"Westies are those cute little pups with white fur and pointy ears and square faces, right? I wanna be one of them!" Max scrolled to the bottom of the alphabetical list and clicked on the West Highland White Terrier option. A new field popped up showing slider bars for awareness, one labeled 'human' and the other 'animal.' "What's this mean, you guys?"
Jess leaned in, resting her elbows on the desktop. "Hmm, it didn't ask us this for our transformations... I think it's asking how much of yourself do you want to keep while you're changed, and how much of a dog's mind do you want to have?"
"I wanna be ALL DOG!" the seven year old was bursting with excitement at the thought of turning into a little terrier for the weekend.
"I think you should keep just a little bit of your human mind, Max." Ash felt like he had to be the responsible one as the only adult in the room. "What if you start peeing in the house or tearing up the furniture? How would we hide that from Mom and Dad?"
"FINE." Max huffed, toggling the awareness sliders to show 25% human and 75% animal.
His older siblings showed him how to set the timer so he'd change back on Sunday afternoon before their parents' return, and Ash added "If you want to change back before that, or just into something else, come hop back into the desk chair and give a bark so one of us can help you!"
Max couldn't sit still any longer and launched himself from the chair. He hopped from foot to foot in the middle of the room as Jess clicked to begin the transformation. "This is gonna be the BEST WEEKEND EVER!" he yipped. Ash and Jess were shocked to see that he was already shrinking, and his hair was rapidly bleaching out until their baby brother was no more than a foot and a half tall with a mop of white hair. His ears were becoming more pointed, a white fuzz growing to cover them as his nose darkened and pushed out. Soon he had a cute muzzle and the fuzz was appearing on his face as well. He continued to yip and bark and bounce on the balls of his feet, not noticing as his feet stretched and shifted, becoming the hind paws of the dog he was becoming.
He suddenly lowered his hands and face to the floor, sniffing his way over to a pile of sports clothes at the foot of the bed. Jess giggled to see her brother already acting like a dog, despite still wearing shorts and a t-shirt. His head emerged from beneath her old tennis gear triumphantly holding an object in his fully-changed mouth: a bright pink tongue lolled out the side over sharp teeth that gripped the bright yellow ball. His hands had shifted into paws as well, and the white fuzz had spread to cover all of his exposed skin, rapidly growing into a thick, wiry coat.
"Here Max," Jess knelt by the pup and began tugging on the clothing "Let me get those off of you!" She quickly removed the now-unnecessary clothes to reveal an adorable, young Westie with a short, wagging tail, who immediately darted in to give her face a lick. Laughing, she grabbed the tennis ball and tossed it into the hallway, and Max the dog raced after it.