TWO YEARS LATER

"Sarah, are you really going to wear that?" Gwen was shaking her head at her sister in wonder.

Sarah looked down at her outfit, frowning. Her white pleated miniskirt and tight-fitting white linen tank top looked fine for a date at the school dance, and her white socks and tennis shoes gave her a cute, athletic look, though she had little interest in sports, but her taste in clothes took little account of what she was actually doing. "What's wrong with it?"

"Well, it's just that it'll probably get kind of grubby, depending on what chores Tom wants you to do. It'd make more sense to wear something that was kind of grubby to start with."

"I don't have clothes like that. Just because I'm a farm girl doesn't mean I have to look like it." She pulled the stool towards her and sat, putting the pail under Gwen's breasts.

"What do you wear when you're doing chores at Dad's?"

With an exasperated gesture, Sarah indicated her present outfit. She reached down and started milking Gwen.

Jenny shook her head, wide eyed. "And they don't get dirty?"

"That's what they have bleach and washing machines for. It's not a big deal. I just don't like wearing shorts and stuff. If Bobby comes by, I want to be dressed like a girl, not a farmhand."

From Monica's and Jill's stall, Gail called out, "I think she looks really cute in that."

Sarah yelled over her shoulder, "Thank you, Gail." Continuing to milk Gwen, she said, "See, some people think I look nice."

"Oh yeah, that'll look really nice with splotches of mud and poop on it. You know, you won't get to keep any of your nice outfits when you're a girlcow."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm not going to be a girlcow. I'm marrying Bobby, living in town and having ten babies."

Jenny blinked. "He asked you?"

Sarah colored slightly. "Umm. Well, no, but I'm the only girl he's seeing. That's always a sign."

In the next stall, Gail choked back a comment and coughed.

"What, Gail?"

"Nothing."

Karen, sharing Gwen's and Jenny's stall today and resting on the sleeping pad until her turn came to be milked, asked, "Sarah, are you making any plans in case... well, if things don't work out somehow with Bobby?"

"What kind of plans?"

"Like... college or something?"

Sarah shook her head. "I'm not into school. Anyway, why plan for something that's not going to happen?"

Karen rolled her eyes and put her head back down. It was so amazing how different Sarah and her sister Sasha were -- Sasha, for whom the elaborate planning of every detail of her life was second nature. Even when Karen had last seen them, when they were thirteen, the differences had been striking. All of the cows at Tom's were getting caught up on the lives of Sarah and Sasha, and the other two girls in their litter, Sally and Sandy, after a gap of several years. Tom and his dad had agreed that the girls would spend their senior year in school working part-time at Tom's, each spending one afternoon a week after school, and a full day every other weekend. Sasha's after-school duties had recently been interrupted by the start of basketball season -- she was one of the team's standout players -- but she still managed to put in a long day at the farm on alternate Sundays.

As Sarah turned on the stool and moved the bucket to start milking Jenny, Gwen, on the other side of Jenny from Sarah, ducked her head underneath Jenny and grinned. "So all in all, you don't have a problem wearing those clothes to do your chores?"

"It doesn't bother Daddy."

"So you don't mind that I can see your panties when you sit on the stool like that?

Sarah blushed furiously and smoothed her skirt down between her legs. "Shut up."

Gail looked in through the stall gate. "You done, Sarah?"

"Almost." The flow from Jenny's breast was slowing.

"After we get the milk to the bottling room, I've got a few minutes before I have to make dinner. Want to listen to my new 'Petgirls' CD? Miss Wendy bought it yesterday. There's this one song -- you'll love it!"

"Sure." She gave Jenny's boob a pat and picked up the pail. "Is it 'Master Said'? I heard that yesterday."

"No, it's called 'Not With My Meat.' It's really cute."

"Oh, I don't think I've heard that!"

On the way out of the barn, Gail paused briefly by Kirsten's head, brushing some of the dust out of Kirsten's hair and wiping her cheek lightly with a damp cloth where the girls were in the habit of kissing their late sister as they entered the barn. She smiled at Sarah then as she picked up the pails and they left the barn together, still talking about songs from the CD.

The cows could still hear Gail and Sarah talking and giggling halfway across the yard. Jenny looked at Gwen. "Gail's not like that with the other S-girls, is she? Or am I imagining things?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY

"Sasha, you don't need to go so fast," Jill panted. "Our legs aren't as long as yours, in case you've forgotten."

