Cat. 1: "Flushed!"	Transformation Contest 1, Categories 1 & 3	Cat. 1: "To Mewp, or Not To Mewp..."
Cat. 3: "The First Day in a New Life"		Cat. 3: "Growing Wilder"

Full Moon

by The Weremoose
Secret Bonus Prize Winner

(Note from Phaedrus: Lance was the first person (and the only person in this contest) to "turn the double play"--write a good story that worked well in two categories at once. I have to admit that it never occurred to me that someone might try that--and I had to reward that kind of ingenuity somehow. :-) )

Here's my contest entry. I finally got time to actually write it. :)

Full Moon
by: Lance Holloway

"Ring!" the phone rang. Dave half way woke up and reached for the alarm. "Ring!" He looked toward the night stand to find his alarm clock. Then suddenly two things hit him at once. First it was the phone ringing and not the alarm. Second, the sight of his arm shocked him.

He brought his hand closer to examine it. It was covered in gray fur and more paw-like; however it still had an opposable thumb. Then he realized that something else furry was in his sight. It was his nose. He hopped out of bed and landed awkwardly. He noticed that his legs were digitigrade now. His feet were paws, too, and covered in hair. So was the rest of his body. Even a bushy tail poked its way down his shorts' leg.

He stumbled on his new legs to the dresser mirror. When he saw his reflection, he almost fainted. Although, after the first few shocks that morning, seeing a wolf looking back at him wasn't too much of a surprise. He was an anthropomorphic wolf. From his pointy ears to his paws.

"Am I a werewolf?" he asked himself out loud. His voice was rougher than it was normally. He shoved that explanation aside since the sun had been up for at least an hour.

Suddenly he remembered what got him up. "The phone!" By then it had stopped ringing. Fortunately he had caller id. He pressed the button on the small box near his phone to discover Jim had called.

"I wonder what Jim wanted this early?" he said. He picked up the phone and dialed his friend.

"Hello?" Jim asked on the other end.

"Jim, this is Dave. Why did you call?"

"Oh, Dave," Jim said pausing. "I was calling to find out why you were running around last night."

"Running around? I went to bed early."

"Well, I saw somebody who looked exactly like you running around the neighborhood last night butt naked."

"It wasn't me, Jim. You know I wouldn't do something like that," Dave said.

"I know. But he looked remarkably like you. What's wrong with your voice?"

Dave decided not to say that he was a wolf morph. Jim thought he was too obsessed with the animals to begin with. "I think I'm coming down with something. I won't be in for work today."

"I'll tell the boss."

"I'll call him, too," Dave said.

"You stay in and get some rest. With all that running around, you probably picked up something."

"I wasn't running around," Dave almost growled.

"It's a joke, Dave. Relax. Hope you feel better."

"Thanks, Jim."

"I'll call tomorrow to check up on you."

"OK. Bye."

"Bye." Click

Dave hung up the phone and picked it up again to call his boss.

"CMI, Tim Rush," Mr. Rush said answering the phone.

"Mr. Rush, this is Dave Frazier. I'm not feeling well today, so I won't be coming in for work."

"You do sound bad," Mr. Rush said. "You must have caught something when you were running around the neighborhood naked like a lunatic last night."

"What? I didn't...."

"Of course not. Your evil twin was streaking in the full moon."

"But, I...."

"No, Mr. Frazier. I do not want to have anyone who's crazy enough to do that to work here. You are FIRED!"

"But..."

"Good day, Mr. Frazier," Mr. Rush said and slammed the phone down.

Dave slowly put the receiver back on the hook and sat down on the couch. He felt odd sitting with the digitigrade legs and the tail. But, that didn't compare to what just happened.

Trying to take his mind off of his worst morning ever, he grabbed the TV remote and fumbled with the buttons. It was harder with those paw like hands he had. The screen warmed up to the news.

"And here is a home video one of our viewers sent us of the mad streaker from last night," the newscaster said.

The scene changed to someone's front yard. It was well lit from the streetlights. "There he is again," said a voice of a woman.

"I got him," said a man. The camera zoomed in on the man running through the street and yards with a black box over a certain area. He came close enough to for Dave to see that the man was him. It looked exactly like him when he was a human, not this half wolf thing.

"What's going on?" Dave screamed.

Throughout the day, Dave experimented with his new form. It was rather comfortable. It felt natural. He had managed a way to drink water. No more glasses for him. He needed to lap it up from a bowl. Food wasn't a problem. Luckily he had left-over hamburgers in the refrigerator. He didn't feel like cooking something. Besides, he knew some hair would get in it.

However only one problem remained: what had happened. He didn't dare go out looking the way he did. People would probably shoot him or send him off to the pound. So, he stayed inside and familiarized himself with his new body.

During sunset, Dave felt tired, so he went to bed. His new body must have a different sleeping schedule. He crawled into bed and didn't use any sheets since his fur kept him comfortable. In moments he was fast asleep.

Elsewhere, in the light of the full moon, a wolf walked out of the woods on two legs. His fur disappeared and his muzzle shrank. In seconds, a human was standing where the wolf used to be. The human ran to the neighborhood where he knew other humans lived. If he hung around, maybe the humans would take him into their pack. He had lived on the outskirts of the town, but never attempted to venture into it as a wolf. However, now that the moon made him a human, he wanted to explore.

The human ran down the street and stopped in a patch of grass on the side. What the humans call a house was facing the patch of grass. He wondered how humans could live with so little grass and trees.

Suddenly the house opened and a human male came out. "Hey, get off my yard freak!"

The wolf/human understood the male, but didn't know how to respond, so he took off down the street. After a long distance running, he stopped on another patch of grass. "Yard" was what the last human called it.

In the distance, he heard cars and sirens. As the noise drew closer, he saw flashing blue lights. The cars were closer than he thought. His human ears were not as sensitive as his normal ones.

The cars stopped on the street in front of the yard he was sitting in. Humans jumped out of the cars and quickly surrounded him. He tried to run, but the human body wasn't as fast as his wolf body.

"Come along, Mr. Frazier," one of the humans said as they were leading him to one of the cars.

All he knew to do was growl.

"Don't worry, Mr. Frazier. You are going to a nice place."

The next day, Dave woke up refreshed after sleeping wonderfully. He crawled out of bed and stopped suddenly. He realized that he actually did crawl out of bed ON ALL FOURS! He looked at himself and saw that he was now fully a wolf.

He squirmed out of his pajamas and stood there wondering what had happened. Slowly instincts kicked in. He needed to get out of his house. The woods were calling him. Dave ran to the back door and fumbled with the handle. He finally got it open and raced to the woods. He had to leave his human life behind, but he would never forget it.

Dr. Morrissey stood at the door to one of the padded rooms. He peered into the window to check on the new patient. "Someone must be playing a trick," he thought. "Who let this wolf in here?" he shouted down the hall.

  _  _  _           _  _  _  ##################################
 / \/ \/ \_-------_/ \/ \/ \ #         Lance Holloway         #
 \_________ -   - _________/ #     lhollowa@comp.uark.edu     #
          | (. .) |          # http://comp.uark.edu/~lhollowa #
          /       \          #--------------------------------#
          |  O O  |          # The Weremoose is watching you. #
           \_____/           #                                #
                             ##################################

* * *
Copyright 1997: The Weremoose <lhollowa@comp.uark.edu> . If you want to post this anywhere else, please ask the author for permission first.       Thank you

Cat. 1: "Flushed!"	Transformation Contest 1, Categories 1 & 3	Cat. 1: "To Mewp, or Not To Mewp..."
Cat. 3: "The First Day in a New Life"		Cat. 3: "Growing Wilder"