.......... "Apparently she changed just your body and not your mind." Commented Linda. "The mental connections to use the muscles must be there, but you'll just have to think about using them until it becomes automatic."

.......... I was amazed at the strength that I seemed to have in the tail. I mentioned how strong it felt.

.......... "Moving through water takes a lot more energy than moving through air." said Samantha. "Water is a lot denser than air."

.......... "That's right." said Linda. "You are constructed now for swimming, not walking." She thought for a second and then mused, "Water, Hmmm......., I wonder if you can breathe underwater now?"

.......... "That's ridiculous." said Samantha. "Terry's not going swimming now and this is not getting us anywhere. We need to figure out how to find that woman and her kid and get them to change him back. I have to go to work tomorrow, and Terry has to be able to find a job soon."

.......... "I'm sorry, Sam." said Linda. "I'm just fascinated by the physical change in Terry." She began to examine my tail again and then said, "I'd love to see an X-ray of that tail, but judging by the appearance of Terry's, the pelvic structure appears to be almost human. The leg bones, at least in the upper leg seem to have changed into some kind of flexible structure. Almost like your backbone would be, but more flexible. Kind of like the tail of a snake, except that there appears to be two of them. One in each thigh area." She felt along my tail and said, "Here, a little below where the knees used to be, they seem to fuse into one. That one, then continues down to and connects with the fin at the end of the tail. Like I said, I've studied and know a bit about anatomy, but I don't think nature would construct something like this. But then, nature didn't do this, witchcraft apparently did."

.......... "All the more reason we have to find that woman." said Samantha. "I wish I'd never seen that kid. If it hadn't been for that stupid doll, this would never have happened."

.......... "It's a good thing you ducked," I said to Samantha, "Or this would be you sitting here, being poked and prodded."

.......... "I almost wish I hadn't." Samantha said, with a sigh. "Doing that to me would have been bad enough, but, how can you stand it? I mean, you've got breasts, and you look like something out of a teenage boys wet dream. Doesn't it bother you to look like that?"

.......... "Well it's not something I would have picked out for myself." I said. "But to be honest with you, seeing as how it's only temporary, it's really kind of interesting. I mean how many men get to see what it feels like to have breasts?" They both stared at my chest. I couldn't help myself and began to touch and feel them, as well as the rest of the body.

.......... Samantha said, "Well, to be honest too, just at looking at those, I'd rather not have the competition." She just shook her head. Linda, however, was giving me a very strange look, with a little smile on her lips. "Could you stop doing that, Terry?" Samantha asked. "It seems almost obscene."

.......... "Sorry," I replied, "It's just that the sensations are so different and new. I can't believe how sensitive the nipples are." Samantha seemed embarrassed and looked away. I stopped feeling my chest and began to feel the muscles of my tail again.

.......... "And, how do you know it's only temporary?" Asked Samantha, sounding really nervous. "Even If we do find that girl and her mother, what if they can't, or, won't change you back? What then?"

.......... "I'll bet the mother doesn't even know her daughter did this." Said Linda. "She never stopped the car or even looked back. I tried to see what kind of car it was as it drove off, but I don't know cars that well. I did see her driving though, and she never looked around. All I know is it was a blue car."

.......... "We'll find her, somehow." I said. "Maybe they go there to eat all the time?"

.......... I wriggled myself back to center of the bed, pulled my tail up and under me, as if I were kneeling. I was getting a little more coordinated in moving my lower half around. With the help of my tail fins, I balanced myself up on my tail so that I was more upright. I could turn my torso around and get a better look at myself.

.......... I examined myself in the mirror above the dresser. Samantha and Linda both watched. Linda looked to be fascinated. Samantha, while not acting as upset and horrified as she had before, obviously did not like what she saw. From the waist up, I was an extremely attractive woman with long hair. The resemblance to the doll was there, but the likeness was not exact. My breasts were not quite as large and prominent as they were on the doll. They had more of a true human appearance. My waist was not quite as small as it would have been had I been an exact duplicate of the doll. From the waist down, I was pure mermaid. The waist flared out into attractive hips. The light on my scales caused them to sparkle and the color changed from silvery-blue to silvery-green depending on how the light hit them.

.......... I turned my torso around and examined my backside in the mirror. My butt was well shaped and full, but not too large. The curve of the cheeks was quite feminine. The bifurcation of the cheeks was gone. My butt was as smooth and scale covered as my groin area. I rubbed and felt my bottom with my hands and discovered a small slit concealed by the scales. "This must be my rectum," I thought. Linda must have guessed what I was searching for, and said, "Well, at least you'll be using the bathroom in the normal manner."

.......... I touched and felt as much of my body as I could. Maybe I should have been more embarrassed to be examining myself in front of the girls, but I couldn't help myself. This was something absolutely new, and, for the moment, fascinating.

