John and Jarred scratched messages to each other in the dust for hours. Long sentence structure caused their movement far from the waterhole and the creek.
It was John who first noted the nocoming cattle truck and some cowboys in Jeeps. The Fall round up had caught up with the two of them. As ropes fell over their heads they were loaded aboard the truck and driven back to holding pens at the main barns.
John knew what to expect as he had gone through this process as a man. Yet this was very different to be injected with medicine, bathed in insect killer and then a white hot iron laid on your thigh.
John screamed a Mooo as the Iron touched his bovine flesh, while Jarred passed out when he saw it coming his way. Now each felt like true animals although they knew that luck was with them since niether was casterated when branded.
A long day became even longer as the two bulls were seperated into different pens. John especially had been up all night as he mounted cows in the pasture. Now it was late afternoon and he stood in the hot sun surrounded by warm bodies of cows.
Both boys had by now experianced enough mounting of cows to look every bit the bull each was in form. Jarred and John watched the other and kept count of just how many they satisfied and which ones got away.
Soon the buyers came around and bid on cows and bulls. The language was what each boy had spoken when human but after so many mounting their intellects began to fade. John was quick to notice he heard the talking plainly but most words were just vague sounds without any meaning.
At last feeding time when troughs are filled with fodder and grains. Jarred was used to eating fodder by know but John held back as the scent of rotting grass hit his nose.
Late afternoon and sundown brought hope to John the bull. He knew that his second change would soon be over and he could get out to the creek and recover the silver buckle.
Trouble camein pairs as two by two cattle semi's pulled up to the pens and began to load the cows. Soon the wrangler came for the two big bulls. Poked and proded they were moved into the trailers. Jarred seemed to accept his fate better than John. He heard the word Packers which rang an alarm in his head.