"Honey, what was that? I don't feel so good..." Andy slowly dropped to the cold, tile floor. His legs felt weird and numb. He looked up at Lilia, worried at what was happening. She looked even more scared. The sound of tearing fabric echoed in the room as Andy felt his boxer shorts fall away. He looked over and saw his legs growing together. He started to panic. He looked back to Lilia. "What's happening to me?"
"Oh Andy, I'm so sorry..." she cried out.
Andy looked back and watched as his feet flattened and drew out into fins as royal blue and green scales grew out over his new tail. He ran a hand over his new tail, still shocked over what had just transpired.
"What?! How?!" was all he was able to get out as Lilia crossed the room and turned on the faucet on the side of the tub and put in the plug.
Lilia then turned to Andy. "Andy, I'm a mermaid. The stuff you drank was a potion I take to remain in my human form. Clearly, it has the opposite effect on land people."
Andy started to relax a little. That meant this was not permanent. "How long does the potion last?"
"24 hours."
"Sweet. Get me to the nearest large body of water! I want to try this thing out pronto!" Andy was starting to get excited. He'd always had a thing for mermaids and mermen and now, somehow, he was one.
"Well, there's a few problems with that. One, people will see. Two, people will talk, and three, we don't have time. We need to get you in water now or you're going to have problems." Lilia turned off the faucet now that the tub was mostly full. "In. Now."
Andy didn't argue. He hoisted himself up over the edge and lowered himself over the side of the tub into the water. He let out a sigh of relief as it felt so good. Still, part of him was really disappointed he wasn't going to get to swim around in this tail.
"Comfortable?" asked Lilia.
"Yeah," replied Andy.
"Good. I'll be right back." She left and came back a moment later with Andy's cell phone. She handed it to him. "You're gonna have to call in sick."
"Right." Andy took the phone and dialed his boss's office number. He waited as the phone rang and his boss picked up. "Hey, yeah It's Andy. Listen, I'm not going to make it in today. I'm not feeling too well. It must've been something I ate."
Andy hung up the phone and smiled to Lilia. "So, now what do we do?"