.......... The shock of waking up like this and then the urgent desire to examine my new anatomy had caused me to ignore more mundane things. Last night, before the change, I had consumed a large soft-drink with my dinner. That fluid was still in there somewhere and was now making it's presence known. I began to feel the need to urinate. As with other things about my new body, the sensation of a full bladder was both familiar and new. I was puzzled as to exactly how I was now supposed to empty it. I looked in the mirror at both my front and backsides. Samantha noticed that I seemed to be looking for something and asked, "Is something wrong, Terry? You really look confused about something."

.......... "Yeah, I am." I said. "I've got to take a leak, and I'm not sure exactly how to go about it." The feeling of a need to urinate was more generalized than before and not as concentrated in one area. "Maybe I should get to the bathroom and try and figure this out, can you two give me a hand?"

.......... I sat back down and wriggled around again until I was sitting on the edge of the bed. It was beginning to dawn on me that this body was not designed to move around on dry land and that maybe things were going to be more difficult than I thought.

.......... Samantha and Linda stood on either side of me, but then seemed at a loss what to do. "Do you want us to try and carry you?" asked Samantha.

.......... "I'm not sure I'm that strong." commented Linda. "Do you think you can kind of "stand up" on that tail, Terry? Maybe that will work?"

.......... I positioned the tail fin as flat as I could on the floor, with it spread out if front of me. I pushed myself up of the bed with my arms and straightened out what should have been my knees, but was now the middle of my tail. The girls held me up by my arms and tried to balance me as I swayed around.

.......... "Now what?" asked Samantha. "Can you hop or something like that?"

.......... "I don't think this is going to work." I said. "The damn thing is not designed for this, and it kind of hurts to try and stand on the fin like this. Let me sit back down on the bed."

.......... I did, and then said, "Well, I think this is the only thing that's going to work, here." I slid down onto the floor, sitting on my backside. I then twisted myself around so that my back was to the bathroom. I put my hands on the floor, on either side of my hips, and lifted myself up and scooted backwards. I could manage to move about a foot each time I did this and slowly made my way to the bathroom. Moving along like this, I could feel my breasts gently bobbing up and down. That was going to take some getting used to. The shiny, smooth surface of the scales on my tail made sliding it along the floor easier. I backed myself through the open door and back up to the toilet. "If I can't do this myself, I may need some help here." I said.

.......... I succeeded, with some effort. I again twisted around and positioned my tail under me as if I were kneeling down, sideways in front of the toilet. I lifted myself up with my tail and grabbing the edge of the vanity next to the toilet, pulled myself up again to almost a standing position. The fin was not meant for this and it was kind of painful. Holding on to the vanity, I began to sit down. "Wait!" Said Linda. "The seat's not down. I'll get it for you."

.......... She rushed over and lowered the seat. "Thanks!" I said. "I'm going to have to remember that."

.......... "Maybe this will teach you to remember to put it down for me." Said Samantha. "You men never remember to do that."

.......... I sat and then thought out loud, "Now what? If it comes out in front, this is going to be pretty messy. Do you have a towel, Linda?"

.......... Just then, the body must have figured out what to do. I unconsciously relaxed the bladder muscles and felt a stream of liquid coming out of my backside, splashing into the toilet. With a very surprised look on my face, I exclaimed, "What an odd sensation! Well, I guess that's gonna make it a little easier. I do both one and two sitting down, and they both come out the same end."

.......... It took longer than it used to, before the change, for me to empty the bladder. When I finished, at last, I started to lift myself off the toilet to drag myself back to the bed. "Don't forget to wipe." Said Samantha.

.......... "This could get to be a real pain." I muttered as I rolled off some toilet paper, wadded it up, leaned forward, and reached under myself to wipe. Then it was off the commode and another session of dragging my tail along the floor back to the bed. Again, I was very conscious of breasts moving on my chest. Samantha and Linda helped me to sit back on the edge of the bed.

.......... "This is tough." I said. "These arms just aren't made for this, no muscle."

.......... "We're going to have to get you a wheel chair." Said Linda. "It's a good thing that house you bought is a ranch style, no stairs."

.......... I started to protest that I wasn't handicapped, but then realized she was right. I may not have been handicapped in the way you usually thought of, but, I had to have some kind of mobility. "We're going to have to find that woman and her kid as soon as we can, I want my legs back!"

.......... "Among other things, I hope." Said Samantha, softly. I caught her meaning, and looked down at my lap.

.......... Just then, there was a knock at the bedroom door. Bob called out, "I'm back. Linda, Terry, Sam, are you in there, can I come in.?"

.......... I started to say okay, but Linda exclaimed, "NO, Bob, wait a minute, I'll be right out!"

.......... Samantha said, "You've got to put something on Terry, you're naked!"

.......... "Oh, yeah, I forgot." I said. "But it's only Bob. We're buddies."