"Sorry." Sasha moderated her pace slightly, increasing the slack in Jill's, Gwen's, and Monica's leashes. "Although a little exercise won't hurt you."

Jill sighed, remembering her sister Sasha had already started to be a fitness freak when she was thirteen or fourteen, before Jill had left her dad's farm to come to Tom's. Now eighteen, in her denim short-shorts and hiking boots, her well-muscled legs looked as if they wanted to break into a run at any moment. "Wait'll you're a girlcow, see how much exercise you need. Everything will go to your boobs, not your hips."

Sasha unconsciously brushed her forearm on the underside of her high, smallish breasts, covered by a t-shirt, the bottom half of it cut off just below her sports bra because she liked showing off her taut abs. "Exercising isn't about weight and shape. It's about how you feel in your body. Anyway, I won't be a girlcow if I get that scholarship to college."

Gwen, almost out of breath, was relieved to see they had nearly reached the field. "Sash, you were nuts to turn down that basketball scholarship. What's it matter who's giving you the money?"

"I told you, I need an academic scholarship. If the basketball team was paying my tuition, they'd expect me to practice all the time, and I'd never get a chance to study. That's no way to get into vet school after I graduate."

"Since when did you need to study to get A's?"

Sasha smiled. "College is different."

About ten meters behind them, Jenny, Clarissa and Natalie trailed Gail, who held their leashes. Natalie, looking at Sasha up ahead, said to Clarissa, "It's funny how babies from the same litter turn out. Sasha's this super smart jock, and Sarah looks like she models teen clothes in a mail-order catalog. And Sally and Sandy are identicals, and you said you remember they were always like two peas in a pod, always together and holding hands -- I guess that's not too surprising. I'm kind of surprised your dad and Tom managed to get them to come here separately. That was really cute yesterday, Sandy sitting in Karen's and Kirstie's old stall, looking around, saying she was just trying to imagine her and Sally living there. They want to be girlcows, and the other two don't. Were all four of them always like this, from the start?"

Clarissa looked at her lover. Natalie had been fairly quiet for several weeks -- since about the time Clarissa's four "S" sisters had started working at the farm. Clarissa was sure it had to do with their time drawing near. They had stayed away from the subject for months, and Clarissa didn't know how to bring it up. Certainly she couldn't mention it now, with Jenny walking right next to her -- Karen, away for the weekend with Clarence, was the only sister who knew about Tom's promise to Clarissa to hang her as soon as at least a couple of her younger sisters were added to the herd.

She thrust the subject aside in her mind yet again and focussed on Natalie's question, thinking back. "Kind of, yeah. Sasha always had all this energy. Sarah was always the best of us at figuring out what clothes would look really cute on her -- she'd insist on going with Mom if she was out looking for clothes. And Sally and Sandy, they've always stayed together, even more than most of us. It was almost like they had a chain like ours. I mean, Karen and Kirstie were identicals too, and they mostly stayed together, but even they would do stuff on their own. Kirstie was always getting Dad pissed off at her, and Karen was the 'good little girl.'" She giggled. "She'd kill me if she heard me say that."

Natalie looked at Clarissa again. "Were you a lot like the other girls in your litter, or were you all different too?"

Clarissa was glad Natalie was talking more, though having a spirited conversation with her made it still more difficult to stay off certain subjects. "We weren't much alike, as far as I could tell. Were we?" She looked at Jenny.

Jenny shrugged. "Not really. Except you and Calla, maybe."

Clarissa nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Except she never..." She stopped suddenly. She had been about to say Calla had never shared her interest in hanging. Her mind spun furiously, trying to find an alternate ending for the sentence she'd started. Desperately she looked around, saw they'd arrived at their destination. "Oh, we're here!" She couldn't keep the relief out of her voice.

We have to talk about it as soon as we get back to the barn, she thought. It's been really stupid, putting it off.

After Gail and Sasha had unhooked their leashes, all the girls headed for separate parts of the field -- Clarissa and Natalie, of course, went off together. As usual, they left their feces in different areas -- being connected by their collar chain didn't mean they couldn't spread their poop around to different places. After Clarissa finished, she turned to start heading back towards Gail, almost choking as the chain suddenly pulled taut and Natalie said, "Clarissa, wait."

Clarissa looked around at her in astonishment. "Huh?"

