by grapehyacinth
“Oh my God! You're really...expecting? It's winter, we have to keep you snug and warm!” My husband Roman enveloped me, his body shifting into a remarkably comfortable coat.
I hugged his fleecy form tight to my chest, excited. “Oh, Roman, I'm fine! You don't have to do this! Although you are really...soft.”
After trying for a baby all of these months, my mind still couldn't quite process the fact that I held a positive pregnancy test in my hand. “Oh, God, Roman, look at this thing!”
He changed into a person so he could snatch it from my hands and stare at it like he'd discovered gold. Then he grabbed me in his arms. “Oh, Corrie! I can't believe it! I was scared it would never happen!” He planted several kisses on my face in between my happy laughter.
“Me too... Oh, Roman, turn me into the biggest, largest...” I paused, thinking. “Oh, I guess I better not...”
He chuckled. “No, you'll have to wait on whatever large, big thing your brain has dreamed up.” His eyes suddenly widened in fear. “Wait, Corrie. Have I changed you recently?”
I pondered this, my heart pumping faster and faster. I was constantly in different forms. I loved when my husband used his transformation ability on me. Being changed was so relaxing...
“Well...how long ago was it when I was a horse? Oh, then I was a pigeon, but that was a while ago now, but... I was just a sneaker...” I realized in shock.
Of course, to anyone else, this would have sounded ridiculous. But Roman's eyes got so wide, it looked like they were about to pop out. Then he inhaled a breath so clearly painful that my own chest hurt. “Oh, Corrie, I hope that that's...”
I gulped. “Well, it's so early, and the test was positive after you changed me...”
He gathered back around me and became a coat again. “So hopefully you'll be okay!” the fleecy garment exclaimed.
But that first happiness he'd exuded had not quite returned...
“I don't know how I'm going to get through class like this! After, though, we'll go tell my mom. Oh, wait! Aren't you going to see Dr. Mack today?”
Roman had agreed to let one of my professors study him. It scared me a bit, but he really wanted to learn what he could about himself.
“I'll go later. You're welcome to come, too. But I'm going to class with you first.”
“Why?”
“That girl Tammy recently tried to kill you, and you're carrying our child. I'm not letting you out of my sight.”
“Oh, Roman, it's okay.” It was very weird to hear someone say I was carrying a child. I honestly felt no different.
“You have no choice in the matter. I'm coming. As what, I have no idea. What do you need to take with you?”
“Well, my backpack strap broke, so...”
“Done.” My husband crumbled to the floor, now a sturdy navy knapsack. “I'm your new backpack. Pleased to meet you.”
Everytime I pulled a book or pen out during class, my backpack moaned or shuddered happily. Half-expecting this reaction, I had purposely sat far away from other students. Usually my husband was good when he accompanied me as an object, but since he was so happy about the good news, I wasn't sure how careful he'd be today.
“Roman, keep it down,” I whispered, fishing out a new notebook from his interior.
“Oh, that tickles my insides, Corrie!”
“Sorry!”
“I love being filled to the brim like this! How many books did you fit in me?”
“Plenty. Roman, please let me listen to the lecture.”
But honestly, most of what my calculus professor spouted out wasn't registering in the least. All I could think of was the fact that a child was growing inside me. Was it a boy or girl? Did I have a preference? Did Roman? I realized that didn't care what it was, as long as it was healthy, and hopefully my being a sneaker hadn't done anything to hurt it... Gosh, that sounded so stupid – if it wasn't so scary.
“Mm. Your binder's poking me in just the right place.”
I kicked at him, kind of disgusted. “Roman, stop it!”
“Okay. Can you just rub my strap?”
I gave him a quick, token rub. “You're a dirty old backpack, you know that?!”
“I do my best!”
At the end of class, I slung Roman over my shoulder and made my way out of the lecture hall. “Go over to Dr. Mack now. He's waiting for me,” my backpack-husband instructed.
I took my favorite shortcut through the woods, which might not have been the best idea because once no one else was around, my backpack exploded off my back and became my husband. As a result, my books were sprayed all over the woods.
“I can't believe I'm going to be a father!” Roman exclaimed, fishing up the books from the leaves. “It's just...after decades, I can't... I wasn't sure it was possible with someone like me.”
“I wish you could have just stayed a backpack for a bit longer,” I scolded, rubbing mud off of my notebook, “you dropped half of my stuff in the dirt!”
