I had never been one for celebrating Halloween.  Still, I figure there's nothing morally wrong with kids wanting to go out and get candy, so I just figure people can celebrate it, and I'll just stay at home.  Since I'm a furry, though, I figured that I might as well get in character for a little bit, and at least wear my tail for the trick-or-treaters to geek out over.

The reactions were somewhat predictable.  The smaller the child, the higher the chance that their level of interest in the tail extended solely to trying to pull it.  Staying in character, I yelped a bit and hugged my tail protectively whenever this happened.  This produced a good many giggles, and some on the younger children even talking excitedly about the "man with the doggy tail!"  It's a wolf tail, but they were too young for correction to help at all.

I guess it made up for the lousy two or three pieces of candy I could afford to hand them, because few of them were too disappointed after a short performance of me wagging my tail (What can I say, I'm a natural performer).  Many people passed by like this, until about 9:00, when most people imposed curfew on the proceedings.  I'm pretty sure it was still technically legal for them to harass old people for their candy at that point, but I was a little tired anyway.

It was almost midnight, however, when another knock came to my door.  I looked at my watch; 11:47.  I wasn't sure if the kids were supposed to be out this late, but I wasn't annoying enough to begrudge them their playtime.  After all, they probably had school the next day, and could use all the candy they could get to keep the sugar rush going that long.

I opened the door, and saw a young girl, dressed up with fake black ears, a dot of paint on her nose, and lines suggesting whiskers on her cheeks.  I chuckled as I noticed the tail behind her, and gave my own tail a slight wag.

Behind her was an older woman, dressed up as a witch, likely to justify the black cat appearance of the girl.  I nodded respectfully to the woman, complimented the girl on her costume, and handed her the few token pieces of candy that I still had left.  She took the candy, but her eyes remained glued to my tail.  She turned to the older woman, and whispered into her ear as she kneeled over.

The woman laughed a little bit as the girl finished speaking, and smiled at me.
"She loves your tail, but she's too shy to tell you so," she explained to me.  I nodded and gave it another wag.

"Your tail is very nice too," I told her.  She blushed under her whiskers, and gave her own tail a very exaggerated wag.  She couldn't quite figure out how to do it without shaking her backside as well, but I smiled at her attempt anyway.

"Thank you," the woman said for her girl.  "I wish there was something I could do to show my appreciation."

I was taken aback that she thought that any such reward would be necessary; I had hardly done anything worth noting.  I smiled anyway.  "Just between you and me, I just wish this tail could be real for a while."  I acted like the girl couldn't hear me, but saw her rapt attention on me throughout.

The woman played along.  "Well, I am a witch, after all, I'm sure I could do something."  She reached her hand into a hidden pocket in her black dress, pulled something out and handed it to me.  I gave it a short glance; it was some sort of wrapped candy.  I nodded to the girl, and she smiled back at me.

"Well, good evening, thank you for giving some candy to my daughter -- I mean, my cat."  She winked, and the two of them walked away from my door and to their next house.

I walked back to my TV room and flopped back onto my couch.  The show I had been watching had ended, so it didn't distract me for long.  I opened my hand and looked at the candy I had been given.  I thought it a bit of irony that the trick-or-treaters would give me candy, but I hadn't been able to break into my own stash for fear it would run out, so I unwrapped the candy medallion and popped it into my mouth.  I always had liked chocolate medallions, so I wasn't complaining for the woman's taste.

I didn't even have time to change channels before a wave of disorientation hit me.  I shook my head to clear my head, but found my eyes crossing after I finished.  It wasn't because of confusion, though, it was to see the strange protrusion that had appeared in front of my face.

Being a furry, I didn't waste any time trying to pull it off.  I instead felt along the length of what I hoped was a muzzle.  I could feel the contact both ways, but I wasn't quite satisfied.  For further verification, I licked at my hand, and saw a much longer tongue flick out and thoroughly coat my hand in saliva.

