The slippers

The music from the radio blared loudly, waking Donny. He looked at the clock.

“6:30 already?” he said. He shook his head and got out of bed.

“The nights go by faster every day,” he said. He walked over to his bedroom door and put his bathrobe on.

“This would be a great time to try them on,” he said to himself. He walked over to the box on his counter.

He opened the box and picked up the pair of slippers that had little plush raccoon heads at the end of them. He had bought them yesterday from the store. The man he had bought them from had told them they were special and limited edition. The slippers made his hands feel warm and tingly as he handled them. He gently slipped them onto his feet. They felt very warm and very soft. As he got up to walk down stairs, his entire body suddenly felt warm and itchy.

“That’s weird,” he said as walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

He went about his normal morning activities, boiling a pot of coffee, microwaving a few slices of bacon, toasting some pieces of toast and pouring a bowl of cereal. His body was still feeling warm and itchy, and he noticed that the room seemed warmer then usual. When the microwave beeped to indicate that the bacon was ready, he walked over to it. He immediately noticed that something was wrong. The microwave seemed higher then normal.

“What the heck?” he said to himself. He then noticed that something else was wrong, his bathrobe seemed bigger then normal. He tried to ignore it, thinking it was just his imagination. He opened the microwave door and got the bacon tray out, putting it in the sink after removing the bacon and putting it onto a plate. His toast was also done so he removed it from the toaster and put it in the plate beside the bacon before putting peanut butter and jam on it. With the plate in hand, he walked over to the table so he could eat and read the newspaper.

When he sat down, he noticed that something was definitely wrong. The table height was far higher then normal. He knew hadn’t of adjusted it, and was baffled by why it was so high.

“Maybe it isn’t my imagination,” he said. He stood up to check the table and noticed that his bathrobe felt even bigger.

“What is going on? Am I shrinking or something?” he asked himself. The question seemed to answer itself when his boxers slipped down his legs. The itching and feeling of warmth intensified and in a panic, he threw the bathrobe off.

“What the heck?” he said as he saw a coating of grayish brown fur growing all over his body. He examined the fur and discovered that it was very soft and warm.

“Man this is fricken surreal!” he said. His felt an odd pulling sensation on his mouth and nose and warmth at the top of his head and around his ears. The fur was getting thicker and longer and at the rate it was growing he guessed he would have a full coating of it in a matter of minutes. The room seemed to be getting bigger which confirmed that he was indeed shrinking. His hands and feet started to ache which distracted him from the strange feelings in his face. His watched as bristly black fur grew on top of both hands and as his fingernails grew out into sharp black claws. Warmth spread through both hands centering at the thumbs. He watched with a mixture of fascination and horror as his thumbs were altered in shape and position until they had become 5th fingers aligned with the other 4 on each hand. The bottom of both hands felt strange and he turned both around to see the skin become a very sensitive leathery texture. He noticed something in his field of vision at the very bottom center.

“My face!” he said, as he suddenly remembered the changes it was undergoing. He felt his face with and what he felt didn’t feel human at all anymore. The fur on his face was very thick. In the place of his nose and mouth, he had a muzzle! He opened his mouth and was able to examine his new sharp teeth with his fingers. Finishing that, he felt the top of his head. His ears were no longer at the sides of his head and instead were at the top. They felt very different, instead of being human shaped, they were furry and almost pointed.

“Man, this is unreal!” he said.

He was still shrinking and everything in the room was starting to look huge. The fur growth on his body seemed to be nearing completion and he saw that he now had a thick pelt of grayish brown fur from head to toe. His legs and arms seemed to be shrinking at a rate that would allow their lengths to be close enough such that 4 footed walking would be easy and perhaps normal. His center of gravity was changing and he quickly found himself almost being pushed forward onto all fours. A strange pulling sensation manifested itself at the base of his spine and he watched as a long furry tail began to grow. As the tail grew, he realized that he was becoming. The tail had several black rings on it, the coloration of a raccoon tail. He realized that during all of this he had not removed the slippers. Hopping to put an end to the changes, he stepped out of them. But it was too late. The changes completed as he shrank to the size of a normal adult male raccoon.

He quickly rushed over to the nearest mirror he could find to get a look at himself. With his new size, everything in the house seemed huge. When he got to a mirror, he looked at himself in fascination. His reflection was indeed that of a raccoon. Thoughts of all kinds started forming in mind. He couldn’t understand how the slippers could do this. He thought about calling for help, but when he opened his mouth to try to talk, only raccoon sounds would come out.