He simply took the book from me and gathered it together with the rest of them. “Do you think it's a boy or a girl? My God, I'll have a son! Or a daughter! We'll have to think of names. And I know, we can't buy anything until after or close to the baby's birth because it's bad luck, right?”
As old-fashioned as it was, I was in agreement with him. I didn't want to do anything at all to jeopardize this child, no matter how silly it sounded. Nodding, I replied, “I wonder if it will be like you. I mean, able to transform.”
Looking wistful, he replied, “I don't know. Neither of my parents could do it.” He smiled. “But wouldn't it be great? We could go change together!” I could see all kinds of future plans were formulating in his mind. And, for whatever reason, I felt slighted.
“I change with you whenever you want!” I protested.
He reddened. “Well, of course. And you can join us!”
His words didn't make me feel much better. Then, making matters worse, he added, “I just hope changing you that one time didn't affect the baby. That bothers me.”
It bothered me too. I just tried not to think about it.
“Welcome, Mr. Roman Smyth!” cried Dr. Mack, holding his hands out wide as we entered his lab.
“And Corrie,” Roman added, dumping my books on a chair.
“Hello, Corrie, too!”
“Hi,” I mumbled, pulling off my jacket and tossing on top of my books.
The professor studied my husband's thin T-shirt. “No jacket? Aren't you cold, Roman?”
“Nah, temperature doesn't bother me. I just change to adjust to it.”
Dr. Mack scratched at his head. “Fascinating. Now just how would that work? Oh, we must study that, too. Jordana!” He yelled towards the back room. “They're here.”
“Jordana? Your wife is here?”
“Yes, do you mind? She's dying to watch you change. It's all she can talk about.”
Mrs. Mack walked out, her face beaming. “Oh, welcome, Roman. Corrie. I'm so glad you showed. I was worried you'd bow out, and I'd thought of all these things I'd like to see you become...”
“He's not a circus act, Jordana.”
Mrs. Mack made a sour face at her husband. “Well, you're going to use him as a lab rat, aren't you? Hey, can you turn into a rat?”
Roman smiled, approaching the professor. “All in good time, Mrs. Mack.”
The woman giggled. “You're so gentlemanly! Please just call me Jordana.”
I was glad they didn't ask why Roman was so old-fashioned. Hearing his true age might just have blown their minds.
“So, Roman, if you'll step over here,” Dr. Mack indicated a corner of the room. Several machines skirted a small platform. Near the back of the platform was a treadmill.
“You're having me work out, huh?” Roman stepped onto the platform and looked around nervously. “What is all this?”
“Oh, what, the treadmill? Roman, we are going to measure, test, and monitor you in any way I can think of. We have to understand how your body can metamorphose into something completely different, whether it's living or not... especially when it's not...” He clasped his hands together in excitement. “Oh, I can't wait to begin! Now where are my glasses–”
“The absent-minded professor,” smirked Jordana.
Dr. Mack located his eyewear sticking out from a well-used notebook. He placed them on and began, “First, let's hook you up to some machines.”
Uncomfortable, Roman waited patiently as the professor attached wires and sensors to nearly every part of his body. I was half-surprised he wasn't monitoring Roman's private areas.
“Now let's turn these all on.” The room came to life with all kinds of beeps and flashing lights, and Dr. Mack looked radiant. Of course, that might have been the effect of all the colorful lights blinking through the room...
“Now change, Roman!”
Almost instantaneously, a squirrel stood in Roman's place. Every wire and attachment that Dr. Mack had so carefully affixed to my husband fell to the ground, sending the machines haywire.
Mrs. Mack jumped up and down, clapping and cheering like a child. Dr. Mack, however, looked irritated. “Roman, you can't... I just lost all my monitoring!”
The squirrel grew back into Roman. “Well, you didn't tell me what to become. You want me to be something that's the same size so the monitors stay on?”
“Well, obviously.”
“Oh, it's not obvious!” cried Jordana. “Roman, will you turn into a tree for me? Just for a moment?”
“A tree, Jordana?” Dr. Mack exclaimed. “Be reasonable!”
A soft smile crossed Roman's face. He adored when people admired his talents. “Maybe not inside a building. At some point, we'll go find some nice dirt for me to grow in. I'll be whatever kind of tree you want,” he raised his eyebrows, “and you're welcome to join me, if you'd like.”
