When he opened them a second later, he saw that things had changed. Behind him, his brother was still there but he was now a grey furred raccoon kid! Tim turned and felt his tail brush against Steve's fur!
A tail, Oh my God, I have a tail. I can feel it! What’s going on?
Gasping and trembling, Tim looked at Steve to see that he was no longer wearing a costume. He too was a raccoon man!
"What ... where did the costumes go?" Tim asked.
"Costumes? Halloween isn't for months. You guys are way too old for it anyway!"
"Um Tim ... how come I'm a naked raccoon guy?"
"Um...."
"How come your brother isn't wearing any clothes? Why is he a raccoon kid? Where did your clothes go?"
"Clothes? Our fur is hot enough!" Mark said.
"I um ... no this has to be a trick!" Tim yelled.
Mark stuck out his tongue and ran out of the room and downstairs. Steve was about to pursue Mark when Tim grabbed Steve's left arm.
"What are you doing?" Tim asked.
"I dunno, I just felt the urge to run and play with him."
"Like you remember doing it somehow?" Tim asked.
"Well, yeah," Steve answered.
"Whatever's happened. I think we've somehow made it so we were always raccoon guys. We wouldn't need the costumes to look like what we already are. Although, where did the costumes go?"
"There aren’t any costumes," Steve said. Confused, Tim looked at him.
"You're not thinking 4th dimensionally. If that mirror altered history then we never picked up the costumes because we’re already raccoons, we don’t need costumes."
"But why did it change Mark as well?" Tim asked.
"If we were always raccoon guys then the rest of our family ... heck lots of people must be. Arg, this is starting to give me a headache," Steve said.
"Wait ... that means that if we were always raccoon people then we haven't changed and neither has anyone else. So, maybe we were always this way and," Tim said stopping. He rubbed his forehead. Humans would rub their eyes, but having claws made such an action dangerous.
"Can we reverse this?" Steve asked.
"Maybe we should ask the guy that sold it to us," Tim said.
"From his point of view, we haven't changed. This could get complicated," Steve said.
Tim shook his head and giggled. "One problem at a time."
Since they were going outside, Tim knew they’d have to wear clothes. Steve put on a black tee shirt and shorts complete with strap for his tail. Tim dressed in similar attire with the exception of a navy blue shirt.
"All right, let's ask that guy. I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life as a raccoon," Tim said.
"It might not be so bad. Maybe it's why I liked raccoons. Maybe we were always this way and the mirror just made us see the truth," Steve replied.
"Don't start on me, I already have enough of a headache," Tim replied.
Steve giggled before apologising.
As Steve and Tim reached the front door of the house, Steve noticed something.
"Hey Tim, look at this," Steve said.
"What?" Tim asked.
Tim turned to see a picture of Steve and Tim at their high school graduation. In the original picture, their high school had been so lame that the students didn't have gowns yet the teachers did. Now, both Steve and Tim were raccoon people wearing black gowns, posed with their arms around each other’s backs.
"I guess that confirms it," Steve said.
"Don't say it," Tim said.
"What? We've somehow altered history so we've always been raccoon people."
"I said don’t say it!" Tim said.
"Sorry. It's just, hmmm," Steve said.
"Now what?" Tim asked.
Tim saw Steve remove his wallet from his pocket. He pulled out a wallet-sized photo and showed it to Tim. The image was of a younger version of Steve with a pretty fox woman with glasses wearing a black tank top and shorts.
"Who's that?" Tim asked.
"I think that's ... Vicky Hart. Before, I was too shy to ask her out. Now I remember dating for six months. We're still friends! Man, was that some six months," Steve said, his voice sounding as though he were recollecting a fond memory.
Tim shook Steve's shoulder. "Steve, stay with me here. Don't forget who you ... we are."
"Sorry, I'll try not to think of this life too much. We don't want to lose ourselves in it, unless you want to. I wonder if life is better this way," Steve said.
"Steve, stay with me! I don't want to lose my brother," Tim said.
"Brother? Wait a minute. I ... hmmm, we do look alike. You don't think that ... Steve what's your birthday?" Tim asked.
"March 16th ... wait a second, that's not right. What's yours? Isn't it ... it's also March 16, of course! This is getting scary," Steve replied.
"Then we'd better get to that guys house and get everything fixed before it's to late," Tim said.
Nodding, Steve put the picture back into his wallet and returned the wallet to his pocket. They both walked outside. The extent of the changes they'd caused with the mirror became obvious to them almost immediately.
Tim's neighbour Mr. Green from across the street, was no longer a human but a humanoid gecko. He was lying in a hammock in the sun. He wore only black shorts. He waved to the duo was they left the house.
"If that made it so we were always raccoon people," Steve started.
