A gift at Christmas by E.S. Melton

　　The old man was tired. Tired of life, tired of all of the death he had seen in his time. He was tired of hatred, tired of fighting and most of all he was tired of trying to convince himself that things would get better. He stood on the edge of the bridge, he could hear the water lapping against the steel supports far below. It was cold, in the distance Christmas lights gleamed, and people went about their last minute shopping to prepare for tomorrow’s holiday. He edged closer to the abyss, his heart beating rapidly, the toes of his boots peaking over the precipice. He was counting down in his head, ready to jump when the voice came out of nowhere. 

　　The voice was beautiful, feminine, but slightly husky, it said “Since you have decided to end your life, I assume all of your questions have been answered?” The old man started, then slowly looked about for the owner of the voice. “Where are you?” He said, backing away from the edge and feeling a sense of relief. The voice came from above him, “I am here, above you.” He jerked his face upward and could see a beautiful young woman sitting on the girder above him. “Who are you, and what in the world are you doing here?” said the man in complete surprise and just a little contempt. She smiled widely and kicked her bare feet back and forth. “Well, I see you do still have some questions, I can answer a few for you before you go ahead with your suicide.” 

　　The man shook his head, “I doubt you can answer the questions I have young lady, I’ve lived a hard life and seen too much go wrong.” The young lady giggled and slid off of the beam, landing lightly on her feet next to the man. “I can answer any and all questions you might have.” She said, and an intense glow of light beamed from her face. The man stumbled back, almost falling but caught himself and sat down, staring up at the most beautiful face he had ever seen. So beautiful was this face that he began to weep, and he felt his soul stir within his belly. “Are you an angel?” He stammered. She giggled lightly and the light faded from her face. “Something like that.” she said with a wink. The man’s head was spinning, his breath coming fast, he blinked tears out of his eyes. “Where is God in all of this pain and suffering?” He finally said between sobs. “Here, everywhere, in every person, in every animal, every stone, God is bigger than the universe, it all resides within God.” She stooped down and wiped the tears from his face. 

　　He grew angry, his face contorted, “Then why doesn't God do something about all of this shit, why doesn't God save us?” His words came out hot, and razor sharp but the calm smile never left the young woman’s face. “You do it to yourselves you know, you make bad choices, you don’t learn, you choose to follow madmen, and you favor apathy over change. Its really surprising that more of you don’t choose to end your lives early.” The man flinched at her words, as if he had been slapped. “What about sin, the tree, the apple, Satan and all of that? That wasnt our idea.” She giggled again, “Well, the story is allegory you know, not meant to be taken literal, but you guys have trouble with that. Sin is natural, its part of this world, sin is temptation to be selfish, and in being selfish you make bad choices, and then you should learn from those choices and become a better person...but sadly many of you seem to never get it. You know if you die here, tonight, your just going to have to come back and do it again.” 

　　The man’s head was spinning at this point, he felt sick, angry, sad, hopeful, and aggravated all at once. “What do you mean come back?” He spit the words at her, he was trying to stand now. “Are you telling me there is no heaven, no hell?” She helped hoist him to his feet, “Yes, that's right, no heaven, no hell, at least not in the way you think of those things. There is a world beyond this one, but it takes time and effort to become conscious enough to enter it, You have to live through this life many times before you are ready to move to the next world.” 

　　The man was standing now, somewhat unsteady, but his face was full of curiosity now, rather than anger or sadness. He looked directly into the woman’s face, “OK, so all the stuff I’ve done wrong, all the mistakes I've made, are you saying God doesn't judge me? Are you saying that there is no eternal punishment, no reason to feel guilty or shameful?” God doesn't need to judge you, God created you, made you the way you are, you are children, you must learn. Do you judge a child for making a mistake? God has no reason to judge you, you judge yourselves and that is more damning that anything God could do. Your punishment is your own wallowing in self pity, guilt and shame, you become apathetic and then refuse to change, you create your own hell and place yourself inside then throw away the key.” She walked along the edge past the man, and did a bit of a pirouette on the edge of the precipice. The man lurched forward, afraid she would fall. She giggled and turned to him, “See, your not all bad you would have risked yourself to save me.” 

