A juicy treat

David was in the 3rd week of visiting his family in the United States. It was early December and he had planned on going back home in time for Christmas. This being his first time in the US, all of the sights and cultural differences were fascinating to him.

Today he decided to go to a local mall to buy some souvenirs to bring back home. He had been at the mall for several hours and was getting tired. He hadn’t of eaten or had anything to drink in several hours, so he decided to stop off at the food court to grab a bite.

On his way to the food court, he saw a stand. He walked up to the stand, curious as to what it was selling.

“Hi, what do you sell?” he asked.

“Hello! I’m glad you asked” the vendor said in a very enthusiastic tone. Bending down, he pulled out what looked like a juice can. It had a picture of an odd looking fruit on the side of it. David picked up the can and examined it.

“What is this stuff?” he asked.

“This is a brand new drink. They called it proycon juice; it’s made from several different fruits. They don’t say exactly which fruits, calling it their secret recipe.” The vendor responded.

“I’ll try anything once, how much?” David asked.

“I’ll sell it to you for 50 cents, practically a steal” the vendor said.

“Sounds good, I’ll take it”, David responded as he handed the man a pair of quarters. As he walked away from the stand he opened the can up and began to drink from it.

The taste was odd, like nothing he had ever tasted before, yet it was very refreshing. As he continued to make his way to the food court, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. He stood still for several seconds, placing his bags on the ground while he got his bearings. He had just about finished the drink, so he found the nearest garbage can and threw the drink into it. The dizziness faded, and he wondered for several seconds what could be wrong. Had he consumed the drink too quickly? Was he having a reaction to something in it? He didn’t have any allergies (or more so any allergies that he knew of) to any fruits or vegetables, so he was unsure how that could be it. He guessed that perhaps he was simply far hungrier then he thought he was, so he continued on his way to the food court. It was then that he became aware of another strange feeling, a tingling sensation at the top of his head. He lifted his hand up to touch the area and nearly jumped when he felt two jumps like protusions.

“What the heck is going on?” he said to himself, as his entire body started to feel tingly. Thinking that the drink had made him sick, he quickly rushed to the nearest restroom so he could examine himself in the mirror.

As he quickly made his way to the restroom, he noticed several people looking at him as if in shock. His hearing seemed significantly better then normal. In a near state of panic, he reached the restroom. As he ran into the men’s room there was another man in there who was drying his hands. He took one look at David and ran out of the room screaming. David ran over to the mirror to see what the problem was and almost jumped when he saw his reflection. His human ears were gone, and at the top of his head were two fuzzy pointy ears. He felt them and they felt warm and he could feel himself touching them, which let him know that these ears were definitely his. It was then that he noticed that his clothes felt oddly lose and that there was something growing around his eyes. As he reached his hands up to touch the area, he noticed that his finger nails looked longer, and didn’t looked much like human nails at all and in fact looked much more like claws. What ever was growing around his eyes was getting much thicker and was spreading to the rest of his face. A careful examination of it revealed that it was fur.

“Fur! I’m growing fur! What the hell is going on?” he said to himself. He was shocked to see that the room appeared to be growing and that his chest and arms were getting very warm and itchy. He noticed how much looser his clothes felt, and it didn’t take him long to realize that he was shrinking. His legs were starting to feel warm and itchy, so figuring he had nothing to loose, he stripped. He had to clamp his hands, (which were quickly looking much more like paws) over his mouth to contain his reaction to what he saw. Soft grey fur was growing all over his body. He felt the fur with his hands, and it felt soft and silky. He continued to shrink, and managed to climb on top of the counter to watch his changes in the mirror. In the time he had lost sight of his reflection, his face had changed dramatically. Where his mouth and nose had been, there was now a short muzzle with a small cold nose at the end of it. He opened his mouth and saw that his teeth no longer looked human and were far sharper looking. The growth of fur on his body had been busy while he examined his face. From head to toe, he was now covered in a thick pelt of gray fur. His feet started to tingle and feel very warm. As he watched, they twisted and changed shape. His toenails grew out into sharp claws as his toes became longer and more nimble. His hands felt warmer and he watched them in fascination as they underwent similar changes. His thumbs twisted and snapped and moved down his hands, aligning with the rest of his fingers. He felt a sharp pulling at the base of his spine. Turning to his side; he looked in the mirror to see a busy ringed tail grow out from above his rear end. As his tail finished growing, he seemed to stop shrinking and examined himself in the mirror. Looking back at him was a handsome gray raccoon.

David pondered what do to next. He had to get out of the bathroom, but if he went back into the mall, someone might capture him. He could hear a commotion outside of the room, people saying things like

“he went in there!” and

“we have to catch him”. Panic was starting to set in. It was then that he caught sight of a ventilation grate on the ground. It was far too small for a human to fit in, but he just might be able to. Quickly, he jumped off of the counter and ran over to the gate. With his paws he grabbed onto it and opened it, he was very surprised that it was unlocked, but then again there was no real reason to lock it. It was a tight squeeze, but he managed to fit in. Closing the grate behind him, he ran downt he shaft just as a group of security guards ran into the bathroom. The shaft was dark and dirty but he managed to make his way through them. Eventually, he made his way outside to the back of the mall which backed onto a forest.

As he exited the shaft, he saw something approaching him from the forest. It was 4 other raccoons. One of them, a male walked over to him and chittered at him. David was shocked when he realized that he could understand the animal.

“Hi, my name is Bob” he said. One of the others, a female walked over to him and gave him a huge hug.

“Hi, my name is Jennifer, we saw what happened to you. We were like you, we used to be human, but we were changed” she said. David was shocked, but responded.

“How do you know I was changed like this?” he asked.

“We can tell. We all live with several other people that were changed just like us, life is really fun and we want to invite you to come live with us” Bob said. David was unsure of what to do, his body had been changed, and he wasn’t exactly able to go back to his human life and had no way of explaining to anyone what had happened to him. After pondering his situation for a few minutes, he walked over to Jennifer and returned her hug, asking them to lead the way. Bob smiled at him and shook his paw saying

“Welcome” as the 5 of them walked towards the woods and into freedom.