Dolly on the Midway
by Anaka Ferret
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It was past midnight, and the carnival grounds were growing increasingly deserted as the crowds headed home for the night. Jerry, on the other hand, was still aimlessly wandering the grounds, trying to postpone for as long as possible the return his to crummy apartment. The fourth time he passed the ring toss booth, he gave in to his curiosity and walked over to have a closer look. It was in a rather odd place, situated at the edge of the carnival, well away from the midway. In fact, it wasn't really close to anything, except a large trailer standing next to it. As he approached, the girl behind the counter leaned toward him and said, "Care to try your luck, stranger?"
He finished off his sixth beer of the evening and squinted at her. She was wearing some kind of cat makeup for whatever reason, and in his state, it looked almost real. "Yeah, sure, honey," he said, swaying back and forth a little as he stood before her. "What'll I win?"
She gestured behind her with a graceful sweep of her arm and a giggle.
"See for yourself!"
A wide variety of stuffed animals was arranged on the three walls behind her, starting with small colorful animals and dolls at the bottom, ranging all the way up to.... He stopped short. "What are those?" Sitting on a shelf at the top of the rear wall, held upright by a narrow strap around their waists, were three life-size female dolls. Their skin looked to be made out of some kind of soft fleece or very short fur. Their hair was brightly colored tight curls, one doll's red, the other two purple. Above huge grins, their plastic eyes gleamed in the lights of the booth, looking almost alive. But what really caught his attention was the large silver zipper running down between their legs, taking the place of a vagina. He considered himself a pretty normal guy, free of odd kinks, but at the sight of these dolls, he felt a pleasant stirring in his crotch. "How do I win one of the, um, big ones up there?" he asked, pointing with a trembling hand.
The girl behind the counter smiled sweetly at him. "Those are our most special dolls, only for the very select few. Why don't you give it a shot and see what happens?"
He grinned back at her. "All right, I will." He fumbled through his pockets until he produced a handful of ones, slapping them on the counter with drunken bravado. "Hand over some rings, doll."
She giggled again. "Oooh, dramatic irony, I like that," she said. Jerry stared blankly at her. "Oh, never mind. Let's see how you do." She handed him four rings, one dollar's worth.
After a series of pointless wrist warm-ups that clearly failed to impress the girl at all, he made his first series of tosses, all of which landed well wide of the mark. Two more salvos of rings produced no better results.
He pounded on the counter with his fist in frustration, almost bouncing his remaining dollars off.
Jerry stepped back from the counter and paced in angry little circles for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted one of those big dolls. He couldn't explain why, but he knew he had to have one. It had been months since his latest girlfriend had dumped him, and he was getting desperate. He could feel that soft fuzzy dollskin rubbing against him, that bright hair - he would take the redhead - brushing against his face. The teeth of the zipper were a little intimidating, but he new his dolly wouldn't hurt him. Suddenly he realized he'd been standing still, staring at the large dolls for who knew how long. He shook his head sharply, and walked back up to the counter. The girl was leaning her elbows on the counter, chin cupped in one hand, nose twitching in amusement. "Hey, look, um..." His words trailed off. Damn, that makeup looked real. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Oh, you can call me Erika," she replied. "And what's your name, doll?"
He stared at her. Was she making fun of him? "Um, it's Jerry."
"Oooh, Jerry, a nice manly name. Definitely not a girl's name, not like, let's say, Jessica. Jessie? Jerry, Jessie, Jessie, Jerry... sounds good to me."
This was too much for Jerry's beer-fogged brain. He was sure she was making fun of him, but couldn't figure out how. "Look, just give me some more damn rings, all right? I've got money left!"
Erika giggled once more and twitched her whiskers, handing over four more rings. "Good luck! Though I must admit, you're not terribly good at this.
Maybe you'll be better off behind the counter."
Jerry glared angrily at her. "Right, like I'm gonna work at some piece-o-shit carnival booth with a fuckin' cat," he muttered. He tossed the new batch of rings quickly, one after the other, and all missed. "Crap!"
He just had to get one of those damn dolls.
He shoved another dollar across the counter and grabbed four rings. Four more misses. He wished he hadn't had quite so many beers. Another dollar produced another four misses. Erika leaned casually against the counter, smiling faintly at him. Another dollar, four misses. He wondered if anyone would be able to stop him if he just grabbed one of the dolls off the top shelf and ran away with it. Another dollar, another four misses. "Shit!"
He leaned against the counter and tried to get his thoughts straight.
Why the hell was he so fixated on this doll? He must be drunker than he thought. Running both hands through his hair, he sighed heavily and looked up at the dolls. Their plastic eyes stared vacantly back at him, yet still somehow had a glint of life to them. Three dollars still lay crumpled on the counter - he figured he might as well finish them off, just in case.