　　The mans face turned into a mask of indignation. “What are you trying to prove to me, you come here and tell me things I cannot believe, what is it you are trying to do?” At this point the woman turned her face to the man, her countenance began to grow and soon the man could perceive no other reality except this awesome face, she spoke and the words exploded into the mans brain causing him to feel as if he were dying, and being born all at the same time. “YOU SPEAK YOUR QUESTIONS MAN, YET YOU DO NOT HEAR THE ANSWERS. YOU CLAIM YOUR FAULTS YET DO NOTHING TO CHANGE THEM. YOU WANT OUT BY CASTING AWAY YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES BUT YOU ARE INDIGNANT WHEN TOLD YOU HAVE FAILED THOSE SAME RESPONSIBILITIES ALREADY.” The power of her words caused the mans knees to buckle, he began to sob again and felt infinitely small compared to the young woman who stood over him. In a small voice he squeaked, “I am sorry...I don’t mean to be foolish, I want to change, I want to have hope, and I want to be responsible.” 

　　The woman reached out her hand and touched his forehead. The fear left him and he was able to look her in the face again. “This is your redemption man, your redemption is in the hope in your heart and the power you have to change yourself. If you can change then those around you will see it, and they too can then change. It all starts with one person, giving up apathy and walking the path of responsibility. If you can do this then you will have learned and you will have accepted the greatest gift that God has ever given to man.” The man stood again, straightening his clothing, and reached out to touch the woman. She took his hand and led him onto the bridge proper. He looked confused, and then turned to her, “So, what is the greatest gift God ever gave to man?” She smiled a smile so deep and so true that the man’s heart fluttered and he felt love and life like he had never experienced it before. “

　　She said, “The greatest gift I have given you and all of humankind is this, you have choice, you can change, and you can grow and if one begins it others will follow. Go and do as I have told you, and you will make a better world tomorrow.” The man flinched as the light around the woman’s face became intensely bright, he shook his head and cleared his eyes and she was gone. Only the silent cold air and the softly falling snow could be seen any where around him. There were no foot prints, no sign that she was ever there. He glanced across the cold dark river and could see the Christmas lights flickering, and faintly, ever so faintly he could hear the crowds singing Joy to the world.

The Ripper's monologue

 The Ripper's Monologue

You are surprised at hearing from me after such a long time, are you not, sleeper? I hope I have not startled you in your slumber but it has become more and more necessary that I speak on the subject which perturbs my addled mind. Now, after so long being separated from my mortal machine, I have had much time for the undulating chords of my innermost being to make sense of the beautiful and heavenly art that I am so well known for, and, of which, I am increasingly proud. Do you understand the importance of my lovely duty?

You know that I am given credit for the dispatching of several young women on the fog laden streets of my native London, are you not? Most would see me as a horror, or at very least a man of less than healthy thought, who practiced some vain and vindictive need for murder on those lonely streets. But if this be your thoughts sleeper, I must hinder your process with the truth. In fact, nothing could be further from my original intentions. In the many millennium that came before me, it was most usually the armies, the soldiers, the great patriarchs, kings, emperors, and such that practiced the art of death among men. But I, a common man, brought death to the people in a way and a light which entirely changed the world my friend. I was given the great gift of a calling, to create excitement among the people and not be charged by any army, by politics, or religion, but simply by a deep, heartfelt want to practice my divine art.

You see, before I came along, the multiple deaths of men where most often imparted by those of official office, and although I am sure that there were ministers such as myself before my time, they fell into obscurity because they had not the wonderful timing that I myself took advantage of and of which I made use. It was a condition of my time you see, that really brought me to the fore, and gave my fanciful notions the stage, as it were. The press drank in my obscure address, and cast it forth so that all within earshot of a bellowing paper boy could be in on the dawning aspirations of a young artist.

My long sleep and depth of thought have loosed my tongue and I feel that I take up too much of your time sleeper, but I must behest of this turning in my brain, lest I forget and go on to some other thought which is less important. So I drag your ear to me, and hope that you can grasp that which I will now impart to you. I was a famed man of my day, few could speak without my name coming up in conversation, and now, many decades later, my name is legend, in every household, and on the tongues of even your children. Why is this so sleeper? Because I, the artist who felt the calling and obeyed, I began an exodus of the soul that still to this day is under way, and I have inspired so many young artists who have come after.

