So Your Son Wants A Pet?

(A Fox Serum Story)

As always, Lisa Grant was the first person up in her busy household. Groggily, she arose when the alarm went off and she trudged into the kitchen in her bathrobe. Pulling a paper bag from where she had stashed it in the cabinet, she removed one of the vials it contained and placed it on the counter. Then she replaced the bag back in its hiding place for future use.

Still not quite awake, she took a glass from the cabinet and emptied the vial into it. She poured some juice over the liquid, and was about to drink it when a yell from upstairs stopped her.

“Mom! Where's my bra? I can't find it anywhere! I'm gonna miss my bus!”

Instead of screaming up to her twelfth-grade daughter and waking up her husband and son, she placed down the juice and ran upstairs to find the girl sorting through the mess that was her room. “Tonya, why don't you put out your stuff the night before?” she asked, watching her daughter throwing clothes from her closet. It always amazed her how similar she and her daughter looked: auburn hair, greenish eyes – they were even close in height. 

“I was studying for finals until one-thirty in the morning!” She glanced at the clock. “Oh, I'm so late!”

Ruffling through Tonya's underwear drawer, Lisa uttered, “Take a new one.” She tossed a rather sexy-looking one at her daughter, wondering where she had gotten it. Lisa sure had not bought it for her.

“Fine!”

Lisa left the room so her daughter would have some privacy. As she walked past the master bedroom, Blake, her husband, beckoned to her. She entered, and sat down on the bed where he lay.

“Did you drink it yet?” he asked, examining her closely.

“The Serum? I didn't get a chance to.” She sighed. “I hope this helps Charlie out.”

“I think this is a great idea, using the transformation serum. He thinks he can handle a puppy, we're not so sure, so you'll give him a trial run. I think you'll be an adorable one.” He patted her leg.

“Well, since it was a buy-one get-one free canine Fox Serum sale, I know who's going to be a puppy next week.” Lisa ran her hand through her husband's dark hair.

He chuckled. “I hope we're both potty-trained.”

They heard Tonya's steps drumming down the stairs and into the kitchen. Seconds later, the front door unlocked and she yelled, “I'm leaving.”

“Got your jacket and water bottle, Tonya?”

“Yup, although I doubt I'll need a jacket!”

“You say you're always cold in that exam room!” Lisa countered.

The door slammed shut in reply.

“One down, one to go,” Lisa said. “I'm just so tired...When she stays up late, I can't get to sleep either.”

“You better take that serum soon so you'll be ready by the time Charlie's home.”

As if on cue, eleven-year-old Charlie, clad in pajamas, suddenly appeared in their doorway. “What about when I'm home?”

“Charlie, get dressed for school,” Lisa murmured.

“Mom, when are you leaving for your trip?”

“When you're in school.”

“I'll miss you, Mom.”

Lisa blushed. He had no idea how near he'd be to her all that time she was supposedly gone.

Once Charlie and Blake had left for school and work respectively, Lisa heaved a sigh of relief.

She pulled the paper bag from its spot, fished around inside it for a vial, and poured the vial's contents into a glass. As she dumped orange juice over it, she wrestled with a strange sense of deja vu. Dismissing it with a shrug, she gulped down the drink and placed the glass in the sink.

“Ah,” she proclaimed to the empty house while wiping her mouth. “I'm good to go.”

She cleaned away the breakfast dishes, placing them in the sink for Blake to clean later. She swept a glass off the counter and put it in with the dishes, then she ran upstairs to shower.

Lisa darted into the bathroom, moaning at the elation that the serum was starting to generate. The Fox Serum, named after its creator, Adam Fox, contained certain pleasure-inducing additives so the user would not experience pain during the act of transforming. And it worked quite well – the initial rush of the drugs felt so good, she momentarily could have cared less as to what was happening to her body.

But curiosity overcame the bliss, and she stared into the bathroom mirror, willing the outward changes to start. She had used the Fox Serum before, but this was the first canine one she had tried. She could just see the lightest of peach fuzz creeping over her face, and, stripping off her bathrobe and nightgown, she could view it running all over her body. With a delighted shiver, she rubbed her hand up and down her neck, and noted that the light-brown fur was beginning to feel soft and velvety. “Mmmm.” She smiled at her image. What would change next? Her eyes were widening and turning chocolate-brown, and her ears looked just a bit floppy.

