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Trade Secret
🕑 Added 2022-03-01 02:51:36 +0000 UTCNote: This is a story-prompt for Daniel Craft.
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Aiken Heights was a rural town deep in the Midwest. It was known for its competitive cheerleading, its high rates of venereal disease, and for being the birthplace of Aiken Dairy, a local dairy farm that supplied milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, and ice cream, to the entire town.
Aiken Dairy products were popular for being unusually rich and creamy, unmatched by any other dairy supplier in the country. Competitors had long sought out the secret in their manufacturing process that made the products so appealing, but Farmer Jerry was tightlipped and kept his secret under lock and key.
Many wondered why he’d never expanded beyond his local farm, but Jerry always claimed to be content. “We’re a small business. We like to keep things local,” Jerry said in a rare interview, smiling at the camera.
But the general belief was that Jerry didn’t want to risk his trade secret getting out if the business expanded too much. In that regard, the secret was proving to be a double-edged sword. Or so the public presumed.
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“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Aaron said as he walked his bike alongside him, the grass too thick and uneven for him to get much traction while riding.
“We’re high school graduates, fool. Breaking into a place is like a rite of passage or something,” Justin responded, throwing his clippers aside as the gate swung open.
“A rite of passage for who? Criminals?” Aaron responded. Nevertheless, he followed Justin inside. The large dairy barn loomed directly ahead of them. It was just a matter of finding the entrance. “What are we going to do anyway? Steal a cow?” Aaron added sarcastically.
“Let’s find out that trade secret.”
“Yeah, like Farmer Jerry has it printed out and pasted to the wall.” Aaron rolled his eyes.
Justin was quick to find the entrance. He was really good at this breaking and entering thing. As the two entered the dairy barn and got on the lights, Aaron was surprised to see that the place was empty. Not a cow in sight.
“Where are they?” he asked, blinking around.
“I think I saw one out in the pasture outside…”
“That was one cow, dumbass. There should be at least like, I don’t know, fifty.”
The two eighteen-year-olds were stumped. Justin continued to look around. “Maybe there’s another location?”
“Yeah, whatever. This is a mystery I couldn’t give two fucks about. Let’s get out of here,” said Aaron, already heading towards the door.
Aaron jumped and released an undignified noise at the sight of a dark, shadowy figure, blocking the doorway. The figure stepped inside, revealing himself to be none other than Farmer Jerry.
“Hi boys.” Jerry grinned.
The boys immediately started to babble excuses.
“We —uh — we got lost, and uh…”
Jerry waved them off. “Don’t worry about a thing. Sometimes it’s just nice to have some company.”
Both boys heaved relieved sighs.
“So what are you kids up to?” Jerry asked.
Aaron was a bit irritated to be referred to as a kid. He’d just graduated from high school that very afternoon. But rather than reacting to the rather rude address, he responded, “We were just wondering about your cows. Where are they?”
Jerry’s smile widened. “I suppose that’s part of the secret.”
Aaron hardly controlled himself from rolling his eyes.
“Why don’t we talk more inside?” Jerry motioned to the west, presumably towards his farm house nextdoor. “We can chat over a glass of milk.”
“The milk here is pretty good,” Justin reasoned, already headed out the barn door. Jerry chuckled as he followed.
“Coming, Aaron?” Jerry said.
Aaron was surprised that Jerry remembered his name, but the farmer had always made a show of knowing everyone in the community. Or at least memorizing their names, apparently.
With a shrug, he followed them across the pasture, to Jerry’s farmhouse. The interior was neat but aged. The trio went to the kitchen where Aaron and Justin sat down at the circular table there.
Aaron expected Jerry to go to the fridge for some cold milk, but instead he lifted a metal bucket that was sitting on the counter. He poured the contents into two glasses, and served the glasses to Aaron and Justin. Aaron hesitated before he lifted his serving. The milk felt kind of warm through the glass. He looked up at Jerry in surprise.
“Fresh from the teat,” Jerry said. “Just milked it about half an hour ago.”
The concept was rather gross, but Aaron couldn’t help the fact that he was salivating, just looking down at the fluid. Everyone knew that the milk here was delicious, Aaron included. Everyone in town drank it.
So rather than thinking of this as weird, Aaron realized that it was a rare treat. He lifted the glass and started to sip it. It was warm, creamy, and even a little bit sweet. It was so thick, thicker than milk should have been. But that was part of the appeal. Jerry always swore there were no additives.
“So you really want to know the secret to my dairy?” Jerry asked, taking the remaining seat.
“Not really,” Aaron mumbled into his glass as Justin nodded enthusiastically, having already chugged his own serving down.
“I’ll show you right now…” Jerry trailed off, and Aaron realized that he was starting to feel quite odd. He looked down at his half-empty glass, his free hand going to his stomach.
Something inside of him was…bubbling. His stomach suddenly felt gassy, a growing pressure inside of it. Then it was physically pushing and stretching out. He groaned.
Beside him, Justin fell out of his seat. For a moment he writhed on the floor, then made his way back up to his knees. His shoulders were shuddering, and he looked as though he was…changing. Growing. Belly bulging, thighs thickening, even his chest was changing, from what Aaron could see of it.
“What…” Aaron moaned. “Whasssgoing on…”
Jerry continued to smile.
