Chapter 2: “Fly?!?” I asked, puzzled. I didn’t get an answer. In {another} poof of smoke, everything grew. My eyesight was good, but I was way low down. I looked at my feet. They were clawed! Then I realized that I was a bat! A bat!, Cool. People think bats are blind. That’s not true. Bats can see very well in the light, but in the dark, the ears lead the way. Since it was already 7:30 at night, it was a fairly reasonable time for all the real bats to be yawning and opening their eyes. I was ecstatic! I was a BAT! I had always wondered what it was like to be another animal. Now I knew. I flapped my wings, let out a few bursts of echolocation, and I was out of there! OUT!OF!THERE! “Yahoooooo!!” I yelled. Somehow, in bat form, I could still talk. Which was good. “Neat-o!” I yelled to no one in particular. I was outside now, and did some flips and twirls. It was soooooo fun. I absolutely loved it. I did some more fancy wing-work. “Yeah, yeah, come on follow me!” said the guy. “Who are you?” I asked. “I dunno.” “You don’t know who you are?” I asked. This was ridiculous. “Nope. Your imagination? I could be your concience. A demon? A Vampire? An Angel? I have no idea. I don’t know what I am.” “Never mind,” I said. An hour later (I don’t know how I knew it was an hour, I just knew) we stopped flying in front of an old house. I mean really old. It was big enough to be considered a small mansion, even. Wow. It was really, really cool. Did I mention it was cool? Then I heard a loud meowing sound. I would know that meow anywhere. I shot a couple of bursts. I was right. It was Fluffy! My beloved little kitten. “Fluffer-nut!!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Get back here this instant!” In a flash I was human again. So was um...... “Hey,” I asked the kid. “What’s your name?” “Rob.” “Okay, Rob. We’ve got to get my cat!” We both ran really fast. So fast I felt like my feet weren’t even touching the ground. Then I realized something: they weren’t. I was floating. Walking on air. I laughed. I reminded myself of Peter Pan for Heaven’s sake! “Fluffy!” I yelled. I know it’s a stupid name for a cat (or for anything), but I have gotten used to it. Anyway, he doesn’t hate me; I’m not the one who labeled him little “Fluffy” for the rest of his life. I started running even faster, and managed to catch Fluff-for-brains. Then she went POOF! And she was gone. I’m assuming Rob POOF!ed her back home, but I was learning that: with him, you could never tell. “Okay, what now?” I asked. He went POOF! (I was really getting sick of all the POOF! stuff) I was a bat...again. “Follow me!” He said. So, with nothing better to do, I did. I quickly summed everything up in my head. It reminded me a little of Cinderella. And it didn’t exactly help that that was the school play. I was flying through the air on leathery wings with a zany wacko-wannabe who says he’s my fairy vampire. Impossible, I thought. This is just so impossible. And yet I knew, that it was real, that it was really happening. I hummed the song from Cinderella. Only I made up my own words. Impossible, for a plain country kiddo to become a leathery bat. Impossible, for a plain wacky person to fly through walls just like that! And four people will never be four white corpses. Such Fol-de-rol and Fiddle-dee-dee of course is, Impossible, for the world is full of zanies and fools... A loud wailing interrupted my thoughts. It was a baby raccoon, alone and helpless. I thought, that like to any other vampire bat, it would be a meal. And I would not be happy. I loved animals. And, to my amazement - he said: “Stop,” Just by looking at his leathery face you could see concern for the little animal. Which made me feel better. But a sarcastic thought slipped through my mind: Great. Now Mr. Wacky is also an environmentalist. He took the words right out of my mouth when he said, “Let’s land.” Quickly, we flew to the ground, and demorphed out of bat-form. I was starting to like the idea of being able to turn into a bat. I bent over and put out my hand like I was trying to make friends with a strange dog. Which was close enough, anyway. Ttt! I made little clicking sound with my tongue. Ttt! The baby raccoon edged closer. Then she saw Rob. And flew (literally!) through the air and right into his arms. She started chattering like crazy! Chit chit chat chit chot chot! It sounded like she had found a long lost friend. Then I just got a...I don’t know..a feeling