My hooves clattered on the blacktop as I galloped at full speed towards home, completely mortified beyond belief of what had just happened. I wanted to break into tears, but I couldn't. I wasn't a little boy any more. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

I galloped up to my house, shifted back just long enough to open the door, then walked inside, trying to keep the sound of my hooves on the floor to a minimum. Zebras not having been built for stealth, I should've known that there was no possible way I could sneak into my room. My mother walked out of the living room as I attempted to get by. "David? Home so early? Did something happen?" she said.

I whickered a noncommittal response, swishing my tail.

"Well, go into your room and get some clothes. Then you can tell me about it." Her large cervid ears flicked backward a bit. I knew that was the 'don't-lie-to-me' expression.

I nodded, whickering again, then clopped into my room. I resumed morphic form and decided just to sit on my bed for a while, numb. I hate my Power! What use is it if I can't control it? I thought, very nearly sitting down on my tail.

My mother knocked on the door a moment or so later. "David? Can I come in?"

"Just a second, mom," I said through clenched teeth. I stood up to open the door, my mind going over what'd just happened to me. My blue jay form didn't need clothes, neither did my dolphin one. There was nothing... exposed in those forms. As a zebra, though, modesty was a good thing.

Just as I let mom in, something clicked in my head. I felt a lurch, my vision flickering. I blinked and took a deep breath through my blowhole. "Wow! What a rush!" I said in a high-pitched clicking voice.

"I think I can guess what happened at the dance," my land-dwelling mother said. "I should've given Amanda some of your undies and shorts to carry in her purse."

I shrugged in the dolphin manner, my tail flukes going up and down once. "It's a little late for that, mom. Geez." I went over and took my comfort suit out of the closet. Not that I needed it as much as some of the Hiddies that were around, but I thought it looked cool. Just the thing to make my appearance back at the dance in. "Can you take me back, mom?" I asked.

Mom looked surprised. "Are you sure you want to? After what happened tonight?"

I made a dismissive gesture with my webbed hands. "Why would I worry about that, mom? All I want to do is go back and dance with Amanda. We didn't get to dance once because I was stuck as that little bird."

Mother just gave me a startled look. "Are you okay, David?"

I nodded quickly. "As the saying goes, mom. 'The night is young and so am I.' 'Manda is standing there on the dance floor without me. So I gotta get back there no matter what."

Mom just looked at me, not quite believing what she was hearing. She then muttered something I couldn't quite hear, then went to get her purse and keys.

The back seat of the car was built for all types, including those with thick tails (like myself); though my flukes tended to add another dimension that the non-aquatic designers normally didn't have to deal with. I buckled myself in, making sure that the lining on my comfort suit was secure. It wouldn't do to have it leaking on the upholstery, after all.

Mom just drove, not saying anything. School wasn't far, we were there in no time. There were lots of others milling around outside the gym, some of which were already being picked up by their parents. I got all sorts of weird looks when I got out of the car. "I'll pick you up around ten or so," mom said. "Be out here."

I looked at the waterproof watch on my wrist above my webbed hand. Eight thirty, it said. Plenty of time to make sure I got to dance with Amanda... Somehow I found those mostly equine ears of hers quite attractive. Probably because I didn't have ears to speak of.

It's funny what different things one notices in different forms, I reflected.

I imagined her perhaps socializing with her friends near the punch bowl, waiting for me to return. I really wanted to hit that zebra version of myself for running out so fast. I mean, what was there to be scared of? There were at least six other furry folks (out of maybe... three hundred) who were standing there with only their fur on.

Of course, those six didn't have dates...

I saw Michael standing over in a corner and headed over towards him. He gave me a double take, obviously not expected me to come back. "Hiya Dave, back already?"

"How can I miss this?" I said in my clicking, high voice. "Where's Amanda, anyway?" Then I saw his worried expression. "And why do you look like you're about to twist your tongue into knots?"

