Bullstormin': An American Western Tale

"You've got to be kidding me," Edith said, reading the small slip of paper. There was no response from the two men in front of her, staring at her with blank faces.

"Is this some kind of joke?" She asked.

"No ma'am, it's not." The older man spoke up, finally breaking away from his watchful perch on the rickety chair he'd been balancing on for the last hour. "You just drank our special elixir."

"So I'm a bull now?" Edith asked incredulously. "This isn't some kind of circus show? Because I've got work to do today."

"Nope," the younger man chimed in, gazing at her with adoring eyes. "You're as genuine as they come."

Edith ran her hands over herself and sighed in frustration. She didn't see any horns growing out of her head, or a cloven hoof sticking out of her right foot, but she knew she couldn't be trusted. "So how long is this going to last?" Edith asked. "Until I die?"

The older man drifted back and forth on his chair with a slight smile on his face. "We can't exactly tell you that ma'am," he said calmly. "But if you're so worried about it, why don't we give you a nice old blanket to protect your clothes? And if you want we can even sell you some dung slippers to walk around in." He motioned toward a pile of worn out blankets sitting off to the side of the room.

Edith stared down at the floor and saw that she had already left a large hole in the dirt floor where she'd been pacing back and forth for nearly an hour now, rainwater leaking in and soaking her boots. I'll just have to go barefoot for now until I get home, Edith thought. She picked up one of the blankets from off the floor and wrapped it around herself as best she could, before turning back towards the men in front of her in disbelief.

"Are you joking with me or something?" She asked angrily after another moment had passed by without a response from either man, who were both still smiling at her like jackals admiring their own reflection in a pond full of fish.

After being turned into some sort of farm animal by some mysterious pair of snake oil salesmen, Edith finds herself struggling with pride as well as a number of other things as she struggles to find a way to make ends meet while staying true to herself and those she loves most in life…