Ethan Finds a Friend

By Jeanette Keenan

Ethan Finds a Friend

Percival, a pontificating, pretentious and portly pig, stopped struggling, took a deep breath to calm down and accidentally inhaled a snoutful of dirt, He huffed loudly to clear his nostrils and closed his eyes in order to more clearly focus on his escape. Unfortunately, all he could focus on were the squawks, quacks, squeaks and oinks of hilarity behind him as some of his neighbours enjoyed his discomfiture. 

Percival squeezed his eyes tightly shut and told himself in no uncertain terms to stop feeling sorry for himself. 

Opening his eyes, Percival cautiously looked about and took stock of his situation. He lay spread-eagled beneath a fence with his head and front legs outside the fence and his rear end still in the barnyard. He realized that his beautifully plump belly, firmly stuck in the hold he had dug earlier beneath the fence to help him escape, was now preventing him from moving either forward to freedom or back to the barnyard. 

The sounds of hilarity behind Percival increased in volume as some cows, goats and the farmyard dog wandered over to the fence to see what all the excitement was about. 

“Oh no,” Percival groaned, “can this day get any worse?”

He felt the earth tremble beneath him as even more animals joined the throng, stamping their feet and raising their voices to show their appreciation of his performance or lack thereof.

Percival wept, overcome by feelings of great loss and confusion. His public loss of dignity meant he would never again be respected or feared.

Desperate to escape, Percival dug his hooves into the dirt and pushed his weight forward while using all his strength to lift his body so that his belly could escape the hole. The spectators cheered him on. 

Eventually, it became clear that Percival’s efforts were in vain, and his audience began to get restless, and their comments became increasingly hurtful. “Hey fatso, get a moveon.” “Where does he think he’s going?”, “Getting under that fence is like stuffing a cow into the chicken coop.” “Hey Percy, you’re stuck under there until you become half the pig you are today.”

Gertrude, a goat with strong maternal feelings, having just delivered two perfect babies, couldn’t stand seeing Percival humiliated anymore. “Out of my way. Stop being so nasty. Why are you all being so cruel to poor Percival?” She raised her voice so that she could be heard over the din as she butted her way through the crowd until she reached the fence. “Percival, I’m going to do something that you won’t like, and I ask your forgiveness ahead of time,” she said. 

“What do you…?” Before he could finish his question, Percival felt a terrible pain in her rear end, as something very hard hit him with such force that his belly was knocked right out of the hole, and he slid unceremoniously out from under the fence. 

****

Percival lay splayed on the ground for a moment, deaf to the taunts and laughter behind him. “At last,” he breathed, “I’m free”.

Percival finally got to his feet and snuck a peek back at the fence. There they were, his tormentors. Those lesser beings who actually felt superior. “ Well, I did try to warn them,” he muttered to himself. He felt a bit guilty for some reason. “Maybe I didn't try hard enough.” Percival gave himself a shake to rid himself of such a thought and winced from the pain in his rear end. He sat on the ground with his rear legs stretched out in front of him and used his front legs to slowly move his body forward in a way that allowed his well-developed bum to remain on the ground, just like the farm yard dogs did. “Ummm, that feels good,” he said as he carefully rubbed his bum on the grass, “Aah,” as the pain dissipated. 

Percival looked back at the fence and saw that now only Gertrude remained. He trotted over and thanked her. “Please, Gertrude, remember what I said. The two-legged animals are not your friends. They will fatten you and your babies up, and then you will all disappear”.

Gertrude put her face up against the fence and snorted kindly at Percival. “I will take your advice and watch the two-legged animals carefully. No one is going to hurt my babies. Take care on your journey, Percival and I hope you find what you’re looking for.” She turned and went back into the barnyard. 

Percival looked away from the farm and sighed happily as he eyed the free world. So green, so lush and bathed in sunshine. 

****

Percival was tired, hungry, cold and afraid as he limped across yet another field. He had been walking all night, too afraid of the wild animals he could hear but not see in this wilderness to rest. He already missed the familiar noises, smells, routines and even the other farm animals. 

The night seemed to be getting darker, if that was possible, and Percival found it increasingly difficult to see what lay ahead. Suddenly, his front hooves clipped something on the ground, causing him to briefly become airborne. The next thing he knew, his right leg went right, and his left leg went left, causing him to fall face first, belly second onto something soft. At the same time, he was deafened by a terrified and terrifying scream. Whatever it was beneath him moved, and he was violently dislodged from his soft landing spot and ended up on a hard, cold and prickly surface. He forced himself to remain quiet and very still, hoping that whatever it was that he had landed on would leave him alone. 

*****

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” gasped Etahn as he sat up and looked cautiously around for whatever had fallen on him. The last thing he remembered was sitting down to rest after a long day of hiking to admire the sunset. “ Oh no, not again. Moms going to be really mad.” Ethan, a handsome and athletic twelve-year-old who loved to explore the countryside surrounding the home he shared with his mom, dad, and younger sister Eadie, was familiar with this particular spot. He knew he was too far away from the base of a nearby hill to be the target of any falling rocks and was in a field with no trees or bushes close by. Therefore, whatever it was had to have come from the sky. He looked up and considered, out loud, the possibilities. 

“If it was a meteorite or something like that, I would probably be dead or badly injured. If it was garbage from an airplane, I would be able to smell it. Most likely, it was some type of bird falling from a great height.” After coming to what he believed was the most rational conclusion, he began to feel concerned about the condition the poor bird must be in after hitting him with such force. Ethan began to gently pat the earth around him, hoping to locate it. 

