"I put in a call to a ranch outside of town," the animal control officer told Mr. Patel. "They're willing to take him while we look for his owner."
"No," he tried to call out.
The men ignored the bellowing bull in the trailer. Soon enough, the truck and trailer pulled onto the street. Through the bars of the trailer, Bryan watched familiar homes of friends and family in the neighborhood rush past as he was taken away from his home. Much worse, at least for his immediate prospects, was his being taken away from the Chronivac. Of course, in a moment of stupidity, he had let the bull he'd become shatter the device under his hooves.
The truck finally took an exit from the highway and pulled onto a gravel road. After a short drive along the road, the truck emerged in a wide field and pulled to a gate.
A man standing at the gate opened it and swung it wide, letting the truck pull inside. The gate swung back into place with a loud click as the truck came to a stop.
The men opened the back of the trailer. "Let's get him out of there," the animal control officer said.
"I can take care of that," the rancher said. He moved toward the bars and thrust a long stick inside. A second later, Bryan felt a powerful jolt of energy in his ribs. The rancher yelled at him, and thrust the electric prod back through the bars. Bryan bellowed from the second shock, but he moved. In very little time, he was free of the hateful trailer. His hide still smarted where the man had used the prod to shock him.
"Wow, he's a big guy," the rancher remarked. "You say you found him in a garage?"
The other man nodded as he shut the gate on the trailer. "Well, thanks for taking him off our hands. We're not really equipped to handle bulls at the shelter."
"Oh, he will earn his keep," the rancher promised. "I've got a herd of cows in need of the services of a stud like him."
Bryan listened with dismay. He had no intention of having sex with cows. He bellowed a low protest, more and more frustrated that his bovine form rendered him incapable of communication.
Then, things got really embarrassing for him. He felt his tail lift at the same time a stream of urine gushed from his cock, splattering on the ground. At the same time, he heard a loud plop from his rear and then caught the scent of the very fresh manure. The long trip in the cramped trailer must have gotten to him.
Even more mortifying, his actions didn't even seem of any importance to the men. It was like he was an animal, and they took no notice of his natural body functions. Although relieving himself like that had been shameful, he felt a great deal better without those pressures on him.
He ambled into the pasture and, without thinking much about it, he lowered his head and began to graze on some of the fresh green grass. In the distance, he saw many other cattle, all smaller than him. He was as close as he cared to get to them. After several minutes of grazing, he decided to survey the lay of the land. He found that the pasture, although it looked quite open, was bordered by a fence. It looked rather flimsy, but that was before he brushed his big head against the wire strung between posts and received a nasty shock. He bellowed again.
He lowered his head. As he lost himself in a torment of thoughts, he absently began to chew his cud while working his way toward his next move.