“What am I supposed to do?” he thought to himself. He couldn’t exactly get to work like this. Along the same lines, he couldn’t exactly just stay here like this either. Eventually he was going to need food and in his current form, making it would be all but impossible. With that thought, his stomach started to rumble, he remembered that he had not had the chance to finish his breakfast. He realized how much better his sense of smell and hearing now were and quickly followed the smell of food to the table, where his bacon, toast and cereal were waiting. Without a second thought, he jumped onto the table and very quickly consumed all three.

“So now what do I do?” he thought to himself. He suddenly felt tired.

“I guess this took a lot more out of me then I thought,” he thought. With that he jumped onto the floor and walked over to his couch, climbed into it and curled up in a little ball and went to sleep.

He awoke several hours later to the sound of the phone ringing. With his enhanced sense of hearing it sounded far louder then he was used to. He stood on his hind legs and looked down at his body.

“So it wasn’t a dream,” he thought to himself. The phone rang again, so he walked over to it and picked it up. Before he could say anything, the caller started talking right away. It was his boss, he was demanding to know where he was. He tried to speak in hopes of explaining to the man that he wasn’t exactly able to come into work. When only raccoon sounds came out, he remembered that he couldn’t speak. His boss seemed very confused,

“what the heck was that?” the man asked. In a panic, Donny hung up the phone. He then realized what he had done. His boss had heard the sound of an animal talking into the phone. He shook his furry little head.

“Great, now he’s gonna send someone here to check up on me! I can imaging how they will react when they see a raccoon in the house.” he thought. He got off the couch and thought about another way to contact his boss. Looking at his paws, he realized that he could probably still type and could use his computer to send his boss an e-mail explaining to him what had happened. He then shook his head.

“I’m sure that would go over well, saying ‘I’m sorry for not showing up today, you see I’ve been turned into a raccoon and can’t come into work’. An e-mail like that, especially after that phone call would probably convince him to send the guys in white coats over” he thought to himself. But he did realize that he had a problem, how was he going to live like this? He had to tell someone. Sooner or later someone was going to come over to see what was wrong and why he wasn’t responding to calls. He decided to wait until his next door neighbor Artie got home from work so he could somehow this to him so, together they could decide what to do.

It was still several hours before Artie got home and he realized that he needed something to do to occupy his time. He looked at his paws and thought about using the computer. With his hands he’d still be able to type, but it would be harder with his smaller size.

“Then again, I could e-mail Artie and tell him to come over here as soon as possible. I could use the web cam to take a picture of myself and attach it saying this is why I need him to come over”, he thought. He half expected Artie to think this was all a prank, but felt that he had nothing to lose. Having finished that thought, he walked downstairs towards the computer. When he got to his computer chair, he looked up at it. It was huge or more so, for his new size it was huge! With some effort, he managed to get onto it. When standing on his hind legs, he was just barley able to reach the keyboard, so he climbed onto the desk and lay down. He turned on the monitor and used his right paw to access the mouse. With his new raccoon eyes, seeing the text on the monitor was a bit difficult. His hearing and sense of smell were vastly improved but his vision wasn’t as good as his human vision had been. He managed though, and was able to get his e-mail program open. He clicked on ‘compose new message’ and selected Artie from his address book and started to write the e-mail.

“What am I going to say?” he thought to himself. He looked at the camera that sat atop his monitor.

“Better record myself first,” he thought. He minimized the e-mail and brought up the camera program. He set the camera to take 5 still pictures, with 5-second delays between each one. He stood up in front of the camera and pressed the ‘go’ button. With a huge smile of his face, he posed for the camera for the first picture, stood back a bit and stood on all fours for the second one, held his tail in front of him with a confused look on his face for the third one, and smiled for the forth and fifth ones. Finally, he set it to record a 10-second video and did his best to talk and explain his situation. Everything having been set so he saved the pictures and videos brought the e-mail back up and attached them.

“Lets see, what am I going to say?” he thought to himself.

After some thought, he put his paws on the keyboard and typed the e-mail.

“Hi Artie. I have a bit of a problem, well that’s more then an understatement. Remember those ‘special slippers’ I bought yesterday that I told you about? Well, I found out what makes them so special. They had an interesting effect on me to say the least. I think the pictures and video I’ve attached say it all. Yes that’s me. Please come over as soon as you can”. He scanned the e-mail and hit send. He also decided to send his boss an e-mail. Although he would only tell him that his throat was really sore, so much that he couldn’t talk properly and that the animal sounds on the phone was how odd his voice sounded. With that written, he hit send. With both e-mails sent, he decided to take a bath.

