Let this be a warning to all of your children. I’m about to tell you a harrowing tale, based on true events.

Meet Tessa. Tessa used to be a normal little girl, carefree and full of wonder. She danced ballet, pranced around with furry friends, and performed improvised plays in front of her grandma’s fireplace, for everyone’s enjoyment.

Yes, she was a normal girl. That is, until she made a scowling face at her mother, at her request to wear a pretty pink dress to her Honor Society Induction. She didn’t care for pretty pink dresses anymore, casting them aside with her ballet shoes, for jeans and converse. Tessa responded with a rather dramatic, pinched face, and feigned anguish, through forced tears. Her mom often warned, “Make that face and it might stay that way,” but just like any other child, she didn’t listen. That’s when something even more peculiar happened – she turned into a shark!

Eh, she got used to it and went about her life. She had bigger fish to fry, so to speak, with the new school year approaching and her little niece coming to town for a visit.

Meet Roxy. Roxy is a normal little girl, carefree and full of wonder. She does gymnastics, wears a different princess dress on a daily basis, and knows all of the words to every top hit from the 80s, 90s and today.

Unlike her older Aunt Tessa, Roxy had not yet outgrown her princess dresses, and her favorite color was pink. We knew we didn’t have to worry about convincing her to wear pretty pink princess dresses, but she did have a tendency to make funny faces. And when she didn’t get her way (or didn’t have enough beauty sleep), she would frown and pout and give us the evil eyes.

Roxy wanted to use my camera, so I let her take a few pictures. Just taking a few wasn’t enough, and she made that very clear, by sticking her tongue out at me and folding her arms. Tessa warned her to check her attitude at the door, because if she made those faces, she might regret it.

Just like Tessa, she didn’t listen. She made an angry shark face!

That’s when the morphing began. I wouldn’t have believed it, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.

And that’s how Princess Roxy Mae turned into a shark.