A "Winds of Change" story

By Trey McElveen

God, I hate getting up in the mornings. It's not so much as getting up, it's the fact that the most peaceful time I have in my days is over. I find myself joking that I'd like sleep more is I were awake to enjoy it.

But, today was different. Today was Saturday, and that meant one thing.

The band.

I sat up slowly in my bed and tossed the covers to one side. I yawned, and idly reached out a hand to press "play" on my CD player. Within seconds, the room, and probably the whole house was assailed by "March of the Pigs" at ear-bleeding levels. I cringed and pressed stop.

"Ooops." I said quietly as I took out the CD and put in some Dave Matthews Band. "Ants Marching" is my favorite, especially in the mornings. I've followed them even before the Change, and luckily, the band's new forms didn't inhibit their music.

Especially Leroi. Man, that guy could play ANYTHING on the reeds. Of course, I could too, but I had copied his style and even his new way of tounging since he became an iguana. It's neat to see an iguana kicking it out on the stage. That's a sight you'll never forget.

I stood up and walked into the hall, and across into the bathroom. I remembered that I had band practice at 10 am with David and the rest of the guys. Todd, Jim, and Mike too. I laughed silently. Boy, did Michael hate to be called Mike. But, that's what I called him, just not to his face.

I looked into the mirror and saw the same boring face staring back at me. Human, pink, soft. "Damn." I muttered. "Still nothing." I was frankly kind of worried. I'm a Junior in high school, almost seventeen and I haven't a lick of Change to my name. My parents were worried too. We had been to the Change Doctor and the regular physician, and they said that I was as healthy as a boy could get. Thinking about all this, I trudged into the shower, and checked my self all over for any Signs of my Change. And again, just like everyday for the last three years, I had nothing. I sighed and finished my shower. As I dried off and wrapped the towel around my waist, I could hear my father beginning to stumble out of bed. I walked out of the bathroom and into my room. In the closet, I grabbed a pair of shorts and a shirt, and threw them both on quickly. In the floor I grabbed my alto and tenor sax, and then my clarinet, each still in their case. Idly I checked the time.

It was 9:45.

"Oh, shit." I said. It was a twenty minute drive to David's house! I HATE being late. I threw on some socks and shoes in a rush, and hoisted my horns up off the floor. I bolted out the door and ran smack into a furry body who promptly slammed against the wall and cursed softly.

"Jeez, dad. I'm sorry! I'm just so late.."

My father is a high-Degree red fox, and damn proud of it, too. With A white underbelly and a brilliant red coat on his back that follows all the way down to the tail and ends in a white tip. His muzzle was red for the most part, with white trim around his mouth, eyes, and pointed ears. Right now, he wasn't wearing any clothes, and he rarely does either. He's a "naturalist" as I call them. He pushed himself from the wall and looked at me. And laughed.

"Well, you got me by surprise there, Daniel..."

"Mano."

He shrugged, "I named you Daniel, so that's what I'll call you." I grumbled and nodded. This was the only real place that we disagreed on. I got the nickname Mano from a story that I read online once. It was called "Chronicles of the Pride Lands" and I've been hooked on "The Lion King" ever since. And that would be a year, coming up very soon. I basically bestowed the name on myself, and it stuck, to my liking, of course.

"Dad, I've really got to go. I've got fifteen minutes to get to practice."

My father cut me off with a smile. "Go on, Daniel. I was just about to take my shower and get started on the day. Just be more careful when barging out of your room. A Marine might be there next time, and he'll beat the snot out of you." I chuckled and nodded. My father was a great joker with a sharp wit and mind. Not very political, but he knew exactly what was going on in the world.

After that, I ran downstairs as fast as I could and threw my horns into the back of the car. The day was cold, but not terribly so. I jumped into the driver's seat and roared off. And as I turned onto the highway from the road I lived on, I suddenly remembered.

My wallet with my driver's license was lying on my dresser. Right next to my Nala plushie.

I kept driving. No time to go back.

It didn't take as long to get to David's house as I had planned. It was a twenty minute drive, if you obeyed the 55 mph speed limit, which I usually do. But today, it was 75, all the way. I made it to David's house in less than ten minutes. Traffic helped a LOT.

I took out my horns from the back of the car and headed into David's house. Before I went in, I opened my alto case and pulled out a reed. I needed to get it ready before I started playing. I opened the side door into his garage and found him there finishing up a bit of Paul Simon. He looked haggled and worn out, and it was only ten in the morning. "You're looking a bit bedraggled this morning." I said, trying to divert attention from my uncombed hair and shaggy, unmatching clothes.

"You noticed," he said, and didn't say anymore. 'Safe at home.' I thought. I walked over to join him and took a folding chair, opened it up, and sat next to him. I opened the reed's casing and popped it into my mouth. Meanwhile, I took out my alto and started to put it together. I had already set the reed in place and was screwing the ligature about it when Todd walked in.

Todd walked in brandishing his guitar. Personally, I thought that two guitars in a band is too much, unless one of them is a bass. He always has a cheerful disposition and I like him for it. A very nice person, all around. He came in and said, "Great day out there, guys. We should practice fast and head to the mall or something." I put my horn in my mouth and began to concentrate on "So Much to Say" by Dave Matthews Band. Just as I started to play, Todd piped up, "Hey, Mano, what's up?"