Yes, you know this to be true if you stop and give consideration to my claims. I have given birth, from my hallowed loins, and my gleaming razor to a hundred, no, a thousand children. They have taken my name and my calling and practiced my art. They are born from the necessity for my aspect to be carried forth into our human future. They have many names, nationalities, and creeds, but in the end, they are all my seed. They carry on the work of their father and I am proud to call them my own...but now I see that I have overstepped my telling. I have been touting my own legacy and not giving you an explanation. My apologies sleeper, let me return to the original thought and step back from my own storied telling.

What you need to hear and understand is this, the actions that I have taken, those famed killings of mine, and the actions that so many of my children have brought forth, these activities are not what you think. I understand the human mind, the sight of death, the fear of loss, the act of facing the unknown. These cause great fear, and deep searching of the soul, but that is where the concept ends with mankind. The great art that I ply is foreboding to the uninitiated but I wish to bring to light that which I know so well. What is this world in which we live? A hive of disease, distemper, anger and sorrow. A place of hardship and failing, not on a simple scale, but on a Jovian one? There are some, born or bartered into wealth or power, and these few live a life of plenty, but it will be noticed, they myself and my progeny rarely target such men as marks for our purview. Instead, we seek out those of least blood, those of daily struggle, poverty and pain. The average bloke who does his best, but his best is never enough. Why is this you ask? Well it is a simple arithmetic that brings us to this end.

You believe that death is some sort of end, and in this death becomes a great unknown. It is death, unknown angst, that man cannot grasp, and in this it becomes fear, dark, hallowing, fear. I do not see it this way, and I have passed these eyes on to my children so that they to are not blind to the truth of death. As many of your kind that curse our names sleeper, they should instead give us ultimate praise. For we, in fact, give forth freedom! Wonderful freedom, from the hateful, and painful life that is the birthright of the common man. Those young working women who I relieved of their breath, what kind of life where they living? A giving of the body, of the pride, of the dignity to bring simple food to mouth, is this the kind of life any of us wish to live? I set those poor souls free! I practiced art upon those cages, and gave mankind a certain excitement that he has seldom felt. My friend, sleeper, I am an angel in disguise. I and my progeny bring to you release!

In defense, you say..."what of heaven and hell?" and I say...what of it? If there is heaven then I send souls to their promised bounty and keep them from the continued torture of this mortal vein, and if there is a hell, I send those deserving of it to suffer for their crimes. In the grasp of logic you and those officials should give me grandeur for practicing my art. Oh, and art it is. I had grown to hate the beleaguered box of flesh and bone into which we are all entrapped. So in freeing the soul I use the container as an expressionist uses a canvas, I set forth an ethereal beauty created in organs and viscera that is both breathtaking and exquisite. So now you see sleeper, I give something to mankind that few can provide. The man, so enthralled by his morality and duty cannot even see to do that which is most loving. He cannot release those he loves from their painful experience and send them into that beauteous adventure that awaits us beyond these bonds of bone. But I and my children can, and it is our calling to do so...and as you can now see, it has become our morale duty to continue our art.

And now it has become your duty sleeper, to call out this art, to bring it to the forethought of mankind, and to give us, killers, madmen, our just due...it is high time you thanked us for our diligence.

Pig pig trouble

 Pig Pig Trouble 

Pigs, They's good eatin' and no doubt that folks love them some bacon, but I had me some 'sperinces with Pigs that would make a grown man consider never going near one again. It all started when I was a wee one. My granny had a sow that she called Natalie. I couldn't say that name cause I had a speech 'pediment, so I just called her Pig pig. 

Pig pig was kept in a pen out back of granny's house, out past the fruit trees and further back than the chicken coup. It was separated from the main yard by a white post fence, and you had to go through a gate to get back there. As the youngest of three siblings, it was my job to slop Pig pig every day. Now if you ain't never slopped a pig it's a shitty job. Basically, all the leftover food from breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus any scrap from preparin' that food, plus a half bag of dog food would all be mixed in bucket with water. It smelled awful, and looked worse. 

I'd heft up this bucket of slop and struggle to get it all the way to the back gate. I was a little feller' and didn't come up no higher than the fence post back then. I'd drag that slop out there right about dark every night, and even 'fore I got through the fence I could hear Pig pig grunting, and breathing loud. Granny always warned me, she'd say. "You be careful out there feeding that sow, she ain't had piglets in some time, and she might have gone feral. Pigs don't care what they eat, and a little boys' arms as good as grain to them!" 