As she stepped into the shower, she felt a familiar tightening at the back of her spine, which heralded the coming of her tail. Giggling, she washed herself, her hand reaching to the back of her spine to explore. “Oh, it's definitely coming!” she cried happily. A small nub had appeared, and was growing longer as she observed. “And it's waggable already!”

Yet as she shampooed her hair, something was nagging at her mind. Tonya had a final exam today, but she had not slept much last night, and she was so rushed this morning. Had the girl even eaten breakfast?

Then something clicked.

“Oh, no....Oh, no...” Her ears flopped with each shake of her head. “She didn't. Oh, please say she didn't.” She washed out most of the shampoo, burst out of the shower, and threw on her bathrobe. Taking two steps at a time, she raced downstairs and into the kitchen, pulling out the brown bag.

There were no vials left.

And two empty ones lay in the recycling bin.

“Tonya took the Fox Serum!” she shrieked in horror.

Tears began to pour down her cheeks. “Oh, God, she's got her final exam, and...I have to call her!” She grabbed the phone, her hands shaking.

Feverishly, she dialed her daughter's cell number. “Answer, Tonya! Answer!”

“'This is Tonya. Can't answer ya right now. Leave a message.'”

“Damn!” She called the main number of the school. “Please, can you get Tonya Grant to the phone? She's in an exam, so she's not answering her cell, but this is an emergency.”

The minutes ticked by, each feeling like an eternity. Lisa watched her fur grow out, not as excited about the changes as she usually was. Her bare feet were shrinking, toes coming together, the bottoms growing darker where her paw pads would soon be...

                                                                           ***

Tonya flipped through another page of her Calculus final, sipping the last bits of orange juice-flavored water from her water bottle. She wondered if anyone ever used Calculus after high school. Well, maybe they did in college...

Oh, God! She almost burst out.

Why did she feel like this? It wasn't just good; it was amazing! Maybe she was so sleep-deprived that she was living on endorphins? Was that even possible? The bliss that was overtaking her body was so...blissful...

She shifted in the chair as the feelings flowed through her limbs and into her fingers and toes. What was this?

She tried to concentrate on the math in front of her, but her hand was shaking. She put her other hand over it to steady it, and realized – both were fuzzy.

“What the hell?” she whispered. The teacher gave her a nasty look.

Her eyes fell to her sandaled feet, and she could see the fuzz was there too. And her nails looked...thick?

Oh, I so need to take these off! Carefully, she removed them slightly so they just hung off of her feet.

Why do I feel like this?

“It's hormones,” she uttered to herself, and set back to work on her exam.

When she felt the strange tingling in her spine, she gave a yelp. The teacher walked over to her and glared down at her. “Boy, I sure hope no underage students here are using their parents' Fox Serum in my class.”

Fox Serum? She knew her parents had tried it, but she hadn't taken any Fox Serum. She totally would have known if she were drinking out of a vial...

But the pressure in the back of her pants told a different story, and when she realized she could move what was obviously a tail, she grew horrified. Something was changing her, and, being a month shy of eighteen, the use of Fox Serum was illegal. Plus, she had to finish this Calc exam!

Ignoring her changing body, she scribbled through problem after problem. It grew harder and harder to grip the pencil as her hand became a paw, and she threw her light jacket on to cover the changes as well as she could...

Suddenly a woman burst into the room holding a phone. “Tonya Grant? There's an emergency call for you...”

Annoying as it was, Tonya pushed her shoes back on. She grabbed the phone from the woman and went out into the hall so as not to bother anyone.

“Mom? What's wrong?” She felt pressure in her teeth. When was the last time she'd been to the dentist, she wondered idly.

“Did you drink that orange juice?”

“That you left me on the counter? Yes. I added it to my water bottle.” The thought of it made her salivate, and strangely, some dribble fell from the corner of her mouth.

The silence on the end said it all. “Mom, was there...”