Jordana's mouth fell open. “Me?” she gulped. “A tree?”
“It's lovely,” I assured her. “I'll join you too, if you want.” Ah, the wonderful feeling of turning into a tree... Your toes becoming roots and sinking into the sand, your body stretching to the sky and hardening into wood... “Oh, when your leaves pop open, and you're tasting the sun...”
“You can't change right now, Corrie,” Roman warned.
I snapped my mouth shut. No, I couldn't, and it hurt me. I ached to change, and now I wasn't allowed. But I would have to bear with my plight – I couldn't do anything to jeopardize my child.
This was going to be a very long nine months.
When Roman turned into a sapphire statue of himself, Dr. Mack had a field day collecting data. “Your heartbeat simply disappeared, your temperature got lower, your brain waves... it's like they're non-existent! I can't pick anything up from you now! It's like trying to pull water from stone!”
I saw Roman shudder as Jordana ran her fingers down his smooth side. The lascivious expression on her face was fortunately not visible to her husband. “Roman, it's... You're incredibly beautiful! A sapphire this big is simply unheard of!”
“Can you imagine what he's worth?” I grinned.
“And he's thinking and feeling in there? He hears us?” Dr. Mack marveled, circling Roman.
I put my hands around the statue and planted a large kiss on its cold lips.
Its face twisted and kissed me back.
“My GOD!” both husband and wife cried.
“How did he do that? How does he move as stone?”
The statue became flesh and blood, and Roman sat down on the edge of the platform. “Don't know. That's why I'm here.”
We sat around a table in the lab, drinking tea.
“Well, I have plenty of data to start with, Roman. Thank you. But I'll be needing to see much more of you. Let's make you become animals, plants... Can you be small, like...bugs, or bacteria?”
“Sure can!”
“Oh, my God! I'll put you under a microscope!”
“And I'll wave up at you!” My husband and the professor seemed to be getting along quite well together. How nice.
Dr. Mack clasped his hands together again. “Oh, God, Roman! Don't you see how incredible and impossible you are?”
“Again, that's why I'm here. To understand what I am.”
Silence fell over us. Actually, the professor and his wife were quietly doting on Roman as if he were a museum exhibition. I could only imagine what was going through their minds.
“Have you ever been a snake, Roman?” Mrs. Mack queried.
Well, now I knew what was in Jordana Mack's mind.
“Of course. Many times. Very interesting form.”
“A cow? A monkey?”
“Yes and and yes.”
“A... piece of...fruit?” she squeaked.
“Apple, grape, watermelon, cherry... The question is what I haven't been. Don't bother to ask if I have.”
Mrs. Mack hugged her arms to her chest, delighting in his words. I think she kind of felt the way I did about transforming. When she said, “I enjoyed watching you,” it only substantiated the fact. I wondered if that comment freaked her husband out at all, but he didn't let on if it did.
Then, out of the blue, the professor asked, “Roman, just what did you do with the girl that tried to kill Corrie and me?”
“Tammy?”
Dr. Mack cringed at the sound of her name. “Yes.”
“I turned her into a pig and put her into a petting zoo.”
Jordana made a squealing sound.
Hesitating for a moment, the professor answered, “Ah. Okay. She was aware that she was a pig?”
“Of course. She wasn't happy about it, either. We broke her spirit, and then after some threats, I changed her back and she turned herself in. She's in jail now.”
“How did you get her to turn herself in?”
“I turned her into a rat.”
“And?”
“Told her I'd do far worse if she didn't do exactly as I say. I'll check in on her from time to time.”
Both the professor and his wife looked profoundly haunted. “I sure hope you do,” said Jordana.
For probably the first time, Roman drove me over to my mom's house. I was so used to flying there as a bird that being in an actual vehicle was weird.
We drove past an empty police car, and Roman parked on the driveway. As he got out of the car, we both glimpsed two men slinking around the side of the house.
“Who's that?” I hissed.
“One of them looks like a cop.”
“Why would a cop–”
“Sh, stay here.” Roman became a little sparrow, which was funny because usually he preferred to be imposing, like a hawk or crow. He flew off to where the men were and landed right above them.
After several minutes, Roman came back. I opened the door and he fluttered into the car, where he turned back to himself. He seemed very annoyed.
