Emily got a taste of the world outside on the third day after she was born. She was standingclose to her mother…when suddenly the door tothe barn banged open and a man entered...[with] astrange-looking gun in his hand and a white plastictag, about the size of a playing card. He walked briskly and purposefully through the door, as if he had no time to waste. It made Emily a little nervous. Marigold, too.
“Mama…,” she began to say, but the man wouldn’t let her finish.
Almost without breaking his stride, he reached over to her, jerked her head toward him, held the gun and the plastic close to her ear, and then with a sudden, violent BANG!, he shot a staple through her ear and into the tag…
Mama!” Emily cried when she stopped moaning.“What was that? Why did he do that to me?”
"He gave you your tag,” Marigold said soothingly, licking Emily tenderly by her ear where it hurt. "All cows wear a tag. See, I’ve got one. I got it I was first born, just like you. And so did all other calves.”
“Your other calves?” Emily asked, suddenly forgetting the pain in her ear…
“Yes, my other calves,” Marigold replied.
“You’re my twelfth…” This was a stunning piece of news.
“But what happened to the others? Where are they now?”
“Never mind about that,” said Marigold, trying not to allow herself to be sad.That was hard because no matter how she tried, she couldn’t forget how painful it was when she saw them for the last time.
It always felt as if someone were holding onto her heart and twisting it. “The point is that they all had to get tags just like you and me. Don’t you want to be like all the other calves?”
Emily looked at the tag hanging from her mother’s ear, thought about the pain in her own ear, and realized that she didn’t…. Something stirred in her. It was like a voice, not strong, but already determined.
