Naomi placed her hand on the proud curve of Charlotte's belly, which had been expanding in the last few days. Charlotte gave a lazy grin. "Bet you never thought you'd be a daddy, huh?"
"Oh" responded Naomi "Like big old macho Charles ever thought he'd be a mama mermaid."
Shining bubbles rose to the surface as Charlotte laughed. Naomi was actually developing a sense of humor!
+++++++++++++++
"Jess" said Zack, giving her a big hug. "Good to see you again."
Jess hugged him back. "Wow, so you're the leader of the pack now? How's that going?"
"To be honest, not great. I'm only here because Naomi and Harry are gone."
"Yeah, I heard. Naomi's a mermaid now, huh? And she was actually male for a while? That must have been something."
Zack laughed. "Yeah, but nobody really knows how she handled it except Charlotte. When she went back to being a husky for awhile she was definitely female and glad of it!"
"I guess some things never change!" Jess laughed. She didn't know how to bring up the next bit. "I'm sorry about Harry."
"Yeah, that's been rough. I'd like to think of him as still there, inside, inside Irene somehow, but she's nothing like him. Nothing at all. What does it mean if someone's walking around with Harry's memories but a completely different personality anyway? I just miss him."
"Yeah, me too."
The two huskies paused, lost in thought.
Zack broke the silence. "So how are things in Canada?"
"Great! The park is doing more business every year! We get a lot more beaver and moosemorphs than we did down here. Guess its a Canadian thing, eh?"
"So, no troubles up there, like down here?"
"No, thank Ninisinna! I have a good friend on the legal staff there--a foxmorph named Mike--and we went through it and couldn't find anything. It looks like the rot was limited to here."
"Glad to hear it" said Zack "The way things are going, I might have to ask for asylum with you." He grinned. Somehow, it was hard to be depressed around Jess. Her joy in her body just radiated, years after her transformation.
++++++++++++++++
Goldie was taken aback to be away from the Park for the first time in her new, or as she thought of it now, her real form. All these humans! It was so odd to think that she had once been one of them. She was so glad to have Sam with her. She didn't know what she would do without another hairy body to snuggle against.
++++++++++++++++
"You hear something moving around on the roof?" asked one of the truckers.
"Yeah, maybe something fell from one of the trees. Let's get it off before we get through customs. The last thing we need is some bullshit about smuggling plant life."
The two pulled over and climbed on the roof to see what was the matter.
"What the hell is that?" remarked the first trucker, looking at the huge, brightly plumaged and plainly exhausted bird. Or was it a bird? The head looked kind of human.
"I think I heard about that, and I think there's a reward" said the second trucker, pulling out her phone.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"I told mommy I wanted to be a unicorn when I grew up" said the little girl at the diner, looking up with awe at Irene. "She said that was silly."
"Well," said Irene "I'm sure your mama wants what's best for you. But things may change in the time you grow up, and you might get to be a unicorn yet."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Zack wasn't sure about this, but such was the force of Jess's personality that the two of them along with the twins were on their way to Katie's house. Jess still had a soft spot for the husky who had first taken her in hand immediately after her transformation.