So, there I would be, shakin' in my boots, dragging that slop over to the pen. 'Course it stunk to high heaven as pig shit is nastier than human shit. There she'd be in her walla' covered in mud and shit and rollin' round like a great hairy bloated sausage. She was a huge sow, 'prolly near 500 pounds, and ugly as Satan's butthole. She had little tusks on the edges of her mouth that made her look like she was havin' a wicked smile. She was a pink as a baby's bottom if she was clean, but most times she was covered in mud and muck and almost impossible to see in the dim light of dusk, till she opened those white eyes. 

Soon as she'd see me, she was up, dragging that fat belly to the edge of the pen. She'd lean against it and I could hear the strain in the wood and bailin' wire. The stench would hit me all at once like a wall of rot and turds. Make ya gag if ya ain't used to it, and I don't think I ever got fully used to it. She knew what was coming and she'd get right over by the trough and wait...peering at me with one big white eye through the pen posts. So, I'd heft that bucket of slop up on the pen edge and plop it over into the trough. She would dig right in, munching and slurping it up like she hadn't eat in a week. Then I'd go wash the bucket out with the water hose, and head back to the house. That's how it usually went, till last Thursday. 

I'd just got home from school when I heard the news, John Dee, the fella that lived across the fence line from us was missing. His wife was over to the house and jawin' up my granny. She was in tears and said that she was 'fraid he was on a bender or out with some floozy or another and just couldn't believe he'd do such a thing after thirty years of marriage. After getting a good look at Mrs. Dee I could fully understand why a fella would want some time away from her, she was stodgy looking, plump in all the wrong places and had hit every limb down fallen' out the ugly tree. I walked on in and dropped my books in my room. Granny was consoling Mrs. Dee and not in her usual habit of sendin' me out for chores. So, i figured I'd goof off a bit and take advantage of the sitiation'. 

I snuck out the back door and decided to play around in the yard a bit. I'd been working on building a fort for my army men's and so I put my attention into that. I'd been out fer a good hour, when I hears somethin' I couldn't explain. A low, gurgling noise, that built up for a sec then ended in what I can only describe as a belch to end all belchs! It came from the back pen and so I headed that way, figured maybe Pig pig was sick again. She'd come down with some sickness a few months ago, and we had Ol' Doc Elam come out and take a look at her. He gave us some medicine and that was that. But maybe it had come back on her I thought, or maybe she was pregnant again!

 

I got through the back gate and had just turned the corner when I saw it...a shoe...sticking out of the mud and slop near the pen's gate. Pig pig was sitting there lookin' all satisfied and a stench hung in the air the likes of ten polecats all dead in the hot sun. I 'mmediately lost my lunch and puked so hard I thought my toes was gonna come up. Once I got my head together, I noticed that Pig pig had burped up more than just a shoe. There was a wrist watch, some 'spenders, and a wallet. They was in the muck, in the pen with Pig pig, so I dared not go in after them, but I didn't want to get in trouble for feeding the pig stuff she couldn't eat. (I knowed I'd get blamed fer it, even though I had nothin' to do with it.) So, I found a long enough stick near the chicken coup and made to fishin' out the bits and bobs. 

It took me a bit but I finally got it all, and Pig pig didn't give me no guff about it. So there I was with a shoe, and wallet and such and no idea what to do with it. So, I looked in the wallet, and lo, there was cash money! Fifty dollars in small bills and wow! I had never seen such money before, and I thought to take it then it hit me that it belonged to somebody. I'd seen enough cop shows to know to look fer an I.D. card and there it was...John Dee! Pig pig had eaten Mr. Dee and I was off and cussin'! "What the hell Pig pig? Why did you eat Mr. Dee? Son of a Mother Sow! How the hell you just gonna up and eat a whole damn man?" I was fuming and cussing about when I hears Granny hollerin' fer me. I knew then I had to hide the evidence! 

I grabbed all the stuff and hucked it under the chicken coup, and ran up to the gate. Granny was half way across the yard with a switch in hand. Seeing the switch, I begun makin' my case that I was doin' chores. She, of course didn't believe a word of it and commenced to whoopin' me about the legs and back till I was blistered. I ran for the house, halfway to get away from her, but halfway to lead her away from the pig pen. She then whooped me again for runnin' and so I sat on the stoop and cried for a minute and hoped she fall and put an eye out for whoopin' me so bad. But instead, she sent my brother out to tell me to get busy on my chores for real this time, and then he gives me a kick in the rump just to make his point. It sucks being the youngest, that's for sure!

