Barry and the Butcher

Barry entered the butcher shop and grinned. Sawdust covered the floor, jars of condiments lined several shelves and a long front counter with a glass-fronted base displayed some of the place’s culinary delights. Just the way he remembered the butcher shops of his boyhood.

“Help you?” asked the hulking thick-necked figure behind the counter.

“Yes,” Barry said, “I believe you can.” He ran his tongue over his lips, already anticipating the smell and taste of a cut or two of meat grilled to perfection. Do you have sausages and chops? And loins and steaks and ribs?”

The clerk’s eyes narrowed. “You want all of those?”

“Sure,” Barry said. Then he chuckled. “And I wish I could afford ‘em all, too, but I can’t so just give me two beef steaks.”

“Thick cut or thin? Choice or prime?”

“Oh thick cut,” Barry answered. “And prime. No sense in not going with the best, hey? Oh, and what the heck, wrap up three pork chops, as well.”

“Just a minute.” The clerk raised a hand from behind the counter and punched at a button on the wall.

Barry stared at the hand. No fingers or thumb...more like a hoof. What in the world--

Two creatures burst out from a back door, snorting as they charged.

“Hey,” Barry cried as they knocked him to the floor. “What are you doing? What--” He choked on sawdust, tried to rise, and saw the hoof coming at him. The pain as it hit his head was excruciating. Barry pulled his arms up as a shield, wincing as another kick got through, as several more crashed against his arms, hands and upper torso.

“Drag the murdering animal eater into the cellar,” said a deep voice between snorts.

“No,” Barry gasped. “I--”

Another hoof smashed against his skull, and Barry rolled into a ball, whimpering. He felt himself being lifted. “Let go of me. Where are you taking me? What--”

“Quiet!” snapped the deep voice.

“Lock the cattle killing hog hacker in one of the cages,” came a second voice.

“Yeah,” said a third. “Let him see what it’s like to live in a box.”

Barry struggled, but there were too many of them. Bruised and bleeding, he was carted down a steep stairwell and stuffed into a smelly container. “Let me out!” he cried.

“In good time,” said the deep voice.

The room went dark and Barry was left alone. He pounded at the steel mesh of his tiny prison and yelled until his mouth went dry. There wasn’t even room to turn around, and soon his muscles went from aching to numb.

Finally, many hours later, the deep-voiced hoofed leader returned. In the dim light of a single bulb Barry saw the creature was half bull and half pig. A large hose was draped around the animal’s neck.

“You stink,” the creature said.

“So do you,” Barry shot back.

The animal snorted. He raised the hose and sent a stream of water at Barry’s cage.

Barry tried to turn away, but of course he couldn’t. He couldn’t turn anywhere.

“Take off those filthy clothes,” the animal ordered.

“No,” Barry said.

Several other hoofed creatures appeared. One unlocked the cage. Two others dragged Barry out. They stripped him then shoved him back into his prison.

However, the cage door was still open, and Barry made a movement toward the opening. Get out now before-- Another powerful stream of water came from the hose. Barry fell backwards hitting his head against the back of his cell. At the same time two of his animal captors raised a bucket and let its contents fly. Rice, corn, potatoes, noodles and water hit Barry full in the face.

“Eat up,” said the deep voiced one, swiftly slamming and re-latching the cage’s door.

Barry’s mouth hung open a moment, then he hunched over and began to eat, gobbling up every edible morsel he could reach. “I want my clothes,” he mumbled between bites. “These are inhumane conditions. I—”

Water washed over him for the third time.

***

The next day they dragged him from his cage again.

“Now what?” cried Barry.

“Now we make you easier to handle,” said the deep voiced one. He and several of his cohorts held Barry down while others strapped him to a gurney.

“Stop!” Barry cried. “You’re hurting me.”

“Hurting you?” one repeated. “You haven’t felt anything yet.”

“Yeah,” added another. “”We’re gonna practice a little animal husbandry on you.”

“Animal husbandry?” Barry mumbled. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“Castration,” said the deep voiced one.

“No!” Barry struggled against his bonds. “You can’t. You—”

A sharp blow sent his head spinning. A couple more raps on the head and his world went black....

***

“Aghh! Eeee-ow!”

Barry opened his eyes, heard more screams, and then realized the screams were his own. The pain in his groin – Oh God! He passed out again.

The next week was a nightmare. Agonizing pain mixed with bouts of nausea made Barry almost wish he were dead. He was now in a larger cage, but that hardly mattered. “What have I done to deserve this?” he moaned to one of his captors.

“What have all those defenseless calves, steers, pigs and lambs done to deserve what you humans do to them?” the creature snapped back.

Barry shook his head. “That’s different. I’m a human.”

“Yeah,” the animal snorted. “You sure are.”

A few days later they moved Barry back to his tiny cell. He was healing well, and his nausea was gone. Indeed, now he was ravenous. “Food, food. Give me lot’s of food,” he demanded whenever they looked in on him. For what else did he have to live for? They’d taken away his manhood and his freedom.

With no room to move or exercise he soon grew heavier, the pounds piling up on his swelling body.

***

“It’s time,” the deep voiced one announced several weeks later.

“Time?” Barry rubbed sleep from his eyes, and looked around his cage for any stray food scraps. “Wh-what do you mean? Time for what?”

“Time for the next and final step in your husbandry.”

For the first time Barry noticed all his captors – bulls and hogs, cows and sows - wore rubber boots. “No!”

“Yes,” said the deep voiced one.

“Yes,” said the others.

They clamped his obese limbs into irons.

“You wanted clothing,” said, the deep voiced one, “so now we’re going to dress you out real nice.”

Barry screamed as two large meat hooks were jammed under his arms. Bulls and hogs, cows and sows - some on two feet and others on four - cheered as he was swung in the air.

Barry opened his mouth and screamed again, waiting helplessly for the final slaughter to come.