What Dreams May Become 11

(horse TF, bird TF, butterflyTF, various inanimate TFs)

by grapehyacinth

I glanced up at my husband, who was sorting around the old boxes in the attic. At his advanced age, he had things up there that I had no idea what purpose they were even meant for. Yes, I was still reeling from his divulging that he was eighty-five, but with his transformation ability, he was in the body of a younger man, and I liked it that way. I never thought of him as old, and he didn't act that way. But he did have some crazy stuff stored away.

“Roman, I'm trying to finish up studying for finals. Why do you need a record player?”

“Have you ever even seen a record?” He held up a record jacket. There was a nature scene on the front, and above it was emblazoned, 'Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite, Mississippi Suite'. “I'd love to hear this on my old record. My dad always loved Grofe.”

I thought back to my own childhood, when my father blasted classical music on the weekend. It's how I learned to love composers old and new. I even had a another favorite in Ralph Vaughan Williams, thanks to Roman.

“Want to play it for me?”

“Hm...you have any Ravel?” I asked. Ravel and Debussy were probably my favorite composers.

Roman held up a record with Ravel's 'Piano Concerto in G' and his 'La Valse', and I was a high-end record player seconds later. He plugged me in, and the familiar surge of electricity left me breathless. When he flicked me on, and my turntable began to spin, I gasped, “Oh, that's definitely a new sensation.” The machinery whirring inside me was an added bonus.

“Yes, it is.” Roman placed the record on me and picked up my arm. He gently placed my needle at the edge of the rotating disk, and beautiful music began to pour from me. “Oh, you've got a nice sound, Corrie! I'm impressed!”

The music felt wonderful flowing through my boxy form, and I was singing with the voice of a full orchestra. When the piano played, the clinking of the keys tickled my needle, and my ensuing giggle made the record skip. “Oh, sorry, Roman!”

“Not a problem. You're doing a great job.” He sat back in a chair and crossed his legs, losing himself in my music.

When the concerto came to a close, the song, 'La Valse' came on. It was one of my favorites, and apparently it was Roman's too. “I always wanted to dance to this,” I whispered over the swaying strings and fluttering woodwinds.

“Mm, understandable. You hear this and you want to be drawn up into the waltz. We should do that sometime.”
“As people?”

He grinned. “As people.”

Then the doorbell rang, which rather ruined the experience. Roman glanced at me. “Uh, can you stay like that? I can't imagine who it is, but...”

“It's fine. Go check. I'll keep the music going.”

I watched Roman walk to the front door and open it cautiously. And, just like out of some ridiculous Disney movie, two horses stood side-by-side on the porch.

Roman clapped his hands together, quite amused by the sight. “Dave! Kate! My two favorite equines!”

The male stamped his foot impatiently.

“You want to be human?” Roman asked. The horse nodded.

“You too, Kate?”

Both horses vigorously nodded their heads no, the female making something of a horrified squeal. Perplexed, Roman changed back only the male, and my stepfather Dave took a moment to get used to being on two feet again. He'd been a horse for a while.

“Thanks, Roman,” he said, shaking himself like a horse would. He reddened on realizing this, and when he stepped inside, I could actually see he was trying to act as manly as possible. He walked tall and straight, jutting out his chin and setting his jaw. I'm glad I held back the laughter that was so close to escaping my record-player mouth.

My mother remained right outside the door, flicking her ears nervously.

“You can come in, Kate. Just duck your head,” Roman said, but my mother refused, shaking her head no.

I lowered my volume, but kept the music going softly. The drum rhythm in one part of the song resonated inside of me, and I felt like I had a heart. It was a bit unnerving. “How are you guys?” I chirped up.

Dave glanced at me, almost unsurprised. “Couldn't you have at least made her a CD player or an Ipod, Roman?”

“I found a bunch of my old records and wanted to try them out,” Roman explained, as if this was a normal, everyday occurrence.

“Oh...okay...” My stepfather hung on the last word, looking as if he were gathering up the nerve to say something else.

In the uncomfortable silence, my mother made a soft but encouraging whinny, and she flapped her tail back and forth. Dave gazed back at her lovingly. “Okay, Kate. I will. I will.”

Roman scrutinized him with suspicion. “What is it, Dave?”

Dave swallowed, glancing at me. “Kate is pregnant.”

“What?!” I screamed, extremely angry. “What? Why would you... Roman turn me back so I can...stomp around!” I demanded.

Carefully removing the record from my turntable, Roman changed me back. But he was trying very hard to keep himself from laughing at my comment, which got me even more enraged.

