Piggy Heaven

10860

I laughed out loud yesterday at work. As I was doing rounds for the afternoon, I felt a twinge of sorrow for this young pig in a room all by herself, so I went to the diet kitchen, found some plump red grapes and a couple of fresh fig newtons and went to play with her. As I picked the grapes off the stems and fed them to this pint size bundle of energy, I realized this little pig could be the star of the next Babe sequel. She had such a rosy pink skin with just a dusting of shimmery white hair that danced like moonlight off water in the flourescent light. There was a slightly more pink contrast of color sketched in what seemed to be perfect circles around each of her eyes and her elbows had tufts of hair slicked back in a men's fashionable 50's hairstyle which jutted out in the direction of her elbow and stood without any goo.

She definitely had the personality for the part. As she nibbled the fruit out of my hand one at a time the sound of the juicy grapes smacking loudly on the roof of her mouth is all that could be heard in the otherwise empty room of cages. After she'd enjoyed the fruit and newtons I helped her step down onto the green laminate sealed concrete floor. She took some uneasy steps as her hooves slid easily across the sleek floor. With each step she grew more confident until she was following me up and down the aisle from her cage, on the end of the row, to the door. Soon she was running back and fourth just as fast as her little piggy legs could carry her. As she came running toward me with all her 35kg piggy momentum she'd put on the brakes a bit too late and come sliding into my lap. I watched for about 20 minutes and continued to laugh each time she skidded to a halt and bumped me backward into the door. I didn't want to put her back in the stainless steel cage with the orange rubberized grated floor, but she was tired and had a few scrumptious treats, so she was ready. I went about my day finishing rounds and still chuckling to myself as I though about her playful mannerisms.

The following day I went up with treats in hand and a smile on my face thinking that spending these last moments of my afternoon with 10860 would be a delightful end to my day at work. When I entered the room there was absolute silence. My eyes welled up with tears as I wrote the word "VACANT" on my round sheet and closed the door.