The cow-woman pouted when she thought about turning back to normal in order to go outside. She was enjoying her new body and didn't even like thinking about being human. It was too boring to go back now.
Just then, she heard someone shouting outside. A few more people seemed to be cheering or laughing. Puzzled, Mary took a peek out a front window, being careful not to be noticed by anyone looking her direction.
She was stunned to find what looked like a human-sized eagle flying up and down the street. As she looked harder, she saw that the eagle had a few human characteristics, as if someone had been transformed into it. Even more surprising was the fact that the few people on the street watching this event didn't look entirely human, either. A young boy had large round ears and a thin rat's tail coming out his back. There was also a woman with some kind of lion's mane and fur. She also noticed what looked to be her neighbor Jake, who was now sporting brown fur and a large rack of antlers!
She stared in near-disbelief. It was one thing to be transforming herself into an animal, but to see it happening to others was even more incredible. Had everyone received a mysterious box of vials just like her?
Her curiosity got the better of her. She threw on her white bathrobe and went outside to all the commotion. Her hooves made dull clopping nosies as she walked down the street. Jake noticed her, his deer-like ears perking up.
"Hey, look at you!" he smiled. "I was wondering what you were going to try out. Nice spots."
"Nice antlers," Mary said as she began to count his points in the back of her head. She and Jake had always been good friends, though he was happily married with a wife and two kids, one of which, Mary realized, was the rat boy she saw from her window. "Can you believe all this?"
"Barely," Jake chuckled. He and Mary looked up as the eagle man made another pass down the block. "When that box showed up on our doorstep, I was about to throw it in the trash, but Kenneth over there just couldn't resist. He drank the first potion he could get his hands on."
"I needed to do some errands today, but I was worried about leaving the house looking like this," Mary posed a bit for Jake's amusement, putting one hand on her hip and raising her robe just a bit to show off her cow tail. "But I guess there's nothing to worry about after all."
"Needless to say, I gave Kenneth and Suzie the day off school. I don't think they would have been able to pay much attention anyway. Jamie had to go to work, though. She didn't want to have anything to do with this 'insanity.' I wonder how many of her co-workers will show up looking different."
They both had a short laugh on the idea. Mary knew Jamie, Jake's wife, was a very rational and conservative woman. She had argued with her husband several times on things such as allowing rock and roll in the house and letting their daughter Suzie play with action figures instead of dolls. Mary would have given almost anything to see Jamie's face when she saw her son grow a rat's tail.
Mary's stomach growled once again, prompting a blush. She wondered if Jake could even see it through the fur.
"Sounds like you need to go grocery shopping. Don't let me keep you," Jake walked back over to his son, who had teamed up with two other transformed youngsters and was trying to use his long tail as a jump rope.
Mary walked back inside to get a change of clothes.