He walked all the way upstairs and into the bathroom. He looked at the tub almost in awe. Standing in his hind legs with his paws on his hips, he contemplated just how he was going to turn on the water. The taps were at a height easy for a human to get to but for a raccoon, they could be a challenge. He looked at the taps for several minutes before deciding to try turning them on by standing on the side of the tub. He first put the plug in the drain and then turned on the water. With all of his fur, he wasn’t sure what temperature to use. He remembered reading that raccoons have very thick fur and enjoy the water to the point where they are actually pretty good swimmers. He first turned on just the cold water and stuck a paw under the facet into the pouring water. He half expected it to feel cool, but instead it felt great. He stood in the bathtub as the water filled until it was deep enough for him to stand on all fours with the water halfway up his torso. With some effort, and be very careful not to slip, he turned the water off. He looked at the shampoo and wondered if it would work on his fur. He decided it was best not to risk and simply decided to wash himself with just the water. He played in the water for nearly an hour, getting carried away to the point of almost ‘losing himself’ to his new body. When he got out and jumped up to get a towel off the rack, he shook his head.

“Whoa, I have to be careful, it’s so easy to get carried away” he thought. Drying himself off took a long time with all of his fur and once he had done so he got back onto his bed. He sniffed around it and could smell ‘a human smell’ that was familiar somehow. When he got an itch on his chest, without thinking he itched it with right back right foot. He again shook his head, thinking

“it’s so easy to lose myself to this body, that human smell is my human self, my true self. I’m not really an animal; I have to stay focused. I have to find a way to change back before I get so used to this body that I end up not wanting to” he thought. He looked at his clock and saw that it was 2:30 PM.

“only a few more hours until Artie gets home, I hope he reads his e-mail” he thought to himself. He needed to find a way to ‘kill’ 3 hours.

He was getting hungry again. He knew that he couldn’t exactly cook in his current form. He then got an idea. There was an apple tree in his backyard and some blueberry bushes. Neither had been sprayed with chemicals before so he saw no reason why he couldn’t eat them. He knew that raccoons were technically omnivores so he would need some kind of meat eventually but for now hoped that an apple or two and some blueberries would satisfy him. Getting the backdoor open was a challenge, but with some effort and persistence he managed to do it. Getting into the backyard, he instinctively smelled the air. The smells and sounds were incredible. For a minute he worried that his senses were going to be overloaded. His stomach was rumbling and he immediately smelled the apple tree. With a sprint, he ran over to it and climbed it. It wasn’t until he had gotten about halfway up that he realized he had done so without thinking. He walked over to a nice ripe red apple and grabbed it, throwing it to the ground before grabbing another and doing the same. With a few leaps and some climbing, he carefully climbed down the tree and went right for the apples. He bit into the first one and was rewarded with flavor unlike anything he had ever imagined. His tastebuds seemed to come alive from the flavor. He had liked apples as a human, but with his enhanced senses, the taste was incredible. He quickly gobbled down both apples and headed for the blueberry bush. He sniffed the ground instinctively and could smell squirrels and cats and even other raccoons that had been in the area recently. He picked blueberries off the bush and as he ate them he experienced similar sensations that the apples gave him. As he ate, he felt an urge that disturbed him. A part of him wanted to forget about becoming human and to simply run off into the wilderness and be one with nature. He shook the feeling off and started back towards the house. As he walked by the tree, he heard something coming down towards him. It was another raccoon! He sniffed the air and could smell it clearly. His instincts told him that this raccoon was female. She got to the ground and sniffed and looked at him curiously. He felt a strange desire as he sniffed her. When he realized what it was, he panicked and ran back into the house as fast as he could, leaving the female raccoon looking at him very confused.

When he closed the door, he looked back outside and saw her climbing back up the tree.

“No, that’s not right! I can’t let myself do that, I have to focus, I can’t let this body win out!” he thought to himself. At least the food had filled up him for now. But the horror of realizing that he had for a few seconds, wanted to mate with that female terrified him. He needed something to get his mind off of his situation, so he decided to watch TV until Artie got home. He found the controller and sat down on the floor all stretched out in front of the TV and turned it on.