 

I got up and went and fed the chickens, making sure to stuff enough hay underneath the coup to hide the goods I had put there. I went about checking the garden for weeds, and then watered Pig pig. She likes to get sprayed off with the hose, just so she can get nasty again. So, I was just holdin' the hose and wondering how the hell Mr. Dee got over here and got eaten that I didn't really notice the intrusion at first. I heard it, but...not with my ears...sorta heard it in my brain. It was a strange feelin' fer sure and had me plum bumfuzzled for a minute or two. Then I saw that big white eye staring at me from the pen, and I heared (in my brain) ..."Thank you. Thank you for hiding the man things." 

You coulda' knocked me over with a feather! I just stared at Pig pig and let the hose go limp outta my hand. She just stared back at me with her muddy face, a faint look of intelligence crossing her brow. I'm not sure how long I stood there, but I was sure enough scared to shit when I heared Granny holler at me from the fence. "What the hell you doing boy? You wasting water on that dirty pig? Get in here for supper!" I quickly turned the water off and started to make for the house, then I looked back at Pig pig...her white eyes...glowing pink in the moonlight. In my brain I hears "You can have the man things. All I require is the flesh and bone, sinew and gristle." I ran as fast as I could go.

 

I did everything I could to avoid going out to that Pig pen for the next two days. On Friday I managed to bribe my brother into slopping Pig pig. It cost me some good baseball cards and a can of Skoal snuff I'd been hiding, but it was well worth it. On Saturday I played sick, cause nobody suspects a kid playing sick on the weekend. Granny made my sister slop Pig pig that night, and boy was she hot about it! Granny gets a kick outta making her do things that ain't girly...gets her dander right up, and she wouldn't shut up about it for hours.

 

Sunday I finally started gettin' my nerve back, and my curiosity over the whole thing was startin' to eat at me. I goofed off after we got back from church, and just played in the yard awhile, but every once in a while, I would hear Pig pig grunting and I knew I had to get up the gumption to go take a look. Finally, I made my way to the back gate, went in and fed the chickens and then wandered over towards Pig pig's pen. She was there, big as ever, wallerin' in the stench. She gave me the eyeball as I walked up, and almost 'mmediately I gets the weird feelin's in my brain. 

"There is no reason to fear me man child, I mean you no harm." She said this in my head as she readjusted and squelched nasty mud all over the pen wall. She was staring straight at me now. I slowly walked forward, towards the pen. "So, you ain't gonna eat me, that's what you're saying...right?" She rolled on her side, slapping mud in the air with her nasty corkscrew tail. "You are small, not worth eating young one. You have also assisted me, continue to assist me and I will have no need to eat you." I wasn't sure if that was an assurance or a threat. "Listen here Pig pig, I ain't gonna tattle on ya, but you can't just go around eatin' folks. They'll be missed and soon the Sheriff'll be out here trying to figure all this out. She settled down and got quiet for a bit. 

I got the hose and started spraying her down, kickin' up a horrible odor and makin' myself gag. She enjoyed the bath and then moved forwards towards the trough. "Man child, I must eat, I require much sustenance. This is my growth period and my metabolism is high." I cain't say I understood alla' what she was saying but I knew she couldn't go on eatin' people without folks gettin' suspicious. I turned off the water and walked back over to the pen. "We feed you plenty of slop, ain't that enough?" I questioned, hoping that it was. "No child, I must have more than the "slop" provides. I must have living flesh and bone, sinew and gristle." I squatted down and started into thinkin' hard. Pig pig squelched back down in the mud and waited. 

After some thought I stood up, "How often you need to eat flesh I said?" She turned her face towards me, dripping mud from her chin. "A full-grown human, at the very least every 4-5 weeks. It will slow my growth cycle, but can be survived. " I jumped up, and took a branch from the Plum tree growing nearby. I moved back in front of the pen. "OK the way I figure it, if'n you need to eat a full-grown person every month, that can be worked out. But those people you eat gotta be folks that won't be missed. People who ain't got no families, or jobs that would come lookin' fer'em. So's I figure it'd be best to eat up vagrants, hobos, and other such types to avoid drawin' suspicion." I was drawing my plan in the mud, then looked up at Pig pig. "You okay with that? I can bring'em here if that's what I need to do." 

