Howard Flockhart was giddy with excitement as he stepped out of the elevator on the third floor and approached the small office that he just knew would change his life forever. He stopped at the proper door and reached out almost tentatively to grab onto the door handle and his destiny. He couldn’t help but pause a moment, taking a deep breath to prepare himself. This was the doorway to his new life, and there on the frosted glass pane of the door he was about to open stenciled in gold lettering were the words, “Meredith Hinkle, Licensed Transmologist”.

“Today is the day,” he told himself as he opened the door and stepped inside. Howard had been scrimping and saving for five years now for this procedure. He had of course tried the magic transformation booths all over the city, but those were only temporary, a day at most. If a person wanted a permanent enchantment it was expensive and the appointment had to be booked months in advance because it was such a popular service since magic became the newest trend ten years ago and practically put plastic surgeons out of business. The long wait was also supposed to give the client the time to consider if the transformation was what they truly wanted. It was permanent after all, so there would be no going back.

Howard was certain that this was what he wanted. He had always wanted to be a girl, he knew deep inside that he should have been born one. And he knew exactly what girl he wanted to be. There was only one woman in his mind that had the sheer sexiness he craved in his new body. It was practically an obsession with Howard and last weekend he had splurged on a 24-hour transformation to get to truly experience being her. In anticipation, he even had the paperwork ready to legally change his name to Daisy.

It had been glorious. The body was everything he had been hoping for. She had the legs, the body, and oozed sexiness. He had even taken the time to go shopping to get some of the clothes and essentials for when he started his new life. The transmologist had after all suggested that he bring clothes suitable for once his transformation was complete. Now he was on a two-week vacation and planned to savor his chosen form until it was time to return to work.

He approached the receptionist. “Hello, I’m Howard Flockhart, and I have a two-thirty appointment.”

“Welcome Mr. Flockhart, Dr. Hinkle will be with you in a moment. Please have a seat,” the woman replied with a smile. She looked uncannily like Alice from the Resident Evil movies, right down to her slinky red dress and black leather boots. “Try to relax, she does great work, I’ve been really happy with how she did me.”

Howard tried to ignore the possible double meaning of her last comment. She looked perfect so Howard could hardly fault Dr. Hinkle’s process. He was really looking forward to this now. By the time that the receptionist called his name and sent him into the Doctor’s office, he was a bundle of nerves and excitement.

The office looked much like that of any other doctor; a big oak desk and comfy chairs for both doctor and patient and framed certificates on the walls. The only thing out of place was the large transformation booth in one corner. Dr. Hinkle was a friendly sort, standing at about five foot two and she bore a striking resemblance to Samantha from the television show Bewitched. Howard wondered if that was on purpose or just coincidence as the transmologist gave him the low-down on how this would work. “Now Howard, as you probably know, most people have enough latent magic for a transformation booth to cast temporary enchantments or transformations. But it takes someone like myself, with a large amount of magical power to make such transformations permanent. I do mean permanent, once you go through with this there is no going back.”

“I understand Doctor, I’ve thought about it a lot and this is what I’ve always wanted,” Howard quickly confirmed with no hesitation at all.

“Alright then. That booth works just like one of the booths you’d find out on the street, only I will be channeling my power into it rather than it taking the magical energy from you. You have used such booths before, correct?” Dr. Hinkle asked, just to be certain.

“Yes I have,” Howard confirmed. The booths had a massive archive of various celebrities, mythical creatures, and just about anything else that a person might want to turn into. All you had to do was type the name into the keyboard and then step into the booth. If one wasn’t picky about exact looks, they could just type female, centaur, or something else and it would make them look as they would if they had been born that way.

“Well then, let us begin. I’ll just get you to strip down to your underwear, type in what you want, and then step into the booth and I’ll provide the power,” the transmologist said with a reassuring smile as she wiggled her nose.

Howard quickly followed her instruction, his hands were shaking with excitement as he rapidly typed the name of his dream form into the keypad. Without another glance, he took a deep breath and stepped into the booth.

It was dark for a moment and then a pink mist billowed into the booth and encompassed Howard. He could feel the changes begin as a warmth spread through his body and his unwanted male features flowed into something else entirely. The feeling was enough to make his heart take flight. When it was done Howard had the strangest feeling that something was wrong. Yes, something had definitely gone south.

Where was that long brown hair that she had been expecting? The doorknob was higher than she thought it should be too, and her nose looked huge and orange. She looked down, hoping to find that perfect tanned body and those long glorious legs but instead, she found herself covered in white feathers and her legs were kind of short and orange, ending in delicate-looking webbed feet. She suddenly had the terrifying feeling that her goose was well and truly cooked.

To say that her feathers were ruffled would be an understatement. As she ducked out of the booth she was furious and suspected that there must be some sort of fowl play involved. Dr. Hinkle seemed very surprised as Howard came out of the booth. “That was the form of your dreams. Miss Flockhart? A little odd, but it takes all kinds I guess. That’s a bit of an extreme transformation, but I’m sure that you’ll take to it like a duck to water.”

“This wasn’t what I wanted at all, you quack! I wanted to be Daisy Duke!” Howard shouted in a shrill tone.

Dr. Hinkle placed her hands on her hips and glared down at Howard, it was pretty intimidating since the transmologist was not only a good foot taller than her now but also a powerful magic-user. “I can understand you being upset, but I just provide the magic. If it’s a problem with the form, that is your fault.”

“Now look here, I’m quite sure that I know what it was I wanted,” Howard said in a huff as she went to the screen in front of the keyboard to prove herself right. “See, it says right here, “Daisy… Duck?”

Poor Howard-now-Daisy had never felt so bird-brained in all of her life. Dr. Hinkle was very understanding and while she couldn’t undo the transformation, she only kept the deposit for the procedure and didn't take the remainder of her fee. She even gave Daisy the address and contact information for a support group for victims of unfortunate transformations. As she despondently waddled out of the office in the ill-fitting cut-off shorts and top she thought about attending the support group for people like her. After all, birds of a feather…