“Fertility Express”

                               

                       By Rudolph Strang

                               

                               

  Both Josh and Catherine Kinsee were a little tired.  Perhaps they were more than

a little tired and it wasn’t just physical fatigue, but was emotional fatigue.  Josh,

an ebony mephitian and Catherine, a badgerian had been married for over ten

years.  For the last five of them they had been doing everything possible to get

Catherine pregnant and even with the best medical help available, were still

childless.  It was putting a strain on their relationship, although that was more a

result from their parents on both sides of the family pressuring them.  Neither of

them intended to break up however.  If it came down to it, they would adopt.  They

simply loved each other too much for anything else.

 

  It was late, approaching 11PM as Josh drove the old early-seventies station wagon

they rode in through drizzling rain along a South Carolina county road.  The station

wagon had been an intentional purchase due to both childhood sentiment and urban

lore.  The car was huge, almost 19 feet long and certainly didn’t fit well in the 21st

century parking spaces at the mall.  A metallic olive-green, with faux wood paneling

along the length of the doors and fenders, the massive land yacht had five doors

and three bench seats, the last of which folded up in the cargo area in the back.

Under the hood a monstrous V-8 engine purred away, effortlessly hauling the

three-ton behemoth through the cold rain.  Although it wasn’t as responsive as

smaller modern cars by a good deal, even SUV’s couldn’t match it’s armor.  Josh

squirmed a little in the seat, the naugahide squeaking a little as he moved. 

 

  Naugahide seat covers was one of the reasons, although in hindsight was one of

the sillier reasons he and Catherine had bought the car.  According to urban legend,

there were gaseous chemicals exuded in small amounts from naugahide seats that

had the ability to raise the chances of getting pregnant when having sex in a car.

Certainly many babies had been made in the backseats of cars, so by statistics was

supposedly true.  It hadn’t helped Catherine to get pregnant but the two of them

were at the point that they’d almost try anything, like driving down a lonely road in

the middle of the night for a solution to their problem.

 

  Josh had been looking along the road for a sign for a while, wondering if he’d

taken a wrong turn.  At the same moment he decided to turn back to the last gas

station and ask for directions, he saw the sign heave into view at the entrance

drive of a motel. 

 

                       FERTILITY EXPRESS

                               

                   Immediate results for all

                   your childbearing problems

                               

                    Maternity wear available

                                

 

  Snorting at the sign, Josh drove off the road and onto a gravel drive in front of

what looked like any normal tourist trap motel.  There were only a few cars parked

in front of the rooms from what he could see, stopping in front of a separate

building with “office” posted in front.  Picking up an envelope from the seat, Josh

nudged Catherine on the shoulder to wake her as she’d been asleep the last hour.

She looked at him sleepily as he brushed her dark headfur back softly and gave

her a kiss which woke her up a little better and made her smile.

 

  “We’re here, honey.”  Josh turned off the ‘wagon’s engine and lights, exiting the

car to slam the door shut and come around quickly to grab his wife, who dashed off

with him through the rain and into the office door.

 

  A bell tinkled mutely as the door closed, the couple finding

themselves in a cozy, well-lit office that would easily pass for the lobby of an

independent mom-and-pop motel.  Two of the walls had a couch and padded lounge

chairs, with oak end-tables upon which Tiki-style lamps lit the room.  At one wall

was an old soda machine which hummed quietly to itself.

 

  “Ahem.”  The couple had been so momentarily distracted by the office that they

had failed to notice a small, inconspicuous spaniel canidian sitting behind the wood

paneled desk opposite from them, his hands folded neatly over a ledger on the

counter-top.  “I see you brought the letter.  Can you bring it here so I may see it?”

The canidian’s accent was odd, as if it was European but was difficult to tell from

which country.  It certainly wasn’t from North Carolina.  He took the proffered

letter from Josh and looked over it for a minute, his brown eyes darting to and fro

as he alternately looked at entries in the ledger, stopping after turning a few

pages.  “Hm, you are Josh and Catherine Kinsee?”  The couple nodded together.

“Excellent.  Just the people we have been waiting for.  Please sign in on the ledger,

I will need a credit card from you as well.  You have not only the temple fee, but

past membership dues as well.”

