Minktales

Issue 11

"The Telltale Yearbook"

Part 2 of 2

When Minerva left the house that morning, she saw her mother doing something she'd never done before. She was cleaning her collection of pots and jars. However, although Minerva connected the act with her complaints of the night before, she didn't draw much joy from it. After all, her mother loved those old jars, and it might have been as much a statement of love for them as for her hideous daughter, Minerva thought as she stepped out the door to the school bus.

As Minerva got on the bus and took her seat, a pretty girl chipmunk on one side of the bus, who always seemed to be surrounded by her friends, took aim with an arrow at Minerva's back, out of sight of the bus driver, and fired. Minerva, who was already seated, bent over to tie her shoes, causing the seat she was in to shake slightly, and the arrow to bounce off one of the exposed springs that seats of that sort invariably have, bouncing off the ceiling after that, then the floor of the bus, then right through the girl chipmunk's left shoe, catching her in the toe, and causing her to yelp in pain, leaping upward and banging her head on the roof of the bus.

"Hey, keep it down back there!" the bus driver warned, and soon they were at the school grounds.

By the time they all got off the bus, a boy raccoon with a thick tail called Minerva over to a spot next to a tree, his intent being to play what is, for a toon, a mostly-harmless prank.

"Hey, Minerva. Over here." the boy, whose name was Charles, said, leaning against a nearby tree and giving his fingernails a glance as he did so. Immediately, Minerva headed over in his direction, but stopped several feet from his position, because of what she'd noticed on the ground.

"Oh, boy." she thought sarcastically to herself, "A big X painted on the ground. THAT doesn't look suspicious."

"What is it?" she asked from just outside the range of the X.

"Come over here." Charles said, "I have something to tell you."

"Why don't you come tell me over here?" Minerva asked.

"I asked first." Charles replied smoothly.

"Oh, right." Minerva said, "Sorry. You're absolutely right. You really SHOULD be the one to come over here."

"That's right." Charles remarked smugly, and was halfway across the X before he realized what he was doing. In moments, an anvil-shaped hole had replaced the X, and a very flat disc on legs, which had once been Charles, was strutting off to class in a huff. Minerva stuck her tongue out at him as he left, then quickly went to her own first class.

By midday, Minerva had dodged several dozen would-be traps with ease and style, and had gotten her picture taken for the school yearbook, but there was one thing she knew she couldn't dodge or overcome, and that was the fact that she still looked like a big ball of fuzz with freckles all over her face. That was a detriment, because it had always been one of her dreams to become a cheerleader, and the tryouts were that very day, just after lunch.

Lunch, for Minerva Mink, was three apple slices and a meat sandwich. As she finished off the apple slices, and was halfway through the sandwich, however, she could feel a strange trembling building up inside of her, as if she were about to spew, and on impulse, rushed to the little mink's room, but as it turned out, no spewing was involved.

The restroom had a series of sinks and potties on opposite sides, and on the side with the sinks was a tremendous mirror at least two yards across and one tall, which hung over all the sinks collectively. It was in that mirror that Minerva Mink witnessed the most incredible sight she'd ever seen.

She thought that it was a trick of the light, at first, but looking at herself in the mirror, Minerva could have sworn that her fur looked less bushy, and her body more slender, though not to the point of being bony. Her cheeks had definitely become smaller, and as she watched the mirror in absolute terror of what was happening to her, her cheeks shrunk down from big, puffed-out affairs, into small, furry things that only puffed just slightly, and only when seen from a certain angle. Her body changed shape, becoming taller and more shapely, and the loose t-shirt she had on started to sag around her, then she truly screamed as the color of her coat began to change; her white patches of fur growing larger and larger, until they covered her whole body, and she was still screaming as her eyes took on a twist to the ends, and a full, lush head and tail of golden hair grew to surround her ears, which were finally visible as cute, little mink ears, standing up on top of her head diagonally.

For several more seconds, Minerva continued to scream, as she felt the workings of her body continuing to change, her hands and feet becoming soft, slender and delicate, but then the changing stopped. The final change had felt, during the process, like the biggest one, however, as Minerva felt some kind of invisible force that had moved around her for her whole life, and it was suddenly moving away from her rapidly, as if being forced out by typhoon blasts, and although she wasn't sure what that change was, as it didn't appear in the mirror, she had a feeling it was significant.

Minerva's screams didn't die down. They didn't stop. They didn't start to fade. However, as she sat on the bathroom floor in her loose-fitting t-shirt, watching her reflection in the mirror, every last freckle gone, her screams began to transform into merely loud exclamations of "uh..." then "huh" then "heh."

"Heh. Heh. Heh heh heh. AH-HAHAHAHA!" Minerva was laughing rapturously as she stared as her gorgeous reflection, the once none-too-comforting words of her mother going through her head as she did so; "Things change real quickly when you get to be a teenager, honey. Give it time."

