A "Winds of Change" story

by Doug Linger

The rest of the band had watched David run into the house with a little concern. Mano, however, had apparently realized what was going on. "He'll be fine, everyone. He'll Change and go to the Doctor's. It'll be fun."

A little good natured ribbing later, Mano looked towards the door into the house. "You know, we really ought to—" he started to say, when he was interrupted by a sudden "Haa-haaw! Haa-haaw!" from inside the house. Everyone, restrained until then, rushed inside.

Since I'd had to get out from behind the drums I was last in. I had to elbow a few people out of the way so I could poke my head around the bathroom doorway. What I saw made my jaw fall off. David had shown us the beginnings of his mane, but now it was fully formed. It wasn't camouflaged at all by his head hair, mainly because he didn't have any anymore. His head was almost entirely that of a zebra; only a hint of his old face could be seen. A tail was poking out of his shorts, and he was massaging it. I guessed that was what made him cry out; pants without tail holes were uncomfortable, understandably.

"Oh, wow! Bet you're going to the Change Doctor now!" Todd cried.

"Dave, you've got stripes!" Mano said a moment later.

Well, duh, I thought. You're the one who noticed first. Why are you so surprised? Jim and I wisely kept our mouths shut; the situation was making people stupid, and I at least didn't want to join that band.

Todd laughed. "Stripes! I love it! How ya doin, Stripes?" he said at David, who groaned, probably at the name. David was helped up and out by his parents. He wasn't too steady on his feet.

"David. Come on guy, let's get to the car," Mano said at his side.

"I'm not crippled, Mano. Just...inconvenienced."

"Guys, you're welcome to come," his mother said, looking back at us.

"But there's not enough room in your car," I said.

"We'll take mine," Mano offered. "There's plenty of room for us."

"Plenty" is a relative term, though; Mano's car was a two-door and not especially large. But there was no way the entire band, plus David's parents, could have fit in either car. Thus we who weren't related all piled into Mano's. It probably wasn't a comfortable ride for Jim and Todd, but I had managed to call shotgun before Jim and Todd, to my surprise.

David's Change made me wonder: "What're you gonna do with this thing if you become something with antlers?" I asked Mano along the way.

He shrugged. "Dunno. Have to sell it, I guess."

"Or you could just cut a sunroof," Todd suggested, smiling.

"And when it rains?"

Todd was silent for a few moments while he pondered. "Pitch a tent?" he offered.

The image of Mano's car going down the freeway with a little pup tent pitched on the roof made us all break into laughter.

"Well, David's in for a different school year than he expected," Mano mused.

"Not David. 'Stripes,'" Todd said enthusiastically.

"A new nickname?"

"Well, he didn't have an old one."

Mano and Jim were nodding. The idea of nicknames didn't have as much appeal to me, though. I hoped when I Changed Todd didn't want to give me a new name. I didn't even like the shortened version of my name, Mike. I resolved to continue calling David by his name, at least until I could figure out whether he cared.

The rest of the car's occupants continued talking, but I turned to the window. I can be as talkative as the rest, but right now I wanted to see where we were going. I had only moved into the area two months ago, and despite a tour from Mano I still didn't know my way around to many places. It wasn't that I was bad with directions (quite the opposite; my mother once said jocularly I was sure to become a homing-pigeon morph), but I hadn't really gone anywhere. Not having a car of my own can do that.

Not too much later we arrived at the doctor's. We clambered out of the car and went inside. The Aldens were already in the lobby; David was sitting on a chair, looking a little uncomfortable due to the tail in his shorts, while his parents did the proper paperwork.

"About time you got here," David said with a smile. His new smile.

Jim shrugged. "Sorry. We decided to catch a movie."

"We're still wondering who threw it," I added. "How're you doing?"

"Fine. I didn't have any more Changes while driving here, and I'm getting used to my new senses."

We continued asking David questions while we waited for the Change Doctor to become available. It could be a while, since due to the nature of the Change people don't make appointments much in advance. But judging by the lack of people in the waiting room it wouldn't be a long wait today.

It wasn't. David had only just finished telling us about how his eyesight had changed when a wolf nurse called his name. She was a bit surprised when we all got up and entered. She opened her muzzle, bordering on objecting, then decided it didn't much matter.

To say that the examination room was a bit cramped would be an understatement. It wasn't expected to hold seven people, and then a doctor as well. There were only two seats, which were taken by David's parents (which was who they were intended for, after all), so the band (except David) had to stand. We waited for a few minutes, the usually cool room growing warm from all the people.

Doctors' offices have the same effect as libraries, so there wasn't much conversation in the examining room. For the first time since David Changed I was able to think, instead of react to statements or events.

Mano was right in that his school year would be different. This would be David's Changeyear, when he takes all those special courses. It would likely be Mano's as well, eventually. People in Changeyear don't have too many classes in common with the rest of the students. I could hope to see them in gym, a few electives and lunch, and only if we were in the same period, which wasn't guaranteed. Which meant that I would have little interaction with at least two of the four friends I had made since moving here, in school at least.

This had the potential to suck rocks.

Eventually the doctor showed up, taking up the last of the floor space. He was a flighted hiddie crow, like my dad. "Well, what have we here?" he asked rhetorically as he weaved through us to David, slightly hampered by his wings. David related his tale of what had happened that morning, from when he woke up to what had happened...wow, only 45 minutes or so ago. While he was talking Dr. Chin gave him a full examination, checking heartbeat and reflexes and the rest.