“Mom, how could you? I mean, how old are you, and now you're going to have another kid? And then I'll have a younger sibling, or–”

Dave quickly grew annoyed with my ranting. He caught my arm as I paced by. “Hey, listen, Mrs. Recordplayer, first of all, it'll be a colt, so you don't have to worry about any sibling rivalry. Second, can't you at least give your mother a congratulations?”

I gazed at my mother in shock. Under that white fur, I could swear she was blushing. “But...but...you want it? I mean...horse pregnancies are long, and the delivery...”

My mom nodded several times, and went over to neck the happy father.

“I'll stay with her the whole time. I just wanted to be human to tell you. But I'm not sure if it'll hurt the baby if your mom turns back, so we want to be really careful...”

Roman coughed. “I can't say I've ever run across this situation before, but yes, I'll agree with you. I'm not sure if she was changed and then transformed back to a horse that she'd keep the baby. Probably not, in fact.” He looked into my mother's deep eyes. “You really want this...colt, Kate?”

She nodded again.

“You'll have to stay a horse for eleven months.”

I think my mother shrugged.

“But what about your job, and your house, and...” I stammered. They couldn't do this. It was wrong. It was unthinkable. Even after she had the colt, she'd have to feed it and take care of it, and where would they stay?

“We're going to build a stable in the backyard,” Dave answered, as if reading my mind. “We have several acres, and then there's woods. It's perfect to run with our baby.”

“But...but...” so many questions ran through my head. What would they do with the baby when it was full grown? Would they ride it or something? It was just...mind-blowing...

And I was jealous.

I had wanted this experience for myself. Way back when I'd first met Roman, we'd become horses together. I enjoyed the experience so much that I wanted to remain in horse form for a while, perhaps going as far as to mother my own colt. Roman did not disagree, but he made me promise to at least start college first, because he didn't want me to not have a life. Just because we could transform didn't mean that we should retire from humanity forever. He wanted me to fulfill all my goals and to live my dreams.

But I was already living my dreams. I was married to an immensely powerful man who loved me and could make me anything I wanted...

Now that my first year of college was nearly complete, however, I was considering putting off being horses so I could continue school. True, I could always be a horse, and Roman had not mentioned it lately, so it really had not been on my mind.

Yet now that my mom was expecting, I was disgusted with the whole idea.

“Is there anything I can do for you guys?” Roman offered, watching Dave pet the horse affectionately.

“Check on us from time to time. And please be around when Kate's ready to deliver, in case we need a vet or someone to help.” Dave winked. I gagged.

“What about your house, the bills?” Roman asked.

Dave thought about this. “Okay, maybe here and there you change me back so I can take care of that all. I guess we can work something out. We'll get a post office box so I can pick up the mail when I want to. Maybe you can change me back weekly, how's that?”

“It's a deal.”

“Okay, Roman, make me a horse.”

Dave changed. He trotted outside, and, rearing up on his back legs, he let out an excited whinny and ran off after his expectant mare.

I started to cry.

Roman led me into our room and gently coaxed me to lie down on the bed. “Corrie, why are you crying? This is a happy time...well, I guess it is...” He sat down beside me and stroked my back.

I recoiled. “Don't change me!” I yelled.

“I wasn't going to.” He was very confused at my response, and I wondered if he had any idea why I was reacting this way. Then again, I wasn't sure myself why I was reacting this way either. It wasn't as if I couldn't go have a foal with Roman if I really wanted to. I guess my mother kind of stole my thunder, to use a perfect cliché.

“No, I really wasn't going to change you. I'm trying to comfort you.” He gazed down at me. “Did you want to be a horse with them for a bit?”

The whole idea was repugnant to be. “Not at all!” I retorted. “I don't want to be anywhere near them.”

Roman had a 'you're acting like a child' look on his face, but he simply replied, “So?”

I sighed, curling up against him. “I don't know. You know how I wanted to do that. But my mom got to it first. I almost feel like she stole it from me or something. And it's just so weird...I mean, that's my mother that's going to give birth – as a horse – to a foal. I mean, does that make the foal my brother or sister?”

Roman scratched his head. “Kind of. Or maybe not. The DNA obviously has to change somewhat when I transform someone. So if your parents mate as horses and have horse offspring, they must all have horse DNA right now. Or maybe some mixture, I don't know. It would be interesting to study the DNA of someone who's been transformed.”

“So we should do a DNA test on us. One when we're an animal, one when we're human.”

“I don't know anyone I'd trust to do that to us.”

“We don't have to tell them that the animal we're bringing to them is really a person.”

“You have a point.”