“You drank Fox Serum! You're going to turn into a puppy! Are you okay?”

Tonya inhaled deeply. Now it all made sense. “I'm okay. I feel weird...and...great!” She pushed up her sleeve, studying her arm. “Getting a bit hairy, though.” There was fear, there was excitement, there was...the exam! “I have to finish my test, Mom!”

“Tonya, this is an emergency! I'm coming to pick you up. You won't be able to write soon, anyway!” There was a click, and her mother was gone.

Tonya slunk back into the classroom, not looking at the teacher. Hunching over the chair, she forced herself to continue her work. As excited as she was, she intended to finish this no matter what. She never wanted to study this stuff again. And her reward would be to enjoy her first transformation!

She glanced at her water bottle. “Might as well finish this too,” she murmured, and drank it up.

                                                                    ***

As best as she could with her furry, reduced fingers, Lisa jammed the car keys into the ignition, wishing she had one of the newer cars that simply detected the key in one's purse. When she shifted her from the break to the gas pedal, her shrinking foot shifted in her shoe. Her whole foot slid to the floor, sending the car lurching down the driveway.

“Damn it!” Lisa cried, hitting the brake and placing the car in park so she could tighten her laces to keep the shoe on. Her growing fur rubbed against the inside of her sneaker, and she wished she could remove the shoe entirely, but she had to be able to drive...

She sped down the street, watching her fingernails change as she half-gripped the steering wheel. “Oh, God, please wait... I have to get her. I just have to get her before she turns into a puppy and the kids get ahold of her...”

“Ow!” she glanced down at her shoe to see that one of her new dog nails had pierced through it. Well, it was pretty worn out. Time to get new shoes...

She tore through a stop sign, not seeing the red due to her changing vision. Realizing her mistake right after, she prayed that there were no police officers around. All she needed now was to be delayed further. Then she, like her daughter, would probably end up in a pet shop – or worse.

                                                                            ***

“The limit of...ooo...” Tonya threw down her pencil, and under the safety of her jacket, she unbuttoned her pants. They were so itchy against her growing fur, she couldn't even begin to concentrate on the test. The adjustment helped somewhat, but now her sight was changing. Suddenly everything was less crisp, and the ability to see reds and oranges was swiftly disappearing. The math problem swam before her on the page, and she struggled to read it once more. This was the last problem! She had to finish! The words were only blurs, but she remembered the question, she thought... “Limit...of...” she mumbled, slurring the words together. She tried to scratch down an answer, but it was painful and laborious, as her fingers had almost fused...

She couldn't let anyone know what was happening to her. She couldn't! She'd get in trouble, and the kids would make fun of her... Maybe she'd be thrown in jail for using Fox Serum underage...

Finished!

She jumped up from the chair, and, to the amusement of the other students, her pants started to fall down. Mortified, she grabbed them up and raced to the teacher. She could hardly walk in her huge shoes, and, reaching the teacher's desk, she realized that she had most obviously begun to shrink.

She tossed the finished exam at the surprised woman, stuttering, “Mrs. Kensington, I... I have to use the...bathroom...”

She raced out before the woman could even grant her permission.

                                                                            ***

Successfully reaching the school, Lisa burst from the car, and both shoes fell off. “Forget the damned shoes. I'm a freaking dog.” She grabbed them up and tossed them into the car, then she made a beeline up the path to the front entrance. Her feet were nearly paws now; she no longer had toes, but...well, she had dog toes. The thick black nails coming from them clacked against the pavement, and her paw pads felt nice against the warm stone. She wanted to get on all fours, but she couldn't! Not yet! She had to get her and Tonya home safely!

When she ran into the office, the secretary yelped at Lisa's canine appearance. “Fox Serum!” Lisa explained angrily, running the words into a growl. “Please, I need to take my daughter home. Tonya, twelfth grade...”

“I'm sorry, Ma'am, they're in an exam. Unless it's an emergency–” She studied the frantic woman with obvious disapproval.

“Look at me! Does this not look like an emergency? OH!” Lisa threw herself to all fours, then painfully pulled herself up.

“I'll get her. I'll get her.”