"It must have altered history for God knows how far back," Tim said.
A human girl rode by on a bike; at least humans still exist.
"She's cute," Steve said.
"I don't know if human and anthro animal relations would work. Besides, I think she has a boyfriend," Tim said as a man rode by.
"Oh well," Steve replied.
The duo approached the garage and opened the door. Inside were two bikes that Tim somehow knew they could ride to the man's house.
"Hmmm," Steve said.
"What's wrong?" Tim asked.
"If we're twin brothers, that means I'm no longer my parent's son. I don't like the thought of that," Steve said.
"All the more reason for us to get to the guy's house and fix this problem," Tim said.
Steve nodded and they mounted the bikes and were off. Tim hadn’t of ridden a bike in years. Somehow, he remembered doing it as though he'd ridden it the previous day.
As they rode, they passed by humans and anthro animals of various species. Tim wondered if such designations were appropriate. Humans were evolved primates. Tim wondered if referring to he and Steve as evolved raccoons would be more accurate.
Throughout the trip, no one behaved as though anything was unusual. Tim wondered how many other things had changed because of the mirror. If it altered history then who knew how far removed they were from the original timeline.
"Tim, I just thought of something," Steve asked.
"Yes?" Tim replied.
"What if others who owned that mirror have made inadvertent changes like we did?" Steve asked.
"We could be living in the altered version of an altered version of an ... you get the idea." Tim said.
"Must have read my mind," Steve said.
"Ditto," Tim replied.
"I don't like this Tim; It's too much power. Think, of all we've changed by accident. What if some disaster happened because of the changes we've caused? What if some guy became a dictator and caused a major war with it?" Steve asked.
"What do you suggest, that we destroy the thing and be stuck like this forever?" Tim asked.
"No, I ... I don't know. It's too much of a temptation much like time travel if they ever invent it. Someone could use this for evil. Instead of written in stone, history is a document anyone can alter. Don't like it, just go back and change it. With so many people changing things, reality would fall apart."
Steve was distress was obvious as he stopped his bike. Tim stopped beside him and put his arm over Steve's shoulder.
"I always said you watch too much sci-fi and conspiracy stuff. It makes you paranoid."
Steve nodded. Tim had remembered something from this new version of history. He tried to ignore it as not to upset Steve.
"I ... we'll make sure no one abuses this thing. We'll make things right; okay?" Tim asked.
Steve nodded his head and petted Tim's hand. Tim knew this meant Steve trusted him. "Okay," Steve replied.
They resumed riding and eventually arrived at the house of the man who'd sold them the mirror. They parked their bikes. Walking up to the front of the house, they wondered what the guy would look like in this altered (from their point of view anyway) reality.
The man answered the door a minute later. Steve and Tim both gasped when they saw that he was a Kangaroo man. Tim looked the man up and down; he was more humanoid then a natural roo. His posture was better. He wasn’t wearing pants, although, Tim knew that with that huge tail, pants would be difficult. He seemed far more intelligent then a natural roo and appeared able to walk as well as hop.
"You chaps all right? You look like you've seen a ghost!" the guy asked.
"Yes sir, we're fine," Steve said.
"Say, do you remember selling us a mirror yesterday?" Tim asked.
"Yes, I think so," the man replied.
Steve began to whisper into Tim's left ear. "Tim, if he remembers us then that confirms it. If he remembered us as humans, he wouldn’t recognise us."
Tim nodded.
"Was there anything special about that mirror?" Tim asked.
"Not that I know of. If it were special, I wouldn’t have sold it. Why do you ask?" The kangaroo man asked.
"This is going to sound strange but do you remember being human yesterday?" Tim asked.
"Excuse me?" The kangaroo asked.
"Um, never mind. Thank you for your time," Tim said.
The roo nodded and closed the door. Tim and Steve walked away from the house.
"So now what?" Steve asked.
"There must be a way to find something about that mirror. Myths, legends, there must be something we can find. Why don't you stay with Mark while I go?" Tim asked.
"Mark?"
"Well, he's technically your brother now. You seemed to want to play with him earlier."
"Well, yeah, he's fun. No one should ever give up his or her childhood entirely. Although is it right? I mean, before today, I was just his brother’s friend. Now, it's different," Steve said.
"I know but he needs his brother. As far as he knows, things have never been different. If we can't change things back then," Tim said.
"Then we need to keep things the way they are positive, I know. All right, I'll spend some time with Mark," Steve said.
Tim nodded. "Don't be afraid to enjoy yourself."
"I dunno, if I enjoy it too much, it'll be harder to let go if we fix things," Steve said.
"I know, but ... just try to find a happy medium," Tim said.
Steve nodded. They mounted their bikes, Tim heading towards the Library and Steve heading back towards their house.