Chapter 3: The Joy of Shopping
I woke up and got out of bed. I immediately noticed that something seemed off. My pajamas weren’t exactly tight to begin with, but they were never this loose on me. I shrugged and attributed that to the stress of the past two days. I also felt some pain around my lower back, as though something was bending it. I pulled something out of the back of my pants and walked to the door.
Hold on a moment! Something didn’t seem right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I walked into the common area of the apartment. I scratched my head, wondering what was wrong. As I sat on our couch I felt the pain in my lower back again.
“Was our couch always this uncomfortable?” I thought as I put my hand the affected area. I jerked my hand back immediately when my hand came across something that felt suspiciously like hair. I looked back and behind me there was a tail, the exact shade and texture as the hair on my head.
Rachael’s alarm went off in the other bedroom and my ears turned toward the source of the sound... If I recall my health class correctly, human ears don’t swivel, at least, not to the degree me just had. I felt the top of my head and felt my ear, it didn’t feel human. No, it felt like a horse’s ear. My ears decided to grow fur move to the top of my head during the night.
This would be the point at which most people would panic when they inexplicably find themselves slowly changing species, but I am more logical than that. I did the only thing any rational person would do... I fainted.
...
I awoke to the sight of Rachael standing over me, furry white pony ears poking out of her hair, which now looked entirely like that a certain equine DJ.
“Good morning sleepyhead. Noticed the changes huh?” Rachael said.
“Yes, and I don’t understand you can act so calm about all this.” I replied
She didn’t say anything, but her face made is very clear she was thinking long and hard about something.
“What’s on your mind Vinyl” I said, only realizing what I said after I said it and promptly putting my hands over my mouth. She turned her head and stared at me for a moment.
“You’ve called me that before” she said slowly.
I thought I hadn’t but after recalling the events of the past two day, I soon realized that I had called her Vinyl twice before. Once around the time the mark had appeared, and a second time when I called her at the club. I also came to the realization that she had called my “Tavi” many times after our birthday. I was becoming concerned that we may be losing more than our humanity while going through these changes. I also stumbled upon an unsettling realization.
“I think we need to get the shopping done...now!” I said.
“What’s the rush?” Rachael asked
“These changes are slowly getting faster. The marks appeared two days ago, our hair slowly changed in length and color yesterday and today we wake up with ears and tail. We need to get the supplies while we still have hands!” I said
I ran into my bedroom and tried to find clothes to put on. I had nothing that could hide my ears. I needed something that wouldn’t draw attention. My eyes fell on a grey suit and purple bow tie. No, that wouldn’t work. A grey suit, what was I thinking? We’re going shopping not to Comic Con!
I found a grey trillby on the top shelf of my closet. Normally I wouldn’t wear hats but I needed something to hide my ears, even if it would draw a bit of attention. I decided to wear a grey argyle sweater vest and slacks. Even if I wasn’t wearing the suit, I still found myself wanting to wear the purple bowtie. I came out of my bedroom ready to leave, my new equine features safely hidden. Even though it was hidden, driving would be a tad uncomfortable with the tail, but I would simply have to make do.
Rachael came out of her room a few minutes later in a white hooded jacket and some faded blue jeans.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked
She nodded and we left the apartment, with the understanding that most of our money would be gone by the time we get back
Our first stop was music store. Given the fact that both of the ponies we were turning into played music; it was a safe assumption that we would retain our respective musical skills, granted playing them with hooves would take time. The owner of the store appeared to be a little suspicious of us, probably thought it was strange that out heels weren’t touching the ground. The list of things we bought included blank sheet music, spare bows for my cello and nearly one thousand-dollars worth of spare arts for Rachael’s DJ equipment. The good news is that I finally discovered where most of her income went after paying half of the rent.
There was a farm supply store near the edge of town that would sell us most of the horse care supplies. We got a good amount of various horse feed, not knowing whether or not we could still eat human food when the transformation is complete, and a few various horse medications and vaccines. It was rather unsettling to think that in a day or two we might need to use them on ourselves to prevent disease. We also bought many grooming supplies such as shampoo and brushes. I didn’t know about Rachael but I still wanted to look my very best.
We decided to purchase some other supplies at a nearby Target. Apparently our disguises weren’t as foolproof as we had hoped.
“Look Mommy its Octavia and Vinyl Scratch!”
I quickly turned around to see a young boy, I would probably guess around seven or eight years old, dragging his mother towards us.
“Can I have your autograph?” the little boy asked holding a piece of paper.
“Yes, of course!” I said, trying my absolute best to sound like Octavia. I knew that if we didn’t, the boy might cry, and that would only draw unwanted attention.
Rachael and I both signed the paper. The boy and his mother walked away, and the mother started scolding her sun the minute she thought we were out of earshot. He was probably in a lot of trouble.
We bought mostly greens and other vegetables from the grocery aisle. I of course picked up something that I was always fond of. Rachael always made fun of my love for tea.
We passed by the accessories section. Rachael put a pair of purple sunglasses in the cart. I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.
“What! You’re wearing Octavia’s bowtie, I’m buying Vinyl’s sunglasses” she said.
“If you want them, you’re the one paying for them” I said flatly. Personally I didn’t see why she wanted them, but I didn’t want to argue. After we made absolutely sure we had everything we bought a few odds and ends that seemed useful such as camping equipment and walkie-talkies.
The bill ended up completely emptying Rachael’s checking account and leaving me with only $56.40 in mine. That was a little more than enough money to get us to my brother’s ranch tomorrow.
We were exhausted by the time we got home. The only things we got out of the car were items that needed to be kept cold. Everything else was staying in the car until we reached the ranch.
I changed into my pajamas and plopped onto my bed. Tomorrow we would drive out to my brother Jebidiah's ranch, would he be very happy to see me? I didn’t know, I hadn’t seen him in years. He was my brother, a twin in fact. My concerns soon left my mind as sleep overtook me.