Minerva was awed and delighted beyond words by what a stunningly beautiful young woman she'd transformed into in mere moments. At first, she thought it must be a dream, or a trick by one of the students, or else, just something in the food that would wear off later, but what really stunned her was that although she'd become, in seconds, beautiful beyond description, she still looked very much like her old self, facially. The cheeks and the freckles were different, but everything else about her face was the same; the same knowing expression, which had once just looked dorky, had become a depth to her eyes, which sparkled when she turned her incredibly-pretty head.

In less than five minutes, however, Minerva was coming up with ideas for what to do next.

"Sally, Jenny, Francine." The coach called out names, "You three have what it takes to be top-notch cheerleaders. I've never seen such talent, such pose, such... such... guh... Guguguh..."

The coach had fallen into near-convulsions at the impossible, radiant sight that had burst through the door just then, wearing a loose-fitting t-shirt, but no less beautiful for all that.

"Now, come on, coach." Minerva Mink said, in a voice that even sounded sweeter than before, tapping her fingers against one another, as she spoke with a half-pout on her lips, "I'm sure you have time to look at one more... routine."

"Minerva Mink purchased the convertible with money given to her as gifts from many students and teachers at school, including her... her new coach, who insisted that she perform as a cheerleader immediately, despite having no prior experience in sporting events." Trudy read softly, by the dim light of the moon, "When later asked why he was so generous, the coach was at a loss to explain, except to remark that Minerva Mink was the most beautiful student he'd ever taught."

"Statistics upon applying to cheer-leading squad... Height five six, weight one hundred eighteen pounds, fur color... Milky white with golden hair and tail. Statistics measured... 2:15 PM... No, that can't be!"

Trudy immediately flipped back to the page with the freckled Minerva, and read off the time and date when the class picture and statistic measurement had been taken. The time was 10:37 AM, but the date was exactly the same. Same day, same month, same year.

The puzzle had only grown deeper than ever as Trudy closed the yearbook and set the garbage can back up, but just then, a stray synapse in her mind picked up just the right combination of information, and connected all the facts in her mind at once. Instantly, she realized just how a person can gain a foot of height, change their fur color, lose over a hundred pounds of weight, and become irresistible to men in a matter of hours or less.

"She had the biggest collection of antique pots and jars from all different countries I've ever seen, and they always had dust all over them."

"Mother never did much cleaning..."

"She did clean house once, just the week before father left."

"Antique pots and jars from all different countries..."

"Cleaning..."

"The week before my father left..."

Trudy hissed with a sharp intake of breath, dropping the yearbook in shock at the explanation she'd just alighted upon. It was too incredible, but... there was no other explanation.

Just as quickly, more vivid images came into Trudy's mind in a flash. Images of Minerva's mother dusting off one old ceramic pot, then moving on to polishing a metal bottle with a cleaning cloth. As she did so, something happened that caused her to drop the bottle and fall to the floor in surprise. The bottle, which she'd never cleaned before, was trembling, and in a moment, it began to give off smoke from its top, which filled the room in seconds, as a deep, powerful voice like thunder echoed through the house...

"Her mother..." Trudy muttered, "Oh, Minerva. If only you knew just what a generous woman she was... At least for that moment..."

In seconds, however, Trudy headed off for home again wordlessly, and the year book lay, forgotten, in between two garbage cans, until Trudy was out of sight.

At 12:34 AM, Minerva Mink woke up again, to the sound of the wind rattling her trash cans and rushed downstairs to see if she could do anything about it. It was at that moment that she saw that one of the cans had been blown over, and some of her old junk was spilled out on the edge of the lake, including... the year book!

Minerva quickly hurried to pick it up, and opening the only empty trash can in the nearby area, she dropped the yearbook into it. Then, unwilling to take any more chances, she pulled a black, round, pre-lit, cartoon bomb from behind her back, and dropped it in the can with the yearbook. The explosion rocked her log house as she climbed back into bed, but if nothing else, she slept soundly for the rest of the night.

The End

Minerva: "Phew. I'm glad that yearbook won't be causing me any more problems, because a girl like me already has plenty. For one thing, my new boyfriend Jimmy has invited me to the movies, and although I don't really care what we're going to go see, the experience of movie-going is sure to be a welcome relief. After all, when the lights all dim, nobody can even see me, so at least the stares and distracting behavior will be kept to a minimum... won't it? Next time on Minktales, so don't miss it!"

P.S.: Yes, I added a new paragraph to the chapter. I was a little worried from the start that I was being too vague with Trudy's conclusions, and in a way, I think it looks better with the extra paragraph. I just hope people will still consider it a delicate touch with the new paragraph inserted there…