Chance Meeting

Unlikely that we ever would have met, but chance is chance. 

I just wanted to get home from the disastrous night. It was a rainy night and as I drove, I realized I probably should have gotten a ride. It was hard to see and my mind kept drifting back to what happened at the bar. My left cheek was still hurting from getting punched. That brought up the anger I’d pushed down and I felt like turning back around. How could I let him take her from me? What could she even see in him? Why couldn’t I have just kept my cool? Questions circling in my mind over and over. I thought about leaving it all behind. 

Without any warning, something was standing right in front of my truck and I nearly hit it, but I slammed on the brakes and slid off the road a little, missing whatever it was. I had slowed down but started pressing on the gas to leave, when my curiosity got the best of me. I stopped, put the truck in park and grabbed my flashlight. 

I got out and took a few steps back to find an animal in the road. I had to look twice before believing what stood before me. It was a pig, a tiny, shivering, wet little piglet. At first I chuckled and turned to walk back to my truck thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me,”but it made some noise that stopped me in my tracks. I turned around. It was pathetic sitting there looking at me, so lost and sad-about how I felt at the moment. It’s eyes were saying please help me. I decided I would pick it up and take it home for the night. It didn’t even try to get away from me when I bent down for it. It looked up at me, helpless like it might be ready to give up, but also had a slight glimmer of hope in its eyes. I thought it must be from the neighbors’ farm nearby, so I’d return it in the morning.

When we got in the truck, I grabbed a dirty towel from the floor and wrapped it around the pig, pushing it away from me. I started driving off and the pig lay quiet. Then I noticed it inching towards me on the seat. It stopped moving when it was pressed against my leg and started making a soft grunting noise, when I realized it was snoring! I just shook my head and kept driving. Before I knew it, we were home and I’d forgotten about the fireworks from earlier, only to be thinking about what to do with the pig. 

I decided to put it in the garage. I had a live trap, but no real cage to use, so I decided to put it in a cardboard box for the night, with the towel I had wrapped around it in the truck. I left it in the dark and went to bed. 

No sooner was I asleep, I was woken up by a loud whining sound. It took me a minute to realize what it was. I got up and went back out to the garage, irritated. I opened the box and as I looked down at the pig, my anger slowly disappeared. What was it about this pig! I was not usually the type of person to have any feelings towards an animal, but it just looked so pitiful, staring up at me with those eyes.

I picked it up and went to the kitchen. I put the pig down on the floor and opened the fridge for some milk. I wasn’t really sure what to feed it, so milk seemed like a good choice. When I put the dish down to the pig, it began lapping it up gratefully, until the bowl was empty. I said, “Good job piggy.” -and of course, that stuck. I said, “Ok Piggy, let’s go to bed.” I grabbed a clean towel and put the pig on it, on my bed with me. I think we both fell asleep within a minute.

I woke up to the bright sun shining into the bedroom. My mind thought about the previous night and I let out a defeated sigh. Then I sat up and realized I had company in bed with me. I looked down and saw the pig asleep with its legs stretched out behind it. Never saw anything like that before and probably never felt the feelings that came along with it before. It made me smile. I reached down to touch the pig and it slowly woke up focusing its groggy eyes on me. It rolled over on its back and I realized it was a female. So I guess it made sense in my mind that I should call her Miss Piggy. Then I said it, “Hi Miss Piggy,” and just about hit myself realizing how halfwitted I sounded. She let out a little squeal of delight and I didn’t think anymore about the previous night. 

I gave her more milk and knew it was time to get her back to the farm. I got in the truck with the pig and started driving down the road. I watched Miss Piggy as I drove and she seemed content, looking out the window. She was quiet and interested in her surroundings. She looked at me frequently for reassurance. I patted her on the head and told her, “Good piggy.” She seemed like a puppy in a way, but much more calm. We reached the farm and I pulled down the driveway toward the house. I saw several pigs out in the field. 

I stopped the truck and noticed Miss Piggy got on the floor on the passenger side. I left her in the truck and went up to the house. I knocked on the door and Mrs. Holden opened the door. I asked if they were missing any animals. She said she didn’t think so. I told her about the pig I’d found on the road and she said it may have fallen off the truck that had hauled some of their pigs the evening before. She said it was probably sick since it was on the truck going to slaughter. She told me that I could bring the pig to her and she’d make sure it was taken care of. 

I turned around and started heading for my truck to get the pig. With each step I took, I felt more and more uneasy. I opened the door and looked down to the pig. Miss Piggy didn’t look sick at all-her eyes were bright and she looked at me as if to say, let’s continue our drive down the road. Maybe she had sensed her fate and decided to go another route when she was on that truck. Pigs are known to be smart, I thought to myself. I was really struggling with what I was thinking I was supposed to do. What was I going to do with a pig, I thought. 

I picked up the pig and she looked at me with those eyes. I just couldn’t bring myself to take her back up to Mrs. Holden. I couldn’t betray her trust in me. I couldn’t let go of thinking back to that chance meeting. 

Moments later I returned to the Holden’s front door and knocked again. Mrs. Holden opened up the door and looked at me puzzled. “Where is the pig?” she said. I told her I would like to keep it and take care of it if she would allow me to. She said there was certainly some reason as to why that pig was not wanted, but agreed saying I could suit myself, make bacon out of it if I wanted and laughed. 

I got in the truck and started pulling away from the farm. Miss piggy got back up on the seat and wiggled herself close to me and fell asleep with her soft grunts. This is going to be a wild ride, I thought, but it just felt right. 

I never questioned it again. Miss Piggy lived with me for the next 16 years. I couldn’t understand what happened the night we met, but I knew it was meant to be.