The Boy Who Understood
by Biff Spork
Chapter 13
Pigs in a Truck
On Sunday morning, Melissa got a call from her local animal rights group.
"A trailer truck full of pigs went off the highway up the valley. Apparently it's stuck in the river and the pigs are trapped inside. We're going to go up there and witness, and try to help if we can. If you want to come, we'll pick you up in a half hour."
"Yes, please," said Melissa.
"Bring your camera. Maybe you can take some video."
A van picked her up shortly afterwards. When her group arrived at the crash site, they stood on the edge of the highway overlooking the half-submerged trailer truck. The cab of the truck was close to the riverbank but the trailer was in deeper water with its rear end completely under the surface. An immediate rescue seemed impossible. The crying from the trapped pigs was painful and desperate. They were terror-stricken. Melissa wiped her eyes, set up her camera, and began to record video.
The sheriff's office had received a report of a vehicle accident on the outskirts of Jana Mountain Park. A truck driver had lost control of his trailer truck, and it had jack-knifed off the highway into the Jana River. Its cargo was live pigs from Jameson Pork Producers. They were on their way to the meatpacking plant near Dryden. The trucker had gone to the hospital for treatment of his minor injuries, but the pigs were trapped in the trailer.
When Sheriff Morgan arrived, there were two squad cars and a van parked on the edge of the highway. A steep embankment dropped down to the river, thirty feet below. He joined two of his deputies surveying the scene near the broken guard rail.
"We need a crane to get that truck out of the river," he said.
"Nearest one's in Dryden," said Deputy Frankl, "but it's Sunday. I asked the office to get in touch with them, but nobody knows where the operator is. It'll be hours before they can get here."
"Is anyone from Jameson Pork here," asked the sheriff.
"The truck driver's gone to the hospital, and Jameson Pork isn't answering their phone. I told the office to keep trying."
The panic-stricken pigs were making heart-rending cries. It was impossible to ignore the human-like quality of their fear-filled screams. The pigs had been jammed together when the truck was loaded. Now, half the space they had occupied was underwater. Most of them were swimming and trying to climb on each other to stay out of the water. They wouldn't last long.
The sheriff gestured toward the van. Six people stood staring at the trailer-truck. One of them had set up a camera on a tripod. "Who're the spectators over there?"
"Animal rights nuts. They have 'expressed their concern' and want to know what we're going to do to rescue the pigs," said Deputy Frankl.
"Good question," said the Sheriff. "Got any ideas about anything we can do right now?"
"No," said Deputy Frankl. "That's a terrible noise they're making."
"The back end of the truck is underwater," said another deputy. "Even if we could get the back doors open, the pigs would have to swim underwater to get out. That's not gonna happen."
"So, we just stand here and listen to them die?" Deputy Frankl said.
"Well, they're on the way to the slaughterhouse anyway, so what's the difference?"said the other deputy.
"Park Service has a Zodiac inflatable dinghy. Call them up and see if they can get it here as soon as possible," said the sheriff to Deputy Frankl. To the other deputy, he said, "There's a scuba club in Dryden. Try to contact someone there and tell them we need a diver down here right away. That big sporting goods store may know someone who could help."
Both deputies nodded and turned toward their cars. Then Deputy Frankl pointed to the opposite bank of the river. "Look, over there." A horse and rider paused on the riverbank.
"Looks like a kid on a horse," said the sheriff.
The rider and his gray horse shouldered into the swiftly flowing water and fought against the current as they swam toward the truck.
"The kid's naked," said Deputy Frankl.
"There's a bear on the riverbank," said the sheriff.
"And a cougar too," said Deputy Frankl.
Both animals watched the progress of the horse and rider swimming toward the truck. Everyone on the opposite bank did, too.
When River woke up, he felt groggy. It took him a minute to realize he was in the hospital. His legs felt bad. If he moved them even an inch, they were painful, and they felt heavy, as if each weighed a hundred pounds.