Natalie looked past her. "Gail, could you come here a minute?"

Clarissa looked in all directions, trying to determine what the trouble might be. "Natalie, what's going on?"

Natalie was watching Gail arrive. "Gail, can we go back in those trees for a minute?"

Clarissa turned to look at her so fast their neck chain swung wildly between them. "WHAT?"

Natalie kissed her. "Clarissa, trust me, please. And you too, Gail, okay? We're just going a really short distance into the wood. You can watch from the edge, but don't stay close, okay?"

Clarissa's stomach churned. "Natalie, I'm not sure..."

Natalie held Clarissa's eyes with her own. "Clarissa, I know what you're afraid of, but this isn't about that. Don't think about that. Nobody can steal you, not with all that security stuff in there. Think about another time, before, when we were in those woods, and you weren't scared. You were strong. Strong enough for both of us."

Sasha was coming up behind Gail. "What is it?"

Gail shook her head. "I don't know."

Her eyes still on Clarissa, Natalie said to Gail, "Nothing's wrong. I just need to tell Clarissa something."

"And you can't do it in the barn? We could take you behind the barn if you really need privacy."

Natalie shook her head. "We need to do it out here. Okay?" The last was directed at Clarissa.

Clarissa swallowed, looked into the woods, and nodded. "We'll be fine. Just give us a few minutes."

Gail looked nervously at Tom in the distance, his tractor puttering through a field nearer the house. The other cows were starting to amble curiously towards her. From the yard next to the house came the distant sounds of Wendy's nine kids: twenty-one month-old Bret, his four sisters Beth, Bonnie, Becky, and Belinda from the same litter, and the four three-year-old A-girls. "Okay. Just a few minutes, though."

Natalie nodded. "That's all we need." She raised her eyebrows at Clarissa, who nodded and followed her, biting her lip as they passed the first line of trees.

Natalie stopped by the ditch. Clarissa had known they were headed there.

Natalie gave Clarissa a sideways glance. "You don't like being back here, do you?"

Clarissa shuddered. "Not really, no."

"I can tell you always tense up when we get close to the trees. I'm sorry, I just had to come here with you, though. I've been thinking about this place a lot. It's really special to me. And you know why."

"Well, sure. I think about that day too. I have dreams about it sometimes."

Natalie nodded. "We'll be getting some new girlcows in a few months."

Clarissa blinked at the change in subject. Cautiously, she responded, "Yes..."

"And that means you're supposed to be hanged."

"But that's only if you're ready to do it with me! I'm not going without you!"

Natalie looked down into the ditch beside their hooves. "That night... you know you saved my life twice, don't you?"

Clarissa thought she knew what she meant, and nodded.

"I would have drowned, but you breathed life into me. And inside me, something was already dead. But you breathed life back into that too."

Her cheeks were streaked with tears. "Clarissa, I've had three extra years of life because of what you did here. And really alive, not dead inside like I was before I met you. You gave me my life, so you're the only person I'd give it back to. I'm a little scared of hanging. But if you're there, I won't be."

Clarissa stared at her for a long time. "Natalie... for real? You're ready to do it with me?"

Natalie looked straight into her eyes. "Absolutely."

Clarissa closed her eyes. Her recurrent fantasy of dangling by the neck, rubbing up against Natalie at a hanging party knocked at the door of her mind, but another image shoved it aside. In her mind, she was back in the ditch, on a rainy, pitch-dark night, feeling a terrified Natalie trembling beneath her. She took a deep breath. "Natalie... I'm... not... ready."

Natalie's breath caught in her throat. "What?"

Clarissa looked down into the ditch. "Three years is a long time. We've shared a lot, in those years. But... We could have almost twenty more. And... I want that." She looked back at Natalie. "I want that time with you. More than hanging, more than anything. I didn't know how much until right this minute. But I do now. Do you want that too? I mean..." She looked at Natalie uncertainly. "You're not all hot on dying right away, are you?"

The look on Natalie's face was like a beam of sunshine breaking through the dense canopy of trees. She threw herself against Clarissa, and Clarissa's shout of joy turned into "Oh, shit!" as she felt her back hoof slipping in the loose soil at the edge of the ditch. They tumbled into it together, Natalie landing heavily on Clarissa and immediately covering her face in kisses.

They heard running feet, and in seconds saw Gail above them, her hands covering her mouth, Sasha behind her gaping at them.