“That's that idiot...that Keith, right? Your stepfather Dave's son?”
“Keith's here? What's he doing?”
“His friend is a cop. He told him that I turned Dave and your mom into horses! I can't believe anyone actually would believe him!” He shook his head, rolling his eyes.
“So what's Keith trying to do?”
“He's trying to prove it! But thankfully, Dave and Kate are off in the woods somewhere...” Roman stopped. Two horses had just strode into the yard.
“Oh, damn it,” Roman muttered. He got back out of the car. I followed.
We skirted the house to view Keith and the police officer. They were now in the yard, and they were approaching the horses.
Keith waved at the male and spat, “Well, good-day to you, Dad! How's the hay tasting today?”
Both horses blinked at him. My mom bent down and nibbled at the grass.
He gestured towards her. “This one here is Kate. She's expecting.” He made a disgusted face. “My father's the happy...father. Can you imagine that? It grosses me out just thinking about it.”
The police officer merely observed in silence.
Growing frustrated, Keith moved towards the male. “Dad, are you really going to pull this? Show Rodney that you understand me.”
Dave continued to stare blankly through his large, equine eyes.
“Dad, you bastard! I'm your damn son! Don't make me look like a fool! Help me here!”
The police officer stepped in front of him. “Keith, listen. I believe you think you saw that guy turn your father into a horse, but maybe it was a trick of the light? Were you drinking or something?”
By now, we stood right behind them, and Keith finally noticed us, but he didn't acknowledge us yet. Instead, he leaned closer to the cop and uttered, “You've known me for thirty years, Rod. You know I'd never lie.”
“I didn't say you lied.”
Finally, Keith turned to us. “You two are back, huh? Nice. You know no one will believe me. It's why you changed him in front of me, right? You figured you'd mess with my mind, get me out of your way, and I'd never bother you again.”
Roman gaped at him. “Uh, what are you talking about?”
“Don't play innocent. Rod can make your life a living hell.”
“I'm sure he can, but... Well, what do you want me to say?”
The policeman coughed, but surprisingly said nothing to Roman or me. “There is a barn here, Keith. We can check if it's legal. The area might not be zoned for animals, either.”
Keith's mouth twisted into a sneer, his eyes remaining on the grazing horses. “Fine. If that's how you want to play it, Dad, then that's what we'll do. Let's follow up on that barn, Rod, okay?”
The officer nodded, pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of the very barn Roman had created for Mom and Dave. “That much I can do.”
“Very good, then,” Keith said, turning and walking off. “You won't come to my wedding? I'll give you a gift, Dad!” he threw over his shoulder.
The officer shrugged at us and then joined up with Keith.
“I'm letting you talk, Dave. Kate, you want to chance it?”
Mom shook her head no. She was large with child, and I averted my eyes from her big belly. I couldn't look at her. I couldn't...
“That son-of-a-bitch,” Dave spat through his horse lips. It was kind of funny to see.
“Well, he's your son,” Roman chuckled, but there was very obvious anxiety in his voice.
“I'm not a bitch,” Dave muttered. “Yet.” But no one laughed, and he continued, “Why didn't you turn the two of them into fish or something?”
“We don't have a pond here,” I pointed out.
“That's the point,” Dave grumbled.
“Leave them alone,” Roman said. “No one, not even the officer, believes you're people.”
“But what about the barn? The zoning?”
“I'll go into Town Hall and check on that all.”
“What if we have to rip it down?”
“I'll make it work. If not, you can come live with Corrie and me. I'll make you the best barn ever. It'll be like a castle for horses!”
Mom neighed softly.
Roman studied her. “How are you feeling?”
They must have communicated telepathically because he replied, “I know. But you're almost there, Kate. The vet says you're doing great, and April's not so far off.”
Mom nodded.
It still bothered me that my mother had a vet. But I guess that's what happens when your parent turns into an animal.
And then I remembered why we were there.
I walked up to Mom, touching her gently on the muzzle. It felt weird saying something so personal to a horse, but seeing the humanity in her eyes heartened me. “Mom, I'm pregnant.”
The horse reared up on her hind legs, and I grabbed at her mane in concern.
Roman held up his hands, laughing. “It's okay, it's okay, Corrie! She's thrilled.”
