Hogs

HOGS by Henry Samples Back right after me and Muriel got married we moved into a little ole piece of a house up in the Benson Holler. It wasn't the best in the world, but hit was good enough until we started havin' younguns and had to move out of there. Anyway, we'd been married less than a year and I ain't denyin' hit, times was hard. Reckon you all remember them times as good as I do. Man had to scramble just to keep clothes on his back and his face fed. Along about hog killin' time I hired on with Squire Pitman to help him kill and fix up his hogs. We's just layin' out our tools that mornin' and gettin' ready when he started in. I shore don't look forward to killin' hogs, he said. I just don't look forward to hit at all. Why not? I ast him. Ye got me a helpin' ye, and I ain't costin' ye all that much. That ain't what's botherin' me, he said. Everybody that comes up and down this road today is gonna see us killin' hogs. And tommorow they'll be back over here, astin' for a little bacon or some sausage or some tenderloin, and 'fore ye know hit, I won't have no hog left at all. Why shoot, I told him. Ye ain't got nothin' to worry about. Just leave these hogs hangin' up out here all day where everybody can see 'em. Leave 'em there till hit gits good and dark. Then ye kin sneak out here and git 'em and you and yore ole lady can put them hogs up tonight . Then tomorrow when folks start comin' around with a handful of gimme and a mouthful of thankye, why ye kin just tell em that somebody stole yer hogs. By God, that's a good ider, he said. A damn good ider. That's just what I'll do. Well, we went ahead and butchered them hogs and when we's finished he paid me off, just like we'd agreed on 'fore we started. Them hogs was still hangin' up when I left. Ole Squire Pitman standin' there a grinnin', figure'n on puttin' them hogs up later that night. Well, just as soon as hit turned dark enough so ye couldn't see very good, I sneaked over to his place and snitched me one of them hogs and fetched hit back to our place. Seems like me and Muriel worked well past midnight puttin' hit up in cans. Boy, was hit good later on. Free hog meat is just like free watermelon , I reckon. Hit's better when ye don't have to pay nothin' for hit. Anyway, the next mornin' I lit off for the store right after breakfast, and I made a special point of goin' past Squire Pitman's place. He's standin' out near the watertap when I come by. How'd everthang go last night? I ast him. Ye git yer hogs put up all right? He kindly looked off at the mountains 'fore he answered me. You ain't gonna believe what happened to me last night, he said. What happened? I ast. You didn't have no accident around the stove or anythang puttin' up that meat did ye? No, I didn't, he said. But some low down sack of green shit come by here and stole one of my hogs. That's hit, I said. That's the story. You keep tellin that and folks'll believe hit. You just see iff'n they won't. Boys, I left him there, him cussin' and me laughin' under my breath. Some people is just a beggin' to be took, ain't they? 50 ...