 

  “Pardon me?  Temple fee?  Membership dues?  What in the world are you talking

about?  I thought this was a clinic.  Isn’t this a clinic?”  Catherine felt the fur

going up on the back of her neck a little.  She didn’t like the idea that she and Josh

had driven for hours to find some quackery barn or mumbo-jumbo cult making

promises they couldn’t keep.

 

  “No, this isn’t a clinic.  It’s been a motel, but is now a temple complex.  Didn’t you

read the letter thoroughly?  Everything’s explained on page two.”  The spaniel

backed up a little at the ire he saw in the badgerian woman’s eyes, knowing that

woman or not she could rip his face off if righteously annoyed.

 

  “Uhm, there wasn’t a page two.”  Josh had come up behind Catherine and put his

arms about her, not so much as an expression of affection, but to be ready should

she get angrier.  He knew better.

 

  Looking back into the envelope and finding nothing else, the canidian looked at the

lone page in his hand and then face-palmed.

 

  “I must offer my humblest apologies,” said the poor spaniel, as he looked at his

two customers with genuine contrition.  “It is a problem with our printer, the pages

are sometimes left out-“ He went into a door behind the desk, with rummaging

noises ensuing.  After a minute, the embarrassed little man emerged, holding a

sheet of paper which he handed to the couple.  “Please read this.”

 

  A few moments passed as the couple read the page, at first having skeptical looks

on their faces, smiles and then, something that looked a little like surprise.  In

unison, they turned their faces towards the canidian with expressions he only knew

too well, which made him sigh.  He reached over to a pegboard which held several

keys upon it and took one off, offering it to them over the counter.

 

  “I understand your skepticism.  Please take this as an offering to find out for

yourselves that we are genuine.  If you are not satisfied come morning, there will

be no charge.  I will not even ask you to sign in or provide a credit card number, you

at least deserve a place to stay for tonight.”  Josh took the key, after which the

canidian disappeared through the door behind the desk without a word.  After

looking at the key for a moment, they shrugged and went outside to park the car in

front of their room.

 

                             *****

                               

                               

  “Well, this doesn’t look any different than any other roadside motel, other than

that this one seems stuck about thirty years in the past.”  Catherine was fairly

much correct in her observations.  Brown shag carpet covered the floor of the

single room, which reflected the decor they had seen in the motel lobby.  The

middle of the room was dominated by an imposing king-sized bed, with a television

set on a stand in the far corner and a chair and dresser in the other.  There was a

kitchenette, a small refrigerator with some ice, sodas and a coffee-maker.  Poking

her head into the bathroom, Catherine was satisfied that the place was at least

clean, if not outdated.  Josh sat on a side of the bed and she joined him.

 

  The two sat there for a few moments, not saying much at all but just looking at

the room and each other before finally turning in unison to look at a point in the

room both of them had an interest in.  Since she was closer, Catherine reached out

and opened a drawer in the night-stand to the left of her and pulled it open.

Inside was a small velvet pillow, two golden medallions resting upon it.  Picking them

up, she looked at the both of them for a few seconds, then handed one of them to

Josh.  They giggled and snickered together as they looked closer at them.  The

medallions had little figures on them, one male, one female. the features being the

source of the mirth.

 

  “I do not think I have ever seen balls this big,” snorted Josh as he showed his

medallion to his chortling wife.

 

  “Hmph!  Take a look at her!”  Catherine’s eyes teared-up with mirth as they looked

closer at her medallion and laughed.

 

  “We are glad that you are at last finding some humor in your situation.”

 

  The voice, or rather what seemed like a combination of voices, one male and the

other female, warbling in and out of various octaves came out of nowhere.  It was

actually like many voices, but in chorus and hard to put to where the source was.

Both Catherine and Josh stiffened and sat up straight, looking around for a source

of the voices.

 

  “You will not find any physically detectable source of our communication,” said the

voices in its changing sing-song.  “It has been a long time in finding you.  You have

no idea how pleased we are that you have found each other.  There are so many

hurdles we and our chosen have to cross, and our competitors have no qualms about

throwing more in our way.”