****

Percival was terrified. His heart beat so hard his ears were overcome by its throbbing, and he groaned in distress. “Please don’t hurt me,” he said. “ I didn't mean to hurt you. I’m really a good pig.” Percival could hear but not see the animal talking but couldn't understand what it was saying. It spoke the same language as the two-legged animals in charge of the farm he had escaped from, but Percival had never felt the need or the desire to understand their language since he found them to be ignorant, cruel and often murderous in their dealings with the other animals. He did understand, though, that it was trying to find him as he felt its hand moving ever closer.

“Aha, what have we here?” Ethan touched and then gently grasped one of Percival’s ears. Percival trembled with fear as he felt a hand move from one ear to his forehead and down to his snout while another hand slid down his back all the way to his tail. 

“I don’t believe this. It’s a pig!” Ethan laughed in amazement. “A pig fell out of the sky and landed on me. What does it all mean?”

“Umm,” Ethan considered. “This has to be of special, cosmic significance.”

Percival couldn’t believe what was happening. This was the first time in his life that he had been touched in such a gentle way by such a creature. He began to feel emotions welling up inside him that he didn't understand but which made him want to laugh and cry at the same time as Ethan continued to strike him. As he listened to it speak to him soothingly, he felt sad that he could not understand what was being said. The only other physical contact he’d experienced, from the two-legged animals, had been associated with their obvious admiration of his plumpness, which they continued to work on increasing. His suspicions that something was wrong had been confirmed, as other plump animals kept disappearing from the farm yard. 

“Thank you,” whispered Percival as he slowly closed his eyes. He sat up and looked around in confusion. “Where am I?” he wondered, “How did I get here?”

It took Percival a moment before he was able to remember his humiliating escape from the barnyard, the long and perilous journey through alien lands in the dark of night, and his painful yet wonderful encounter with the strange, two-legged animal. As to the latter, Percival began to wonder if he had hurt his head when he fell and only imagined his kindness and how this made him feel. 

Percival looked around and saw Ethan sitting cross-legged behind him. He licked his lips in anticipation of it giving him food. All it was able to give him, however, was a smile and an ear tickle, which made him vibrate with pleasure. 

*****

Percival and Ethan walked together in companionable silence for quite some time and distance, passing through several meadows and some small wooded areas. Percival was astounded that not only had he travelled so far on an empty stomach, he felt happy and at peace for the first time in his life. 

“It’s a miracle,” he said as he smiled to himself and exchanged a look with Ethan. 

“Are you smiling at me? Asked Ethan. “Yes… you are smiling at me. “I didn’t know that pigs could smile.”

*****

Percival looked up at the sun and saw that it had moved to a position in the sky he recognized as meaning that, on a normal day, it was time to eat. He was about to point this out to his two-legged friend just as it turned to him and said, “Apple orchard ahead.” Percival followed the gaze to a grove of trees in the distance. 

Percival trotted faster and faster towards his dinner, energized by the thought of lying in the shade under a tree, munching on an endless supply of apples. “I’m flying. I’m flying,” he sang out. Ethan watched him with affection and amusement as Percival left him far behind. 

When Ethan finally arrived at the orchard, he found a satisfied-looking Percival stretched out under a tree, surrounded by bits and pieces of apple. Percival looked up at Ethan, then down to the bits of apple, and pushed a piece towards him with his snout. “I left you some food,” Percival said. 

After eating his fill of apples, Ethan sat down beside a now snoring Percival, leaned back against the tree and sighed contentedly. “You must be a special, pig,” Ethan said as he reached over and placed his hand on Percival’s back. “Then again, I must be special, too. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a pig fall down from the sky and land on them.”

*****

The sun shone, the day was warm, and there was an abundance of flowers, trees, bugs, butterflies and birds to see, touch, smell, chase and admire along the way. 

Before his escape from the farmyard, Percival had never really noticed, or even been remotely interested in, anything other than himself. He had no friends because he didn't need any. He was happy until he wasn’t. 

Percival found it extremely odd that he now felt so aware of and interested in what was going on around him. He was almost positive that he liked the new Percival better than the old one. Trotting and thinking at the same time was, however, a new experience for both the old and the new Percival, and neither was very good at it. It should have come as no surprise, therefore, when he walked snout first into a gate that unexpectedly spanned the road. He squealed in pain and turned to run away from whatever had hit him. 

“Are you okay?” Ethan knelt and put his arm around Percival to calm him down. “Didn’t you see the gate?” He gently turned Percival’s head towards the gate. “See, it’s only a gate.” Percival looked back at the gate in embarrassment and then up at his friend. He saw that it was really worried about him and felt the pain in his snout disappear. 

Ethan got to his feet and walked towards the gate. He looked down at Percival and smiled, then turned and pointed to something in the distance. “Our home is on the other side of this gate,” he said. 

Percival followed its gaze to a small farmhouse in the distance. He backed away from Ethan and readied himself to run if necessary. “Oh no,” he muttered to himself. “It's tricked me into going with it to another farm yard.”

Ethan looked down at him in confusion. “What’s the matter?” Ethan bent down and reached out to stroke Percival, causing him to back away in fear. 

“You’re going to disappear me,” Percival answered. 

Ethan knelt down in front of Percival, taking care not to touch him. Considered him carefully and came to the conclusion that Percival must have been abused by his previous owners. “We will never hurt you,” Ethan told him softly. He slowly extended his hand for Percival to sniff in the hope that he would smell the truth. “The only animals we have are cats and an old dog, and we love them a lot. They will be very happy to meet you, as will my mom, dad and sister.”

Percival returned its gaze while still in flight mode. Unexpectedly, he felt his body begin to betray him. Whenever something was placed near his snout, he couldn’t help sniffing it, and his determination to remain wary of this two-legged animal gradually became less as his righteous anger at being betrayed, and his fear of being disappeared began to fade away. Soon, his fear became nothing but a memory.