She glanced at me then, and I saw the pink light come back in her eyes, though it weren't night and there was no moon to glow by. Her head tilted backwards at a perilous angle and then it twisted all the damned way around! I stepped back but then froze at what came next. Her whole dang head lifted right off her body makin' and awful squelching, sucking noise. I watched as the head rose up in the air about ten foot, a long, clumpy, drippin' string of entrails hangin' below the head. I shit my pants right then and there and pissed right down my leg into my shoe. I was freezing and shakin' like a well digger in Alaska. Her thoughts moved in my head. "Man child, I can hunt for myself. Think to me the location of a prey human and I will do the hunting, discretely as not to arouse suspicion." The head dropped back down and smushed back on the body, which had just been settin' limp in the mud.

 

I woke up laying in the grass, my head hurt a lot and I felt all tingly all over. I sat up and saw that Pig pig was wallerin' and payin' me no mind. I slowly rolled over and crawled my narrow ass away as quick as I could. I made it to the chicken pen and started to get up and run when I realized I had crap running down my leg. I knew I'd be in big trouble if Granny found out, so I got the waterin' hose and had myself a bath. Washed out my undies, and pants, and sprayed out my shoes. Put all my clothes back on and then let myself dry out under the sun. I commenced to pullin' weeds and checkin' the fruit trees for bugs and basically spent the rest of the evening staying away from Pig pig. 

I spent the next few weeks just trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. Everyone else was going on about normal life and doing the usual business. I was a nervous wreck, jumpy as a long tail cat in a room full of rockin' chairs.

 It was gettin' along time to feed Pig pig and so I made it my business to ride into town with Granny for groceries. I made sure to keep an eye on folks and finally saw a fella that looked like he was on the down and out. I took some time to gather up his features and try an 'member them fer later. That night, while I was sloppin' Pig pig, I started talking to her. "I saw the one you can eat." I said low and almost hoping she wouldn't reply. She turned her head to me and I saw the pink glow. "Good, man child, I am growing very hungry. Think of the prey and I will know it." I took a minute and thought hard about the man I saw, then it was gone. The feeling of her in my brain, the memory of the man, all of it was gone. 

So, this became our reg'lar routine, I'd spy out some hobo or drifter and then Pig pig would go get'em and even remove the memory of the person so's I didn't have to feel bad about it. A year had passed and Pig pig was gettin' bigger. She'd started off around 500 pounds, but now she had to be at least 700 give or take a hair. No suspicions seem to have been raised, and I was collecting a butt load of wallets, watches, and most importantly cash money! 'Course I ain't dumb so I take care how I spend the money, a little here, a little there so nobody get's to wonderin' where I got it. There was an old well that sat on the property about a half mile from my Granny's place. I managed to work the cap off that old well with a crow bar and so I stashed all the stuff in there I didn't keep. Things seemed to be goin' ok fer now.

 

One day, I was just gettin' home from school and had went to my room to drop off my books. As I got in the room, I noticed that my Coleco-vision was missing. Didn't take me but a second to figure out what was happening. I marched straight over to my brother's room and see him and his pal playing on my Coleco. I started raising hell and talkin' mess to my brother. He then commenced to whoopin' my ass real good and left me bleeding with a busted lip and black eye. At that point I guessed I wasn't gonna get my Coleco back, so I decided to take direct action. I waited a week until it was Pig pig's feeding time and then I gave her the thought of my brother. I was plum mad and seeing red still, and perhaps I shouldn't have...but he never treated me right. 

She came forward, and leaned up against the fence, forcing it to bend outwards and groan in protest. My brain tickled and she said, "Are you sure man child, the one you give as prey is your own kin?" I nodded my head, trying to stay determined. "He done treated me bad fer the last time Pig pig, I'm madder than a banker with shit on his shoe!" She looked at me there in the dark and then went back to her wallow. "If you wish child, then I will take him." I thought about it, then went up to the pen and spoke in a low tone. "Make sure you wait till Saturday night. Him and his buddies always go to the lake to get drunk. That'd be the place to get him and throw off any suspicion!" She did not reply, but I know'ed she heard me. I went on back to the house proud of myself, and lookin' forward to gettin' my Coleco back. 