"Well, there's no doubt as to what you're becoming, of course," Doctor Chin said. "As for expected degree...judging by the amount you've Changed already, I'd say it's unlikely you'll be a lowddie. You'll probably be fairly high degree, but I give no guarantees." David looked pleased; most people prefer high degree over low. "There's a few things more that we need to do. First up to bat is the body scan. If you would follow me..." Dr. Chin motioned towards the door. The band, nearest the door, left the room, follwed by Dr. Chin and the Aldens. The doctor passed us and headed towards a door at the end of the hall.

Inside was the scanning room. The scanner consisted of a platform about 2 yards in diameter raised perhaps six inches off the floor. Behind it, along the wall, was a support going most of the way to the ceiling. Connected to the support was a ring, which was the scanner itself.

Dr. Chin motioned David over to the scanner while he himself moved to the computer that controlled it. David obediently stepped onto the platfom, the doctor typed a few things into the computer, and the rings began its slow descent down the support. The computer had a large screen, so we didn't have to crowd the doctor too badly to get a look.

The scanner combined and miniaturized the best features of a CT scat and MRI, letting a doctor look at almost any part of a patient's body. Even as the information was coming in Dr. Chin was entering commands, looking at the skeleton, the musculature, and a few things that I have no idea what they were. It was facinating to watch; the only thing that could have made it cooler would have been if this had been one of the better, holographic, displays. I barely noticed when David joined us looking at the monitor. Looking at how his brain fit into the new skull cavity was more interesting.

"So, what's the prognosis, doc? Will I be able to play the piano?"

Dr. Chin chuckled at the old joke. "Only if you could beforehand. Hmmm..." He switched the display from the head to the torso. "Well, internally you're still human. In fact, you can still digest meat, so no dietary restrictions yet. But the second you find you don't like it, or feel ill after eating it, stop. You're almost certain to be a total herbivore, eventually."

That concluded the scanning portion of the visit. Back in the examining room Dr. Chin took a blood sample and checked David's sight and hearing (pronouncing them "good for an equine").

"There's only one thing more to do before I let you go," Dr. Chin announced, "and that's the Powers test. This isn't the best building for it, I'm afraid, but it's what I have for now."

The Change Doctor was right about that. I had noticed when we arrived that the building was a little small. Some Powers, like Pyrokenisis or Disintegration, need a lot of room for bystanders not to get hurt. Unfortunately, that much room made the rent go up, the possibility of damage from Powers tests made insurance rates go up, and Nullification was a rare enough Power that it could cost a bit to have something made that could take something like Disintegration. The upshot of all this was that this particular Change Doctor probably couldn't afford a room to test Powers in.

"I can't test for everything, you understand, just the less violent Powers. First up is Norm-shifting. Er, you guys will need to leave, I'm afraid." We got the hint. The band filed out the door, although we didn't go far. Instead of going to the waiting room, but we crowded in the hall around the door.

"Ahem." The doctor tapped an avian foot. "He's going to have to remove his clothing, people," said pointedly. "Otherwise he'll be wearing rags home."

"And I forgot my camera," Todd moaned.

"You'd just break the lens," I advised. "C'mon. Unless you feel exhibitionist today?" The last was directed at David.

He shook his head. "Sorry guys, I don't think so."

The band filed out and retreated to the waiting room, which was more occupied than it was earlier. We took seats and waited silently. Which wasn't to say calmly. We all fidgeted in our chairs, looking anxiously down the hall towards the examining rooms. "This is so cool," was the only thing said, by Todd, I think. I wasn't paying attention.

We spent a much longer time than I expected in the waiting room. Despite magazines that were actually current, it was agonizing. When the same nurse as earlier told us to follow her, we nearly ran. We did have a bit of a pile-up at the door like in the old movies. That was due to the fact that Mano had stopped directly in the doorway. I was able to peer past him at the zebra norm that took up all the space left over from equipment and parents. The Change Doctor was standing out of the way on the examning table, putting a few feathers in place.

"Cool, Dave!" Mano cried, almost at the same time I did.

"C'mon, let us see!" Jim said from behind me. I moved a little, and Jim took a look. "Cool!" he echoed.

"Well," the doctor said amiably. "David here can obviously Norm-shift. While we were at it we tested for Telepathy, Empathy, Telekenisis, and a few others. I'm afraid they all turned up negative. I might add, though, that whereas Norm-shifting usually 'comes out' with the First Sign, if it does so at all, other Powers can manifest almost anywhere along the way. Which is a wordy way of saying, don't give up on having those Powers yet." David-the-zebra nodded. "Okay, guys, out. He'll join you shortly."

A minute or two later everyone was out in the waiting room. David walked over to us while his parents paid the bill.

"What was it like?" was the first thing said, by Jim.

"It was cool! It was like, ah, um..." David thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe I can describe it later, when I'm less in shock over all this, you know?"

"Sure thing, Stripes. Hey, we're gonna have to celebrate now. You got your First Sign! And you're the first to do it too!"

"Sure," he grinned. Then he rubbed his tail through his shorts and looked at his parents, who were coming over. "But let me get some pants with a tail hole first, okay?"

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