Boy, Fudgepackers is getting popular! What better way to promote it further than with "randomly selected" free sample deliveries...?

A series commissioned by  Anciano for his friend  CedricBrowning
Story by Cedric
Art by Yours Truly
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The beginning of a new day dawned as a morning sun rose on a typical house, in a typical town, in which lived a typical wolf, who’s going to have anything but a typical experience.

Unlike most of his lupine brethren, Cedric Browning was a lone wolf, unless it involved food; in Cedric’s mind, nothing improved a meal like good company. Still, for breakfast, he was on his own, going through his morning routine and finding some company in a comic book.

Time quietly ticked by until Cedric’s canine ears twitched with the sound of a knock at the door. “If it’s another salesman, I’ll bite, I swear,” the white wolf thought to himself, groaning as he got up from his sofa. He summoned up the patience to deal with his unwelcome visitor with a sip of sweet atole, placing the cup on the table.

When he opened the door, however, he could see no one but a large box, a big brown cardboard package as big as the wolf, blocking his way. Looking over the cardboard sides, Cedric couldn’t find any logos or writing on the box, no manifest, no receipt, nothing. He frowned to himself; he wasn’t expecting any deliveries, and he didn’t know anyone that would send him something so big.

He tried to lift the box, grunting under the weight but managing to carry it inside. Trying to close the door with his left paw, he glanced briefly to his porch, spotting a small white card that had been under the box. Still struggling under the weight, he quickly pushed the card out of his mind as he closed the door behind him.

Fearing his strength would fail him, Cedric rushed the box into the kitchen, setting the huge package on his table with no small amount of relief. He carefully cut along the masking tape with his claw, slightly satisfied with the clean cut. As he opened the package, his patience was rewarded with another box. The second package was blue, stamped with a big ice cream pop, superseded by large font reading “Fudge Packers” in bright yellow letters, framed by a cartoonish explosion, with two other bits of writing reading “Extra Pack” and “Cookies and Cream” in fine print.

The wolf frowned, thinking to himself. “Who would send me a bunch of ice cream? Did I win a contest or something? Am I supposed to eat all of this?” these and more questions were invading Cedric’s mind like Space Invaders. As he tried to figure out the mystery package, mentally going over his list of friends, he ended up opening the second box and quickly grabbed one of the popsicles. The packaging had a brown tanuki face covering part of the photo of the fudge pop, with the same “Fudge Packers” name stamped over it.

Cedric unwrapped the frozen, and stared at it closely, frowning with suspicion. He smelled it and hesitantly started to bring it closer to his mouth. He was just about to bite down on the creamy surface, when his cell phone began to ring at the opposite end of the table. Cedric, still holding the pop in his hand, reached for the phone with his free hand. Touching the button to receive the call, Cedric put the phone on his ear and tried to pay attention to the voice that was talking to him. He had no idea who this was and how he or she got Cedric’s phone number. The wolf started feeling… weird and light headed, almost like he was hallucinating or suddenly very tired, he went directly to the bathroom with phone in hand, and the reflection gave back the same old wolf but with something unexpected. The fudge packer Cedric was holding a few seconds ago was now completely inside his mouth.

At the moment Cedric finished processing this act, he started filling something inside his body, some kind of… filling covering all of his arms, legs and mainly his torso. The feeling was so intoxicating, he forgot someone was yelling at his phone right now.

“CEDRIC! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?” the other voice shouted, crackling and nearly robotic because of the low signal. It was enough to break the wolf out of his trance, and he quickly shook his head.

Looking himself over in the mirror, and realizing he was still on a call, he hung up, cutting off the increasingly irritable rant on the other end. As he set down his phone, Cedric noticed strange smudges on the screen and all over the back. They looked like fingerprints covered with some kind of white, almost grey-ish cream or dough, placed exactly where Cedric’s fingers were holding the phone.

He left the phone on the top of the sink, making sure it didn’t get any water, and then he got out of the bathroom, looking for a dry cloth to wet a bit and clean the phone. He got back to the bathroom, where the towel had disappeared, replaced by another Fudge Pop.

“Wait, really?” the wolf scoffed, not even realizing he was angrily chomping down on the popsicle still in his hand.