“Mom, don't hurt yourself,” I cried, backing away. She was shaking her head back and forth, making happy neighing sounds.
“Roman, let her talk,” I demanded.
Mom shook her head vehemently.
“She doesn't want me to change anything about her,” Roman explained.
“Why? It's just giving her a voice. She's done it before,” I said, peeved. I was finally expecting, and I couldn't even have a two-way conversation with my own mother about it.
“No,” Dave inserted. “She's scared. She doesn't want to lose her baby.”
I was quiet for a moment.
“Congratulations, both of you,” Dave said. He sounded like he meant it too.
Mom brushed her head up against me, which made me start crying.
Everyone looked confused. They probably thought I was getting all weepy-hormonal on them.
“I'm scared,” was all I could say.
Roman's cousin Bobby called that night. He was firming up plans for his coming visit.
“He wants to be a llama,” Roman tossed out, placing down the phone and sitting down next to me on the bed. “I told him he's staying outside, then. I don't want him destroying the house. He gets pretty rowdy when I turn him into an animal. You should have seen the havoc he wreaked when I made him a rhino!”
I went past that. If I couldn't be anything, I didn't want to hear anyone else's transformation adventures either. “Why does he have to come now? I'm so stressed with Mom, and,” I suddenly gagged, a wave of nausea washing over me. “Ugh, I feel...sick...”
“Morning sickness!” Roman exclaimed in delight.
“I think it's kind of early for that... Maybe it's food poisoning or something...”
The nausea dissipated by the next day at lunch. I had no idea if it was pregnancy-related or not. When I got back from class, Roman was sitting at the kitchen table, his hands crossed in front of him. “I went to Town Hall. Good news – the property is okay for horses,” he said.
I sat down beside him. “And the bad news?”
“Well, they need a permit for the barn or it has to be ripped down.”
I jumped up. “See! I knew it! Now what do we do? Do we have to get Mom in there to sign stuff?”
“Calm, Corrie. It's not good for the baby! Don't worry, it's all taken care of.”
“How? Don't permits take forever to get?”
He held out a paper that clearly said “Permit” across the top. “Not when you can give the guy who does them anything he could possibly ask for.”
As the days went on, Roman began to move things out of the extra room in our house. He often used it as an office, but it wasn't absolutely necessary for him to have. Yet the superstitious part of me grew worried. I didn't say anything about it, but the smallest baby-related preparation made me worry that we were tempting fate.
When I walked in to see Roman's progress, he was gone. However, a cradle sat in the middle of the floor, eerily rocking by itself.
“Oh, it's bad luck to buy baby stuff this early!” I shrieked, running over to it in horror.
The cradle sprouted arms and legs, stood up on its side, and became my husband. “Sorry. I was just thinking about the conversation with Jordana, you know, things I haven't been? Well, I've never been a cradle!”
I frowned, jealous. “It looked fun. Was it?”
“Loads! You have to–” His face fell. “Oh, sorry. Well, we'll have to wait on that.”
I thought about how great that must feel, being rocked back and forth like that, and a baby sleeping comfortably inside me... I let out a deep sigh, and sat back in a chair.
“You feel bad that you can't change,” Roman said, walking to my side.
I looked away. “I know I shouldn't even say that. I've wanted a kid for so long, and I shouldn't be ungrateful.”
“It's not being ungrateful. You can still miss changing and be thankful you're pregnant. Just think, we can have another transform-a-thon after you give birth!”
“I think one transform-a-thon was enough,” I smiled. “My body ached from being so many things in such a short time.”
“Yeah, that tired me out too. I changed you so many times, I lost count.”
“Me too.”
He ran his fingers through my hair, an expression of complete adoration on his face.“Want me to be something nice for you?”
“No,” I sighed. “Just be yourself for a change.”
Roman stood in a pair of boxer shorts, wired up to many machines once more.
“Now, Roman, change slowly enough that the leads don't fall off you. Can you change with them still on?”
“I can try. But, like we said, I need to be something relatively close to my size. Your pick as to what.”
“Oh, let me choose!” Jordana begged from the corner. “Um, a gorilla!”
Dr. Mack shook his head. “Too close to man. I want to check his blood, his DNA, vitals... all as an animal.”
Jordana was quiet for mere seconds before she spouted out, “How about a giraffe? A man transforming into a giraffe should be fascinating! Oh, yes, Roman! Please be a giraffe!”
