A Variable Called "X"

Magical entities called "Variables" thrived on Earth for as long as the planet existed. They live in plain sight and yet humans are unaware of these beings. Why? Because Variables have a special power - every full moon they transform into a new character. You could come in contact with a Variable and never know it. They can become any character - a dog, a cat, a racoon, even a human being! They have many skills given the varied experiences they have had. They have so much more perspective than an average human does. You can call them the wisest beings on the plant. 

Now the time has come for the full moon night. The moon is just starting to come into focus behind a slowly moving set of clouds... Variable "X" is wondering what's in store this time...

X could feel the changes in it's body. It's a tingling process. The closest description to what a transformation feels like is when X ate a crackling chocolate as a human kid. It felt like tiny, harmless fireworks in the mouth and when the chocolate melted on it's tongue, that sweet taste filled X with joy. It was the same for X when it transformed into new character every full moon. 

X believed in fully living in the character it took. It learnt so much from every character it transformed to. X felt it was like an upgrade in personality as humans would call it. 

Once, X was a dog for a month. Oh the amount of love X received from the little kids it would meet at the park! The kids would play ball with it, till it was evening and time to go home. As a dog, X learned what it means to love without questioning and always assuming good intent from whoever it would meet. It made friends with ducks in the pond, with cats in the alleys and even the birds would sing to it from tree tops sometimes. 

Another time, X was a crocodile and it discovered that it doesn't have sweat glands. It could feel it's body overheating and started to panic, how does a crocodile cool down? X turned to the bask of crocodiles next to it and asked an old looking crocodile what to do. X learned a new fact that day, that a crocodile cools down by keeping it's mouth open!

That explains it, thought X. When it was a human kid and went to the zoo one day, it saw crocodiles lazing in the sun with their mouths open. It remembered thinking how silly the crocodiles looked but now understood it was an essential mechanism to cooling down. Oh the Zoo experience was so useful because X could read about so many animals and birds! Another favorite place of X as a human kid was the park. It played on the sea-saw and on the swing. X also could read books from the library and share delightful stories with other kids. Once, X went around the town in a small bus and gazed at the buildings and the landscape in wonder. In the evening, X would watch birds flying towards the flaming ball of sun. 

Coming back to the present, X noticed feather like shape taking over it's body. Could I be a bird this time, wondered X, that would be amazing! X longed to be one of the flying migratory birds. X read in a book that some migratory birds could fly up to 600 miles a day. Imagine the kind of diverse landscapes it can see in a single day when flying so high! And the birds always fly in large groups, "team work" as humans would call it. What a fine miracle of nature migration is, X thought. Playing on the swing was the closest it ever came to experience what flying would feel like. When X would meet birds, it would always ask them about their stories and they would tell X all about the sights from up above. Of the hills and the rivers and the ocean and deserts, while every other form felt limited in the distance X could travel to explore, the birds seemed to fly freely in the vast expanse. 

The full moon was in complete glory and X felt joyous and light as its wings flapped. Ready to soar the skies, thought X as it flew away into the starry night.