"Why not turn him into a collie?" said someone in the audience. "I'd gladly train him to herd my sheep, and my kids have been wanting a new dog. I'm sure a lot of other farm families feel the same way. If you turned him into a nice border collie, my bet is he'd always have work and a home, just like he wants."
"What an interesting perspective, and what a generous offer!" said the Madame. "Yes, I think Kevin is going to be a border collie--YOUR border collie."
The crowd cheered. Kevin seemed oblivious to what they had said about him, as though he were in some sort of trance. The voices from the audience and even from beyond the tent were so loud in his ears that he couldn't focus on what any particular one was saying, at least at first. He was starting to make sense of his new hearing as the cheering died down, but the incalculably stronger scents around him were still very distracting. Turning to look back at Madame Illusia, he suddenly felt very underinformed: there were so many sells wafting off this one person so close by, and yet he hadn't investigated any of them in any real depth. He needed to sniff closer. He had to understand this woman who had so generously offering to help him!
The audience ooh-ed and aw-ed when they saw Kevin sniff her like a dog and lick her hand when she petted his head. They watched his tongue grow as he did so. With his curiosity seemingly satisfied, Kevin sat back, and the heat of the tent finally started getting to him, so he opened his thinning lips to pant. They also saw long hairs peeking out from the edges of his shirt, sleeves and pants. Kevin wondered what had just gotten into him, and why his tongue felt so strange hanging out of his mouth.
"Wow, look at the marvelous black and white coat our lovely volunteer is growing," said the Madame. "And look at the adorable panting tongue on our friendly farmer's new best friend!"
Now that Kevin had enough presence of mind to think after adjusting to his senses a little more, he realized she was talking about him. He tried to remember the brief chat she'd had with someone off-stage while he'd zoned out... something about a collie?
He looked down and saw tufts of long hair poking out of his clothes. He gasped, slurped his long tongue back up, and tore off his shirt. He gasped again, seeing thick black hair covering so much of his body and white hair covering the rest. He gripped some of it in his hands, curiously exploring the coat he was developing.
"B-what arlrlre you drdrdrdoing to mnmre?" he slurringly asked using his floppy tongue.
"Why, I'm giving you my lovely good luck charm, of course!" said the Madame. "It's a fashionable collar of the kind used on Circe's Island many centuries ago. You'll have the good fortune of having a job herding livestock and a forever home playing with kids as Farmer Callif's new collie!"
"Wh-wh-what?!" exclaimed Kevin, wincing suddenly when whiskers started poking through the skin and white fur of his swelling face. The questionably lit tent was now brighter, but his vision was blurring up just a little, and a strange filter-like effect fell over his vision, as though everything was now subtly the wrong shade of whatever color it was. Looking back at the previously colorful fabric of Madame Illusia's clothing and her large circus tent, Kevin was finally able to pinpoint part of the strangeness: the reds, greens, and stark purples around him had blended together into gaudy blues and muddy yellow-browns. Worse, he found himself struggling to remember what distinct red and purple colors even looked like. "My-my eyes!" he exclaimed, mangling the S-sound very badly with his new tongue, although everyone understood.
"Did you know," asked the Madame, "that although dogs have much better night vision than we do, they're all somewhat colorblind? That's okay, though. I don't think Kevin's life is going to be full of Picasso and Van Gogh paintings, if you know what I mean."
The audience laughed. Kevin's ears perked up to locate the sound and then flattened because it was too loud. Curious, he reached up to feel what was going on up there. When he made contact with the bendy slabs of flesh and fur his earlobes had become, his eyes widened. Sure enough, he found he could perk them up and down as easily as he could roll his eyes in their sockets. The audience took note of his nervousness and appeared concerned. Then Madame started scratching the fur behind Kevin's floppy ears and everyone relaxed. Kevin's eyes rolled back in his head and his tongue tumbled out, while behind him the audience could see something black and white waving like a flag behind him. People laughed and giggled.
Kevin could feel his hips getting jerked back and forth by the recoil, and he could feel something hairy and flexible waving around in the free air, but the joy of getting petted like a dog made it hard to do anything but lean into the Madame's scratching. By the time he noticed the chuckles and felt his own spine thumping against Madame's hips, he knew something was up. Pushing her arm away and turning around, he stared at the bushy white-tipped tail stretched out behind him. He willingly waved it around a few times, fascinated that he could do such a thing. Then he lunged at his new tail, grabbed it securely, brought it around to hold it in front of him, and ran his hands through its long silky fur. Then he looked at the Madame and whined.
He tried to say there must be some mistake. That magic couldn't really be turning him into a dog. That being unhappy with his current life shouldn't mean he couldn't even be human anymore. But he couldn't get anything out of his long, sharp-toothed muzzle except whines and barks. He couldn't talk anymore! He'd be stuck as a barking butt-sniffer for the rest of his days. He found himself unable to resist a newfound urge to tuck his tail between his legs.
"Hey, Mr. Callif," said the Madame. "Why don't you come up and meet your new herder and show him how happy you are to make him part of your new home." The late-middle-aged man bounded up on stage with the spryness of a younger, ready to comfort the nervous animal and welcome the mourning former human into his new canine life.
"You are just the prettiest collie I've seen in years," said Farmer Callif, watching Kevin's nose wiggle to take in his scent. "You'll be the perfect addition to my farm. I know this probably isn't the better life you expected, but you're sure going to make life better for me and my kids. What do you say, boy?"
Kevin was deeply distressed that he could no longer understand what anyone was saying. However, something about this man's voice and scent was incredibly soothing. Somehow he felt that everything was going to be okay. This man certainly liked Kevin and wanted Kevin to go with him. Maybe this man was going to change him back, or maybe he just had experience with making dogs feel better. Maybe he could at least make Kevin's time as a dog reasonably good for a dog. Kevin found himself licking the man, the way he had licked Madame Illusia. The audience made adoring 'aw' noises. The farmer helped Kevin get out of what ridiculous-looking human garments were still on him, and took the new collie back to his seat to bond with him during the rest of the show.
"Now then, who's our next volunteer?" said the Madame, scanning the crowd for more people to lure into her web of magical changes.