I blinked and squinted at the ceiling through blearly eyes. I thought I had heard a voice calling to me. I sat up in my rat sized bed and rubbed my eyes. It was still very early; the sun was just beginning to shine over the horizon. Alfredo was snoring soundly from his room upstairs. I must of been hearing things. I sighed and laid back down on the bed. I smiled as I thought of the big day of cooking ahead. A young, new critic was coming to the restaurant, and I was determined to make his first experience one to never ever be matched. As I drifted back into the dreams, the voice spoke again. I was too tired to move.

"Dear Remy, your passion for cooking has not been ignored. When you next wake, you will see yourself in a new light, a form that will carry your influence farther than you could ever dream."

"Wonderful..." I mumbled as I drifted away. I was too sleepy to investigate the voice again.

Before I knew it, the alarm went off, but it seemed far away. I opened my eyes and winced as I realized the position I was laying in was extremely uncomfortable. The surroundings looked off too. Everything looked...smaller. I reached up to paw at my whiskers, but felt nothing but air where my nose was supposed to be. I forced my eyes to open wider and looked around. The surprise at the strange body that I was now in caused me to fall from the window and roll painfully down the spiral stairs. I landed on the floor with a whump and rolled once to rest on my back.

I stared blankly at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to process what just happened, and to wait out the jabbing pains from the stairs. I raised both front arms high above me. Fleshy arms ending in long fingered hands stretched up before my eyes. I brought my new right hand slowly down to feel at my face. My long nose was gone, and so were the ears and whiskers. I brought my arms down and sat up to see the rest of me. My expression quickly turned to disgust. The joints of this new body were coupled with endless bald skin that wrinkled easily. Just like being a baby rat again. I wiggled my toes, and the numerous stubby appendages connected to the flat feet flexed in unison.

Something fell in my vision; I tried to focus on it and reached up to touch it. It was a strand of long human hair. I felt the rest of my head and found the long hairs growing all over it. When I shook my head, the hair swished against the bare skin of my jawline. That feeling was the strangest of all. My skin had never been so sensitive before. I looked myself over again, wondering if the head was the only hairy part on a human. My gaze was soon drawn to a point below the belly button. Light hairs grew in a near straight line down between my legs. I frowned. Humans were the most backward creatures in design. Their fur patterns were completely opposite from all other creatures.

My next focus was on standing. I was afraid at first, remembering the towering height of humans. It probably wouldn't be easy using these legs, especially with such flat feet. I gathered my strength and pulled my legs into a crouch. I used my hands for support. Then I took a deep breath and slowly pushed upward with my legs. The first mistake was moving as though I were still a rat. I brought the soles of the feet up, instictively resting all the weight on my toes. I fell foward almost instantly, catching myself just in time by the hands.

Just then the ring of Alfredo's alarm went off upstairs, followed by a crash as Alfredo most likely swept the clock off the bedside table. Panic set in. Alfredo couldn't see me like this! Well, at least not yet. I had to find some clothes. Alfredo was stumbling around up there, soon to come down and ask for breakfast. I looked around frantically for anything to cover up with. A throw blanket Collette had left here a few days ago was draped haphazardly across the sofa. I rushed over awkwardly on my new legs and grabbed at the blanket. I managed to cover myself in it just as Alfredo slumped half asleep down the stairs.

Alfredo snapped out of his sleepy state as soon as his eyes focused on my now human form. I waited tensely, fearing the worst. Would he throw me out without a second thought? To my astonishment Alfredo actually grinned and ran forward to hug me. What the hell...?

"It came true, it really did come true!" he declared after breaking the hug. I was deeply confused; luckily he picked up on that.

"Me and Collette made a wish toghether for an easier life for you, and it really worked! Isn't this amazing?"

"You...you did this? How do you know it's me though?"

"Well, it didn't work completely I guess. You still have, um, a...a sort of tail."

It took me a moment to realize I was staring dumbfounded at him with my mouth wide open. When my brain finally caught up, I twisted around to see behind me, which was hard to do with the stiff bone structure of a human. True enough, when I lifted up the edge of the blanket, there was the end of a extra large rat tail. How had I not noticed? Could be because I was always so used to it as a rat, but still...

"I'll go get you some of my extra clothes, and then we'll head over to the restaurant. Collette will be so excited about this!" he squealed as he ran back up the stairs. That left me alone with my thoughts at least for a moment. I fell back into the sofa and gave a great big huff. Some wish that was. How was living like this going to easier? Sure, there was no more risk of being found out, and cooking wouldn't be so dangerous. No more accidentally falling into a pot of soup or possibly being shut up in an oven. I'd miss the things only rats could do though. How many humans, with their large cumbersome fingers, could accurately measure the right amount of spices and herbs?

Alfredo soon came rushing back down with a wad of clothes. He threw them at me and disappeared into the kitchen.

"I'll make some quick sandwichs that we can eat on the way!" he shouted. Great, quick sandwichs. I never cared much for instant foods. I folded the blanket back onto the sofa and slipped into the clothes with some ease. The back of the pants rubbed uncomfortably against the underside of my tail. I'd have to do my best to ignore that for now.