A "Winds of Change" Story

By Bryan Derksen

I've never been much of a morning person, and that was one of the few things about me that hadn't Changed all that much; given the chance, I could sleep past noon. But as I had expected, I didn't get much chance for that today. Tim had apparently taken my "suggestion" to wait until morning to deal with the bluejay thing literally, and was up at the crack of dawn. Up at this latitude, that was way too early for me. But for a birdmorph Tim sure could stomp loudly, and so I grudgingly got out of bed and pulled on a pair of pants before heading downstairs. Old habits die hard, and I still wasn't too comfortable going nude even in my own home...

I just missed Tim as he stomped past me, heading out back to confront Maxine. That was okay, I wasn't exactly eager to intrude on them right now. Besides, Dad caught my attention instead; he'd been just about to leave for work when Tim had stormed by and was obviously surprised by the stranger in his house. "Uh, about that bluejay..." he began uncertainly.

I grinned and shook my head wearily. "It's just Tim. Long story, for some reason Maxine did that to him last night. I'm trying to stay out of this one, but I'll keep an eye on them in case things get out of hand." I sighed. "It never ends, does it? There're always more problems to work out."

Dad grunted sympathetically, and there was a brief silence as I yawned and wondered what to do next. Dad regarded me with an unreadable expression on his ceratorhine face. Perhaps if I'd spent more than a week or two with him since the Change I'd be able to tell what he was thinking... "What?" I asked uncomfortably, wishing I could read Dad's mind like I had been able to read Tim's last night.

"You've grown, son," Dad commented.

I had become a few centimeters taller in the Change, if you counted the horns, but I knew that wasn't what he meant. "Uh, yeah?" I replied insightfully.

"Yeah. You've got people you feel responsible for."

"Uh, if you mean Morrisville..."

Dad cut me off with a hand on my shoulder. "Them too. In fact, perhaps them too much. But I was thinking more along the lines of Tim and the rest of your friends."

I shrugged. "Yeah, kinda I guess."

Dad nodded. "Don't worry about asking, then; I understand. Go with them to Boston."

I flinched slightly in surprise, and Dad grinned; I hadn't even mentioned that the others were thinking of moving on already. I'd been too busy trying to figure out whether I should go with them. "How did you know?" I asked.

"It is possible to pick up on these things without mind powers," he replied cheerfully. "I've heard you guys planning. And I know how indecisive you get over things like this, even when you already know what decision you really want to make. And no, this isn't the result of some sort of psychic spillover; trust your old dad, he sometimes approves of what you do even without mind control."

"You won't be worried about me, then?" I asked nervously.

"Of course I'll be worried," he replied. "You are my son. I even managed to worry a little the first time your itchy feet kicked in, despite your little psionic slip-up when you asked me not to."

I grinned. "Itchy hooves, dad," I corrected. There were so many other things I wanted to say, but I couldn't think of words with enough meaning. Fortunately I didn't need to. Whatever strange connection I'd somehow made with Tim last night, this went far beyond it; it didn't matter how unfamiliar our facial expressions were to each other, we understood each other perfectly. It was a nice feeling.

"I'm glad you came home to visit for a while," Dad said.

"Me too" I replied, a little choked up but still smiling. "I'll come back again soon. It may never end, but I can always take another vacation sometime..." Dad squeezed my shoulder before I began to ramble too much, and I gave him a brief hug.

Then Tim stormed back into the house, followed by an equally stormy Maxine; they brushed right past us and headed up to the bathroom together without pausing to give us the slightest acknowledgement. I laughed. "Looks like the trials and tribulations of today have begun."

Dad nodded. "And I've got to go to work. I'm sure you can handle things while I'm away."

"Same here," I replied. Dad hesitated slightly, picking up on the double meaning; I just grinned and gave him his briefcase. "Give my regards to Collin?" I asked. Dad nodded, then turned and went out the door. Princess started her usual barking frenzy at the front window as she did whenever anyone left the house; I idly scratched her behind her ears until she stopped, and then yawned and headed for the back porch. The others were out there discussing Maxine, and I figured I'd better at least mention what little I knew to keep the speculation grounded in fact. Besides, Maxine's actions could affect us all. I needed to get a little bit involved, if only because of that...

Fortunately the conversation didn't dwell long on that subject, and as Tim and Maxine's private discussion began to stretch into the hours we turned to other topics. One was transformation stories, of all things; one would have thought the field would have been glutted by now, but it was just like old times. I even found myself again thinking about how strange it felt to be a sheepmorph, something I'd actually stopped noticing already. It was good to have that sense of newness about the Change back again. Kim was also quite interested in our conversation, but from a journalist's perspective; it turned out that in some circles the original TSA members had become somewhat famous, and I was one of the original originals. The thought of having complete strangers fascinated by my life felt almost as strange as being a sheep did, on reflection.

Finally, Tim and Maxine came back out of the bathroom. Tim was back in bull form, but from his manner it was clear he hadn't exactly won his argument. "So what's the verdict?" Jon asked Maxine, even though it seemed pretty obvious.

"I'm coming to Boston with you, of course," Maxine said. "But so is Tim."

"Huh?" I grunted in surprise, looking questioningly at Tim. Boston was in the United States, after all.

Tim met my gaze, then looked pensively at his sister. "I think the travel bug just bit me," explained reluctantly. Then he turned to Jon and said, "after all, my sister must see something in you if she wants to spend time with you."

Tim's statement surprised me; it almost sounded like he was willing to consider the possibility that Jon might be worthy of his sister! I watched Jon expectantly, wondering if this might be the beginning of some sort of compromise. Instead, I saw a look of smug victory. For a moment I wondered if I was about to find out whether my posthypnotic suggestion to Tim last night still held, but then in another show of surprising restraint Tim just gritted his teeth and turned away. I sighed, half in relief and half in frustration. If only they'd both make a peace gesture at the same time...!

Maxine had already pulled Jon aside to whisper something to him, hopefully using whatever tactics she'd managed to coax compromise out of Tim with, so I approached Tim instead. I stood beside his hulking frame for a moment, wondering what would be the best thing to say. "That... that deer," Tim muttered, "is just so... argh!"

I masked a wry grin with a sympathetic smile. The irony of Tim's sentiment was overwhelming, but I didn't think he needed to hear about that from me right now. He would probably be needing someone that he felt was on 'his side' during our trek into the heart of American territory, someone he could trust. And I did feel somewhat responsible for the big guy...

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