So you can talk huh? Ch1

Pleasure Island had been everything of which Bobby had ever dreamt.

Like all dreams however, Bobby eventually had to wake up.

Bobby had become a donkey. He'd found himself captured and forced into a line of other boys that had suffered the same fate.

Someone had stripped of the boys of their clothing and loaded them into crates. The brays their donkey forms forced them to speak with censored their pleas for help.

With the island having made them look alike as donkeys, little if anything that could identify who was who. Indeed, the donkeys – the boys all appeared as though they'd never been human.

Some of the others close to Bobby were half-naked. Others were still fully clothed. Bobby only wore his black shorts.

Why had this happened to Bobby and the others? Why did they become donkeys instead of horses, pigs, cows or chickens? Bobby cringed. Other then the horse, the other options were far from colorful. Turning into a pig and lying in the cool mud all day might have sounded colorful but someone killing him to make bacon or pork chops was not.

Bobby realized the sorts of tasks for which people charged donkeys.

He'd never imagined this could happen. They couldn't all be donkeys.

The brays of the others were driving him crazy.

He pondered escape. A donkey's swimming ability (or lack there of) was unknown to Bobby. He didn't want to risk drowning. With his altered form also limiting his options for hiding and lifestyle, escape would indeed be a Pyrrhic victory.

Hope was fading by the moment. Bobby faced a terrifying present and uncertain future. He closed his eyes and focused on the recent past. Happy memories dominated his time on the island until he'd changed. Bobby hoped they'd temper his desire to panic.

Bobby was a well-behaved boy before the island. He did his homework and chores, took baths when his mother told him, didn't talk back and never said bad words.

That was perhaps the problem.

The curiosity and temptation to indulge in eating junk food, drinking forbidden things and even smoking existed within Bobby. He refrained out of fear of his mother catching him, not wanting to be bad and of bad things making him ill.

That a place supposedly existed where he'd be able to play and do as he wanted without rules and people telling him what not to do had difficult to resist.

Being a bad boy didn't appeal to Bobby. The fox and cat however had assured Bobby that this was simply a vacation – Bobby needed to indulge in those things so he'd get them out of his system and wouldn't be tempted to indulge in them any more.

The offer had made sense and Bobby had boarded the same coach with the other boys.

Bobby still remembered the sights that greeted him upon arriving at the island. There were rides everywhere. The scent of popcorn, cotton candy and other treats filled the air. A voice chanted about how everything was free and encouraged the boys to indulge.

In retrospect, Bobby should have listened to the instincts telling him this was too good to be true. He'd rationalized that with so many boys, there would be no way any bad people would try anything.

He'd gone on several rides, played several games and went through a funhouse and house of mirrors. It had all seemed like a normal carnival or amusement park. Bobby's worries and defenses had relaxed when nothing bad seemed to happen.

His fun became naughtier and more deviant after he met two other older boys (aged 16 as opposed to Bobby's 14). Most of the other boys were younger (some as young as eight or even six) so meeting someone older was a bit of a relief.

The other boys, Gordon and Peter were more willing to indulge. They'd both acquired and lit cigars by the time Bobby met them.

Gordon had been the first to offer Bobby a puff of Gordon's cigar. Bobby initially refused. Gordon however seemed relaxed, as did Peter. They'd both assured Bobby that they'd leave him alone if he didn't like it, life was too short to deny himself fun and pleasure and that nothing was going to happen if Bobby tried and perhaps even liked cigars.

Bobby had taken single puff, which led to another and then another. He'd liked both the taste and the way it made him feel. Despite that, he'd stopped at a single cigar both out of fear of taking it too far.

The others had indulged in two more cigars each.

Things started getting strange after they found a stand offering beer.

Gordon and Peter had again offered Bobby some. They both drank down a full glass to show Bobby that it was safe. Bobby had been a bit more afraid to try the beer but he'd felt he could trust them. He'd tried a glass by the time they were on their third glass.

The others were laughing at pretty much everything by that point and even Bobby was starting to feel the affects of the alcohol.

When Gordon's ears turned into donkey ears and he sprouted a donkey tail, Bobby had assumed he was hallucinating.

Peter and Gordon were soon dancing to the music that played around the park. Bobby had watched and laughed as both boys had removed their clothing sans underwear – something Bobby seemed to remember the fox encouraging. It seemed that clothing was option on the island, not out of some perverse reason but out of the idea of being free and letting go.

Bobby had joined in, but kept his shorts on.

He'd known something was very wrong in the back of his mind and had considered having another beer to temper those worries when things got out of hand.

