Karis Chin-Quee, Contributor

Owen rubbed his back blissfully against the cool, slippery mud; the sun pelted his belly and his eyelids.

He waved his short legs in the air.

"Please, just two minutes" he bargained with himself.

A sound from behind the trees near his head made him flip over with a speed belying his portly size. In three seconds flat, he had reached the cover of a thick bush, away from the noise.

Heart pounding, he crouched and looked towards the direction of the noise. A doctor bird flew up a few feet in the air.

Owen felt weak with relief. It was time to continue on his journey. First, he would free his brother and his friends and then they would find food in the sheds or reap the crops themselves.

It was getting dark when he arrived at the farm. It was a small farm and not very secure.

He easily pushed his way through a part of the fence that had been broken down, probably by some runaway cow.

Freedom

Opening the pigsty was just as easy. The 'lock' was simply a piece of board with a nail. The door swung open when he used his hoof to move it from horizontal to vertical.

The pigs immediately woke up, eagerly receptive to the unlikelihood of a midnight feast.

"Ssshh" said Owen.

His brother immediately recognised him although it was dark and they had not seen each other since they were little pigs.

"What are you doing here Owen?" he said.

"I've come to free you and take you with me and any of your friends who would like to come."

"But where would we go?" said the other pigs, "who would feed us?"

"I've been free for weeks and I've found more than enough food all around." Owen said.

The pigs were not impressed; they thought he looked very skinny for a pig.

"We have friends who have always been free," Owen said. "They live in the mountains."

Owen's brother, Trevor shook his head, sadly. "We are not as brave as you, Owen. We like it here. Who knows what could happen to us in the outside world?"

Fugitive

Suddenly Owen heard voices! They must have been grunting louder than they had thought, for the people in the house were now awake.

Owen scampered off towards the darkness of the bushes. He could hear two men talking angrily.

"It caan go on suh! This damn hog jus a mash up people potato garden and a go from property to property and a stir up de res' a de hog dem. Mek we round up some man one night. We mus ketch him!"

"Mi hear seh when hog nuh nyam de bag feed and eat pure grass and provisions de meat sweet u see!" said the other man.

It was here that Owen made a quick decision. He was now officially a fugitive.

He had not had much success convincing the other pigs to come with him. He would travel solo. He had to cover as much ground between now and when this pig-catching mob was rounded up.

The next day, he went in the direction of the sunrise. He knew that the hills which offered a safe haven for pigs was due east.

Among the plants

He thought he had covered 10 miles by sundown, but that distance was no match for the mob of men determined to catch him.

This he found out when he heard a shout behind him and felt a horrible pain as a machete sliced him on his back.

His terror gave him the energy to hurl himself towards a stream where he hid himself among some water plants. He could not believe when the men ran past him and disappeared.

Hours passed and he allowed himself to believe he had really escaped them for good. He dragged himself out of the water and wearily found a hiding place nearby. He gave in to a rare moment of self-pity:

"Why am I so hated among animals?" he asked God. The Muslims and Jews hate me, the Seventh-day Adventists hate me, not to mention the Rastafarians."

Unclean

He must have fallen asleep because he dreamed that God said to him,

"Owen, if all faiths hated you, you and your brothers would always be safe."

He woke up to the sound of the conversation from a gathering around the stream into which his blood had leaked.

"Is a devil hog," the people said. All de plant dem 'round de stream dead from him blood an' look pon de dead fish. We nuh waan none a da hog deh! Him unclean!"

Owen smiled. Just yesterday he would have felt a deep and debilitating shame at this; now he knew that this was God's way of protecting him.

He recovered from his wound in peace. There was no longer a mob chasing him.

A few days later, his wild comrades welcomed him into the Hellshire hills.