Toward sundown, the farmer's hired hand finally finished unloading a fourth load of heavy river stones near the unfinished wall.
A bone weary jackass barely recognized that the cart, propelled by the donkey's muscle and grit, was much lighter than on the previous four stone-hauling trips. Matt had been standing, save for a few brief intervals in the dappled shade of an old oak while the shirtless farmhand unloaded the heavy stones, for most of the hours between sunrise and sundown beneath a fierce August sun. Thirst and hunger existed on the edge of his awareness, but the donkey could barely lift its hooves off the ground as it trotted back toward the barn.
With his dull vision, Matt couldn't even see the barn as anything other than a dark blur on the horizon. Early in the day, he had played the secret voyeur, the gay man in donkey guise, soaking in the sight of the muscular farmhand as he labored to wrest the stones off the wagon, stacking them in neat piles until construction on the rest of the wall could begin. As the sun cooked him in his furry hide and biting insects assaulted him in regions beyond his capacity to defend, his enjoyment diminished of clandestinely observing the worker's labor.
The farm worker saw an unfamiliar vehicle parked near the barn as the tired jackass slowly pulled the emptied cart the last few yards. The driver exited the vehicle and walked across the barnyard.
"Hello," the man spoke first.
Despite his mental and physical exhaustion, Matt's enormous ears perked up. He recognized the voice.
His boyfriend, Wayne, kept talking to the farmhand, who didn't look like he enjoyed finding a stranger on the farmer's land.
"Wayne!" Matt brayed.
He stumbled, trying to move closer, but the worker had set the brake on the wagon.
Matt brayed again, and this time a response came. Another bray issued forth, and the alpha jack, hungry for his evening feed, emerged from the barn.
"I've got to feed these animals," the hand said as the enthusiastic jack ambled over toward the two men, indifferent to who would provide the feed so long as someone did so.
Wayne looked at the two jacks, turning his gaze from the tired animal hitched to a wagon and back to the rambunctious alpha jack, which continued to bray excitedly. After discovering his boyfriend's programmed Chronivac, Wayne had studied the device well enough to uncover the information that Matt had been swapped with a donkey living on a farm a few miles out of town. He had not, however, expected to find two jack donkeys.
"What can I do for you?" The hand asked in an unfriendly manner.
"Could I..." Wayne didn't know what to say. "I just wanted to look at your donkeys."
"This ain't a petting zoo," the hand said irritably to the weird request.
"Are these your only male donkeys?" It occurred to Wayne there could be more.
"We have one jenny," the hand said. "You looking to buy one?"
"Maybe," Wayne said, but he must not have sounded committed enough to impress the hand.
"Look at them all you want, pal, but I'm getting ready to put them in their stalls for the night, so make it quick."
The hand moved over to detach Matt from the wagon, and Wayne moved closer to inspect the alpha jack.
"Wayne," Matt brayed. "That's not me!"
"Hold still, blast it!" The hand savaged some of the buckles as he got Matt out of the harness.
With his excellent hearing, thanks to the enormous ears, Matt heard Wayne whispering to the alpha jack.
"Is that you, Matt?" Wayne whispered, trying to keep his voice low enough that the farmhand wouldn't hear.
The alpha jack sniffed Wayne's clothes, trying to determine if the human held some carrots or other treats in any of his pockets.
Wayne didn't know what to think of the donkey's actions.
"That's the better animal, if you're really looking to buy," the hand informed Wayne, gesturing toward the alpha jack, as he led Matt toward the barn.
"What about that one?" Wayne asked and finally looked toward Matt.
Matt brayed again, but he only started the other jack to braying, too.
"They sure are loud," Wayne said, confused and uncertain.
"That they are," the hand said, giving a tug and forcing Matt to trudge with him toward the barn. Matt tried to resist, but his inner donkey's desire for water and food, which it associated with the barn, was too strong.
Even inside the barn, Matt continued to hear Wayne's whispers.
"I wish you could tell me if that's you or not," Wayne said.
Matt heard the stall slam shut behind him. He brayed, but his protests got interrupted by the hand's pouring of feed into his trough and water into his bucket.
With one of the animals busy feeding, the hand walked up to Wayne and the alpha jack.
"Gotta put this guy away now," he said. "If you really want to buy one of these donkeys, you'll need to come back and see the farmer tomorrow."
The hand tilted his head toward Wayne's car, making it evident he felt that Wayne should leave.
"Right," Wayne said. He felt too shy and out of his element to challenge the hand. "I'll do that."
The hand merely nodded, leading the alpha jack toward the barn. The animal swung its big head around one last time and sniffed Wayne again as it walked past on four legs. Wayne felt certain that the alpha jack was Matt, but he didn't know what he could do about it. He turned and walked back toward his car. Perhaps a closer study of Matt's Chronivac was in order.
Twenty minutes later, when Matt's donkey ate its fill, he lifted his head from the trough and realized that Wayne had departed at some point while he had been mindlessly feeding.
"He just left me here!" Matt brayed in disbelief.
But his stomach full, and his body still weary from the day's difficult labors, he soon feel asleep, not to wake until the dawning of his third morning as a donkey.