“And please tell the teacher, the principal...whoever...arg...” Lisa clamped her hand over her enlarging snout, “tell them it was an accident, and it's a week-long serum, and she'll make up the exams after–”

“Ma'am, yes. We'll take care of it all! Let me get her before it's too late!”

                                                                            ***

Tonya locked herself in a bathroom stall. She couldn't believe she had taken Fox Serum, but it didn't matter. She had to get home. Painstakingly, she pushed out her phone from her pocket to see where her mother was, but she couldn't grip it, so it fell to the floor.

And then she heard a familiar voice shouting in the hall.

“How can she not be in the exam room? I'm going back there to find her!”

“Ma'am, you're not allowed back here!”

“They said she's in the bathroom!”

Grabbing up her phone, Tonya shuffled out to see her mother and the secretary. Her mother was drastically shorter than usual, and a tail twitched angrily from the top of her pants. Her head was more dog than human.

“My God, Mom! You took it too?”

Lisa reached her front paws to Tonya, who ran into her arms. “Oh, my baby, I'm so sorry.”

“It's okay. You know I wanted to try this, although it was bad timing with exams, and the fact that I'm not eighteen...”

“This was a mistake. Please don't report her,” Lisa begged the woman.

The woman nodded slightly. “You might want to hurry up before you can't get home.” She nodded at Lisa's feet which were now true paws. “Can you still drive?”

“I'll manage.”

“Hurry. I don't know what the laws are like driving while under the influence of Fox Serum.”

Lisa and Tonya ran to the car, Tonya still on two legs, her mother mostly on four. “Damn, Mom! I can still smell the cafeteria from out here!” Tonya yelled.

Sniffing at the air, Lisa marveled at the smells she could now detect. Garbage, squirrels, rotting leaves... “Quick, get in!” With both paws, she managed to open the door for her daughter, who was now also starting to shrink. She bounded inside.

“Mom, forget the seat belt. Just go.”

Lisa could hardly see over the steering wheel. She propped herself up by sticking her purse under her fluffy bottom. Her clothes hung off her, but she still could not get herself to disrobe. She just had to get them home...

The car jerked into drive. Lisa had to clasp two front paws together to move the steering wheel, and her back paw kept slipping off the gas pedal. She was also driving too fast as she was not able to control the pressure on the pedal with a small paw.

“Mom, does it always feel this good?” Tonya asked, her hand stroking her new tail proudly.

“It always feels amazing,” Lisa answered, squinting into the sun.

“I can feel my whole body...rearranging, and I'm seriously shrinking!” She played with her flopping ears. “My ears are droopy!”

As they came to a red light, Lisa nearly skidded through it as she fought to get her paw over to the brake. “Oh, God, I'm shrinking even more, Tonya!” She looked back at her daughter, whose face was becoming more canine with each moment. “Oh, Tonya!” she breathed, half in sorrow, half in awe.

“What?” Tonya watched her worried mother curiously. Truly, anxious as she was, she was also enjoying her first Fox Serum experience. She felt wonderful, and the rush from the drugs as well as the impending danger had her on what she could only describe as a high.

Not quite realizing her daughter's feelings, Lisa tried to put a more positive spin on the experience.

“You're becoming adorable! Look in the mirror!”

As Tonya leapt up to attempt a glance in the front mirror, the light changed to green, and cars behind them began to honk as Lisa fought to hit the gas pedal. They were almost home...just another block...

“You're farther along than me, Mom. Why?”

“Because I drank it all down at once. You were probably sipping from the water bottle, right?”

“Yes.”

A horrible thought struck Lisa. “You finished it, I hope?”

“Yup.”

“Good.” Who knew what happened if you didn't get the full amount of serum? Did you only half-change? Or did you change completely, but for less time?

But that wasn't an issue now. There were more pressing matters at hand.

“Oh, cute!” Tonya exclaimed.

“Cute?” Lisa exclaimed in annoyance. She was getting the feeling that maybe her daughter was not worried at all.

“My foot.” She displayed it proudly. “I have paw pads!” She pushed at them and giggled. “My foot's pretty much a paw now!”