Handing the wad to Erika, he accepted twelve more rings and stood unsteadily before the counter, vowing to get it right this time. He took careful aim, lofted each ring gently toward the posts, and missed each time.
"Shit shit SHIT!" He pounded on the counter angrily, then kicked at it, almost losing his balance.
"Hey there, doll, take it easy! You're gonna bring the house down!"
Erika pushed him gently away from the counter, holding his gaze with hers and giving him a soothing smile. "Just take a deep breath and relax."
"Can I just buy one of those goddamn dolls up there?" he asked sharply, hoping they'd take his credit card.
"I'm sorry, we don't sell those here." She paused, still holding his gaze and grinning mischievously. "You know, we make this pretty darned easy. Almost everyone walks away from here with something. So I'll tell you what, Jessie - sorry, Jerry - you tried so hard and for so long, I feel you deserve something special." Reaching beneath the counter she pulled out what appeared to be the same sort of necklace that the dolls were wearing.
The gold (or, more likely, gold-painted plastic) medallion dangling from it bore the name "Jessie." Before Jerry could protest, Erika had somehow snapped it open and clasped it around his neck.
"Hey! What am I going to do with this crappy thing? And it's not even the right name!" Jerry pulled at it awkwardly, fumbling at the back for the catch, but couldn't figure out how to get it open again.
Erika leaned over the counter and tweaked his cheek. "Don't worry, doll, it won't trouble you for long."
"Well, um, thanks, then," he replied. Defeated on all counts, taking one last regretful look at the dolls, he walked away from the booth, yanking awkwardly at the collar. At least the beer was sitting well with him. He had a pleasantly warm glow in his stomach, and felt pretty good. A little too good, in fact. He suddenly felt light-headed and leaned against the trailer for a moment.
Behind him, he heard the rattling of the booth's shutters as Erika closed it up for the night. He pressed his forehead against the cool metal of the trailer's side and took a few deep breaths, though it didn't seem to help much. Staring at the ground, he saw a shadow approach and envelop his feet.
"Hey, are you feeling all right, doll?" Erika asked.
"Will you please stop calling me that," Jerry replied weakly. "I think my evening's catching up with me and I could use some quiet time."
"Aw, I'm sorry Jessie," Erika said with a giggle. Jerry didn't have the strength to correct her. "Tell you what," she continued, "why don't you come in and sit down for a minute. I'm sure it'll pass. Just don't throw up on the carpet!"
Leading him by the hand, Erika stepped lightly up the two steps leading inside, directing Jerry to sit down on the edge of a bed in a room at one end of the trailer. "Hey, thanks," he said. "Sorry if I was kinda rude earlier." He scooted back to lean against the wall at the head of the bed.
On the walls on either side of the hallway leading back to the main living space were two large mirrors, angled slightly to better reflect the bed's occupants. "Hmm, kinky," Jerry muttered to himself. He dizzily wondered if he might be about to score, though he wasn't sure he'd be up to it. His light-headedness had progressed to a sort of pleasantly warm overall tingling. He relaxed and closed his eyes, listening to Erika rattling around in the kitchen, hoping he'd get a chance to see her out of makeup.
He drifted off into a sort of half-doze, still sitting upright on the bed with his legs spread out before him. Erika's voice brought him back with a start. He opened his eyes to see her standing in the doorway, cat makeup still in place. "I said, are you about ready?"
With an effort, Jerry managed to mutter, "For what?" His whole body felt oddly light, as if he weighed almost nothing. He tried to stand up, and found that he couldn't move at all. He was frozen in place, legs splayed out, arms held out before him, slightly bent, as if he were asking for a hug. He tried to ask what was going on, but couldn't muster the effort to say anything more.
"Yup, looks like you're ready indeed!" Erika giggled. She slid gracefully onto the bed beside him and began taking his clothes off. His shoes and shocks came off easily enough, as did his T-shirt, but she had a little difficulty with his pants. Turning him 90 degrees, she gave his chest a push with one hand, bending him flat against the bed while she pulled his pants and boxer shorts off with the other. Once she had them down around his knees, she took her hand off his chest, and he immediately sprang back upright. She whipped pants and shorts off with a flourish, and turned him to face the mirrors again. Jerry watched it all in numb amazement, naked now except for the necklace. With a sickening feeling, he suddenly realized that in his current pose, he looked very much like the dolls he had been coveting.
Erika gathered his clothes into a pile and tossed them beside the bed.