Both girls turned as Tom came running up. "What the hell's going on?" He looked down and saw Clarissa and Natalie. "What are you DOING in there??"

Clarissa was laughing wildly, happily. "It's really a long story, Tom, but wait'll you hear it!"

He reached down and pulled Natalie out carefully, avoiding stretching the girls' collar chain, glaring at Gail as the rest of the cows gathered around. "You let them come back here?"

Clarissa looked at him sternly as he picked her up. "Tom, don't you go punishing Gail. Don't you dare even think about it. Wait till you hear what you're getting out of this!"

Tom stared blankly at her. "I've got no idea what you mean. But this better be good."

"Oh, it will be! It's the best news ever!" She looked into Natalie's eyes, and saw the long future they would have together.

THREE MONTHS LATER

Sarah slammed her bookbag into the corner of the barn, jabbed the key to Clarissa's and Natalie's stall into the lock on the third try, opened the gate and flung herself onto a milking stool. Without a word she shoved the pail under Clarissa and started pulling at her breast.

"Ow! Okay, Slow down, Sarah. You know you don't have to pull that hard."

Sarah muttered "Sorry," milking Clarissa with a little less force, breathing hard.

Natalie looked at Sarah out of the corners of her eyes, her jaw hanging open. "Sarah..."

"What!"

"Umm... So what's wrong?" Unconsciously she drifted back away from the battle zone, until the chain joining her to Clarissa was nearly taut.

"Nothing!"

Clarissa winced at another hard pull, and exchanged a mystified look with Natalie. "You didn't, like, fail a final or something, did you? I'm sure you've still got enough credits to graduate."

Sarah's breath hissed out through her nose. "Finals were fine. School's fine. Everything's fine. Graduation's Friday. Where's Gail?"

"I'm sure she'll be along in a few minutes. Meanwhile..."

Gail appeared at the gate. "Hi, Sarah. Sorry I'm late, everybody. Miss Wendy had kind of a crisis. Becky tripped and banged the side of her head on the windowsill, and she was bawling, and the others all started crying because I guess they thought it was the thing to do, and... well, anyway, we got them kind of calmed down, and Becky's got kind of a bump but nothing's bleeding, and..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at Sarah, who was sitting on the stool, her head now resting on her hand, covering her eyes with it. "Sarah? You okay?"

Sarah looked up, her eyes red and running, her lower lip quivering, and shook her head.

Gail rushed over and knelt beside the stool, reaching out to brush a stray hair from Sarah's face. "What is it, honey... It's Bobby, isn't it?"

Her face collapsing, Sarah nodded and reached out to put her arms around Gail, burying her face against her shoulder and sobbing.

Gail held her for several minutes, stroking her hair and saying, "It's okay, it's okay." Beneath her concern for Sarah, she was semi-conscious of how nice it felt to have Sarah holding her. For all of her sex-play with the girls in the barn, it had been years since she'd felt anyone's arms around her.

She finally gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek, and gently pushed Sarah's head up so she could look at her. "What happened?" Her eyes widened suddenly. "He said he didn't want to get married, right?"

Sarah nodded, sniffling. "He... He hadn't said anything, and we're about to graduate, and... I mean, I know Daddy wants to know what's up, so he can tell T-Tom about what g-girlcows he can have, so I made up my mind I just had to ask him, and... Oh Gail, it's such a mess!" She hiccupped, trying to stop crying.

"Why wouldn't he..." Gail gasped. "He's seeing other girls, isn't he?"

Sarah nodded, and the tears started anew as she scrunched her face into Gail's shoulder again.

Clarissa looked at Natalie quizzically, and whispered, "She could tell Gail but not us?"

Natalie shrugged and whispered back, "We're not psychic enough, I guess. You're the only one I can mind-read."

Clarissa blinked, and looked more intently at Sarah and Gail.

Her voice muffled by Gail's shoulder, Sarah gasped out, "He... He didn't want to be... He wasn't ready. H-He wants to... look around. Like he was shopping for a car, or something." The last came out with a snarl.

Gail patted the back of her head. "Sarah, look at me." As Sarah raised her head, Gail locked eyes with her. "Have any of the girls told you how I ended up here? At the farm?" Sarah shook her head, and Gail went on, "I'm here because I wanted to be, and the reason I wanted to be was because I went through the same thing you've just been through. The exact same thing. Understand?"

