On a normal morning, Mike would have been awakened by his alarm clock or maybe even by the rooster crowing if he had slept in. Today, though, brought a much less pleasant awakening. Turning over a bit in his sleep, he was jolted awake by a terrible weight on his spine! Sitting immediately upright, he felt that his position was very uncomfortable in two very different ways. He was sitting on something firm and tubular, which was not great, but much worse was the agony radiating from behind him, as though something heavy were crushing his lower back!
"Aaah!" he shouted and jumped up and fumbled for the nearest light. Once it was on, the pressure on his spine was immediately released, and he frantically examined at the place where he had been sleeping, hoping to find whatever he had been sitting on, or whatever had been sitting on him! Unfortunately, there was nothing there. He scratched his head with one hand and adjusted his pajamas with the other, since they felt too low in the back for some reason. He couldn't pull them up any higher, though, because something was blocking them over his backside. Confused about whatever that might be, Mike just ignored his clothing issues for now and ran his hand down his back, trying to find the spot that had been so painfully crushed. He didn't manage to find it, though, even as his hand dropped down near his bottom. Instead, he found a thick, fuzzy cord of flesh and joints sticking out of himself right where he should have felt his tailbone! He realized it felt a lot like whatever he'd been sitting on.
Crinkling his brow, Mike grasped this tubular object and worked his hand along it. After several inches, he finally found the aching part of his backbone that had so painfully pinned underneath something while he was in bed. Even so, he kept tracing his hands lower still, needing to find out where his spinal column actually ended now. When his hand reached the end of it, it also reached a thick, shaggy brush of long hair which Mike could feel himself ruffling.
Mike gulped and brought his hand back around from behind him, needing to see what it was holding. There, now in front of him, was the familiar brown tassel of a familiar brown tail. He'd seen the same thing countless times behind countless bovines during his childhood growing up on the farm, sometimes brown and sometimes black or white or both. He'd never felt one the way he could feel this one before, however!
Opening his mouth in shock, Mike quickly grabbed it with his other hand, too, completely unable to comprehend how this obvious cow tail could be be his. He pulled more of its length around him, needing to investigate further, but it didn't take him long to pull too far. The tail that had already been sat on was finally stretched just one inch too long, and it easily made its complaints known with a harsh stab of pain all the way through its bewildered owner's spine. Mike screamed and let go of it, feeling it flop against his legs as it dropped behind him.
"Nowaynowaynowaynowaynoway!" he stammered and looked around frantically for anywhere else this tail might have come from or anywhere else it might have gone. Predictably not finding a full sized brown cow in his bedroom, he craned his neck down over his back for another look at the tail he'd just yanked on, but he couldn't get a good view from this angle, so he dropped to all fours and dropped his head between his arms to look between his legs. There, hanging behind his ill-fitting pajamas, was the furry brown cord complete with its fluffy tassel. He could still feel the awful pain still throbbing all the way along it, but that was fading quickly as the seconds passed him by. He squinted at the slightly achy body part in deep focus. "If that's really mine, then maybe I can ..."
- Swish, swish SWAT! -
Mike's whole body flinched the instant his long tail slammed into his side for the first time. A look of pure amazement overcame his features. Was this what a cow would have felt while getting rid of flies? Time to try that again ...
- SWAT! Swing, sway -
"Whoa!" he shouted in complete surprise and fascination at his new found ability. He stood there on all fours for a few more moments grinning and slapping himself with his cow tail, really starting to enjoy the playful thumps against his torso and the relaxing rhythm of his new appendage.
At last, Mike stood up again, stretched and yawned a bit, and tried to figure out how on the earth it was possible for a person to grow an actual cow tail overnight!