"I sort of had a lot of that punch, David. I've been looking forward to this dance for a week. So I'm not looking forward to Monday. One of the reptilian teachers told me I'd most likely have a three day hangover!" He groaned.

"That does kind of suck," I replied. "But what about Amanda?"

My increasingly reptilian friend sighed, then pointed out onto the dance floor. I stared for a moment, then turned around.

My girlfriend was dancing with long-necked Angus Thompson, giraffe morph. Geek Supreme.

I found out in that single moment that it was possible for a dolphin to feel something besides happiness. Shock, anger, sadness, loss, all of it passed through me. My flukes drooped down to the floor and I found myself wishing that they hadn't gotten rid of that punch.

The music finally stopped and the bat morph DJ got on the mic. "All right everybody! It's karoke time!" Silence. "Come on, there've got to be some adventuresome teens out there!"

While there was a general milling around of my classmates, my mind raced. Dear God I wanted to sing. I hadn't been able to do it for months. But I had no voice. Especially not as a dolphin. It squeaked and clicked and generally made a racket. I tended to speak too fast, also.

It also happened to be the perfect opportunity to win back Amanda.

Damn it. Of all of my forms, which of them had any kind of voice at all? I wondered. My zebra form was quite clearly out of that race. So the only one left that I hadn't really tried was blue jay, which my Flight teacher had told me were great mimics.

The DJ was quite clearly going to move on to something else. My choice made, I practically started to pray that I'd have this one tiny bit of control over my Power. I closed my eyes, concentrated and...

I felt my tail feathers very nearly brush the floor. "Yes!" I chirped. I turned towards the DJ without a backward glance at Michael.

The DJ was just about to give up when I appeared. "Well, I knew that somebody would like to give it a try. What song do you want? I've got hundreds."

I thought a moment, looking back to where Amanda was, but now being too short to see over the majority of the crowd. I could still make out Angus's head, though. I looked back at the DJ. "Do you know the Mavericks version of 'Blue Moon'?"

"'Apollo 13', right? Sure, I've got that one." She handed me a mic.

My throat suddenly closed, my syrinx not wanting to work. The DJ found the disc and put it in the drive. "Ready?" she asked.

I took a deep breath through my nares, and nodded. The sound that came out of my beak was familiar. I put my heart and soul into that song, so Amanda would hear it.

"Blue moon... without a love of my own...

"Blue moon, you saw me standing aloooone. Without a dream in my heeeeart. Without a love of my own.

"Blue moon. You're just what I was there for. You heard me saying a prayer for. Someone I really could care for..... without a love of my own."

"Blue moon, you saw me standing alone. Without a dream in my heart. Without a love of my own...... without a love of my own."

"Blue moon. Without a love of my own.... Without a love of my own..."

I was very nearly crushed by Amanda's hug when I finished, still surprised that I was able to even make the sounds. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from me. So the weight I was most concerned with at that moment was that which Amanda was placing on my fragile hollow bones. "I'm sorry, David! But that Ultrageek cornered me and I couldn't refuse a dance! You were wonderful!"

The only response I could manage was a painful chirp, at which sound she let me go. "Thanks, 'Manda," I gasped. "Lemme see if I can change back to 'Stripes' so we can dance." I was looking up and up and up at her, and it was sort of hard to dance like that. I concentrated... and ended up with flukes and a dorsal fin again. "Damn! Let me try again..."

My girlfriend gave me a little kiss on the end of my rostrum. "I don't care what you look like, David. Let's just have this one last dance, then go home."

Todd, Michael, and Jim were grinning at me. The rest of those in the gym didn't seemed to have paid much attention, or those that had didn't recognize the dolphin that was dancing with the Clydesdale to be the same person.

But, at least I could sing again. Which meant that the Band wasn't dead. In the spring was the Talent Show.

The only thing we needed now was a name...

Copyright 1998, Jon Sleeper

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