On Pigs and People

This is a picture of a teacup pig, which those flakes and nuts in California are importing as the newest pet craze. My sister wants one. However, since it would be smaller than her cats, they would probably succeed in eating it.

Houston has the same humid, heavy air that has made places like New Orleans and Florida famous for ghosts. On a hot, humid summer night the air distorts light and sometimes you just can't be sure what you are seeing.

This past summer, I was walking Lady Bird around the neighborhood and from across the street, inside a gated yard, I saw a pig the size of an America bulldog. I was all like, "Whoa! Those people are keeping a pig as a pet." I quickly reported this freakishness to everyone I know. Met with their skepticism and my own inability to remember where I'd seen the pig, I began to think maybe I had not really seen a pig at all.

A few weeks later I was walking by a house and noticed that the yard was full of pig themed stuff, including a large statue of a pig. I realized that I had mistaken a statue for a live animal and was a complete idiot. I kept this to myself.

Later that week, Frank and I were sitting on the front porch and someone walked by across the street. She was walking an animal the size of an American Bulldog.
"Frank! Look! That is the pig I saw."
"Are you sure that is a pig and not a dog."
"Yes, well maybe not. It looks like a pig, right."
"I don't know."
"Hey, is that a pig?"

To this the lady replied: "I don't know. Maybe it's part pig. I'm just the dog walker."

So at this point I really did feel like a total idiot. There was no pig and I am crazy. (But maybe not as crazy as the walker of a part dog part pig.)

But then, last week, I was so excited to see that there was, in fact, a real pig around the block from me. I was walking Lady Bird, but this time we were on the same side of the street as the pig house. There is was, a large pig, just standing in the front yard, enclosed by the fence. The pig did not move at all as we walked by. This gave me a little relief. The pig was statueske. To my surprise, Lady Bird had no reaction to the pig. She did not go and sniff its nose as if it were a dog and she did not chase it like it was a cat.

Ta Da. A pig lives around the block from me and whoever is keeping that pig is as much of a nut as I am.