When Nate heard his parents come home, he blew out the candle, turning back to normal.
He knew his mom had been trying to make them eat vegan, and a thought came to his mind. "Donkeys are herbivores, right? Maybe I could use
this to make dinner seem more tasty."
So Nate went into the dinning room, and placed the candle on the dinner table.
"What's that?" his mom asked.
"I bought it at a store," Nate replied "and thought it would look nice on the table while we ate."
"Aw, how nice of you." she said, smiling.
Just then, his dad came in.
"Your son bought this candle for us to eat by." she told him "Isn't that nice?"
"I guess." Nate's dad replied. He knew a candle wouldn't change how the food tasted, but if she was happy, then he was too.
Nate's mom finished making the salad, and after they all sat down and said grace, before they started eating Nate's mom asked him to light the
candle.
"It's yours, dear." she said "It's only fair that you do the honors." and with that, Nate lit the candle, and they started eating.
After a few bites, the changes started. They all felt itching sensations on their bodies. Nate knew what it was, but his parents ignored it, and
continued eating their salad.
Nate stopped so he could see his parents change. The hair on their bodies grew thicker, and their ears grow six inches tall and furry.
Nate looked under the table to see his parent's feet, just like his, had become black hooves. He watched as his face pushed out into an equine
snout, and his parent's did too.
As he felt his own tail growing, he saw his parent's tails growing too. Their transformations were now complete. Nate was now a 6 foot, 4 inch
donkey boy, his dad was now a 6 foot, 6 inch donkey man, and his mom was now a 6 foot, 4 inch donkey woman.
Nate quickly finished his salad - it really did taste better now! He watched as his parents finished their salads with satisfied looks on their
faces.
"Boy, that sure wuz sum gooood eatn's!" Nate's dad said, now considerably less intelligent.
"Well thanks, suguh!" his mom said, also less intelligent now. Nate's intelligence had also gone down like theirs, but he at least knew it was the
candle doing it, and all he had to do was blow it out to have things go back to normal.
"Ma, Pa." Nate asked "Notice anythang diffurent?" They both stopped and thought for a few seconds until their brains started hurting.
"Well shoot." his dad said "I don't see nuttn' diffurent, do you, sweet thang?"
"Nah." she said, scratching her head "I just knows sumthang's off, but golly - I can't put mah fingah on it."
So Nate took them upstairs where they could see their own reflections, and they still didn't get it!
"Are ya sayn' there's a spot on the mirror?" his mom asked him "'Cause I'm sure as shootn' I cleaned it this mornin'."
Nate smiled at how dense they had become, so he just told them. "We're donkey folks, Ma an' Pa - that's what I been tryn' ta tell 'yall."
It took a few seconds to register, and they finally realized it.
"Wow," his dad said, smiling "we're purty dumb, ain't we?"
"Yep." his mom said, smiling "Burnt-out light-bubs is what we are."
They wiggled their ears, swished their tails, and found they liked it.
Nate then explained about the candle. His parents were't mad - in fact they were really happy.
They hugged him, and thanked them for making them so happy and carefree.
They then watched TV, and went to bed, but do they blow out the candle first?