Sniffling, Sarah nodded.

Rubbing Sarah's back, Gail went on, "Men are just like that. Sarah, you haven't lost anything, really. He was never the man you imagined in your head. He was an idiot and you never knew it. Now you know it and you're lucky to find out now instead of later, after he'd totally screwed up your life."

Sarah shook her head. "I've been an idiot too! That's what hurts!"

Gail wrapped her arms more tightly around Sarah, rubbing her cheek against hers. "I know. I felt like an idiot too. But I know I have something a lot better here. You'll have something better too."

Sarah wailed, "What do I have?? I didn't want to be a girlcow. What's left but that now? Either here or at Dad's." She sighed heavily. "I -- I guess I'll ask him tonight if I can be here."

An instant smile spread across Gail's face, but it drooped into a frown seconds later. "You'd have to move around from stall to stall like Karen does. I guess you could sleep with her when she's here. Everybody but Karen has this really tight partnership. I don't know if it's like that at your dad's..."

Sarah was shaking her head. "If I was at Dad's, I'd never see you again!" A fresh set of tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Behind her, Clarissa said, "Say, Sarah?..." Before she could go on, Natalie interrupted, "I've got an idea."

Clarissa looked at Natalie. "Same idea?"

Natalie grinned at her. "Must be."

Sarah looked around cautiously at Natalie and Clarissa, ready to start crying again. "What?"

Natalie explained, "If Master Tom doesn't see it right away, I know Miss Wendy will. What they need more than another milker is another house slave..."

Clarissa continued for her, "You know, Wendy's going batty with all those kids to take care of, even with Gail to help, and she's probably going to be pregnant again soon..."

Natalie picked up again, "And Master Tom still probably can't afford to buy a slave yet. Even with the money from the milk stand, he's probably got other things in mind to spend that on..."

"And even if he can afford one, he'd love to save the money..."

"Of course, as a slave, you'd have to sleep out here in the barn. With Gail..." Natalie let her voice trail off.

Sarah looked back at Gail, whose arms were still around her. "Is... is that... okay?" She bit her lip painfully, bracing for another rejection.

Gail's eyes were going up and down, from Sarah's eyes to her lips and back again, finally settling on her lips as she leaned forward suddenly and kissed her.

Sarah's eyes flew open wide, and she backed away slightly, her mouth open in surprise. In a tiny voice, she said, "I never kissed a girl before."

Flustered, Gail stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I should have asked..." Her apology ended with a grunt of surprise as Sarah tightened her arms and pulled Gail against her, fastening her lips on Gail's, all of the want and need she'd been unaware of now bursting forth.

Natalie grinned at Clarissa and gestured with her head at the passionately kissing pair. "About time they figured that out."

"No kidding."

Tom hung up the phone, and smiled at the two girls holding hands and biting their lips nervously. "Okay, it's all set."

Gail squeezed Sarah's hand, both girls exclaiming, "All right!"

Tom looked at Sarah. "You know you'll really be a slave, right? With Sasha going off to college, this means Dad's giving up the whole litter, and he didn't sound like he wanted to. I had to talk him into it. If you change your mind, he probably wouldn't be so generous next time, and I don't want him holding it against me if I got you out of his barn just so you could run off and see the world or whatever. So that's the deal, or it's all off. Okay?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Sarah nodded emphatically. "I'm not changing my mind. I've got what I need here." She gave Gail's hand a squeeze, and petted Gail's elbow with her free hand.

Tom looked Sarah up and down, taking in her light blue miniskirt and matching low-cut sleeveless top. "That also means no clothes. You okay with that?"

Sarah blinked and gulped. She looked at Gail, as if to remind herself of her priorities. "Th-that's all kid stuff. I'm done with that now." The longer she looked at Gail, the better she felt. She looked back at Tom. "That was just to make boys notice me anyway. I don't need that now."

From the rocker in a corner of the room, where she was holding Beth and Bonnie in her lap -- Bret, Belinda, and Becky were napping in their room, and the A-girls were still playing out in the fenced-in area of the yard -- Wendy said, "You should still give her some time to think about it. It's such a big decision."

Tom nodded. "I was going to. We don't need to get this all wrapped up tonight." He turned back to Sarah. "You can wait until Monday, and meanwhile figure out what you're going to do with your stuff, who gets what you don't bring here, that sort of thing, and let your friends know what's happening. Tell Sandy and Sally they've got until Tuesday, and I'll convert them then."

