THE PIG FARMER

piglet
courtesy photobucket.com

 

This is a story about a pig farmer, a girl named Sally and a pig.  If you are not into pigs it may not be "Your cup of tea" but if you are broad minded you might want to read on a little further just in case.

Our story begins just after the big war began in '42 on a spot just on the edge of town. The family consisted of a man, woman and another woman (name of Sally)... Well she wasn't exactly a woman yet but she was working on it being eight years old. They weren't starving but they had to be careful how they spent their money.  

Every night their radio was blasting out the reports about how the war was progressing, and one of the most prolific voices heard each night was Gabriel Heater, the American radio commentator whose World War II-era sign-on was, "There's good news tonight."

It seemed to Sally that her folks lived through the day just so they could hear those words. Then on into the night they stayed glued to the radio listening to the reporter whose broadcasting occurred with bombs going off in the background in London.

Sally knew there was a war going on but her interest lie elsewhere.

Each night there were the programs on the radio that she desperately wanted to hear like Red Skelton and the Bob Hope show and the “I love a mystery” story that was so scary she had to sleep with the covers over her head.  She was missing all this great stuff while her parents were being patriotic by listening to the news.

She alternated between her father and her mother about them buying her own radio, each time it was met with same answer "We don't have the money," besides we have a radio you can listen to with us.  

After much badgering her parents the father said; if you want a radio so bad go out and earn the money and buy one!  The sad thing was that the one she wanted cost fifty dollars and she could never earn that much because after all as Dad always said, “Money doesn't grow on trees.”

Still she was intrigued though for that was something she never thought of before, earn her own money, but how?

She was on her way home the next day and took the short cut by the pig farm. She almost had to hold her nose as she passed.

There was a lot of squealing going on and it got her attention. She went over to where all the noise was and saw a sow that had given birth to several pigs and they were fighting to get a nipple to suckle on. There was one who was smaller and he couldn't get anything to eat and Sally realized; “He must be hungry for he is making a lot of noise.”

The farmer said; “Yes he is starving and because he is the runt I will have to kill him and put him out of his misery.” The idea of doing that horrified Sally but the farmer said; “The old Sow can't feed that many piglets and I'm not going to let him starve.”

Sally asked if she could buy the runt and how much he would cost. The farmer said; “if you want him you can have him free!”

In the next scene we see sally walking down the road trying to keep control of her piglet that was squirming and squealing to the top of his lungs. Finally she arrived at home and thankfully no one was there. They had a detached garage which was used for storage only so this was to be the pigs "digs" for the present.

Again Sally thought of the words "Money doesn't grow on trees" but she said maybe it will grow with this pig.  Running into the house she found a bottle that was used to feed Sally when her mother’s milk dried up and she filled it up with cow’s milk. She fed her pig until he couldn't eat anymore. She continued this and took the left over scraps and gave it to him for he would eat anything.

Then it happened, the father went into the garage and saw her pig which was growing fast once he got out of the runt stage.  He laid into Sally with a barrage of threats concerning the mess and the stink the creature had created.

Sally told him she was trying to build him a pen out back under the trees and was doing some chores for Mrs. Martin who owned the feed store where she was getting feed for what was now getting to be a hog. While her dad had settled down a little Sally said she was going to sell him when he got to be about two hundred pounds for he would bring enough to buy her fancy radio with the built in antenna.

Her dad relented for he knew the hog was almost to that weight and it wouldn't be much longer until they could sell it.

It was Sunday morning and Sally was excited for the next day was the day the hog was going to the sale barn to be sold. He had grown to be a fine looking animal.

 
That morning they went to church as was their habit and when they arrived home Sally ran out to see her hog even before she changed her clothes but when she arrived at to sty, the hog was gone and the fence was torn down.

The next few hours were frantic, looking for the hog and then realizing the truth, it had been stolen.  First it was tears and then anger and finally: "Call the police."  

The police came and made a report, but weren't very encouraging for they said; it is probably out of the county by now.

After settling down Sally thought who would be mean enough to steal her hog and she remembered that some people down the road had been accused more than once of stealing chickens when people were gone.  She became fixated on them for she was sure they had done it but there was no way for her to prove it.

After giving it a lot of thought Sally came up with a plan, and she decided what to do. There was a woman who was known as a fortune teller and she also sold charms.

Sally knew that people in her neighborhood were very superstitious so she took a piece of root that was twisted and gnarly, rubbed it with garlic and took it to school showing it to several of the kids including the ones who she thought had stole her hog.

Sally told them she had gone to the witch, and had a curse put on the thieves and this was the charm that would curse the ones who stole her hog and would even cause the death of the thieves. The only way to remove the curse was to put fifty dollars in her mail box, and she would burn the charm.

The kids went home and told their folks who were the thieves what Sally had done and while it bothered them they said, “Don’t worry cause nothing was going to happen.”  

The next day - - while the thieves were driving fast, a tire blew out and their car went into the ditch and wrecked it beyond repair. Also it banged them up pretty good but they were sure the charm had nothing to do with it.

The next day - - one of their mules died in the night and this got their attention but still they denied the power of the charm.

The next day - - a quick updraft wind ripped off their roof and damaged the house.

The next day - - Sally found fifty dollars in her mail box and the day after that - - the transport man delivered her new radio.

 

This post has been shared at:  Joy’s Wednesday; Flaws and Nakedness