Re-registration

	It had pretty much been an uneventful day at work.  The project I
was working on had reached a stopping point on my part.  I couldn't finish
anything else until two other people finished their portions.  Most of the
day I spent surfing the net and checking email every five minutes to see
if anything had been completed.

	I couldn't wait to get home.  The lack of work caused my thoughts
to drift to the weekend.  I didn't have anything planned for this
weekend.  It had been a first in about three months.  So, I was going to
hang around the house in some other form than human.  Kangaroo sounded
like a good one to start with.

	After checking the mail, I rushed inside the apartment and
hurriedly threw my work clothes off.  As soon as the last sock was off, my
body shifted from a normal human to that of an anthropomorphic
kangaroo.  I took a deep breath and relaxed.  The stress from trying to
look busy at work melted away.  

	Hopping into the living room, I picked up the mail from where I
dropped it on the way in and shuffled through the
envelopes.  "Bill.  Bill. Junk.  Bill. What's this?"

	An envelope with hand-written calligraphy lettering on it caught
my attention.  The "Open immediately.  Dated material inside," written
next to my address also had me worried.  Another bill?

	Using a claw, I ripped the letter open and unfolded all the
paperwork inside.  It was a notification of some sort.  From the
Department of Forms.  I never heard of them before.

	Reading the document, I discovered that I should know about that
department.  ".... Due to your lack of maintaining a high percentage of
your time in your registered form, a form fee of $50 must be paid by the
25 of November 2001."

	"Registered form?  I never registered anything," I said to
myself.  Looking through the rest of the document, I found that moose was
my registered form.  Thinking back, I could remember spending a lot of
time as a moose.

	As if to prove my thought was incorrect, the next page had a
listing of all the forms I had been and the amount of time spent in
them.  Moose was definitely low.  It wasn't even in the top 20.  Gungan
was even higher than moose.

	"Now, I know I've been a moose longer than that."

	Then something else dawned on me.  "Due on November 25!?  That was
yesterday!"

	Knock.  Knock.

	There was a knock at the door.  I answered the door still
rereading the notification.

	"Mr. Holloway?"

	I looked up from the letter and saw a man standing there dressed
in a black suit and wearing dark sunglasses.  I nodded.

	The man quickly held up something that looked like a remote
control and pressed a button.  "I see you received our notification."

	"You're with the Department of Forms?"

	The man nodded and proceeded to let himself in.  He placed his
briefcase on the coffee table.  "Mr. Holloway, I have come to fulfill the
penalty for late payment."

	I hopped over to the discarded envelope and picked it up.  "But, I
just got this in the mail today."  I had just realized that I was still a
kangaroo.  I tried to quickly shift into moose form, but I couldn't.

	"That is not an excuse.  It says so in the letter.  And, you can't
shift form at the moment."  He held up the remote control device.  "I have
temporarily removed your control over your shape."

	"But."

	The man opened his briefcase and pulled out a laptop.  "Let's get
down to business."

	"I can pay you the $50 now." I said hopping over to the kitchen
table where I had placed my checkbook.

	The man shook his head.  "That will do no good now.  You have been
scheduled for re-registration.  We can't mess up the books like
that.  Besides, I can not take money.  I'm am only the on-site
re-registrar."

	"But."

	"Ah, here we go."  The man said as the laptop finished booting
up.  "Let's see.  Normally, we re-register someone as what they have been
most of the time.  Looks like it's kangaroo for you then."

	Kangaroo?  That will be easy.  "That's not too bad, I guess.  Even
though I want to still be a weremoose."

	"No weremoose.  You'll have to be a werekangaroo from now
on.  Wait a second.  No, that's out, too."

	"What?  Why?  I'm already a kangaroo."  I pointed at my current
shape.

	The man nodded.  "Yes.  I can see that.  But, we have had a lot of
people register under kangaroo for some reason.  Seems to be popular.  To
keep the numbers down, we need to diversify.  And according to your form
log, you seem to be one to easily be registered as... as anything."

	He did have a point.

	"Ok.  So, kangaroo is out... Dragon.  Does that sound good?  You
could be a weredragon.  We don't have many of those."

	"Oh!  That would be great!" I said.  Dragon was a wonderful form
to be in, so it would be nice to officially be one.

	"No.  No.  Can't do that either," the man said.  "This area isn't
zoned for dragons."

	"Not zoned for dragons?  I was planning on moving into a house
eventually if that would help."

	"Oh?" the man asked.  "If you moved into a house, you could
possibly be a weredragon.  When are you going to move?"

	"My apartment lease isn't up until the end of next summer."

	The man frowned.  "No time for that.  We can not register you as a
weredragon if you are not going to be in a dragon-zoned area."

	I mumbled something that I didn't want the agent to hear.

	Looking intently at his laptop screen, the man was busy scrolling
through pages.  "Looks like it's going to have to be bear."

	"Bear?"

	"Yes.  Which type of bear now?"  He looked at me and glanced up
and down studying.  "Polar bear will be too warm in this
area.  Yes.  Grizzly.  I think you'll make a nice grizzly bear."

	"You think?" I said sarcastically.

	The man only looked at me then pressed a few keys on the
keyboard.  "I need to make sure this works right...."

	My kangaroo shape melted away, and I was left standing there as a
moose.  "I thought you were going to register me as a bear."

	"I'm getting to that.  I need to make sure the default form
changes."  He pressed some more keys.

	I could feel a wrenching sensation inside. It wasn't like any of
the other times I've shifted shape.  Something was being stripped
away.  Something I couldn't grasp.

	I stood there in all my bear glory.  I was mostly a bear.  I did
have some thumbs, so that was good.  "So, now I'm a werebear?" I asked
glad that I could still talk.  I was morphic enough for that at least.

	The man nodded.  "That you are."  He closed his laptop.

	I looked at myself.  Being a bear wasn't new to me, but it felt
different this time.  It felt normal.

	He put the laptop back into his briefcase.  "You still owe the
$50.  You'll stay in that shape until payment is received, then you will
get control over your form again."

	"I can pay you now," I said.

	The man shook his head.  "I already told you that I cannot take
payments."

	"Oh yeah."

	"This is also your first warning.  If you have to be reregistered
again, you will lose your control over your form.  And perhaps then,
you'll end up a Gungan."

	That sounded like a threat.  "I'll be sure to be on time next
time.  But, please make sure I get it in the mail before it's due."

	The man nodded.  "I'll bring that up to the billing office.  Now,
if you will sign this Change of Form Form, I will be on my way."  He laid
out a form and held out a pen.

	I took the pen in my paw and scribbled my name on the space.

	"Thank you Mr. Holloway.  I hope I do not have to visit you
again."

	I nodded.  "I hope not, too.  And I'll send that payment off right
away so I don't have to stay a bear."

	"Good idea," the man said opening the door.  "Just remember that
bear has to be high on your list of used forms."

	I nodded again.

The man walked out.  "Good bye, Mr. Holloway."  He closed the door behind
him.

	I stood in the middle of the living room for a moment
contemplating the fact that I was stuck as a bear for a while.  What would
I do for work?  I couldn't show up like this.  My ID photo didn't look
anything like me now.

	I quickly retrieved my checkbook and filled out the check to mail
it off the next day.