The New Shampoo

Unlike most other 8-year-olds, Sammy loved taking baths. Sometimes he would lie in there for hours at time. He always felt just at home in the water as he did out of it. When he saw a new type of kids shampoo with a picture of an otter on it, he had begged his mom to get it for him. He always loved watching otters on TV and at the zoo.

Today he finally had a chance to use the shampoo for the first time. He had decided to take a bubble bath in it. He had been looking forward to it all day, and when it was finally bath time he didn’t waste anytime in running the water.
The water seemed to take forever to fill, but he knew that was just because he was really looking forward to it. The bath was finally filled up so Sammy got undressed then stepped in. The bubbles tingled against his skin, which made him giggle. Lying back and using his arms as a makeshift pillow he relaxed and enjoyed the feeling of it.

After nearly an hour of just lying there, his mother called up asking him if he was all right. He responded that he was. At least he thought he was okay. The soap was still making his skin tingle, but now it was starting to feel, very strange. Lifting his arms back up to being in front of him, he noticed his hands looked odd. Between each finer was a web, and his nails had grown into claws. He also noticed what looked like brown fur growing on his arms. Lifting his right leg out of the water, he saw that his foot was also webbed and that the nails on his feet had also grown into claws. His legs were growing the same fur that his arms were.

“What the heck?” he said as he stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel to try to dry him off. Looking in the mirror, he saw fur growing on his chest. This fur was lighter then the fur growing on his arms and legs though, it was almost beige.

“Um okay” he said. He wanted to show his parents what was going on, hoping they could help him, yet suddenly he found himself almost at peace with what was going on and wanting to get back into the water. Steeping back into the tub, the water felt refreshing, as if he belonged in it.

Getting back in the water appeared to hasten the changes. The fur on his arms, chest and legs, which up to this point had been very light, suddenly began to grow very quickly and get quite thick. He face started to feel very strange. Looking towards the mirror, not wanting to get out of the water, he saw fur growing all over his face. His mouth and nose were growing out into a short muzzle, and he had long whiskers growing out from it. He looked at his arms, the fur on them was so thick that he couldn’t see any skin at all. The fur on his chest was close behind. Feeling a pulling and tingling in his rear end, he stood up. His entire back was now also covered in a thick pelt of brown fur. Seeing an odd movement right over his butt, he watched as a long and thick tail pushed itself out. It was covered in a pelt of brown fur that was super soft to the touch. Feeling it felt very odd. Suddenly having a tail made his center of gravity feel a bit strange, but he adjusted quickly. Looking at his legs, he could see that they were now fully covered in brown fur, which turned beige on his inner thighs. His face had been feeling strange ever since watching his tail grow, so he looked towards the mirror. His face looked just like a otters face. The fur on his cheeks and around the bottom of his muzzle was beige, and he had a cute little black nose at the top of his muzzle. His ears were now round and were at the top of his head.

The tingling stopped, and he stepped out of the water. Standing in front of the full-length mirror on the bathroom door, he admired his reflection. His reflection was that of an adorable anthropomorphic otter kid. Sniffing the air, he discovered that his sense of smell was much better then before. Grabbing a towel, he dried himself off, a process that took quite some time with all of his fur.

Getting dressed, he managed to cut a small tail hole in his pajama bottoms, and went downstairs. At first his parents were terrified by the sight of the anthropomorphic otter standing before them, but once he spoke they knew it was him. Walking over and petting him on the head his mother smiled and exclaimed,

“You see what happens when you spend too much time in the bath?”