Sign the contract

You take the fountain pen from the space between the board and clip. You open the pen, your eyes searching and finding their way to the bottom of the page. There you find a long black line, with the label ‘Volunteer Signature’ beneath it in small text size. You take a deep breath, and scrawl out Esmé Hortense Deschamps. You hand her the contract and she looks at you smiling.

“Esmé…” She prompts.

“Yes?” You respond.

To which she gives a harsh reprimand. “Wrong!” She exclaims. “You are no longer Esmé! That is an improper name for a cow like you! A cow like you shall be named… let’s see here… How about ‘Jolie Vache’?” She looks at you with a smirk. “Seems to fit your and your culture, no?”

You sigh and nod, not even knowing what your name means, as you don’t speak French. You walk over and pick up your clothes. You feel the secretary’s hand slap yours and seemingly a mile a minute.

“No Jolie Vache! Don’t you see? Clothes are for women! I am a woman, and thus I wear clothes. You are a farm animal, a cow, and thus, you do not wear clothes.”

She snatches the clothes from your hands and walks over to a cupboard where she tosses them inside. You rub your hands, red from the secretary’s strike. She makes her way back over to you with a small bag.

“Another thing, Jolie Vache. As aforementioned, I am a woman, and you a cow. Every woman that we’ve ever seen has walked on her hind legs. Now, cows don’t do that. They use all four.”

You feel her hand on your upper back as she guides you down to the floor, kneeling on your hands and knees.

“Good girl! Now, follow me, Jolie Vache!” She says as she opens up the door. You decide to stay in her good graces and crawl along the floor at her feet. She leads you out into the hallway. You follow her long, slender legs down the hallway for a little bit, before she turns right into a clinical looking room. She holds the door open, and you trot in behind her as she closes the door.

“Here, our esteemed Doctor Inek will get you ready for assimilation into the herd. We are lucky to have gotten him from halfway across the world in Turkey! I’ll return when he’s finished.”

She kneels down and pats your head.

“Be a good girl for me, Jolie Vache!”

She turns around and leaves out the door.

You decide to prop yourself up on your heels. You twist your back and stretch. You look around the room and see what looks like a basic doctor’s office. There’s cupboards, a counter, a stool, and a laptop. However on the bed, there are some poles with cushioned loops at the end. You climb up onto the bed, working your way around the loops. You sit, legs crossed, hand held on your lap. You sit for a couple seconds before the door creaks open. In walks a tall, Turkish man, with hair that is in the middle of graying coming out of the center of his scalp.

“Hey there, pretty! You must be…” He trails off before pulling a Post-It Note out of his lab coat pocket. “Jolie Vache? Interesting name. Becca usually prefers names often tied to cows or ones that sound really sensual. You must be special.”

He winks and smiles at you.

“Now, I can see that you’ve been very good on getting up onto the padding. Let me help you finish.” He walks over and opens the loops. He leads you by your chin, resting your neck on the black leather of the thickest circle. He snaps the top shut. You find that your head is now trapped. He guides your hands into two smaller loops near the base of the larger one. He clicks those shut, making your wrists immovable. He then moves behind you, pulling your shins backwards. He lifts up your feet, and sets down your ankles just behind a second pair of loops. He clicks those two closed, holding your legs in place.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you sweetie, it’s just to make sure that everything turns out 100% perfect. Now, let me quickly debrief you on what we’re going to do right now. First, we’ll go through all the identification processes, like your tag, barcode, and branding.”

You think of what he just said. Tag. Like an ear tag? Well, I mean, you’ve been trying to get your ears pierced for a while now, you’ve just never had the time. Barcode probably refers to a tattoo. Though painful, it’s possible to have one removed. And branding, well, that won’t be pleasant. But, then again, surgery would allow the branding heal and fade into the rest of your skin. Is it worth it? You’ve already gotten a little experience on what it’s like to be added to a herd by request. You could throw in the towel now. But then, you won’t be able to dive even deeper to find more secrets of the industry.