This was the point where most movies would have had someone start screaming for it to stop or panicking in whatever way seemed best to the director at the time.  I guess I was original.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"  I ran for the nearest mirror, ands reached it just in time to watch my ears point and rise to the top of my head.  My face was completely covered in the same silver fur that I had commissioned my tail in.  I saw a streak of white fur heading down my shirt, and pulled it off so I could watch it happen.

My torso was soon covered in white fur, while gray fur covered my back.  A pair of what could only be described as black racing stripes appeared on my back (I couldn't see this, but I knew my character's design).  The fur went down into my pants, and I suddenly felt my spine twitch.  With no apparent change, my tail suddenly came to life, and I could feel the wind that passed through the fur as I wagged my tail happily.

I did this contentedly until the fur reached my feet.  At that point my tail started going even faster as my bare feet lengthened and my heels lifted up so I stood on my toes, which were increasingly looking like paws.  They got wider and thicker, then became padded on the bottom.  I performed some gymnastics to see this part, grinning all the while.  I had always wanted to know how it felt to have pads.  It was better than I could imagine, as if I was walking on air, feeling no pain or discomfort at all for it.

My hands were the last things to change, for some reason.  The fur had been steadily covering my arms since it had reached my shoulders, but had gone more slowly than the rest of my body.  They reached my hands, and my fingers became only slightly shorter, and received a slight covering of fur on the backs.  My palms and the bottoms of my fingers were covered in thin pads, but these could feel far better than the pads of my feet.  Finally, claws appeared at the ends of my fingers, and my nails popped off painlessly, leaving me completely changed into a wolf, my fursona.

I spun 360, trying to keep my eyes on the mirror around.  I was a perfect replica of my furry self, with all appropriate markings, height, and preferences.  I was even digitigrade, unlike the cheap imitations they always showed in the movies.  I was... perfect.

My form finally dawned on me, and I hurried, in such hysterics that I was giggling, to close everything up so I could head out and enjoy the last few hours of the night.  I quickly turned off all of the lights on my way, and locked the door hurriedly behind me, stuffing the key into my pocket quickly.  I then turned and looked up, seeing the moon above me.  It wasn't full, but I was too happy to care.

"AWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I could never manage a decent howl before, but this one was extraordinary.  It figured; after all, I was a wolf.  Still, I relished my newfound ability as my voice echoed between the nearby houses.  Tonight was one night few would care if they saw a werewolf outside.  I would be taking advantage of that fact as much as possible.

"Enjoying yourself?"  The familiar voice made my ears swivel to catch it, and my body turned soon after.  I was somehow not much surprised when I saw who it was.  The woman, still dressed as a witch, sat with her legs crossed on the impossibly small surface of a floating broom handle, complete with old style stiff bristles.  What was slightly surprising was the figure that occupied the other end of the broomstick.  The girl's clothing remained, but, seated in similar fashion to the witch, was an anthropomorphic black cat, very real whiskers twitching in her version of a smile as she observed my exultant canine grin.

"I am enjoying it very much," I said.  I grinned again, long tongue hanging out as I panted.  The lady chuckled at me.

"I can see I made a good choice for my gift," she said.  "Enjoy yourself tonight; I would, however, advise you to be careful on other days."

I involuntarily cocked my head inquisitively.  "You mean I'll stay this way?" I asked.

"As long as you like, but don't worry, you are able to turn back whenever you wish, or whenever life necessitates your human form," she responded.  "I would be cruel to give you only a few hours of fun, only to remove it later.  No, the change will remain until next year.  Who knows, if you use it well, I may give you another candy next year."

I barked my thanks to her, and she laughed.  "Farewell," she said.  "Have fun."  Her broom rose above the level of the nearest roof, and she swung into a sidesaddle position of the stick just before it took off through the sky.

I watched the broom and its occupants disappear into the night sky, then turned my attention back to enjoying the night.  Dropping to all fours, I used my fingerpads for their intended purpose and took off running like a feral wolf.  I felt so free with the wind in my fur, and I knew why I had secretly wished for this for so long.  Life could wait, I would enjoy myself tonight.