By now, the face that looked back in the rearview mirror was no longer Lisa's, but a canine one. She bared her new teeth in a silly smile and marveled at her big black nose. She was cute, but–

Another sudden reduction in her height left her unable to see over the steering wheel at all.

“Tonya, I can't see! Tell me when we get to our driveway!” Lisa was tempted to ask Tonya to drive, but considering her daughter had become much smaller by now, she probably would not be able to see over the wheel either. At least Lisa was an experienced driver...well, as a human, at least.

Lisa drove blindly until Tonya yelped, “here!”, and then she swung into the driveway, praying she wouldn't hit the house. “Stop! The garage! Stop herrrrr...” Tonya looked up in pleasant surprise. Her ability to speak was gone! She wagged her tail in glee.

Lisa pushed the shifter into park, pawed the key into the off position, then fell back into her seat.

“Arf, arf,” was the only comment she was able to make.


                                                                              ***

As soon as Blake's meeting was finished, he dashed home, saying there was a 'family emergency'. When he reached the house, he saw the car in the driveway, and a far-off sound of barking.

He walked over to the car and peered into the window.

Two puppies, tails wagging, bounced up at him, barking furiously. “Two?” Confused, he peered further into the car. Beside Lisa's purse was Tonya's backpack. “Oh, no! Tonya also?”

His daughter and his wife were so cute, he momentarily did not react. He merely gaped at them, stuck in their own car. But their insistent barking led him to open the door, and the two animals leapt out, pawing at his legs and barking up at him in thanks.

“Tonya, you drank the other vial by mistake?” The puppy that was Tonya nodded vigorously, but did not seem to be in the least bit upset. “You're always dying to try Fox Serum, so I guess you're not too broken up about this.”

She barked.

“I'm glad it's not a hot day,” he murmured, petting their heads lovingly. “I hope you weren't stuck in there too long. But I'll tell you, you guys turned out so cute... I'm sorry about the timing, Tonya, but, still, a puppy is not a bad choice for your first transformation.”

The spotted puppy licked at him, and he patted her head. Then he lifted his puppy wife and daughter up in his arms, brought them inside, and set some dog food at their feet.

When Blake heard Charlie's key in the front door, he walked over and opened it, clearing his throat. “Charlie, we have a little surprise for you. You said you could handle a dog? Well, let's see how you can handle two!”

The two puppies jumped at the boy, who was too shocked to speak. He stood in the doorway, beaming down at the animals. “Oh, they're so cute! Thank you, Dad!” He tossed down his backpack and bent down, rubbing the puppies behind their ears and petting them. They seemed to enjoy this immensely, and Blake made a mental note to request this of Lisa when it was his chance to try the puppy serum. If they were able to get more of it...

“Listen, this is not definite. Let's see how well you do with them. You'll need to walk them, and feed them, and play with them...”

“I know! I know! Can I take them into the yard and play with them right now?”

“Fine. But make sure you get your homework done.”

The brown puppy that was Lisa led Blake to a stash of dog toys.

“Dad! You even got toys! And this brown one's so smart! He showed them to me.”

“She. They're both girls,” Blake said with a wink at the animals.

They winked back.

Lisa ran beside her daughter with abandon. She hadn't felt such energy since she was a child! Even in her other Fox Serum experiences, she had never been a young animal, and the boundless energy was simply invigorating! She actually wanted to play with the furry toys and rubber balls that Charlie tossed at her. The air smelled wonderful, the sun felt warm on her fur, and she ran and bounced through the grass without a care in the world.

Tonya's thoughts were much the same, except that the whole feeling of being in a non-human body was still mind-blowing to her. It had taken her longer to get used to walking on all fours as she had never done it before. And the heightened senses and different vision were jarring.

But now she loved it, and as she frolicked beside her mother, she wished she could remain like this forever. She now saw why her parents were so into using the Fox Serum; and she could understand why there were even Fox Serum junkies. The transformation part was probably better than any recreational drug could be, and then, being sealed into a different body and having no worries... It was amazing.    

She also loved how unsuspecting her brother was.

The puppies napped in the grass as Charlie completed his homework. When he finished and rose, they woke and followed him back inside.