Gordon's body and with it, his future and indeed the nature of his existence had changed drastically before Bobby's confused eyes.

Before anyone knew what was going on, Gordon was a donkey. Both he and Peter it seemed were so inebriated that they didn't notice. Perhaps they did and the part of their brains that would tell them something was wrong with that wasn't functioning.

Bobby had watched Peter laughing as he rode Gordon. When Gordon had seen a mirror, the laughing had stopped. Gordon's intoxicated state seemed to dissipate almost instantly as he became aware of his altered form or at least started seeing said form as error.

He'd begun to buck and bray before running off in a dazed panic that chilled Bobby to the bone.

Peter had jumped off Gordon only to succumb to the same spell.

Bobby felt a tear fall as he remembered Peter begging for help before the magic violated his form, leaving him with hooves in place of hands and soon, leaving him a complete donkey before he'd fled.

The curse was not merciful toward Bobby. He'd watched in the same mirror as his body started to change. His change was slower. Whether it was because he indulged less or because of something else about him, he didn't know. He'd run with hopes of escape. Guilt however over leaving the others behind burdened Bobby. The spell, perhaps sensing Bobby's desire for escape and guilt, had hastened the transformation. It left Bobby standing as a donkey wearing shorts a short distance from the rocky cliffs that surrounded the island.

His guilt had faded when he knew he was in the same boat as the others.

Now Bobby stood as that donkey, surrounded by other donkeys in the same predicament.

"Guys, we can't let them do this to us. We have to fight them somehow," Bobby said.

He could still talk! Unfortunately, the others only responded with brays.

Bobby wondered why he'd retained his ability to speak when others had not. Was there something special about him? Was it because he'd had less beer and cigars? He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

He worried that the boys that had lost their ability to speak had also lost their human minds. No, he thought, the idea was too disturbing. The idea of forgetting who he was and/or of truly becoming an ignorant animal terrified Bobby.

Stories of varying causes turning sane people into madmen danced through Bobby's mind. Sadly, when taking those into consideration, the idea of losing his mind to that of the beast he'd become felt all the more possible. No, Bobby thought, somehow, the others were speaking donkey but they were still themselves – they had to be!

The line progressed with the man that had seemed ever so friendly at first but now seemed far more sinister asking each donkey its name. Every donkey that brayed ended up with the man ripping the donkey's clothes off and throwing him into a crate.

The pang of desperation was growing stronger as Bobby neared the end of the line. He had to find a way to escape! He hoped he could use his retained ability to speak to ask for mercy.

It was soon Bobby's turn.

The man looked massive to Bobby.

"And what might your name be?" he asked.

Bobby gulped.

"My name is Bobby sir."

"So, we have another one that can still talk huh?" The man asked.

Bobby nodded.

"Please sir, don't do this to us. I'm sorry if I was bad," Bobby said. "I just want to go home. I'll never tell anyone about this place, I'm promise. Please, let us go!"

The man laughed, grabbed Bobby by the ears and tail and threw him into a pen where several others donkeys still wearing clothes stood. They too could still talk.

"You had your chance to be boys," the man said. "Think about that as you toil away for the rest of your lives as donkeys!"

Bobby was about to say something when he noticed the others the defeated looks on the other's faces.

"What's going to happen to us?" Bobby asked. "Why did they turn us into donkeys?"

"My name is Alexander. I don't know why they did this to us. I wana go home," a donkey in a sailor suit said.

Bobby looked at the man, who was attending to other donkeys.

"I don't want to be a donkey," Another donkey, one wearing a red shirt asked.

"We gotta find a way to escape so we can get our boy forms back," a donkey with a hat, shoes and blue shorts said.

"But even if we escape, where do we go?" Bobby asked.

The man walked over to the pen and cracked his whip.

"Quiet! Donkeys don't speak! You boys aren't changing back. Give up already!"

That seemed to be enough to silence the group. With little other options, Bobby hung his head and lay down.


- - -

Bobby spent the next while pondering what was going to happen to him and the others. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life as a donkey, especially not because of one foolish mistake! He wondered how much choice he had in the matter.

Could this be the end of existence, as he knew it? Would he be Bobby the donkey from this point forward? The idea seemed absurd.

As time went on, two more donkeys that could speak joined the group. One told the man his name was Stevie, the other, Charlie.

Sadly, Stevie, Charlie and most of the other donkeys that could still speak eventually lost that ability. When that happened, the man stripped and loaded them into crates.

Bobby, Alexander and a third donkey wearing a red shirt whose name was Paul were the only former boys to retain their human speech.

