After three months at Pleasure Island, Annetta woke to a surprise in her room. An initial itch brought her hand to her earlobe. It felt … weird. Fuzzy. Annetta jumped out of bed and stumbled in front of the vanity mirror. She gasped. Where her petite ears had once been, were now replaced by two long, brown-furred ears.
"Oh! My ears! What is going on?!" she asked touching her ears from base to tip. Annetta began to cry in fear because she realized that she could feel them.
Suddenly, she held her head down and has her arms wrapped around her stomach as though it hurted.
"Ohhhh! I feel so strange. What's wrong with me? Ohhhhh!"
At that moment a dormouse approached from a hole in the wall.
"What is all the commotion out here?" asked the small rodent.
"Oh! Help me! Help me! Please, little mouse! I woke up and my ears looked like this!" cried Annetta. "And I feel so strange. I feel very warm and dizzy."
"First of all, I am a dormouse. Now let me have a look," said the dormouse.
Annetta slowly lowered her head to the dormouse. She felt embarrassed.
"What is it?" she asked trying to wipe the tears from her face with her hand.
"I have some bad news for you. You have a very bad fever. The Donkey Fever."
"Donkey Fever? I don’t understand.", replied Annetta
"Well then I will tell you of it," said the dormouse as she jumped up to the windowsill and sat down. "Girls who are lazy, and who do not go to school, or obey their parents, and who think only of themselves sooner or later end up as donkeys.."
"Oh, no!", Annetta gulped. "It can't be happening!" She pulled desperately on her long ears as thick tears rolled down her face. Her ears remained firmly on her head.
"In a short time you will no longer be a girl, but a little donkey!
A donkey foal to be precise." said the dormouse.
"No! No! It can't be real! Am I really going to be a donkey?!" yelled Annetta while she covered her face with her hands.
"Yes, and crying is useless now. You should have been a good girl." replied the dormouse as he walked back into his mouse hole.
"But wait!" burst Annetta taking her hands off her face. "It was the fault of Andrea! And Adelina! And Irene! Ant the others! They told me to leave school behind and come to Pleasure Island!"
Annetta scowled and ran out the door towards Andrea's room but, remembering her ears, quickly ran back inside. Annetta looked around her room. "The pillowcase" she thought. Annetta uncovered the pillow and putted the pillowcase over her head to conceale her ears. She again ran out the door to Andrea.
When she got to her room, Annetta knocked loudly and frantically on the door. "Andrea! Andrea!" she shouted.
"Um … y-yes?" came a soft and nervous voice from inside.
"Andrea, it's me, Annetta! Let me in!"
"Hold on a sec …"
A few minutes passed when suddenly the door swung open. Annetta walked into a very nervous-looking Andrea, her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying heavily. And she, too, had a pillowcase above her head.
"Annetta! You got up early." Andrea made a forced smile and tried to act normally.
"How are you, Andrea?" She said without taking her eyes off Andrea's pillowcase.
"Fine, just fine. I have never felt so good." lied Andrea as she worriedly moved from one side of the room to the other. It seemed like she wanted to evade Annetta.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. Now why would I lie to you, Annetta? You're my best friend." Andrea tried to smile forcibly again.
"I just wondered why you’re wearing that pillowcase that covers your head, and your ears." answered Annetta.
"Oh! This thing? I saw the medicine-woman earlier because of my …uh … earache. She told me to put my pillowcase over my …" Andrea stopped before she could finish. She hid her face in her hands and burst into tears.
Annetta was about to say something to her, when suddenly Andrea stopped crying. Immediately, Andrea held her stomach with her arms as though it hurted. She squeezed her eyes and gave a loud moan.
"Ohh! I feel so strange", Andrea had to admit it by sobbing. Annetta's anger turned to sadness and worry.
"You know what, Andrea?" Annetta said also wanting to cry. "My ears are also paining me."
"You also?" asked Andrea while her arms were still wrapping around her belly. She was looking more closely at Annetta's pillowcase. Until that moment she realized that Annetta was also hiding something.
"Yes, both of them. Can we have got the same illness?"
"I fear so." replied Andrea while she walked over to Annetta to go remove the pillowcase from Annetta's head, but Annetta moved back.
"What are you doing?!" demanded Annetta.
"I-I'm sorry, Annetta, but ..." Andrea said with her face down and wiping her tears with her hand. "... c-can you let me see your ears?"
"Ehhhh...yes! Why not?" Annetta said nervously. "But first, I'd like to see yours, Andrea."
"You first."
"No, you first."
"What if we both take the pillowcases off at the same time?", asked Andrea.
"Agreed!"
And the two girls began to count at the same time in a loud voice.
"One! Two! Three!"
Simultaneously Annetta and Andrea took off their pillowcases and threw them into the air. And then Annetta and Andrea discovered that they were both struck with the same misfortune.
Both shocked, the girls covered their mouths with her hands trying to not scream. They twitched their long ears unconsciously while they were staring at each other's ears.
"Annetta! Your ears!" Andrea said scared.
"And yours too!" yelled Annetta pointing at the Andrea's gray furry donkey ears.
"Oh Annetta!" What is happening?"
"The dormouse told me all about it!"
"Dormouse?"
"Yes! It's called donkey fevvvAAAWW! HEEE HAAAAWW! HEEEEE...!" Annetta quickly covered her mouth with her hands.
"Annetta, did that come out of you?" asked terrified Andrea. "You sounded like... like a donkey braying!"
Shocked, Annetta had her eyes wide open not believing the sound that had come out of her. She didn't want to take her hands off her mouth for fear that she would make that sound again.
Andrea had her ears down indicating her fear, but suddenly, a tremendous force in her backside forced her to jump.
“Ahh!!” Andrea shouted slightly. Then, she felt something was wagged side to side behind her creating a light airflow that somehow Andrea could perceive. Suddenly, this thing began to slap her hips.
Not understanding that strange sensation, Andrea turned her head back and looked down. Then she saw the most horrid thing of all! A long, gray donkey tail with a black tassel had sprouted from her rear and had pierced the back of her skirt so it could get out. It was swinging behind her and rubbing her buttocks.
"AAAAAAHHH!" Andrea screamed in terror. “Oww...owww! W-What the hell is this?!?
Determined, she took the tail and realized surprisingly that she could feel it as if she were grasping her foot, her finger or her arm. It was already a part of Andrea's body, even she discovered that she could control its movement.
"Oh my gosh! I-I have a tail! I have a tail!!!” Annetta cried again covering her eyes by her hands. Now she had her tail tucked between her legs where it barely moved.
Annetta didn't know what to say, she knew that it would happen to her too. However, she deluded herself thinking that she could simply pluck the tail as if it were a hair.
"Maybe you can pluck it", Annetta tried to calm her down.
"But I can feel it. It's attached to me." Andrea said embarrassed with her head down and hiding her face with her hands.
"Let me try," Annetta said and got behind her. Then, Annetta took hold of the furry tail with both hands and pulled it hard.
"Awww!" groaned Andrea in pain causing her ears were up again. Annetta pulled twice more on the rope without success. "Stop! Stop! You're hurting me", Andrea cried.