 

  “Competitors?  Who are you?  What are your names?  What proof do you have

that what we want you can deliver?”  Josh was getting angry, although he was slow

to such in comparison with his wife.  He did not like being toyed with, and

suspected that the whole arrangement was an elaborate joke, his tail frizzing out

with his emotions.

 

  “There is no reason to become angry, we do not wish to upset you.”  The voices

seemed soothing and conciliatory, like a narcotic buzz arising in Josh’s mind.  While

he sat and listened, he and Catherine began to feel a comfort they hadn’t felt in a

long time, as if they’d just come home on a holiday.  “Our competitors are the

others who will not answer your prayers.  Who we are is you, we are every couple of

the chosen, but now we are Joshua and Catherine Kinsee.  Whatever proof you

need lies in those medallions.  You know what you need to do with them.”  When

Catherine and Josh paused, the voices prodded them on: “Do not be embarrassed,

we know what you have and always will.”  Josh and Catherine looked at each other

for a few moments and then began to undress slowly, their eyes searching points

around the room for hidden cameras or microphones.

 

  Josh always had an appreciation for his wife’s body.  Catherine wasn’t slender or

slinky, but was robust and curvy, her stocky badgerian heritage showing.  Catherine

felt the same about her husband, who was built a bit more slender than a

badgerian male, but had magnificent black and white fur, the kind she wanted some

of her children to be born with.  As per the instructions they had read, the both

of them each placed the medallions in the left palm, the male in Josh’s left and the

female in Catherine’s.  Coming together they clasped hands in an embrace to kiss.

 

  What happened next could best be described as a silent explosion, a white flash

that burst between them causing them both to fly apart from one another,

momentarily blinded.  Catherine landed upon the bed which squeaked noisily and

Josh fell on the floor ass-first with a dull thud.  An oddly heavy dull thud.  It took

a few moments, but both of them began to realize that something had changed.

 

  As her vision began to clear, Catherine sat up on the bed to try to look around the

room and was instantly aware that her body felt different, largely different.  As

she looked down at herself, she could see why.

 

  “Holy shit!”  It wasn’t her voice, but was instead Josh’s, who was still sitting on

the floor making some observations about himself.  When Catherine looked over at

him, her eyes widened a good amount and her eyebrows went up.  When Josh

looked up from his own discovery and saw what had happened to Catherine, he did

much the same.

 

  While Catherine still looked like herself, her physical proportions had changed.

To start with, her bust had increased from a 36C to what she could best estimate

to be a 46D and had difficulty getting her fingertips to meet while cupping a

breast with both hands.  Sliding off the bed, she walked over to face the mirror

over the dresser and took a look at herself, her jaw dropping open.  Not only was

she suddenly well-endowed in the boob department, but her hips had widened, she

was almost a head taller than she had been before, and her body had a heavier,

toned build as if she had been a fitness enthusiast all her life.  She looked behind

her as a dark-furred form joined her in the mirror.

 

  The changes that happened to Josh were  more dramatic than Catherine’s

because his more slender build had transformed into something very different.

While he was still the same as Catherine had remained the same, he now towered a

good foot over her and his build had widened such that his shoulders would brush a

door-frame.  His entire body was thick and ropy with a highly developed and

defined musculature that made his fur bulge and shift as he turned and moved in

front of the mirror.  What was even more surprising was hanging between his legs.

 

  “I think we have your attention now.”  The voices seemed to come from inside

their minds rather than from everywhere in the room.  “You are us now, our

manifestation in this physical world.  If you both look at your palms where you held

the medallions you will see our mark.”  As the pair did so, they could see circular

scars the same shape and size of the medallions, patterned with the pictures those

medallions had shown.  “Nobody but yourselves or other active chosen can see

these markings,” the voices spoke.  “This is our blessing, our promise of protection,

our promise of good health and fortune, our promise of happiness.  Take it and

celebrate it.  Take it and give the blessing to your children.”