We lay in silence, and I interrupted it more than once with sobs when I thought about my mother. I guess I liked to know she was always available when I needed her, and now she kind of wasn't. But Roman said we could always talk to her as a horse. That wasn't quite the same though, somehow.

“What if she dies in childbirth...uh, delivery...whatever you call it for an animal?” The idea hit me with such fear that I cringed.

“I won't let her.”

“Corrie, you've been tossing and turning for hours,” Roman said groggily beside me. He bunched up his pillow and adjusted the blankets.

“It's just not fair!” I yawned (well, whined) in the darkness.

“Corrie, listen to yourself,” Roman was obviously getting frustrated with me. It was two-thirty in the morning, and I had slept a troubled sleep punctuated with images of horses giving birth. I swear, I was never going to watch another graphic nature special again.

“You can always be a horse. Here. Turn into a horse!”

“Not in the bed, Roman!”

I had gained some weight, some fur, and part of a mane before Roman turned me back.

“I'll break the bed if I'm a horse in it. And plus, I can't have kids now. I have to finish school.”

“Corrie, if giving birth is what you want to do right away, choose an organism that does it fast and doesn't need to take care of its young. Then you'll feel better.”

“I'll think about it.” Strangely enough, this idea was almost reassuring. There were definitely some interesting possibilities here. Pondering my choices, I pulled the blanket around me and fell off.

Something awoke me at dawn. “Roman, what was that?” I muttered. What was that? A scraping sound, almost like a creak...

There was no answer from my husband, however. “Roman? I heard something.” I turned towards my husband's side of the bed.

It was empty.

He returned a half hour later, and I pretended I was asleep, but actually, I had waited for him the whole time. He was flushed and out of breath, which he often was after a particularly taxing time as something else. He had been like that when he was a horse, and I was riding him around...

A horse, like my mom, who was expecting...

I let out a sob.

Where had my husband been? I needed him! How dare he go anywhere without me?

I had a plan for the next day. And it wasn't going to be me turning into an animal.

I was quiet at breakfast, and Roman respected this. He had gone a bit more extravagant on the foods he had created for our meal, but I didn't comment on this. I'm sure he felt bad due to the lack of compliments, but I was upset. He'd have to deal.

“How are you feeling?” he asked cautiously.

“Sad,” I said in between bites of delicious fresh bread.

“Corrie, it's nothing to be sad about!”

I glared at him.

“You can do it too! You can be anything you want! Just ask me!”

I jumped up in anger. “My mother's too old to have babies!”

“So am I!” he yelled back, then he covered his mouth and turned away.

I stomped in front of him. “What the hell does that mean? You can do whatever you want to yourself. Hell, you could turn into a baby!”

We both stared at each other a moment.

“Ew,” I uttered. “That's particularly disgusting.”

“Agreed.”

We continued to gaze at each other. “No, I've never been a father,” he said quietly.

“Well, maybe not a human one!” I snapped. But I heard pain in his voice, and I immediately felt guilty for my jibe. But Roman simply walked off in a huff.

I never got a chance to ask him where he'd gone last night. But I'd bide my time. I still wanted to see if he would tell me himself. And I would be keeping an eye on him.

“You going to stay home and work?” he asked gruffly, pulling on a sweater. “I have stuff to do.”

“Like?” When Roman was inexact, using words like 'stuff', I knew to be suspicious. Although usually it meant that he was planning some kind of silly surprise, like turning himself into a giant cantaloupe or something.

“I have to check out the rental houses, stuff like that.”

I studied him. There it was again. More 'stuff'. “I don't have to study right now.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

He sighed, twiddling his fingers. “So? Did you think about the mothering thing?”

“I don't want to be an animal right now. I want to be inanimate. I'm depressed. I just want to be a useful object.”

He looked mildly interested. “Like?”

“Turn me into a watch for you. Wear me.” I loved my idea – Roman wouldn't be able to resist wearing me, and I could keep an eye on him.

Tilting his head to the side, he seemed to be considering this. “Well, I guess it couldn't hurt.” He nodded his head. “Okay. Get down on your side and grab your toes.”

It couldn't hurt? What kind of answer was that? Nonetheless, I got to the ground and grabbed my toes, arcing my body into a more circular form to help him out. Immediately my hands and feet fused together, and I was quickly rounding out and shrinking. “Make me nice!” I ordered while I still had a usable mouth.

“I am,” he murmured, concentrating deeply on my change.

I could feel interlocking segments forming from my body, hardening into metal. “Make me gold!” I forced out just as my lips stiffened.

“Yes, you're becoming gold,” he bent down, stroking me as I finished my changes. I moaned involuntarily, which made me annoyed with myself. I didn't want him to know I was enjoying it.

