It was hard to overcome the hunger that was growing as his extra stomachs swelled. But Mike was a farm boy to the last, and he does his early morning chores before anything else. By the time the animals are out in their pasture, Mike is famished, and his belly also looks a little bigger than it used to. His shirt is tighter on him, but he's much more annoyed with the hunger.
"Maybe I should head back the farmhouse for breakfast," he thinks, but he really doesn't want to leave the cows. They're the last animals he brought out, and they're the ones he most enjoys spending time with. He can't understand why he forgot to bring his breakfast out here with him this morning. On days when he gets to stay home, he usually brings out a granola bars and water so he can just spend the morning out here enjoying the presence of the livestock. Even Jeff and Dean and the others don't realize how much time Mike really spends with his animal friends, and he would be embarrassed to tell them. He doesn't realize that Jeff's "brother" already knows the full extent of it.
Watching the cattle graze, Mike bites his lip and wishes that he could eat with him like he usually prefers. He sees some of them starting to swish their tails now that the occasional flies are starting to land on their rumps, and he can't help but smile because he has one too now. Smirking coyly, he looks around to make sure no one else is out here. It's one of the more distant pastures, and his father trusts him to handle the cattle mostly by himself. Surely no one would notice if ...
Mike reaches down the back of his pants to save his new fifth limb from its confinement. He doesn't really feel his hands grabbing it, nor does he feel the warmth of his human leg against it, but he can certainly feel its furry form against his leg. He lifts it out gently, not wanting to hurt it like he did this morning. As soon as the tail is brought out into the cool morning air, a prickly tingle seeps down all the way through the bony length of his appendage. Mike gives it a quick inspection then and lets it fall behind him. He grits his teeth and tries to make it move again. This works like a charm: swinging his tail around seems to help the numbness wear off faster.
"I need to buy some even wider jeans," he says to himself, happy to let his tail hang out again. "I bet you girls have never had your tails fall asleep sleep in a pair of work pants, huh?" he quips to the cows, suddenly a little jealous of them not having to hide what makes them bovine. They don't look up from the grass, and he just can't help but stare at the idyllic foliage with them. His large belly rumbles. "Y'all don't have to leave your fields for breakfast either, do ya?" Their huge jaws rip out strands of the green stuff without a problem. He wishes he could drop to his hands right where he stands and eat with them.
But he can, can't he? He remembers trying it a few times when he was younger, just to try to see why they enjoyed it so much. Sure, it didn't taste the best, and he got pretty sick that one time he ate way too much of it, but surely just another taste wouldn't hurt...
"No, I'm way too old to play cow like that..."
But not too old to grow a tail? Not too old to talk to his cows like they were his buddies? Not too old to sleep in the old barn loft almost as often as he slept in his bedroom? The grass this morning looked so moist and fresh, so cool and juicy, so pleasant for his bovine pals to eat. Even the smell of it was like heaven for his nostrils (which he couldn't see widening) or like raw temptation for his gaping gut (which he could feel bloating up against his clothes). He knew he was going to have to eat something soon, and he couldn't really wait any longer. Surely just a little taste wouldn't--
Mike dropped to all fours in an instant and shoved his face right down onto the soft dew-soaked ground. He wrapped his mouth greedily around a thick patch of grass and bit it off with a gusto he had never known. Feeling all those blades and stalks inside his mouth made him roll his eyes back in pleasure, and the savory sap that drained out of them between his teeth tickled his tongue and tantalized his throat in the best way possible. "This is way better than I remembered!" he tried to say but only groaned through a mouthful of grass. A few of the nearby cattle lowed as if to answer him. Mike chewed and swallowed and took another bite, and another, binging himself as though he hadn't eaten in days.
Mike couldn't see the white patch that had formed in his head hair or the fuzz that was forming on both the inside and the outside of his ears. He couldn't see the two hard bumps that were just barely visible over his ears and under his hair. Mike only had eyes for the grass, and a youthful part of him was giddy that he was grazing with his father's cows again for the first time in years. He probably should have really thought about just how baggy his jeans were when he put them on and how tight they had become as his legs and hips expanded. Really, though, who can blame the young man for such a blatant oversight? It's hard to think straight on four empty stomachs, after all.