A "Winds of Change" Story

By Bryan Derksen

"All right!" Mano exclaimed as the last chord of the song slowly faded. I opened my eyes and grinned in agreement; I felt the same way. That piece was finally starting to flow. Now if we could just agree on a title, and fix up the lyrics...

I glanced sideways at David, my grin faltering somewhat; he'd lost his great singing voice when his Change had started a few weeks back, and we hadn't spent much time thinking about who would replace him behind the mike. At least, I don't think the others had. I'd thought about it a lot myself, and had realized that making any sort of decision would be premature. Who knew what our next vocalist might end up turing into?

I fingered a few bars silently on the keyboard, flexing my hands as if to work out imaginary cramps. The Change made me extremely nervous when I thought about it too much.

"We got time for anything else?" Todd asked, thankfully diverting my attention. I checked my watch.

"I don't think so. I've got a test tomorrow anyways, I should be getting home." We'd already played longer than normal, trying to get the new song to come together right, and so nobody objected too strenuously. We started packing our instruments and shutting down for the day. Since all I had to do was flip a few switches I was done first. I waited until Todd was finished putting away his guitar and went out with him. We both lived nearby.

The sky was already getting dark enough for the streetlights and flight beacons to be coming on; we'd spent a lot more time practising than we normally did on a school night. I didn't mind, even with the math test tomorrow. I always did fine, and the music was more interesting. "So, did you come up with any words while we played?" Todd asked.

I shook my head sheepishly. "Inspiration has deserted me," I lamented. "Too many other things to think about lately. Did you know Cynthia's started her Change now too?"

Todd nodded. "Yeah. Didn't hear what it was, though. I guess we'll find out soon enough, assuming she comes back to school. I heard it started pretty sudden and rough."

We walked in silence for a block, the conversation tapering off again. A dark birdmorph - no, on second thought it was probably a batmorph - flapped heavily overhead, working to gain altitude as it flew off into the night. I grinned up at him (or her), appreciating the gothic halloween atmosphere a gargoyle like that exuded. Perhaps if I used a church bell instead of a tube bell at the end of the second part...

"Has Stripes shown you that new calender he sent out for?"

Todd asked, snapping me back to reality.

"Uh, Stripe... oh. No, he hasn't." David had apparently taken to his new nickname quite readily, but I had been slower to pick it up myself. In fact, I had always wondered why some people felt the need to change their name when their bodies Changed. It seemed to me that it would be more important to keep the old one, to maintain continuity of identity. But what did I know about Changing.

"It's really neat," Todd continued. "It's got a picture of a horsemorph who's so high-degree he can go on all fours without shifting to norm. Those hoof-hands have gotta be clumsy, though. I hope David doesn't go that far."

"I doubt it," I replied. "The odds are he's going to be pretty average, I guess. They usually are." I tugged uncomfortably on my shirt; too much talk of the Change made me itchy. I tried to change the subject to something a little more mundane. "So, um... how about that local sports team?"

Todd glanced at me askance, and I grinned hopefully. I didn't pay any attention to sports, as a rule. "You mean the California Croquet Club?" He asked carefully.

"Yeah! Croquet, what a game!" I enthused. Todd shook his head and sighed. But my subtle ploy was effective, and the topic soon shifted to greenhouse design and construction. I'm not sure why greenhouses, specifically, but I didn't mind. 

 

We eventually came to a parting of our ways, and bidding Todd goodnight I continued onward to my house alone. By now it was getting pretty late, the nocturnal folk were coming out in strength now as many of them headed for work. I arrived at my house just as my dad was getting into the car himself. "Ah, you're back!" He exclaimed. "About time too, I was just going to leave. You've got school tomorrow."

I apologized sheepishly and hurried inside, glad dad was in a hurry himself and didn't have time for a full lecture on the topic right now. He'd have forgotten all about it by morning, I knew, and mom was a lot more easy-going about this sort of thing. I grabbed my math text for a little evening review before going to bed. I must have been more tired than I thought, though, because I soon dozed off at my desk. 

  

I woke with a bit of a start, suddenly realizing that I was slumped over my books rather than lying in bed like I should have been; groaning, I pushed myself upright and rubbed my bleary eyes. Now I'd have to try to fall back asleep again, and I wouldn't be as tired this time around. Already I was hearing the incomplete jingles in my mind that I would inevitably spend hours thinking about before being able to doze off; the curse of misdirected creativity. I sighed and flexed my arm, trying to shake off the numb tingly sensation. I must have fallen asleep on it, or...

"Ee-yah-!" I blurted reflexively as I stared down at my arm, jerking fully awake; was that fur...!? But as my mind cleared a little and I processed the image, I realized that I was seeing things. I breathed a sigh of relief and waited for my heart to stop pounding and the feeling to return to my limb. I had just slept on it wrong, after all. It had just gone to sleep. After wiping sweat from my brow and scratching the nervous itch that liked to craw around on my back at times like this, I carefully closed the math text.

"Jim? Was that you?" My mom called from downstairs.

"Yeah, mom." I called back shakily. "I'm alright. Nothing happened."

"Oh. Okay."

Shaking my head and flexing my arm again just to make sure all was in order, I got wearily into bed. The leftover adrenaline from that little mistake wasn't going to make falling asleep any easier, but at least it had killed the tunes running through my head...

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