I really believed that I would end up feelin' bad about Pig pig eatin' my brother, but you know what, I really never have. I don't know if it was Pig pig's brain stuff or I just really never liked him much, but either way it all worked out just fine. 'Course it was crazy for a day or two, the sheriff showed up after my brother didn't come home on Sunday. Granny was beside herself with worry and the Sheriff tried to assure her that he was 'prolly just out runnin' around. It was on Monday that we heard that his buddy Joe said he had went off for a piss and just didn't come back. Some girl who was partyin' with'em said she had seen a pink UFO, but nobody believed her. 

The next few months went without much trouble. Granny was sad fer a bit, but eventually she just chalked it up to my brother runnin' away to do his own thing. The Sheriff seemed to agree, as search parties never found a body or nothin' pointing to foul play. Pig pig kept gettin' bigger, and I kept gettin' richer. I had my stuff back, plus my brother's stuff that he'd "left behind' and so I was as happy as a pig in a walla. Now you might thing me crass fer feedin' my own brother to Pig pig, but I tell ya what, my life improved and so did Granny's, as now she had more money to feed and clothe us properly. Folks from church even brought us food fer awhile, and man I tell ya, that was some good victuals. 

So that next summer I was gettin' ready to go to the 7th grade, and I was sure havin' a good time. Life was 'pert near perfect that summer, and I will always look back on it fondly. Pig pig was up around 900 pounds now and gettin' bigger. I was comin' in from chores one night when I hear'd Granny talkin' with my sister. "You know Sis, we gone get ridda' that pig finally." My sister snorted with glee and praised my Granny up and down for such a decision. Granny continued, "She's gettin' too big for her pen and she ain't had piglets in two years so it's time to send her to the butcher. We'll be eatin' good for a year of that fat ass." Granny and my sister commenced to giggling and laughin' and I went to fuming. I couldn't let this happen. 

I went right on and put my thinkin' cap on. No way in hell I was lettin' them send Pig pig to the butcher, and not just for obvious reasons. I had grown to think of Pig pig as my friend, a great big, smelly friend, and I dang near shed a tear at thinkin' of her getting butchered. I'd bide my time a minute and figure something out. I sat down fer supper and Granny starts up talking about gettin' rid of Pig pig. I swall'erd hard and said the first thing I could think of, "You know Granny, best to sell her once spring hits, we'll get a better price and still get plenty of meat." Granny thought fer a minute and then turned to me. "Well hell, if you ain't right boy, best wait a few weeks till the spring market opens up, then we'll make a pretty penny!" She was pleased with that and we went on talkin' bout school and such. 

I gave it some thought that night, and by the next mornin' I had me a plan.

 I let a couple weeks pass by and then I went out to Pig pig's pen. It was feedin' time again and so I moved over to her and let her tickle my brains. This time I put a picture of my sister in her head. She waller'd about for a minute then said, "Man child, are you sure of this. This one is also your kin. Does your kind not protect their kin?" I was nervous and shaky but I says to her, 'Listen here Pig pig, I don't like this no more than you do but my Granny wants to sell you off to butcher, and so we has to have a plan to stop her!" She snorted her snout in the mud, blowin' shit bubbles that stunk to high hell. "If that is the conundrum, why not feed the one called Granny to me? That seems a more suitable sacrifice." She eye balled me through the fence. 

"Hell no Pig pig, if'n Granny goes up and missing the Gub'ment will be down here lickety split to carry me off to an orphanage...I ain't gonna risk that. No, I've decided. If Sis goes missing it'll throw Granny into a tizzy she won't likely come out of for some months. That'll give us plenty of time to come up with a plan!" She grunted and rolled over in the mud, squishin' and squirtin' and causin' me a wave of nausea. "If you believe this to be the best plan, then it will be done." I nodded and headed back to the house. My sister was a pain in the ass anyways, best to be done with it. 

It happened, just like I had planned.

 That weekend Sis had gone out with some friends to go dancin' and "bam" she was gone! Same rigmarole as before happened, the Granny got festered over Sis not comin' home and called the Sheriff. Sheriff came and out talked with Granny and then they did a search of the area, and found jack squat. "She done run of with some boy." They said, and that was that. Granny was down in the dumps for a good long time after that. She forgot all about sellin' off Pig pig and life went on. I thought all was gonna be fine, until about a year later. 

I just gradi'ated the 8th grade and Granny took me fer Ice cream. I spent most of the summer just goofin' off and doin' nothin' in general. I noticed Granny was gettin' slow over the course of a month or so. She just wasn't movin' like she used to and she was always tired and short of breath.