After watching TV for a few hours, he was overjoyed when he finally heard Arties car pull into the driveway. He turned off the TV and walked over to the door and unlocked it and waited for him to come to the door. He wasn’t sure if we would believe the e-mail, but really didn’t have much of a choice, he couldn’t simply walk over to his house like this, he’d likely end up getting chased off and captured or something.

He waited for about 20 minutes until he finally heard the sound of footsteps approaching the house. He stood by the door and waiting for Artie to ring the bell. Artie did so and Donny had to cover his ears. With his new sense of hearing, the doorbell was much louder then he was used to. Artie knocked on the door saying,

“are you there Donny?” Donny managed to get out a series of chitters and warbles which got Arties attention enough for him to open the door. When he saw the grayish brown raccoon looking at him, he nearly jumped out of his shoes. He quickly got into the house and looked at the animal in fascination.

“Is that really you Donny?” he asked. Donny nodded his furry little head.

“What special slippers are you talking about now?” Artie asked. Donny started to walk into the living room and motioned for Artie to follow him, Artie did so and Donny lead him to the slippers, picking them up with his paws and handing them to him.

“Cute slippers.” He said. Donny looked at him almost annoyed and chittered at him.

“Well, I guess you can’t really just stay here by yourself, common I’ll take you to my house and we’ll try to figure out what to do.” Artie said. Donny nodded his head and ran towards Artie, indicating he wanted him to carry him.

“Okay, okay” Artie said as he picked the raccoon up and carried him out of the house and over to his house.

Donny was lucky; Artie had a laptop at home that had speakers and a voice synthesizer program on it. Donny was able to use that to communicate with him. They thought about contacting the store where we bought the slippers to ask the owner about the effect they had. But they realized that letting others know about this could cause problems. Instead they decided to ask about any known allergic reactions to the material inside of it. Strangely enough, the person that had sold Donny the slippers had disappeared. After he hung up the phone to tell Donny the news, he looked at him and almost smiled.

“Well buddy, looks like you’re a raccoon now.” He said. Donny typed away at the computer.

“How am I supposed to live like this? I can’t just go wild! I’d lose myself to this body out there. I don’t want that to happen, I don’t to live as an animal!” Donny typed.

“You don’t have to live in the wild Donny, you can stay with me. It does get lonely here and I wouldn’t mind having a pet.” He said.

“A pet?” Donny asked.

“Well, maybe not a pet. Maybe more of an animal companion. It could be fun. Think about it, you wouldn’t have to worry about work or paying bills anymore, just have fun. And you can stay with me at night. I like raccoons, so it shouldn’t be a problem. We will have to make sure you get all of your shots” Artie said.

“How are we going to explain to my family about this? Not to mention my boss? I don’t want to become the focus of a media circus!” Artie typed.

“We’ll tell them the truth. I’m sure they can be convinced to keep things quiet. If there are other like you that have become raccoons then it will make it easier.” he said. Donny nodded. He told him about his day at home and about the incident with the female raccoon. Artie seemed shocked, but understood.

“Donny, don’t be so hard on yourself. Being turned into an animal isn’t exactly something you’re trained for in how to deal with. I’m sure you have all sorts of new instincts and hormones flowing through your body and mind. I’m sure it’s difficult to control them. Its understandable that there will be difficulty in transition.” Artie said. Donny nodded his head. Artie giggled;

“of course we could also get you neutered” Donny frowned but could help but giggle and typed

“yea right”.

They learned during the news that evening that over 2 dozen people that had bought the slippers from the same man Donny had at first had been reported missing. After some investigation, it was discovered that really happened to them.

Donny decided to stay with Artie as his animal companion. It took him some time to get used to being a raccoon, but after a couple of weeks he came to enjoy it. Medical examination showed that despite being a raccoon, Donny and the others like him would enjoy full human length life expectancies.

The man that had sold them the slippers was never found. Some suspected that he had never really existed but others guessed that he had kept a pair of slippers for himself. Some say that on a clear and quiet night, you can hear a raccoon chittering happily near the store.

Donny came to throughoutly enjoy his new form. It’s been 2 months since his transformation and he couldn’t be happier, especially since a female raccoon that also used to be a human who had also bought the slippers came to live with them. With his now 2 new companions, Artie has come to enjoy a new aspect of life. He still has the slippers that changed Donny and some day, he plans on wearing them himself, but until that day, he’s going to enjoy spending time with his furry friends.