My head, tiny as it was, finished flattening into a watch face, and Roman had left my features on it as well – except for a nose. He made sure I had a second and minute hand coming from where my nose once had been.

Roman picked me up and tapped on my glass face. “Oh, you're cute!” he commented. He stretched me out and positioned me on his wrist.

“Oops, gotta set you and wind you up. You don't have a battery.”

He set my hands to the proper time and then started to wind. That was rewarded with another moan. “Yes, I thought you'd like to be wound.”

My inner workings sprung to life, and the pulsing and clicking of my gears was very stimulating. Mmm, I thought, listening to my perfectly spaced tick-tick-ticks, I'm nice.

Roman did make the rounds of the several properties he rented out. It wasn't like he needed an income, seeing as he could create whatever he wanted, but it was done for appearance's sake, he had explained. He was a real person, he paid taxes, and was part of the community.

So I watched from his wrist as he did his errands. He fixed a broken window in one house, (by transforming it, of course), and carried some boxes down from another house that had been in the family for years.

In able to travel from place to place, Roman became a bird, and, now, essentially part of him, I was along for the ride. His wings were large and powerful as he churned across the sky. He was a seasoned flier, and no one could ever tell the majestic eagle or crow – whatever he decided to become – was really a man.

He came down to rest in a familiar area. Roman! Why are you in my mother's backyard? I asked in his mind.

He turned back into a man and began to survey the area.

What are you looking for?

“This.” He found a rock in the near-corner of the property.

Who is that?

“Uh, it's a rock, Corrie.”

Oh. I was still dying to know where he had been last night, and it was all I could do to not quiz him at this point. So what are you doing with it?

“I'm building a stable.”

With that, I could actually feel the tension in Roman's wrist as he squeezed his fists and forced the rock to transform. It grew larger and squarer, stretching to easily three times Roman's height, and then softening into wooden planks. A door, roof, and windows formed, and a barn stood before us.

Roman relaxed. “There,” he said matter-of-factly.

Is this for my mom and Dave? I piped up. I still got a kick out of him creating things like this. It was amazing to watch something built up from the basest and smallest of objects.

“Yes. I hope it works for them. We'll heat it and stuff so they're comfortable year-round. Dave! Kate! You guys around here?” he called into the woods.

I could hear the sound of hoofbeats growing closer. I dreaded seeing my mother again, but the expectant equines appeared on the woods' edge, and I couldn't do much about it. I couldn't even cringe, unfortunately.

“Oh, lovely!” cried my mother. “It's like a palace for horses!”

“Perfect, Roman. Thanks so much!” Dave answered.  

Hey, you're letting them talk, Roman?

He either didn't hear me or he was ignoring me. “We have to set up the inside for you. I'll be back for that when Corrie's in class.”

My mother trotted inside. I was staring at her midsection, but thankfully, it wasn't obviously larger. Which made me feel slightly better.  

Why are they talking, Roman? I asked again. They said they wanted the full horse experience, and they didn't want to be able to talk.

“Where is she? Did you bring her?” Dave asked nervously.

My mom came back outside, adding, “He said he'd bring her, so she's here. The question is: what is she?”

The two horses scanned my husband up and down, and he simply stood there beaming. I guess he was reveling in the fun guessing game. I, meanwhile, felt victorious. Ha, ha. No stupid horse could ever figure out that the sparkly gold watch was really me! And I was probably priceless!

“Give up?” Roman asked, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Oh, she could be anything!” my mother uttered, flapping her tail back and forth.

“Come on out, Corrie!” Roman yelled at me, and I got very angry as I felt myself changing back.

Stop it, Roman. I'm a watch! Leave me that way!

“No, you're a Corrie.”

The fact that I was forming into a person in front of my mom and stepfather was kind of awkward. Especially because they were talking horses themselves. “Hi,” I said, kicking my foot back and forth in the sand.

“A watch, huh, Cor?” Dave whinnied. “I bet your experience has been a timeless one!” He was laughing raucously. I wanted to tell him he was a jerk, but I didn't.

“Listen, Corrie, I visited your parents last night to talk to them.”

I hated when Roman called them my parents. Yes, I even did sometimes – it was kind of a habit. But when I thought about it, Dave could never take the place of my real father. Dave was my stepfather. That was it.

But then Roman's words sank in further, and I realized where he had been this morning when I slept. He had been talking to my mom and Dave.

“I'm giving them speech capability to make it easier to communicate with you. They want me to take it away when you're done.”

I glanced at Roman. “Okay...”

