Emilia walked into her apartment with a large box under her left arm. She placed it on the coffee table when her cellphone rang. It was her boyfriend.
"Mather?" she said.
"What are you up to?" he said.
"Oh, nothing," she said as she opened the box. "I went shopping and found a neat store that sells antiques."
"You didn't go spending a huge amount of money on something useless again, did you?" he snapped.
"No, just another stuffed animal."
"Oh, for fuck sakes, Emilia! You wasted a bunch of money on another stupid toy. You're such a baby."
"But, he's so cute..." she began sobbing as she looked down at the teddy bear in the box.
"He's so cute," Mather whined in mocking her. "Every fucking doll you buy is 'so cute'. How much did it cost?"
"Oh, uh..."
"Oh, a lot, right? Come on, spit it out. How much?!"
"It...cost..."
"Out with it!!"
"Sev...seventy...five..." she sobbed.
"Seventy-five fucking dollars for a toy?!"
"I paid for it with my own money!"
"Don't you raise your voice at me! How much of 'your money' are you going to spend on dolls, toys, and teddy bears when we're married? Am I gonna have to pay all the bills myself so you can add to that already ridiculously large collection of toys you have on all your shelves in your bedroom? How is a toy worth seventy-five bucks, Emilia?"
"Well, the store owner said this...teddy bear..." she began as she took it out of the box and looked at him: he had big, black eyes, and a slightly bigger black nose; big ears that stuck out; light-brown fur; a chubby body; and long limbs that made him come up to her waist if he was made to stand up beside her.
"How did the store owner con you this time?"
"She said...it has...a dormant, African spirit in it, and if it likes you, or sympathizes with you, it will appear, animate the bear, and grant you any wishes you have, like beauty, love..."
"No spirit will ever like a fat-assed idiot like you, let alone make you beautiful, or feel loved!" Mather growled. "You believe any stupid shit you hear, don't you? You're gonna need another punishing tonight. You're so lucky you have me, because no other man would ever want a pig like you!"
"Shut up! Shut up!" She hung up on him and turned off her phone. Sobbing, she looked at her pear-shaped form in the mirror. "He's right. No man would ever want me."
She looked at the teddy bear's smiling face.
"Do you love me, Teddy?"
It just sat there and gave no answer...of course.
She stared at it for several more seconds, her tears rolling down her cheeks, waiting for it to move.
"He's right. I am an idiot." She ran out of the living room and cried her way into her bedroom. She looked up at all the dolls and stuffed animals on her shelves, and everywhere else in her bedroom. She had to have had at least fifty. "I'm such an overgrown baby." She fell face down on her bed, and bawled and bawled until finally she fell asleep.
After having napped for an hour or so, she got up. She rubbed her eyes as she walked out of her bedroom and back into the living room. She looked over at the coffee table.
The teddy bear wasn't beside the box.
"What?" she said, then thought, He must be behind the box; still, I'm sure I left him in front of it. Maybe Zoe knocked him off the table.
She was still rubbing her eyes as she walked into the bathroom, where Zoe, her cat, had just left, to take a shower. Fatigue kept her eyes half-closed as she got naked, then went into the shower stall and had her shower. Knowing Mather would want every inch of her body immaculate for her 'punishment', Emilia cleaned herself thoroughly, from head to toe, focusing especially on her vagina and rectum. She was still too tired from her brief nap to notice anything different about her body...including even her now-hairless crotch.
All finished, she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall. The bathroom mirror was all steamed up, so she, still groggy, dried herself off with no surprises to see. Then she wrapped a towel around herself and left the bathroom.