about the racoon, I guess. I realized that it wasn’t just ANY racoon. Something was different. But what? Then - I screamed! She grew. But not a few inches, oh, no. She was growing into a giant. I knew she wouldn’t hurt me or anything, but I was still scared. I looked around. Everything was growing giant! The trees were taller than the heavens themselves. Bushes were so large I couldn’t even make out the tops of them. And everything was still growing. Then I realized: Nothing’s growing. I’m shrinking! I cried silently, as I spiraled towards the forest floor. SHRINKING! Pretty soon Mrs. Chitter was just as big as I was. She was still cute, but let me tell you: You never want to see a raccoon as big as you are. Never. So naturally, with what I had left of a mouth, I screamed. Then my mouth Shrunk. I mean, really shrunk. My nose bulged out, and turned into a little black ball. Black rings traced themselves around my eyes. Then they filled themselves in. I looked like a person with two black eyes. Only I was a foot tall. Then my ears crept up the sides of my head. They turned into long, pointy little ears, like a Chihuahua. Yikes! Yo queiro taco bell! Two fingers on each of my hands just shriveled away. Disappeared. Just like that. I had six fingers. They started to become smooth, black, and shiny, like a raccoon’s. My fingernails grew into small claws. The same thing happened to my feet. My ankles just went Plop! and disappeared. They were no longer there. My feet instantly connected to my legs. Then, the fur. And, boy, was I glad. I was one ugly little naked pink thing without the fur. And then, I was a raccoon. Rob, no doubt about it. I glanced over at him. He was a raccoon, too. But I was confused. When I had turned into a bat, there had been no long, detailed morphing involved. It was just a quick Poof! and I was a bat. I guess I was getting to experience what it’s like turning into another animal now. And I had no objection. It was AWESOME. Then, the strangest thing happened. I could actually understand all the chittering and chattering the raccoon was saying. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true! She was going on and on about how late we were. Whatever that meant. She was crying. Now that I was relatively small, I could see the teardrop forming on the fur on her face. I ran over to her. In a series of chits and chats, I told her not to worry, that it was no harm done and who gives anyway. I mean, it's not like it's a tea party! It was strange, because I was speaking a language I didn’t know. Right out of my mouth. It was like speaking perfect French, and only half-knowing what you’re saying. It’s scary. Then I heard a sound. Ehhh!!! A screech. Like a caw, almost. I looked up. I could only see so far. But I could see enough. A big bird, I couldn’t tell what kind, was coming straight towards us. I mean BIG! HUGE. Very, very, Huge. Man, did I mention HUGE? I let loose a little squeak. Then, everything shrunk! The bird was regular bird size. But nothing shrank. I had sprouted up from the ground, like a plant on Miracle Grow! There wasn’t the morphing, or even the usual POOF! I just shot up, and I was me again. Except...I could almost swear I had a tail. Then I saw the bird. It was a hawk. A red-tail. I waved my arms and shooed it away. Just like that. Then I realized that Rob was still a raccoon. So how was I human? Sort of, anyway. Then I heard and felt a SHWOOP! I looked behind me. My head jerked around. No tail, no nothing. I shook my head. I was starting to think I was going crazy! KAPLOOOT! I looked to my right. There was Rob, and then there was another kid. In the shadows, I would’ve said she was ten. Then the sun shone on her face, and I could see that she was my age. About 13. A pretty-looking girl, with long, straight blonde hair. She was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt. On it, it said “I’M GOING NUCKING FUTZ” in big, bold, gold letters. I stifled a laugh. She shook her hair out. “What? What’s so funny?” she asked. I didn’t answer. I shouldn’t laugh, because I had seen worse shirts. In school, one day, a kid was wearing a shirt that said “JUST DO IT” with an arrow pointing down. Then I realized that the raccoon wasn’t there. I looked at the ground. Then at the girl, and back again. “How’d you do that?” I asked. “Same way you did.” she replied, like that explained it all. “Okay,” I said, calming down a little, ”How did I do that?”