 

  Catherine didn’t need any prodding to understand it was their cue to get down to

business.  Taking Josh by the hand, she pulled him away from the mirror where he

was obviously fixated by a certain change of his and pushed him onto the bed.  She

then moved atop him, straddling over his legs as she addressed the growing

monstrosity rising from his groin.  If it hadn’t been real, Catherine would have

laughed at the thick, summer sausage-like phallus rising and stiffening, the veins

pulsing against its skin in time to Josh’s increasing heart-rate.  When she touched

it, she could feel it throb with a heat she’d never felt from Josh before.  His sac

was another thing that really had her attention.  Without a doubt, Catherine was

sure that any medical examiner would consider Josh’s balls to be a major deviation

from the norm, perhaps even freakish by society standards.  Fascinated, she

cupped his peach-sized testicles and hefted them in her palms, wondering what

new capacities her husband was endowed with.

 

  “Uhm, honey?”  Catherine looked up to see her husband peering at her with a

pensive look on his face.  “I’m just as interested in what’s new, but I think if you

play with those too much, I’m just gonna pop.”

 

  “Oh, no you don’t,” growled Catherine huskily as she stood on her knees and poised

over Josh’s shaft, just clearing it high enough so that it was nudging firmly against

the swollen lips of her sex.  It almost seemed as if it was nosing her, champing at

the bit to drive in and fill her.  “The only fireworks you’re going to be shooting off

will all be indoors, if you get my drift.  Criminy, I hope it fits.”  Settling down

slowly, she felt her lips part over his glans, continuing to widen past the point

where she was sure she would be too small, but was surprised at the results.  As if

she was tailored to fit the swollen girth, she accommodated his pulsing phallus as it

slid all the way into her, feeling his bulbous sac press against her backside.

Clutching her hands over her tummy, she realized that he was actually seated at

the door to her womb.  She took a deep breath, and began to move atop him.

 

  The room seemed to twist and turn as their bodies collided, Catherine rising

slowly and falling, her body shuddering with each impact upon the hilt of her

husband’s shaft.  Moments seemed as minutes and minutes as hours, as Josh

grabbed his wife by the hips helping to lift and pull, feeling his glans prod at her

womb, his sac rising and growing tight.  Moisture condensation gathered upon the

windowpanes, mimicking the rain that still fell heavily outside.  The lights in the

room flickered momentarily and then went out as a bolt of lightning outside

crashed and illuminated the room in a titanium flash as they both suddenly came  to

orgasm.

 

  Josh arched his back as he ejaculated explosively into Catherine, splashing his

thick seed into her as she romped atop him, her sex clutching at his shaft as his

swollen glans pistoned more seed into her.  The lightning crashed and lit the room

about them, almost in time to their frenzied rutting, then abruptly stopped.  All

was darkness and silent except for the couple’s gasping as they slowed and caught

their breath, Catherine rolling off to lay along side her husband.  In a few

moments, the lights went back on.  They lay together for a time before either of

them spoke, still awash in bliss from the raw intensity of the act they had just

completed.

 

  “Honey?”  Catherine licked Josh’s nose as she looked into his eyes softly and took

his hand into hers, placing it upon her belly.  Josh sat up and looked at her, feeling

something odd by touching her.  “I think we really did it this time,” Catherine

breathed into his ear.  “I can feel it inside me, the empty pit that was always in me

feels full now.”

 

  Keeping his hand on Catherine’s belly, Josh angled himself up on an elbow to get a

better look at her tummy which he still had his hand on.  He wasn’t sure if it was

the difference in her proportions from the change, but her belly did have a slightly

convex appearance to it.  Whatever it was, he knew as she did.  With a tear running

down his cheek, he looked at the ceiling gratefully.

 

  “Thank you.  I’ll never doubt you again.”

 

  “Neither will I,” said Catherine, joining in chorus.

 

  “We are grateful for your faith,” sang the voices in their heads.  “The only thing

we wish, is that you enjoy our blessings and have happy lives, but for now it is time

for the quickening.  It would be a good idea for you to lay back and relax,

Catherine.  What we are about to do will at first seem a bit frightening, but should

be quite wondrous to you in a moment.”  Catherine complied, laying down upon the

bed, resting her head on pillows Josh tucked underneath her as they both

watched, wondering what was going to happen.  They weren’t disappointed with a

long wait.