 It was on a Tuesday if I 'member right. I'd come up from the back yard to help in the garden and found her layin' neath the Mulberry tree. I tried to shake her, and talk at her a bit, but it was no use, she was dead as a door nail. Of course, I couldn't let folks know about his or it'd be over for me and Pig pig both. So's I drug her in the house, propped her body in her bed and put a rag on her forehead as I had seen her do many times a'for. She was gonna start to smell but I'd have to deal with that when I could. 

The next few weeks was me havin' to figure out how to live on my own. Cashin' Granny's Social Security check and pay bills and whatnot. I learned myself how to drive the ol' Chevy and could go to the store and shop. I figured out how to make her signature and signed all my school papers and such. It was tough for a time, but fortunately we didn't get many visitors and the few we did I was able to convince that Granny wasn't feelin' good and to deal with me. I carried on like this for several months with no serious problems, but then I didn't know the real change was comin'. 

I had gone out to slop Pig pig one night; it had been rainin' and everything was wet and muddy from the downpour. As I approached the pen, I noticed Pig pig was on her side, she was breathing real heavy and makin' little grunt noises. I ran up, quick like, and just stopped and stared. She was softly glowin' pink all over and I could feel her mind reachin' out. "Man child, my time has come. It is time for me to take a new form. You have done well to feed and care for me, so now I will reward you." I had tears runnin' down my dirty face and I almost hollered. "No Pig pig, you can't go, you just can't ...I...I... Don't want you to go Pig pig!" I was ballin' hard and forgot my caution and jumped in the pen with her.

 

She looked up at me, her eyes looked weak and dim. "I cannot stop the mutation that has begun man child, it is the way of my kind, but promise me that you will leave this carcass for one full week after my departure. Do not bury it or burn it until after that time has elapsed. Can you promise this to me?" I was full hugging her nasty bloated body at this point, and weepin' like a wife at a weddin'. "Dammit Pig pig, you was the best friend I ever had, I don't understand. I want you to stay, stay here and I'll feed you more if you need, I'll feed ya the whole damn town!" She pushed into my thoughts, weaker still. "Please, can you promise me this thing?" I stammered...sat up and dried my eyes, and said in a low and squeaky voice, "I promise." 

The light grew brighter and I felt her mind leave mine. I backed away, not sure what was happening, and then like a bat outta' hell the light shot out of her body and into the night sky. It disappeared in almost an instant, and the whole yard was quiet. I sat there fer a bit, in the stink and mud and just looked at the sky. Then I got up and went back to the house. Can't say I slept well that night, or many nights after that. I was alone, mostly, just me and Granny's decaying body in the house. I had never felt so lonesome.

 

I waited, just like she had asked me, I just stayed away from the pig pen and stuck to my daily chores. I was pretty much a wreck that whole week, and couldn't derive much fun from anything. I'd taken to sittin' across the room from Granny's corpse and tossin' Sunflower seeds in her rotting mouth just for fun, but even that had lost its gloss. Finally, on the eighth day I drug myself out to the pen. As I walked up the stench was ungodly, the flies was a buzzin' everywhere so thick you could cut'em with a knife! I held my nose and got up next to the fence and looked in. There in front of me was 1000 pounds of rotting, green, pork. She boated and popped over the week and her entrails were hanging out all over. Maggots and bugs was crawlin' all over and the whole sight shook me to my bones. 

I was about to up and run when I hear'd something strange. A squelching, suckin' sort of noise and then I noticed the movement. Right near the hole in the gut area, I saw a bunch of green muck spurt up like a little geyser and then I spied it. A little piglet, no bigger'n a head of cabbage came crawlin' out the slime and guts and looked up at me. I started to jump up and down for joy! But there was more, not one, not two, but three piglets popped out and came crawlin' towards me. 

I hurriedly opened the gate and scooped them up and took'em over to the water hose to wash'em of nice. They seemed to immediately take to me and were gruntin' and floppin' about just as happy as they could be. I got'em all washed up and then tucked'em into a basket full of hay and took them to the house. I sat down on the the ol' rug in the living room and watched them play. Holy cow! Pig pig had really delivered on her promise. Three brand new little piglets fer me to take and raise. I was ecstatic, until I started thinking how much it was gonna take to feed them.