“I'll be right back. There's some trumpet vine in the next yard over, and hummingbirds love it.” Roman shrank down into a tiny ruby-throated hummingbird, and he buzzed away.

“Damn, that's awesome,” said Dave. It was funny hearing a horse say it.

Sighing, I moved towards them. How weird would this be, having a conversation with two talking horses? I never saw the old “Mister Ed” series, but I assumed that my situation was remarkably similar. “What did you want to say?”

“Well, it's really your mom who wants to talk, and I'll go off in a second and let her, but please don't be angry with us, Corrie. It's not like we planned this, and we don't have to go through with it, but your mom is so happy with the whole idea! I haven't seen her so happy since...oh, I don't know. Please, I don't know why you wouldn't want her to be happy, Corrie. Think about how she feels.”

I cast my eyes to the ground, feeling guilty. Really, my mother did deserve happiness with all the transformation stuff. It had almost ruined her life, with my real dad running off to change with Roman, and she thinking he was having an affair... Then my dad passed away...

“Okay, Kate. She's all yours.” Dave trotted off into the woods.

My mother looked at me with her mournful horse eyes. Weirdly enough, they seemed to mirror her humanity – they were almost familiar to me. “Why are you jealous of me, Corrie?” she questioned softly. “Roman says you wanted this, but you can always have it.”

I sighed again. “I know. I just...wanted it, then I promised I'd go to school first...”

“And I'm proud of you for that. I'm also thankful to Roman for getting you to do it. Don't throw away your life.”

I bowed my head. “I guess I'm worried about you also, Mom. I mean, aren't you old to go through childbirth?”

She bucked and ran in a circle. “Not as a horse. I'm a young one! Younger than you, and full of life!” she cried merrily. I could see actual tears in her eyes. Did horses cry? “I'm healthy, vigorous, and so is Dave...”

I blushed. “Ew.”

“Corrie, come on. You're an adult now.”

“And you're a horse.” A little smile lit up my face. “And I'll tell you something, if you weren't, you and Dave would be grossed out by this whole thing, honestly. You know that's true.”

“You're right. But when you're a horse...”

“I got it, Mom.”
She was silent a moment. Then she gazed into my eyes once more. “Let us have our baby. And let us be happy.”

I looked away. I knew I was being ridiculous, and I also knew when I was beat. “Okay, Mom. Congratulations.”

I can't say I was completely on board with my mom and Dave, but I felt a little better after talking with them. And I finally decided what to do to make myself happy.

“You really want to do the 'have babies' thing right now?” Roman asked dubiously.

“Turn me into a butterfly.”

“Now?”

“Now.”
“Hmm...yes, I guess that would work.”

I changed way too fast, and my world was reeling for a bit. As I steadied myself on my six legs, a black and yellow butterfly alighted beside me. We're tiger swallowtails, Roman?

Yup. And there's a whole wild cherry tree grove to the side there. Can you sense it?

I could. And my butterfly instincts already were pulling me to it as it was a foodplant for my future caterpillar babies. Something was nudging my thorax, and I turned to see Roman angling his insect body towards me. What are you doing?

Uh, Corrie, you want to lay eggs that are fertilized, don't you?

The urge to lay my eggs was overpowering. Roman, back to human, let me outside, and I darted right to the wild cherry trees. I fluttered from leaf to leaf, instinctively knowing the right places to leave my eggs on. Unlike some species do, I laid only one egg at a time, trying to remember where I had placed my babies so I could keep an eye on them.

Finally, my task was done. Exhausted, I flew back to Roman, who was sitting in a lawn chair watching me from afar. “I didn't want a bird to eat you,” he said helpfully.

I landed on his hand, and he leaned forward. “Are you all done with our babies?”

Yes. And I'm more exhausted than I've been in a long time. Turn me back?

“Get to the ground.”

When I was me again, I joined him on his chair. “I feel like I'm a great mommy,” I smiled.

“Well, you did what you had to do.”

“I'm going to watch them and make sure no one eats them.”

“How many did you lay?”

“A lot. Congrats, you're a father.”

Roman grew quiet, but I could see all kinds of emotions crossing his face. There was longing, and sadness, and hope... And I knew what I had to do.

“Roman?”

“Yes?”

“Let's have a baby.”

He stared at me. “A human one?”

Leave it to a shape-shifter to ask a question like that.

“Well, we already have insect ones. Maybe it's time to try for the real thing.”

He made a warm smile and placed his arm around my shoulder. “I thought you'd never say that. Thank you, Corrie. Thank you.”

And that night, after dancing to Ravel's “La Valse”, we set to work.