zoo!”, piped Katie, pointing with her hand.
“But that’s boring!,” Billy complained. “I want to see the tigers!”
“Come on, we don’t have to argue,” said Helen, as her teen daughter Susie looked aside, not bothering to pitch in. “How about we just pick a direction? We’ll see everything anyway.”
“Uh, I kinda want to see the Komodo Dragons first,” Alex added. As the family talked it over, Ty rubbed his chin. Maybe he could decide for them?
He did have a few glorious ideas.