Amy thought for some time about which animal to choose. It was hard to make a decision when she wasn't even sure what was going to happen when she pulled the lever. Why ask for an animal? The sign said "augmentation," but what is it going to augment? And how?
She almost abandoned the prospect of doing anything with the strange machine when an idea popped into her head. She remembered when she was young and visited her grandfather's farm. She loved playing out in the field with the animals and helping take care of them. Of all the pretty horses and chickens and cute pigs, the animals that most attracted her were the cows. She frequently asked her grandfather if she could take one home for herself.
"Why not?" she asked herself, smiling at her fond memories. Amy slipped her quarter into the tiny slot and leaned in close to the receiver. "Cow," she said carefully, not knowing how accurate its voice recognition was.
The machine sprang to life. Gears whirred within the metal box and from behind her the strange metal device pushed against her back. Amy was so startled she tried to stand up, but a large cold clamp latched across her shoulders. She felt something tug her shirt up, and a needle danced across her lower back. She shivered with pain, clenching her teeth and mashing her fists against her legs. As quickly as it had started, the needle retracted and the clamp released.
Amy shot out of the chair, clutching her burning back. The chair stopped making its gear-whirring noises and now looked exactly as it had when she first sat upon it. What had just happened? The pain in her back started to fade as she looked around the store for a mirror. When she finally located one, she turned around and lifted up her shirt. Twisting her neck, she could see that the chair had etched a strange pattern into the skin. It was a series of circles, one within the other, and many strange symbols traced around them. The pattern was three inches in diameter, and in the center it had a long head-shaped silhouette with two horns sticking out horizontally from the top. It certainly looked like a cow to Amy.
"All that for a strange tattoo?" she sighed. "Mom isn't going to like this." She straightened her shirt out and started combing the aisles for Lina.