The man soon left for the ferry in which his men were loading the other donkeys. His promise that he'd soon return chilled Bobby. It felt like a stay of execution.

It however, gave Bobby, Alexander and Paul some privacy.

"Bobby, what's going to happen to us?" Alexander asked.

"I dunno. I wish I knew why we can still talk," Bobby said.

Bobby noticed Paul smelling him.

"What's wrong?" Bobby asked.

"You stink, you smell like a barn or something," Paul said.

"I'm a donkey! Of course I smell, I hate to say this but you stink too! I don't like it either but how can we stop it?" Bobby asked.

"Can't we take baths or something?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, I don't wana be stinky!" Alexander said.

Bobby held out a fore hoof.

"Guys, we have hooves! It's not like we have hands and can use soap or something. We're only gonna get baths if a human gives us a bath," Bobby said.

"I don't wana be a donkey," Alexander said. "Please, I'm sorry for doing bad things I did."

"Tell it to the guy, not me," Bobby said. "Look kid, I'm sorry too. I let other kids talk me into being bad and look what it got me."

"But, there's gotta be something we can do to be boys again," Paul said.

Bobby looked at his companions. While he wouldn't wish this on anyone, he was glad he wasn't facing this alone. They appeared a fair bit younger then he. Alexander sounded about eight and Paul, ten. Bobby knew he should have known better. He had less of an excuse for being in his current form then them. At least they had the ignorance of childhood as an excuse.

"Even if I gotta be a donkey forever, I still wana gonna home to my Momma," Alexander said.

"But then she'll know what you did," Paul said.

"What do you mean?" Alexander asked.

"We're donkeys because we were bad! If we go home as donkeys, everyone will know," Paul said.

"But we can't stay here forever. Then I'll never see my momma again," Alexander said. "Bobby what are we gonna do?"

Bobby never considered himself a leader. However, it was clear that Alexander and Paul were looking to Bobby for advice and a solution to their situation.

At least they could still speak. Needing help but being unable to express that need (or much of anything he needed or wanted to express) was a terrifying concept. Becoming a donkey even on the inside (if that indeed was why the others could not speak) however, was also terrifying. Bobby was unsure what was worse.

Being an ignorant animal would leave him ignorant of his situation but also at the mercy of his own ignorance.

Retaining his wits and memories would leave him a prisoner of the alterations to his form. His wits however could offer some hope of escape.

Bobby sighed. Neither option was appealing.

"What if we can't be boys again? What's being a donkey gonna be like?" Paul asked.

"It won't be bad will it?" Alexander asked.

Bobby realized that any kind of existence as donkeys he could imagine was unpleasant.

"Maybe having donkey bodies won't be so bad once we get used to them. But, living like donkeys won't be fun if they take us somewhere bad," Bobby said.

"What if we're like this a long time and don't want to change back even if we can?" Paul asked.

That was the problem; Bobby didn't want them to end up getting used to it. On the other hand, Bobby didn't want to be miserable for however long they were going to be like this, especially if there was no going back.

"I don't want that to happen either. But if we hate it, it'll be a lot worse," Bobby said.

"So, we should like it?" Paul asked.

"Maybe a little but only so this isn't a nightmare. Not so much that we don't wana go back," Bobby said.

"We still gotta escape," Paul said. "I'd rather go home and get into trouble for being a donkey then stay and live like a donkey."

Alexander nodded. "But how do we escape and get our boy forms back? I don't wana be stuck as a donkey!"

"I dunno guys but we'll think of something," Bobby said.

"How come we can still talk? Donkeys don't talk," Paul said.

In all honesty, Bobby didn't understand why he and the others weren't losing their ability to speak – that they weren't scared Bobby. He didn't want to lose the ability to speak. However, he also knew the man didn't want them talking and might hurt or even kill them to silence them. Bobby didn't want to die as a donkey and he knew Alexander and Paul didn't either.

"I don't get it either," Bobby said. "Maybe it means we're special, I dunno."

"But what about the other boys – we gotta help them too," Alexander said.

"Yeah, I don't wana never see my friends again," Paul said.

Bobby wondered what they could do to save themselves and the other boys. If he could still talk, he could tell the cops what the Coachman was doing. They would know what to do or could get help. The idea that Bobby and the others could be beyond saving was not an idea Bobby wanted to entertain.

"We gotta get outta here somehow," Alexander said. "Maybe we can swim back home?"

"But how do we swim?" Paul asked. "And how do we escape?"

"I dunno guys but I'll try and think of something," Bobby said.