“Hey, Dad, where's Tonya?” Charlie asked.

“She decided to stay over Mattie's house for a few days,” Blake mumbled. “Did you guys have fun outside?”

“You guys?” That seemed an odd way of describing a bunch of puppies.

The two puppies started barking quite enthusiastically at Blake, and he picked them up and cuddled them both.

“I thought you were more of a cat person, Dad.”

“Oh, well, how can you resist these particular girls?”

Both puppies licked his face.

Tonya was hungry. She fetched a can of dog food off the counter, and, can clasped in her mouth, she set it at Charlie's feet.

Charlie let out a surprised breath. “You're hungry, huh, girl?”

She barked.

The boy started at the dog oddly. “Dad, what kind of dogs are they? Are dogs always this smart?”

“Oh, some are very smart.”

Charlie set a schedule to feed the dogs and he stuck to it to the very minute. He walked them like clockwork, and after a week, everyone was convinced he would be a good dog parent. Even the puppies were convinced.

On the last day of the week, Charlie was petting the brown puppy, surprised that she had grown so quickly. In fact, she was much larger than the spotted puppy. “Dad, this one's got a growth spurt. I swear she wasn't that big this morning.” He studied the puppy. It looked back with eyes that seemed too intelligent to be a simple animal.

The spotted puppy sat nearby, observing quietly.

Charlie ventured, “When's Mom coming home?”

“Today.”

He scratched his head. “And Tonya?”

“Whenever. Charlie, come on. You'll miss your bus, and I have to get to work.”

When the house was quiet, the two puppies settled down in the dog bed that Charlie had purchased for them with his own money. Lisa was enlarging quickly, and soon had to get out of the bed for fear of crushing her daughter, who had just begun to shed some fur. With sad eyes, Tonya looked back and forth from her changing mother to her own furry self. She was beginning to change back herself, and, yes, she could continue on with her life soon, but she was also wistful. Her first transformation had been so much fun. She would never forget it, and she couldn't wait until she was of legal age to partake in more Fox Serum. She wanted to be a lion for her birthday, she decided.

She watched Lisa give a great shudder, and a shower of fur fell to the ground. Lisa's tail was getting shorter, and her nails were thinning. Tonya trotted away to eat some of the dog food, which she never had imagined could be so tasty, but her face was now too big to fit into the bowl, and her snout was receding. She whimpered sadly, and they went into separate rooms to finish their changes in private.

Lisa emerged first, wearing a very baggy shirt and pants. “Tonya, are you done changing?” she called.

Tonya's bedroom door opened, and a hairy, stooped-over girl stepped out, clad only in a towel. “Just about. I think I'm usually taller than this, and my spine's not quite right yet.”

“You're going to have to get some clothes on before everyone gets home.”

“Oh, Mom, even the towel feels...yucky. I can't stand the material rubbing against me.”

“I know, these are annoying the hell out of me, but it gets better. Wear something really baggy like this. And I guess you can go barefoot. I know I personally refuse to wear shoes yet.”

Tonya clacked her foot against the floor. “Barefoot? Charlie needs to see these long nails?”

“They'll be gone soon.”

When Charlie got home from school that day, he was greeted by his mother and sister, oddly enough. And no dogs came to greet him as he was growing accustomed to.

“Where are the puppies?”

His mother and sister were looking at each other, and when he realized his mother's face sported a crop of more than peach fuzz, everything clicked.

“It was you guys!”

Tonya began to giggle. “I had my first Fox Serum!” she yelled in a jeering voice.

“That's not fair! She's not eighteen yet!” Charlie yelled.

Lisa patted him on the shoulder. “She took it by mistake. Stop it, Charlie. Look, you treated us quite well. I think you'll be fine with a puppy. One puppy,” she stressed in an amused voice.

“Oh, but I liked having you...two...You played together.”

“He's right, you know. I liked having another puppy to play with, even if it was my mom,” Tonya contributed.

Lisa shrugged. She had felt the same way. “Let's head over to the pound and see who wants to come home with us. Knowing us, we'll end up with ten.”                                                                                                                                                                
Charlie beamed.