.......... Linda looked at me and said, "I don't know what all is involved in that spell the girl put on you, but that mermaid body seems to have quite an effect on the human male. Last night after Bob carried you in here and we undressed you, it was all we could do to get him out of the room and leave you two alone." With a wry smile on her face she said, "Just looking at you had quite an aphrodisiac effect on Bob. I don't know how your body did it, but it took me literally half the night to get him calmed down, if you know what I mean!"

.......... Linda crossed to the door, and just before she went out, she said, "there's some of Bob's shirts and stuff in the dresser. I don't think any of my stuff would fit that chest of yours. I'd cover up the tail, too. Those scales and fins are quite a sight."

.......... I didn't know what to say. Samantha went to the dresser and opened some drawers. "When we get back home, I can give you something of mine. We're pretty close to the same size now, you're maybe just a little bigger." She handed me a gray sweatshirt of Bob's. I just sat for a minute and looked down at my breasts.

.......... "I don't want to wear women's clothes!" I said. "This is embarrassing, I never would have thought I'd have that kind of effect on another man."

.......... "You're not a man, now." Said Linda. "Until we can find that woman and her kid, you are going to have a lot to learn."

.......... I pulled the sweatshirt on. The sleeves were too long and the fit was kind of baggy, but I figured that was a good thing for now. Samantha helped me pull the long hair out of the neck of the sweatshirt. I pulled myself up into the bed and Samantha help me pull the covers up over my tail. I sat at the head of the bed leaning back against the headboard with a pillow behind me.

.......... Samantha said, "I'll go help Linda with something to eat. I need some coffee." "Are you hungry?" She asked.

.......... "Yeah, I could go for some coffee and something to eat." I said.

.......... Samantha left and closed the door. I began to think. "What a mess this is. I can't move around much without help. There's no way I can find a job now, much less even leave the house. What am I gonna do?"

.......... As I sat getting more and more depressed, there was a knock on the door and Bob asked, "Are you decent, can I come in?"

.......... "Yeah, come on in." I replied.

.......... Bob opened the door, stuck his head in, and looked at me, and then down at the bed where my tail was covered up. "Come on in, Bob,." I said, "Don't be embarrassed. Besides, I need somebody to talk to."

.......... He came in and stood nervously at the side of the bed. "Oh, sit down," I said, "I'm not gonna bite."

.......... "Are you okay?" He asked as he sat. "I mean, there's no pain or anything?"

.......... "No, I'm fine." I said, sounding more confident than I felt.

.......... We both kind of just sat there, embarrassed and nervous. "Jeez, I haven't felt this nervous since my first date with Linda." He finally said.

.......... That kind of broke the ice and I said, "Linda mentioned that I had quite an effect on you last night."

.......... Bob first turned red and looked down. Then he said, "She told you about that?"

.......... I laughed and said, "Hey, don't be embarrassed. I'd probably have felt the same way if she had changed you instead of me."

.......... He grinned at me, and, looking to make sure the door was shut, said, "I just gotta ask. What's it feel like, what do they feel like?" He indicated my chest.

.......... "It's kind of wild." I said. "I don't know if I can begin to describe it. You sure it won't bother you if I try?"

.......... "Do your worst." He said with a grin.

.......... I went through the story of my waking up and then the self-exam. I tried to tell him how sensitive parts of the new anatomy were, and then the problems of going to the bathroom. "You mean it comes out your butt now, wow, that's different. And you said it almost felt like you had a hard-on, but nothing shows?" He asked. He just shook his head and looked at my covered tail.

.......... "Maybe I'll let you have a closer look, if you promise to behave yourself, but not just now, okay? I've got a lot to worry about right now." I said.

.......... We continued to talk and both relaxed quite a bit. Then we got into more serious matters. How was I going to live until we could find the woman and girl, and, more importantly, HOW to find them.

.......... Linda stuck her head in the door and asked, "You two okay in here."

.......... "We're fine." I answered. "You got coffee and food there?" I could smell the coffee.

.......... Samantha and Linda brought breakfast in on trays. Scrambled eggs, toast with jelly, and coffee. Linda brought a bed tray in that she was able to set over me on the bed so I could eat. We ate off of the trays, all sitting on the bed. I had a hell of a time trying to keep the long hair out of my face and food. Unless I kept my head up, the hair would work it's way around my shoulders and get in the way. I was ready to cut it off right there. Linda and Samantha helped by somehow coiling it up and fastening it up at the back of my neck with something Linda got out of the bathroom. "Now I know why you cut your hair short." I told Samantha.

.......... "I liked it long." She said, "It wasn't a problem to take care of, it was just that short hair seemed to present a more professional appearance, especially when I was job hunting."

.......... "We'll help you with it." Said Linda. "I can show you a few tricks on how to keep it under control."