I honked on the horn, completely missing the first note. I sighed and put the horn down. It was going to be one of those practices. Todd added his usual crack, "Changing into a goose,eh?" He smiled even wider. I couldn't help but smile as well. I'd known Todd all my life, but only recently had we become friends. And by recently I mean a couple of years. Out of all the members of the band, I had been around longest, and I knew almost everyone and everything about our little coastal town.

Todd took a seat on the other side of David and started tuning on his guitar. I decided to play a little improv jazz and just tooted on my horn as we waited for Jim and Mike... er, Michael to arrive. We didn't have to wait long, and soon they pulled up and came in to join us.

Jim, Michael, and David carried on a bit of conversation, and I fingered silently on my alto. I stayed out of their discussion, but perked an ear when David lifted his hat and showed a ridge of hair that seemed to stick up from the others. My eyes widened. While David and Michael discussed First Signs, I stared at the hair standing up on David's head. I knew enough to see that it wasn't only a bad hair day, but a good Change day. I'd seen that type of ridge on countless African documentaries, more specifically zebras.

I said nothing. Best if David got a surprise out of it, in my opinion. I was awakened from my reverie by Todd saying 'Hootie and'..."

"No, NOT Hootie!" I implored, "Anything but that." It's not that I hated the Carolina band, but that we played them SO awful it made me want to hate them. I noticed that I had used a Lion King line right there, too, and I smiled to myself.

As we discussed what to play, I noticed David reeling a bit, like he was nauseous. I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped. I had been right on the button. Then David asked, "Guys, when was the last time you took a shower?"

That shocked me a bit. I blinked a couple of times before I realized that his olfactory sense had hightened. "Damn, I'm good." I whispered to myself, and gazed about, hoping that no one saw me. No one did.

"Never mind. How about just 'She Moves On'?" I nodded and we started playing. But as David began to sing, he choked on the words and reeled again.

'Holy Christ. David, get to the bathroom, something.' I thought to myself.

Todd apparently had thought the same thing. "You okay, Dave?"

David forced out, "I'm fi-ne." and left into his house.

I looked around to the rest of the band.

There was a long silence as everyone contemplated what was going on. Michael tapped on a cymbal and looked to the door, worried. "Man, I hope he's okay. He looked awful."

"Yeah," Jim added, "Like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night."

I couldn't help it. "He'll be fine, everyone. He'll Change and go to the Doctor's. It'll be fun."

Blank looks all around. Finally Todd spoke up, "Care to run that by me again, Mano?"

I grinned and motioned to my hair. "The ridge tipped me off. It looked to much like a zebra's mane. And you saw how he screeched on the lyrics and swayed, dizzy."

Todd's eyes widened. He sat back and plucked a long strain on his guitar. "Wow, man. I would have never picked that out. Where do you get all that from."

Jim chuckled. "I think he's been watching too much Lion King."

Ok, that crossed the line. Nobody pranks on TLK and lives. Fortunately for Jim, he was my friend, albeit not as good a friend as some, and so I just turned to him and smiled and evil grin. "Shall we rephrase that, Jimmy?"

Jim grinned back and shook his head no. I sighed and muttered, "Immature." I turned back and looked to the door. "You know we really ought to—" I was cut off by a scream from inside the house. Not a child's shriek, but a horse's high pitched "Haa-haaw!" Todd instantly jumped up and bolted out the door. The rest of us was hot in his tail. We ran into the house and saw David's father bust down the door with his antlers and rush into the bathroom. His mother ran in, and we followed close behind.

On the floor, David squirmed and rubbed his new tail with his hands. I stood transfixed, and gaped at my friend, trying to remember his human face. I couldn't. It had been replaced with a zebra's. David's mother and father attended to him, and Todd joked a bit. But I wasn't paying attention to that. I was staring at my friend, marveling at his Change. 'A zebra. Wow.'

And just then, I swear to God, I thought of just how... delicious he looked. I had to say something to get that thought out of my head.

"Dave, you've got stripes!" Damn, that sounded stupid.

But Todd laughed. "Stripes! I love it!" He turned to David and grinned, "How ya doin, Stripes?" David groaned, but I couldn't tell if it was from the name, or from the discomfort of the Change. David's parents helped him up and they carefully helped David walk out the door. I could tell he was having a hard time with his vision. His field of view must have been enormous. He reeled again, and his parent's held him steady. I moved to his side and looked to him.

"David. Come on guy, let's get to the car."

"I'm not crippled, Mano. Just... inconvenienced." He smiled and equine smile and stood up straight. His zebra head looked just wonderful as he purposefully strode out the front door, his parents in tow.

His mother looked back at us and snuffed. "Guys, you're welcome to come."

Michael frowned. "But there's not enough room in your car."

"We'll take mine," I offered. "There's plenty of room for us." David's mom smiled and headed out the door. I heard the doors shut and the engine rev up and drive off.

Jim was already out the door to the garage. "Well, what are we waiting for? Our OWN Change? Come on!"

I smiled and took my keys out of my pocket. All four of us piled into my car and drove off to the Doctor's.

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