Roman looked to Dr. Mack, who nodded his approval.
“A giraffe it is!”
His transformation progressed at an odd pace. Roman was clearly trying to change without affecting the leads taped to him, so different parts changed at various points. His skin first grew light fur and giraffe spots. “Are your wires staying on well enough?” he grunted, a pair of horns sprouting from his head.
“So far, so good,” Dr. Mack said, tapping at one lead to adjust it to Roman's new fur.
“Okay,” Roman said, setting back to his work. A tail popped out, pushing his boxer shorts down a bit, but he seemed too involved in transforming himself to care.
His hands and feet darkened and merged into hooves, and his face began to elongate. From there, he seemed to ponder what to change next, and apparently decided it was time to become four-legged. As he leaned down, his arms stretched to the floor as his new front legs. He craned his neck and it continued to grow and grow like some kind of rubber man, which set Jordana Mack into a clapping, hysterical frenzy.
“Look at him! Look at him!” she screamed in excitement.
Roman smirked a bit as his face changed and his body grew and thickened, and soon a giraffe graced the biochemistry lab. The animal even smacked its head into the ceiling, forgetting how tall it was.
The room had become completely quiet; the Macks simply dumbfounded. Me, well, it was just another day to me. I only wished I could be a giraffe right along side my husband.
Then, almost at the same time, Dr. and Mrs. Mack broke into applause. “Bravo, bravo!” cried the professor, patting Roman on his side. “Look at you! Just, you're... unbelievable!” He gazed at the readings on a machine. “Your life signs are nothing like a man's now! Can I take some blood and tissue samples, Roman? You mind?” He brandished a rather fearful-looking syringe.
The giraffe shrugged. Although I was pretty sure he was not liking the looks of the syringe either.
When Dr. Mack was done practically dissecting my husband, he gathered up his samples and went into an adjoining room. This left Roman, still a giraffe, Jordana, and me.
A very curious Mrs. Mack circled the animal, staring at him from every angle. “What does it feel like? Your neck is so long – did that hurt?”
“Changing doesn't hurt. I don't know why. But it doesn't. Honestly,” I lowered my voice here, “it's so pleasant that it's almost as good as...” I blushed, “well, you know.”
“Really?” Mrs. Mack looked like she was about to burst.
“Sometimes it's better.” Oh, God, did I really just say all that to my professor's wife?
Mrs. Mack threw herself at the giraffe. “Roman, make me a tree!”
“Roman, you're really into trees,” I grumbled as we followed the nearly-skipping Mrs. Mack into the woods. Dr. Mack was behind us, mumbling to himself about his plans for Roman and jotting things down in his notebook.
“She asked to be one, Corrie,” Roman, now human, sounded tired. “Sounds good to me, too.”
“Isn't it better to be an animal the first time a person's transformed? This way they can move,” I suggested. “Being inanimate might be scary at first.”
“I guess. But she wants this so much, I don't think she's really thinking of being immobile. The whole tree idea just seems to really appeal to her.”
“Can we grow here, Roman?” Jordana called from a sandy area.
“Move into the sun a bit, and we're good.”
She did, beckoning him over. Now she was shaking. Whether it was her excitement or plain fear, I wasn't sure.
“So you want to watch me transform first?” Roman yawned, burying his feet into the sand.
Jordana observed, nodding. “Yes, please!”
Roman began to change. I could see all he wanted to do was a quick change so he could relax, but a little part of him still relished putting on a show. He stretched into the sky, arms forming branches, his body thickening into a trunk, and his smiling face disappearing into the bark. His leaves popped open, and he was done.
Both the professor and his wife remained frozen in awe for several seconds until Dr. Mack walked over, poking at Roman's bark.
“Careful, he feels that,” I remarked.
“How? He has no nerves! How does he form bark from flesh and blood? Is he photosynthesizing?”
“Yes,” I replied. “And that feels great. You should try it, too, Dr. Mack.”
He gulped. “No, I think I'll stay a person for now. I'm not quite ready to photosynthesize yet.”
Jordana was still flabbergasted. She stared into Roman's leaves, mesmerized as his boughs swung lazily in the breeze. “Oh, Roman,” she whispered, “please let me join you.”
Her words hit me hard, and I didn't even pay attention when Roman became a man to situate her in the best growing spot. I couldn't join Roman for all these months. Someone else was taking my place.
