As the farmer took Sharon into the house, the farm cat and dog watched on with interest. Eventually, they both got up and followed the farmer indoors.
The man set Sharon down on a workbench. "You know girl, I'd swear you were actually getting heavier." It was true. Sharon had already noticed that she had started to revert back to a more human shape. Fortunately, it was late, and there wasn't a lot of light. "Maybe I'm just tired. I'll take a look at you in the morning."
The farmer picked Sharon up, and put her in a cage on the side of the bench, and went off to bed, neglecting to lock the cage.
"Thank goodness for small favors," Sharon thought as she fluttered to the cage opening and out into the room. Already, she had grown in size to make that a tight squeeze.
Sharon felt her body start to stretch and flow somewhat. Her torso and legs grew somewhat, although their texture didn't change just yet. Soon, Sharon found she could stand upright.
Sharon found a full length mirror on the other side of the room, and a desk lamp. She still had no hands, but she pecked on the light with her beak and looked at herself.
Still small for a human, Sharon was probably about three feet tall, and standing on legs that were human shaped, saved for the talons where her feet once were. The skin there was very dry and much more like a birds than Sharon would have liked.
Letting her eyes travel up her body, Sharon found she was still covered in feathers, although again she was shaped more like a human than not. An array of white feathers stuck down from the base of her spine forming a plumaed tail. Chickens not being mammals, her brests were small, but even as she watched, Sharon thought she could see them gaining mass.
Thankfully, her eyes had moved closer to the front of her head, allowing her to focus on the image in front of her, but Sharon's head was still adorned with a chicken's comb and beak, although the beak was rather small and seemed less rigid. She experimented and found that she could indeed smile, although almost imperceptibaly. Turning to the side, she found that her dark hair had started to grow back and was almost to her shoulders, and still growing. Already it was partly covering her comb at the back.
Spreading her arms out at her sides, Sharon was surprised to find that her wings had not changed at all, other than perhaps lengthening to be proportionally correct, had they been arms. There were no signs of fingers or even a vestigal thumb.
Looking around, Sharon knew that she would have to wait longer before leaving the farm. The door and windows were all closed, and without hands, she wouldn't be able to open them without drawing a lot of attention to herself. There was some sort of pet entrance at the base of the door, but Sharon had grown to big to squeeze through.
Sharon waited for a few hours, but few if any further changes took place. Standing in front of the mirror, she puzzled over it. "Why haven't I become fully human yet?" Eventually it dawned on her.
This room was were the farmer brought all his chickens to be examined. Even as she looked around, Sharon noticed all sorts of loose feathers and droppings everywhere. The large quantities of hen DNA in the air must be keeping her from fully reverting!
Absentmindedly pecking at some feed that had spilled from a bag on the floor, Sharon discovered she was ravenously hungry. Tearing open the bag with her taloned feet, she fed, until she was startled by a sound coming from outside the door.
Whirling to look outside, Sharon was shocked to see light on the horizon! "Dawn already?" Sharon thought frantically. "The farmer must be getting up to do the chores. He can't see me like this!"
Wed Mar 8 19:03:17 2000