"Okay. I know I'll..." The smile suddenly dropped from her face. "Ummm... Where are Sandy and Sally going to live?"

Tom looked at her, his brows wrinkled in puzzlement. "What do you mean? In a stall in the barn, of course."

Sarah chewed on her lip. "The same stall? Together?"

Tom looked back and forth between Wendy and Sarah, not sure what he was missing. "Of course in the same stall. Is there some kind of problem? That's got to be what they want."

"I forgot you didn't know. I guess they never said anything. They had this screaming fight last week, and they haven't talked to each other since. They won't even sleep in the same room -- we had to do some trading around to make them happy."

Tom looked stunned. "We're talking about Sandy and Sally, right?"

Sarah nodded miserably. "We all hate it, because they've always been so close, and a bunch of us have tried to get them to talk it out together. It hasn't worked. It's about some boy, that's all we know. It sounds like they were both dating him and didn't know the other was."

Tom rolled his eyes. "They'll get over it."

"Well, like I said, it's been more than a week now."

Wendy looked at her wide-eyed. "I thought they both seemed grumpy this week. I was thinking they were worried about their finals at school."

Tom glared at Sarah. "Why didn't Dad mention this?"

Sarah shrugged. "He probably doesn't think it's a big deal. I mean, you know we've all always had fights. And he probably doesn't even think it matters that they're about to be converted. You know how his barn is -- it's a lot bigger, and with all his sisters getting roasted one by one, there's always some singles, and they kind of get into temporary partnerships and trade around a lot, so if Sally and Sandy wanted to avoid each other there's ways they could do it. Your barn's different. Karen's the only single, and she's only here half the time anyway."

Tom was rubbing his hand against his chin. "I suppose they could float around like Karen does..."

Wendy was shaking her head. "I don't know, Tom. None of the girls mind having a third with them one night a week, but if the whole barn was full of floaters, none of the partners would get enough time just to be alone together. They wouldn't be happy with this."

Tom threw up his arms. "What am I supposed to do? I've already given up one milker, I'm not losing two more."

Gail spoke up hesitantly. "Master Tom?"

"What?"

"Can we get them here together so Natalie and Clarissa can talk to them?"

Sarah looked at her. "Gail, like I said, we've all tried to talk to them."

Gail shook her head. "You guys just didn't say the right things. If there's any way to get them back together, Natalie and Clarissa will find it."

Tom shrugged and half-smiled. "I won't deny they've got mysterious powers. How do you suggest getting the girls here at the same time, if it's as bad as you're saying?"

Sarah nodded at Gail, and looked at Tom. "I'll tell them you want them here to... measure them for a collar or something. I'll tell one of them to come just before eight because you've got to go somewhere, and the other to come just after eight because you'll just be getting back from somewhere. They're not going to compare notes. I'll be there and shove the first one out the door if she's slow, so the other one doesn't see her leave. Okay?"

Tom shrugged again and looked at Wendy, then at Sarah. "Whatever it takes. I really do need new milkers, but I don't want those two upsetting the whole barn. If I don't get them, I might need it to be you. Understand?"

Sarah gulped and nodded.

Sandy squinted at Gail, her hands on her hips. "That's what I was supposed to come here for? To decide which stall I wanted? I thought I was supposed to, I don't know, fill out some papers for Tom or something."

Gail shook her head. "No, Master Tom does that at the police station. Anyway, do you like this one better, or the other one?"

"What difference does it make?"

"Well, in the front one, you'd usually get milked first. But this one in back is probably quieter."

Sandy thrust her hands into the pockets of her shorts, sulkily. "Shit, I don't know. Do I have to decide now? I didn't even know I was going to be living here until Daddy told me after dinner. I have until Tuesday, right?"

"Yeah, but Master Tom will want me to get the stall ready for you before you come. You know, food in the trough, drink lines hooked up, sweep it out, that kind of thing."

Clarissa looked in through the stall gate, Natalie beside her. "You should take this one, Sandy, it's right next door to us."

Sandy sighed and looked around the featureless stall. "There's not even a TV."

Gail pointed to an upper corner of the stall. "There'd be one up there by Tuesday if you want this one. The one from the front stall, if you want to live in this one instead of that one. Excuse me, I need to go check on something." She left, as Clarissa and Natalie came further into the stall.