“Oh, Roman, it feels wonderful! Every...molecule of me...tingles!”
He was changing her, and I couldn't bear to look. I wanted it to be me.
Dr. Mack obviously didn't want to miss a single moment, however. “Look how your legs merged into a trunk, Jordana! You're hardening into actual wood! How do you feel?”
“I feel my roots... my whole body is changing...such pleasure...”
I gave in and turned to watch. By now, Jordana was all tree on the bottom. Her eyes were closed tightly as Roman lovingly crafted her new form.
“Reach your arms up,” Roman instructed, taking her rapidly-darkening wrists and helping her out. Her only response was a blissful moan.
Her fingers became many branches, and even more sprouted from her arms and sides.
“She's shaking and moving on the top, but her bottom is fixed to the ground... her...trunk...” Dr. Mack breathed in awe.
“You're almost there, Jordana,” Roman murmured, sweeping his hands up and down her sides. “Enjoy the rest of your changes. I'll join you when you're done.”
“She's getting so tall,” marveled her husband, “look how her head is gone, but I still see her features in the...her...bark...”
When Jordana burst into leaf, she let out the deepest, most soulful moan of ecstasy I had ever heard.
“I'm a tree...” Her words echoed away as her face solidified into mere twists in the bark, and the quivering tree grew still.
Roman stood back and examined his newest creation. “Nice. You came out beautifully, Jordana!”
Dr. Mack stepped up and rubbed the new tree's bark. “Is she happy?” he asked a bit uncertainly.
Roman paused a minute, listening to Mrs. Mack's mind. “She's so ecstatic, she's beyond communication right now.”
“You can communicate with her?”
“Yes. Another thing for you to study. Why do I have a telepathic link to transformed people?”
“Why indeed?”
“Exactly. Now it's my turn to rest.” Roman climbed back into the gaping hole he'd been growing in before. “Gotta be a tree,” he said, and he started to transform.
Something clicked in me, and I ran over to him. I grabbed his hand, which I could feel stiffening and hardening into wood in my very grip. “Wait, Roman, maybe you don't...”
He looked at me, confused. “Corrie, I promised Jordana I'd stay with her. It'll be alright. It won't be that long.” Did he realize how left out I felt? He tried to pat my shoulder, but was too stiff to be able to. “You stay here and I'll give you nice shade.”
He became more tree-like, but his smile remained, and I wanted to swat at him.
“Roman, it's winter! You two shouldn't even have leaves now!”
By now he was so tall that his face was far above me. “Corrie, it's not that cold, and I made us trees that can stand this weather, leaves and all. Shush, let me grow. I'm so tired and I need to get my roots into some water.”
With that, my husband became a tree.
Dr. Mack and I stood silently before the two trees. He scribbled something in his notebook, and then took a picture. “Jordana will want to see how beautiful she was.”
“Are you sure you don't want to join them?” I asked, holding back a sob.
“No, no. What about you? Why don't you?”
The words fell from my mouth before I considered the wisdom of uttering them. “I can't. I'm pregnant.”
He didn't look too surprised. “I suspected that when Roman said you couldn't change. Interesting. Perhaps we should study you too. You feel being transformed will hurt the fetus?”
I gazed at him in amazement. All we were to him was one big lab experiment. “I... yes... maybe...”
“I see. Well, I guess that's it for today.” He turned back towards the two very contented-looking trees. “Okay, Jordana, don't stay like this too long. You might not ever want to turn back. They're really enjoying themselves, Corrie?”
I swallowed deeply. “You don't know true peace until you've been in plant form.” I hated to say it. I didn't want to hear him decide it was time to be transformed, too.
“Huh,” he said, rubbing his head with his pencil. “I can't wait to hear of Jordana's experience when she turns back. We must experiment on Roman as a plant!” He snapped closed his notebook. “I'm going back to the lab. Happy photosynthesizing! See you all later.”
Dr. Mack took off, and I was left with two silent trees gently swaying in the wind. Their branches often touched, and I wondered if Roman were doing that purposely to stimulate his new tree-companion. I could imagine them laughing and whispering together, in their blissful, arboreal world...
Despite the cold, I settled down against my husband's trunk and stared off into the distance. Even though he was beside me and there was a baby in my womb, I never felt more alone.