As the sun came up, the boys stayed in their beds, anxious of the day. A loud horn blows and scares everyone in the bunkhouse, as the lights come on. The Man in Red opens the door to the bunkhouse and enters. “On your hooves, donkeys,” he commands. The boys get out of bed and stand up. “You’ve all got a lot of work to do. The Ferry for the park arrives tonight at eight o’clock, so everything needs to be ready by then.”
The Man exits the bunkhouse, leaving the door open and boys awkwardly shuffle out into the morning light. The fur covering their bodies concealed most of their nudity as they walked shyly and gathered outside. The Man waits for them all to come out and cracks his whip in the air. “This is what will happen, if any of you decide to misbehave,” he shouts. A boy is thrown to the ground who is more donkey than the others. His ears are longer and his face more pronounced. His feet have formed into hooves and his fur is thicker all over. Dean looked at him, and knew it was Jake. Jake awkwardly gets to his hooves and steps over into the group.
“Are we ready to work,” the Man in Red asks. The boys all call out, “heee haww,” however Jake’s bray sounded much more authentic. Guards came up and took groups of the boys to different parts of the island to do manual lifting, cleaning, and maintenance. Dean managed to stick with Jake, who said nothing at all, unless a guard called for him, and then “hee haw” was his only response.
The day was as long as the Man in Red had promised, with very short breaks for food and water, but as the sun set, the cool night air brought about some relief. A loud whistle then blew, it was eight o’clock, and the ferry had arrived. The guards assigned the boys to various games, food counters, and rides. Jake and Dean were stationed at a beer counter stocked with dozens of kegs and a mountain of plastic cups. Dean looked at Jake as he just stared forward. He leaned in and whispered, “Jake, please, are you okay.” Jake just looked at him, and shook his head, ‘no.’