Sandy looked down at Clarissa. "Kind of a drag, just being all by myself. Why can't I live with the two of you?"

Clarissa looked in the direction of her own stall. "You could spend the night sometimes, that's no problem. But all of us have been paired up like this for a long time. It's different from Dad's. It'd be hard getting used to a third one."

Sandy muttered, "I've got a lot to get used to no matter what," and scuffed at the floor disinterestedly with her shoe.

"You can make it homey, you know. If you've got some pictures you want up on the walls, you can do that. You can..." She turned quickly at the noise behind her, and saw that Sally had stopped abruptly just inside the stall.

Sally pointed at Sandy and hissed, "What's she doing here?"

Sandy gave Sally a frosty glare, and quickly shifted it to Clarissa. "This has to be your idea. It won't work." Her hands balled in fists, she stalked towards the gate, pulling up abruptly as Gail slammed it in her face. She took hold of the bars of the gate and rattled it. "I'm leaving, Gail. Let me out."

Gail looked at her innocently. "Me? I don't even have a key."

"What?? Let me out of here right now!"

Clarissa shook her head. "She really can't, Sandy. Wendy will be out in awhile to open the gate."

Sally shouted, "Go get her now!"

Gail stood outside the gate, her arms folded in front of her breasts. "The barn door is locked. I don't have a key to that either."

"So when will Wendy be out??"

Gail shrugged. "Couple of hours." She avoided looking at the emergency buzzer that could have summoned Wendy or Tom immediately. Sally and Sandy didn't know about it. She sat down just outside the gate, crossing her ankles. In the other stalls, she could see the other girls listening intently.

Sandy, her jaw thrust out, her breath hissing out of her nose, abruptly sat in a corner of the stall and wrapped her arms around her lower legs. "Fine. It's going to be a pretty boring couple of hours."

Natalie looked at her. "Is that what you want?"

"What?"

"To be bored?"

Sandy shrugged. "Better than talking to her." She gestured with her head at Sally.

Sally, still standing near the gate, sniffed. "Like I'd talk to you."

Natalie said, "Fine. Talk to me then." She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. It was disorienting, seeing them together for the first time. They were both about five-foot-ten, the tallest of the sisters, with very straight shoulder-length brown hair in identical styles, with short bangs and brushed back behind their ears. Supposedly they'd slept last night in different rooms, yet still had managed to dress alike, in denim shorts with tight light blue string bikini tops cupping their full breasts -- not nearly as full as they'd be by next week, of course. "I don't know what this is about. Maybe one of you is right and the other is wrong. Maybe you're both right. Maybe you're both wrong. I didn't grow up with you, and I don't know you very well. I can't even tell you apart from this distance, so you know I'm not going to take sides. Just talk to me." Clarissa and Natalie had agreed that Natalie should do most of the talking -- she had the best chance of being seen as an impartial arbitrator.

Sandy put her head down against her knees, and sighed heavily. Seeming to come to a decision, she look up suddenly at Natalie pointed to Sally and snarled, "She's been dating my boyfriend."

Sally threw her arms out to her sides. "What makes him your boyfriend?"

Natalie snapped, "Stop!" She looked at Sandy. "Just go slow. What boy are you talking about?"

"Zach Carroll. And he's MINE!" She looked defiantly at Sally.

"I was with him first!"

"No you weren't!"

Natalie shouted, "Wait, wait, wait. You mean you can't even figure that much out? When did you start seeing him?" She was looking at Sally.

"Couple of months ago."

"Me too!"

Natalie was shaking her head. "How did you even manage to meet him without the other noticing? Everybody says you're always together!"

Sandy pointed again. "Not when I'm here! She was sneaking around with him on days I was working here."

Natalie said slowly, "I think that must work both ways, right?"

"I wasn't sneaking!"

"I wasn't either!"

Natalie closed her eyes and sighed. "How did you get started? Sally?"

Sally, tired of being the only one standing, sank down in the corner near the gate in a pose similar to Sandy's. "Me and Sandy usually go to the Girlburger after school and hang out. That day, she was working here at the farm, and I was missing her -- for some reason," she sneered, "So I went there to see if any of our friends were there. Anyway, Zach said 'hi, Sally,' when I came in, and asked if he could buy me a soda. After that we went for a walk in the park."

"He knew you were Sally?"