 

  Catherine took in a breath as she felt her body tingle, like she was in a warm

effervescent bath.  As she and Josh looked with anticipation at her already

slightly risen tummy, they saw it begin to fill, at first pushing up and accentuating

the bulge over her pubic fur, then progressing to cause her navel to ride upon the

crest of her belly’s curve as it rose.  At the same time, the swell pushed out

towards her hips, widening and pulling her skin taut as her stomach burgeoned

upwards.  Her belly-button stretched wide and then popped out as the arc of her

mid-section climbed higher and higher.  As abruptly as it began, it stopped.

Breathing heavily, Catherine cradled her stomach with her arms, now looking to be

a very near full-term pregnancy.

 

  “How do you feel, honey?”  Josh was saucer-eyed at what had happened to

Catherine, and was now able to feel the movement of a small shape within her belly

through his palms.

 

  “THAT,” Catherine gasped, “was the biggest rush of my life.  You know that

fantasy I’ve had, the one where the fertility drugs give me a multiple ovulation and

I have fraternal twins?  It’s even better than that!”

 

  “Granted.”

 

  Catherine’s eyes widened as she made a little “o” with her lips and her husband

got a pinched look on his face at the acknowledgment of their astral benefactors,

which immediately made itself present.  As before, her belly began to rise, but not

as much as it widened.  A definition line formed, crossing from her sternum over

her navel, following the sharp curve down to her pubic fur  like lobes to each side,

accentuating the fact that she now carried two young within her.  Her abdomen

soon hung over her hips, and crowded her upper thighs before her growth stopped

again.

 

  “Uhm, I think I’m done with this for now.”  Catherine ran her palms over her now

doubly tight tummy, feeling the churning of two little ones within.

 

  “Damn,” muttered Josh as he poked at his wife’s taut belly.  “If I tossed a

quarter on that, I bet it would bounce back five yards.”  The both of them broke

into laughter then quieted as they looked to the ceiling.  “So what do we owe you

for this?  How can we repay you?”

 

  “Nothing more than to be what you already are, amongst the chosen,” came the

voices again.  “Would you like us to explain what we are?”  Catherine and Josh

nodded enthusiastically, now very curious about their invisible benefactors.

 

  “We are the oldest of the gods and goddesses of your world.  In the beginning of

time as male and female first came together to have children, we were there to

bless them, to help them increase their numbers in a primitive and hostile time. As

more numbers filled the world, new minds with new ideas and needs called out to

other gods and goddesses, amongst them was Gaea.  She had her own agenda, she

had her own rules.  Many followed those rules, her harsh requirements rewarding

strength and cunning with success supplanting our own more forgiving ones.  As

your intellect grew and technology advanced, you eventually forsook her and took

to more intellectual and ethereal deities, who are more interested in power.  The

ones who are the most popular today, are the most ineffectual.  They are also the

most unforgiving, because they owe nothing to you and enjoy dangling you on a

string for their own amusement.  They cause the world the most pain.  It is just a

game to them.”  The voices sounded a bit despondent, causing Josh and Catherine

worry and sympathy.

 

  “What can we do?”  The couple knew that in all their lives, their beliefs had never

rewarded them as they did now.

 

  “Hold your beliefs in us.  Find others of the chosen.  We select and guide you to

lead positive lives, to improve your community, your societies and to be more

tolerant of others.  Our children are the peacemakers, the creators, the dreamers

and wanderers that look for adventure in life.  We look to join all hands in one

common goal, to understand our differences without trying to capitalize on the will

of our people. We want you, our chosen, to take your destinies.  Someday, when

there are enough of us we can rid the world of the tyranny and judgmental avarice

of the popular gods and you will all be free.  Please rest now.  Tomorrow we will

speak to you more and give more guidance as to what your future may hold.”

 

  With that the silent buzz in Josh and Catherine’s heads fell silent, although they

could still feel what would always be an unmistakable presence.  The lights went out

in the room and the couple came together, centered around Catherine’s belly.  As

Josh nuzzled her, Catherine squirmed and sat up.

 

  “Can you turn the lights back on, Josh?”