"I love this part," she said, grinning wickedly. Jerry could only watch in horror as the skin of his arms and legs roughened, turning a cartoonish fleshy pink and growing fuzzy. As the short fur spread over his skin, his limbs thickened, losing definition as they swelled into the smooth limbs of a stuffed doll. His feet grew round, becoming little more than flares at the ends of his legs with the barest nubs of toes. His hands likewise changed, his fingers shortening as his palms rounded out into what were almost paws.
Giggling to herself, Erika ran a hand up and down his left leg, enjoying the feel of the fur beneath her fingers. She squeezed his thighs, which were compressible enough that she could completely encircle each with a hand. "Isn't that neat, Jessie? You're so much cuddlier when you're packed full of stuffing like this! I suppose you're probably a little too distracted to appreciate that right now, though." Jerry barely heard her, staring instead at the way his legs had compressed under Erika's hands, just like a teddy bear's.
Once his arms and legs had fully transformed, the fur began sweeping across his torso. As it spread, his chest swelled, forming a single bulge across his chest, like a woman with large breasts wearing a heavy sweater.
His brain awash in panic, Jerry barely noticed as the fur began to creep up his neck, because at the same time his penis and scrotum withdrew into his body, forming a vaginal slit. As he watched, a shiny silver zipper appeared at the bottom of the slit, drawing up the length of his... he could barely process the thought... the length of his vagina with an audible zip, sealing it off. As the teeth meshed together, an erotic shiver ran down his back, and he rolled his eyes back in momentary pleasure.
As the fur continued to spread over his head, his hair began to change as well, turning a deep red and lengthening into tight Shirley Temple curls that framed his face, just like the doll he'd admired. Without pause, the fur continued to spread over his face, the last unchanged part of his once human body. It flowed over his lips, sealing them shut. He lost all feeling in his mouth, as jaws, teeth, and tongue were transformed into the stuffing that filled the rest of him. Where his mouth had been, a bright red length of yarn appeared, drawing up into a mischievous grin.
His nose flattened out and vanished as the fur covered it. Finally only his eyes remained untouched, staring frantically at the grinning doll in the mirror. Erika leaned in close to him, careful not to block his view. "Just about finished, Jessie! You're doing great! Just one final change to go and you'll be ready for the booth."
As she spoke, his eyes widened, growing impossibly large, flattening out and acquiring a plastic sheen. The irises grew as well, until he looked like any one of a thousand anime girls.
Despondent, there was nothing for him to do but stare at himself in the mirror as Erika looked him over. "Now, just one little test, and we're done." Erika reached out and squeezed his left palm. To his amazement,
Jerry suddenly felt as if he could talk. He prepared to plead to be returned to normal, but instead he found himself saying, "Hi, I'm Jessie!
Can I be your dolly?" The bright yarn line that was now his mouth didn't move at all. In fact, the somewhat scratchy digitized female voice seemed to be coming from somewhere in his torso. The change was complete.
"Perfect!" cried Erika. She squeezed the doll's left palm again. "Hi, I'm Jessie! Can I have a hug?" came the response.
"Of course you can, sweetie!" Erika said with a musical laugh. She wrapped her arms around Jessie and gave her a good squeeze. Through the terror and panic, Jessie actually felt surprisingly good when hugged, like a child held in its mother's arms. In fact, beneath the panic she felt pretty good in general, warm and almost content, as if she were lying in a big plush bed. As Erika leaned in close for another hug, Jessie noted that she didn't appear to be wearing makeup at all, but instead seemed to be a genuine catgirl. At that point, however, she wasn't terribly surprised.
Erika spoke gently to the doll, running her hands lightly up and down its sides. "Now, Jessie, I know this is rather a shock for you, but it's just the way we do business here. Winners get a prize, losers get to be a prize.
It's not like we didn't try to make it easy. You just have to learn never to mix drinking and carnival games. Look on the bright side, though you'll never have that problem again!"
Erika stood up, one hand lingering on the doll's shoulder. "We'll get you all set up in the booth in the morning. But for now, it's late, and I'm ready for bed. How about you?" She slipped out of her clothes and climbed into bed, pulling the new doll under the covers with her. With a contented sigh, she wrapped her legs around Jessie and pulled her close, giving her palm a quick squeeze. "Hi, I'm Jessie! Can I be your dolly?"
"Aw, sure you can, Jessie," replied Erika. "At least for tonight, that is. And who knows, if you sit on the shelf long enough, maybe I'll decide to keep you for myself." She sighed happily and drifted off to sleep, purring gently.
As she lay there, contentedly wrapped in Erika's embrace, Jessie contemplated an uncertain future, hoping that whoever eventually won her would at least take care of her as well as Erika.
The End