"Yeah." Her hand unconsciously brushed against her chin. A small scar, the reminder of an accident with the stairs when she was eight, was the only reliable way for people outside the family to tell her and Sandy apart.

"Sandy? Same thing?" Natalie looked over to where the other twin sat fuming.

"Yeah, mostly." She glared at Sally. "Front lawn of the library instead of the park, but same thing."

"When was this?"

"I don't remember exactly. Last part of March, early April, somewhere in there."

Natalie looked expectantly at Sally, who shrugged. "Yeah, about then, I guess."

"How'd you feel when he called you Sally? Outside the family, I bet you don't get recognized as a single person very often." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sandy's startled movement. She was sitting up straight, her eyes open wide. Natalie turned back towards her. "Something?"

"Well, I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. Consciously, I mean. But yeah, when he called me Sandy, and kept looking at me the whole time, I felt... special. Here was this cute guy, and he wanted to be with me. Not me and Sally, just... me. I never... I can't describe it."

Sally, breathing hard, spat out, "Yeah, I felt special. And you were trying to take that away from me!"

"You took it away from me!"

"Stop it!" Natalie glared at both of them. "You see what he was doing, right? He was playing a game with you. Having a little fun with the twins. He knew you were both working here one day a week, right?"

Sally, her lower lip thrust out, muttered, "Yeah, I guess."

"You both went to Girlburger by yourselves a few times before he started talking to you? Was he there those other times, before?"

Sandy bit her lip. "I think so. A lot of the same kids hang around there."

Natalie shook her head. "There you go. Funny joke, dating two twin sisters and them not even knowing. Probably had a bet with a buddy to see how long he could keep it going!"

Sally slapped the floor with her hand. "Fine. Okay, he's an asshole. That doesn't matter. That doesn't change what SHE did!" She pointed at Sandy. "She was going out with my boyfriend!"

Natalie cut off Sandy's "YOUR boyfriend?" shouting, "She didn't know! Neither one of you knew!"

Sally got up on her knees, as if preparing to pounce. "She knew after last week! After Kelsey Saylor told me she'd seen me and Zach riding by in his car on Main Street the day before, and she waved but she didn't think we saw her, and that was on a day when I was working here! So I figured it out and asked Sandy at home what the hell she thought she was doing, and she said he was HER boyfriend, and she was going to keep seeing him!"

"So did you! You said he was yours and you'd keep going out with him and told me to stay away from him!"

Natalie felt exhausted. "Look, neither one of you had what you thought you had! You both thought, here's a guy who likes me as a separate person, and he never did! You were Sandy-and-Sally-the-twins the whole time!" Her voice husky with emotion, she looked back and forth between both of them. "How can you guys be doing this to each other? Everybody says you've been planning your whole lives to be girlcows together. Sarah said that before this all happened, you guys had been sneaking off to find private places to make love, and you're the only ones in the family she knows of who've done that regularly before getting converted! Is all this shit really more important than that??" She moved closer to Clarissa, feeling irrationally afraid there could be some way she and Clarissa could be separated the way Sandy and Sally were.

Both girls were crying now. Sandy rubbed her eyes and muttered, "I don't know. Maybe it is."

Natalie opened her mouth, when next to her Clarissa suddenly said, "You know, you're both forgetting one thing."

Sally, sitting back on her heels wiping tears from her eyes, responded defiantly, "Yeah, what?"

"You both ate Mom. She's inside you. She's part of both of you. Part of what makes you you." Her voice cracked as she went on, "And you're tearing her apart!"

Both girls sucked in a quick breath and covered their faces with their hands, sobbing loudly. Natalie mentally flipped a coin and picked Sally. Motioning for Clarissa to follow, she walked over to her and thumped her hoof against Sally's leg until she got her attention. When Sally turned her red eyes towards her, Natalie said, "Go over and sit with your sister. She's crying and she needs you."

Sally, sniffling, nodded and went to the other end of the stall.

Clarissa and Natalie watched for a few minutes, as the twins sat against the wall of the stall, rocking back and forth, crying, their arms around each other, their heads buried against each others' shoulders. Finally Clarissa moved to the gate, looking through it at Gail, whose own face was streaked with tears. She gestured with her foreleg. "Hit the buzzer. We need to get out of here and leave them alone awhile." Gail reached in through the bars and stroked Natalie's hair, then Clarissa's. "Thank you, SO much." Wiping her eyes, she got up and went to the button on the wall.