Even though Jeff was not the brightest of boys, he had to admit that the old lady was more than just a table magician doing card tricks. He sat glumly on the stage as Stephan, her 19 year old son, led the donkeys out of the tent one-by-one. Madame Illusia finally addressed him.
"I am glad that you are persuaded, young man. It's a shame that your friends will have to spend their lives as dumb jackasses from now on."
"But... aren't you going to turn them back?" he blurted.
"Certainly, for a fee," she replied. "But I know that you have no money. No fee, no transformations, even for you. Since you didn't believe in changes, you will never change, but stay as a spotty teenage male forever. Take the boy away, Stephan."
As Jeff waited for Stephan to return, he watched the audience queuing up to pay the old lady for transformations. The events of the last half-hour had certainly convinced them. Stephan was leading Jeff out by the hand as two elderly gentlemen whooped with joy as they became strapping 25 year old men at the height of their physical powers.
The cold air outside the tent hit Jeff as they left through the tent flaps and it took a while for his eyes to become accustomed to the darkness. Faint braying in the distance became louder as Stephan pulled Jeff towards the enclosure. There the eight donkeys walked around the small space, sometimes chomping on the grass and other times sitting and chewing the cud. A large lumbering jackass, which Jeff recognised as having once been 20 year old gang-leader Seth, tried to jump onto the back of another smaller donkey.
"We will take them all to market in the morning," whispered Stephan. "But first you need to be prepared for storage."
Jeff felt his feet, then his legs, become stiff as Stephan let go and pushed him onto the grass. He tried to call out, but found that his vocal cords were disabled and that his mouth was frozen into the shape of an O. Stephan walked back to the tent, leaving the boy stiff and unconscious on the ground.