What the heck was that, Joanna thought when she saw a large form ran across the lawn. It looked like a hairless pig running on its hind legs. Joanna craned her neck out the window, hoping to get another glimpse.
“Have you finished your homework, honey?”
“I was about to, but I saw something outside.”
“Really?” her mom Rose said, and went to her side to also look out the window. “What was it?”
“It looked like a large pig.”
“It’s not nice to call Mr Paulson names, honey.”
“But I really did see a pig, mom.”
“You’ve been watching too much TV,” Rose said a little too sternly. “Now finish your homework.” She walked back into the kitchen with a deep frown on her face.
Joanna reluctantly turned her attention back to schoolwork. When she was done, there was still some daylight left and her mom had still not called her for dinner, so she went outside. She checked the turf covered lawn, but found no tracks. The sidewalk was also clear of any tell-tale signs of what she saw. She stepped to the very edge of their lawn and looked over to the neighbor’s.
“Hi Joanna, what’s up?” her classmate Lucy called as she slowed her bike to a stop.
“I saw a large animal just now. I need to figure out what it was.”
“Was it a pig?”
Joanna’s head shot up. “You’ve seen it?”
“No, but my brother did.”
“Did he tell you if it was fat and naked and pink?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. He is in the hospital now.”
“Why? What happened?”
“My parents thought he was crazy so they sent him to the hospital.”
“They sent him to a hospital because he saw a hairless pig?!”
“Well, he didn’t just see it. He acted all strange about it. He even said that he was a pig and began to act like one.”
Joanna stared aghast. Finally she said, “That is bad.”
“It is,” Lucy said, “so don’t go around seeing or looking for this thing.”
Joanna covered her mouth and giggled as a thought occurred. “My mom thinks I saw Mr Paulson.”
“He is big,” Lucy agreed, “But you saw a naked pig, right?”
The girls chortled as they both imagined him running across a lawn in his birthday suit.
“Stay off my lawn!” a grumpy Paulson called from his porch next door.
Lucy jumped back on her bike and rode off, and Joanna scuttled back into the house. She opened the door, closed it behind her and automatically looked into a mirror hanging in the foyer. The reflection that stared back at her was that of a pig. She screamed, and Rose ran out from the kitchen.
“What’s the matter, baby?”
“I’m a pig! I’m a pig!”
“No, you are not,” Rose said, grabbing and shaking Joanna’s shoulders. “You are my daughter.”
Joanna, however, could not be pacified. She was so distraught her parents had to send her to a psychiatrist. She was analyzed and medicated for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, she realized that if she were to ever get out, she must start pretending that nobody were pigs.
On that first day when she returned to school, she kept her head bowed the whole time. About her were pigs in glasses, figure hugging shirts or blouses, and pants and skirts that barely hid their curly tails. It was all she could do not to laugh hysterically.
At the end of the day, she met Lucy’s brother, Gerald. She said, “You are out too.”
“Yeh.”
“Do you still see them?” she asked. Then on seeing his hesitation, she said, “I still do. Everywhere.”
He nodded. “It’s kinda weird. The doctors kept saying that we are deluded. But what if we are the ones who see everyone as they are?”
“But that means, we really are pigs.”
“What if we are? I’ve read in the internet that fire victims use pig skin for skin grafting.” He shrugged. “Whatever.”
Joanna stared at a group of popular girls choreographing a dance for the school play just a few yards away. She began to giggle, and soon Gerald was chortling away too.
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