TF (man into koala)

The sun was shining, the sky was a brilliant blue, the water sparkling. It was a beautiful day to be on Sydney Harbour.

Not for Oscar, though.

Penny took another look at her partner, sitting next to her on the ferry. They’d been going out for almost a year, and when they met he’d been the life of the party. She loved his easy smile and ready wit.

Now look at him. Hunched over. Stone-faced. Miserable.

If Penny knew anything about men, she knew this. Oscar had a secret. A secret that was torturing him. And she had to find out what it was.

Or leave him.

*

“A secret?”

“I know the signs.” Penny took Oscar’s hand sympathetically. “Something’s happened. Something that’s changed you.”

Oscar gave a bitter little laugh. “You don’t know how right you are.”

“Then tell me about it.”

“It’s … it’s so hard.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll face it together.”

Oscar turned on the sofa and stared straight into Penny’s face.

“There’s something I have to tell you. And you’re not going to believe me. I wouldn’t believe me either. But it’s the truth.”

“I’m listening.”

“Remember the trip we took to the koala sanctuary a couple of months ago?”

Penny blinked. Whatever she was expecting to hear, it wasn’t this. “Well, of course.”

“Remember when that koala bit me?”

“Yes, the man told us he couldn’t believe the koala had done that, they were usually so placid. And we had to go to the doctor to get a tetanus shot for you. But look, you don’t even have a scar now!” She grabbed his hand, turning it to where the koala had nipped him.

Oscar took a deep breath. “Penny, that bite … it changed me.”

“Changed you how?”

“It … Oh, I know this is going to sound so stupid …”

“Please, darling …”

“It changed me … it changed me into a were-koala.”

“You mean?”

“When it’s a full moon … I change into a koala.”

There was silence for a brief minute.

“I know you don’t believe me …”

“Oh, I believe you,” Penny said thoughtfully. “In fact, it makes a lot of sense. So that’s why you planted a gum tree in the backyard … and why you’ve been smelling a lot like eucalyptus lately … I mean, I thought you’d become addicted to cough lozenges …”

“You do believe me!” Oscar said, hope shining in his face.

“Of course, darling. And whatever you’re going through, our relationship is far bigger than that.”

Oscar and Penny smiled at each other. They embraced and kissed.

“Darling, it’s a full moon tonight. Will you stay with me while I change?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“And when I change … could you put me in my tree?”

*

The transformation was rapid.

Penny was holding Oscar’s hand.

As she watched, he began to shrink. His hands turned into paws. His ears grew tufts of fur. His nose flattened and grew black.

His body erupted with grey fur.

And it was done.

“Well, I have to say,” Penny said, “you make a very cuddly koala.”

*

She took the small form outside, clasped in her arms. She placed him on the gum tree’s trunk. He rapidly shimmied up to take up a position on a low-hanging branch.

Penny watched as Oscar chewed on gum leaves, then sat in the branch with a sleepy but satisfied look on his face.

He looked like the most contented thing she’d ever seen.

*

She went to sleep in Oscar’s bed. When she woke the next morning, she could him banging about in the kitchen. He entered with a loaded breakfast tray.

“Morning, beautiful!” he grinned. Ah, there was her old Oscar back.

He was transformed. Was it only yesterday he’d been so miserable? Now he was so happy and relaxed, he almost shone.

“You looked very peaceful up in that tree,” Penny remarked as she bit into the toast.

“Actually, it is very peaceful,” Oscar said, slightly surprised. “Being a koala is quite lovely, really. Now you know and I don’t have to keep it a secret, I found it very enjoyable.”

“And you’ll be a koala every full moon?”

“I guess so, yes.”

“I wonder … I wonder, if you bit someone else, would they become a koala too?”

“Penny! You’re not suggesting …”

“Perhaps a little nip … just as an experiment?”

*

The moon shone down, full and fat.

And in the tree, a contented koala chewed leaves.

With her mate stretched out on the branch above her.

This, Penny thought, this is the life.