Postcards #9 - Dread and Dirt Roads

I'm going to preface this post by saying I love pigs. We've had them. We even bottle-fed one litter that the sow rejected. They are complex, wonderfully intelligent animals. They can also be alarmingly dangerous, as, generally, they weigh anywhere from 275-300 pounds. Boars of breeding age can easily weigh 500 pounds or more.

The story readers hate to love in Well Water and other odd tales is the story Pig. A heavily pregnant woman, Merla, whose husband is in the hospital after an altercation with a neighbor whose pigs are eating them out of house and home, makes a horrifying decision.

This is the story I get questions about. It is loosely based on a story my Dad used to tell about two men who feuded over a herd of pigs and the pregnant wife who had to deal with the outcome. Nothing about this story is true aside from them shooting each other. I fabricated it all. It's a story that's stuck with me my whole life because I wondered what that poor woman thought and did. What would I think? How would I feel? What can desperation drive us to do?

I don't want to tell you any more. You will have to see what Merla decides for yourself.

My upcoming book, Cigar Box Saint, will be out this Fall sometime. You'll meet Kane, who believes he's going on an adventure with some new friends and it becomes something wholly unexplainable or expected. Stay tuned!

Back to the story,

Lyndsey

Photo: Pascal Debrunner, Unsplash