 

  “Sure.  Is something wrong?”  Worried that his wife had discovered another

“development” of their situation, he was concerned and hopped out of bed to

fumble at the switch on the wall.  When the lights came back on, he looked at his

wife quizzically as she left the bed and walked to the bathroom.  Turning around as

she reached the door, she looked back at him and ran her hands over her gloriously

fecund middle.

 

  “Those stories about the uterus pressing on the bladder are true.  I have to pee.”

She went into the bathroom and closed the door, leaving Josh with another

pinched expression on his face.  It was the beginning of many perplexing things she

would do as an expectant mother.  Josh would soon gain interesting stories to

share with other perplexed husbands.

 

 

 

                           **********

                               

  The next morning, Catherine and Josh awoke, once again finding themselves

different, but the change was back to what they had been before.  The only

difference, was that Catherine was still pregnant with twins.  After using the room

telephone, they ordered some maternity wear from the office which arrived with a

free breakfast as well.  Catherine found some of the odd victuals to be particularly

tasty, but Josh referred to the meal as “pregnant fare” and stuck with the toast.

Arriving in the motel office, they paid their bill, which came out to a little over

three thousand dollars due to back membership dues and temple fees.  Neither of

them batted an eye.  The small canidian waved them out the door with a glowing

smile and as the two of them looked back, they could have sworn he was dressed in

the regalia of a grand priest before looking again and seeing him as the simple

person he was before.  Climbing into the station wagon, they slowly drove away,

Catherine looking over the seat behind her and Josh in the rear-view mirror as the

motel sign faded into the distance behind them.

 

  “I wonder if we’ll see that place again,” said Josh, reaching out his right arm to

draw Catherine to him.

 

  “You don’t need to.”

 

  Normally, a voice speaking out of nowhere would cause a driver on the road to

swerve crazily and perhaps become involved in an accident, but Josh had

experienced his fill of startling things recently.  He simply pulled over to the side

of the road and let the opportunity for a nerve-wracking adrenaline jump go by.

Turning around in his seat, he waved a finger about while thinking of a retort of

some kind.

 

  “You’ll get a chance to use that line in a few years, just like your father did.”

 

Josh remembered the vacation trips with his family in a station wagon not too

unlike the one he was driving now.  There were times when he and his sisters didn’t

get along too well, and the resultant effect was his dad pulling the car off the road

to show that he really could reach his kids from the front seat.  He smiled,

practicing with a grab at the empty back seat.

 

  “Wherever you are, we will be when needed.  When you are ready for another

child we will be there to give it to you, but you will not know our hand upon you

unless you ask for it.  We do not wish to be intrusive.”

 

  “What about that body transforming thing you did on us, is that going to happen

every time?  What are people going to think seeing me come back from a trip

nearly full-term pregnant?”  Catherine was concerned about the ramifications of

suddenly being pregnant when she wasn’t before.  Questions would be asked,

eyebrows raised.

 

  “Memories are flexible.  We have taken care of the problem and you will discover

that all people you know will think you have been expecting for some time.  Your

future children will arrive in normal time, so there will be no need for manipulation

then.  As for the transformations, that was only a demonstration.  If you like

variety, we are more than able to provide you with many different shapes and

visages to entertain you.  We like to please our chosen.  Take advantage of these

things we offer you.  Membership has its benefits.”

 

  “That sounded like a credit card commercial”.  Josh smirked at his back seat and

heard nothing in reply.  Reaching towards the back seat again, he swept his hand

back and forth.  Thinking of his father’s favorite line to quell back-seat riots, he

grinned widely and pulled back onto the asphalt, the motor of the station wagon

growling as it tugged them away.  Catherine leaned against him and he put his arm

about her.  As they traveled down the road to home, visions of the nuclear family

danced in their heads.

 

  “Hey, what is it about naugahide?  Is it true?”  Josh had to shoot out that last

question.

 

  “To a point, it is,” said the voices, suddenly returned.  There was a peal of humor

in the tone.  “We blessed as many car seats as we could and some took and some

didn’t.  We have the best luck at drive-in theaters.”

 

  Moving his rear in the seat, the comforting squeak assured Josh that even kitsch

has it’s own charm.

 

 

 

************************************************************