"Hey, you're awake," said the cheerful nurse who came to the side of his bed. "How're you feeling?"
"Okay," said River. "Well, not really. My legs really hurt."
"Okay, we'll get you something for the pain in a minute." She busied herself checking his vitals. With the sheet folded down, they looked at River's lower legs. Both were swollen and red, and each bore two angry black marks where the snakes' fangs had punctured his skin. "You had quite an adventure yesterday," she said.
"Yeah. It was bad. Those snakes came outta nowhere. Did anyone else get bit?"
"Nope, you're the only snakebite victim we've got, the star of this floor. You're a lucky boy. Your pal who called 911 did everything right, saved your life. You've got a real good friend there. Your father was here earlier, and there's been a reporter here, too. They said they'd come back later. Now, I'm gonna get you something for your pain. You feel like some breakfast?"
River wasn't hungry, but he swallowed a few mouthfuls of the breakfast when it arrived on a tray. The pain pill took effect, and his legs stopped hurting so much. He nibbled on a piece of toast as he recalled what happened at the gravel pit.
Two images returned repeatedly to his mind. The first was Jude jumping onto his bike and racing away. Some friend! The second image troubled him more, and he kept pushing it away. It was David's face, leaning over him. He looked sad and somehow friendly at the same time, like he cared about River. He remembered how David's hand felt on his forehead, and how his voice had soothed and calmed him. The nurse said his 'pal' had saved his life. River blinked and stared at the ceiling, and tears ran off his face.
When the nurse came in, she gave him a tissue to dry his tears and said, "Hey, I bet it hurts. But it'll go away in a couple of days, and you'll be up and running around again."
River closed his eyes and said, "Yeah." He didn't want to talk about what had forced those tears out. It wasn't the pain from the rattlesnake bites. It was much worse than that, and he knew it wasn't going to go away in a few days.
Sheriff Morgan stood on the roadside and watched as the gray horse struggled across the stronger current in the middle of the river. The rider was a boy with long, tangled blond hair, almost white. He rode bareback. The horse had no bridle or bit, yet he swam directly to the truck's rear and stopped, facing upstream and treading water to stay in place. The boy slid off his back and disappeared underwater. A minute later, he surfaced, took a deep breath, and dived again. Another minute passed. Sheriff Morgan found he was holding his breath. Though they were barely visible underwater, he saw the back doors of the truck slowly opening. The boy popped up and climbed onto the horse once again. Sheriff Morgan exhaled in relief. Horse and rider swam away from the truck a short distance and stopped. The boy sat cross-legged on his mount's broad back. He didn't pay any attention to the onlookers. He focused on the truck while the river's waters swirled around him.
"The pigs have stopped squealing," said Deputy Frankl, his awed voice loud in the sudden silence.
Again, the naked boy slipped off the horse's back and duck-dived toward the rear of the truck. He disappeared underwater. A minute passed, and another, before his head broke the surface. A pig's head was under his arm. The boy released the pig and pointed to the far shore. The pig swam strongly in that direction. The boy paddled over to his horse and lay on the horse's back watching the rear of the truck.
Pigs started to bob up to the surface, two or three at a time. They followed the first pig to where the bear and the puma were waiting. When the first one reached the shore, the bear led it into the forest. As other pigs climbed out of the river, they followed.
When no more pigs came to the surface, the boy continued looking at the truck. Then he slipped off the horse again and dived.
"Jesus! I don't believe this," said the sheriff.
A minute passed and another minute. Everyone along the riverbank held their breath. Then the boy's head surfaced along with another pig, bleeding from a head wound. The spectators released sighs of relief. The boy crawled onto the horse's back and pulled the pig's front legs over the withers. The horse carried them to the far shore. When they neared the riverbank, the boy slipped off the horse and supported the pig into the shallows. He limped out onto the shore, and the boy patted his head. The horse knelt on the riverbank. The boy mounted again, nodded to the cougar, and they trotted toward the forest.
A cheer swelled from the animal rights activists, and the sheriff and his deputies couldn't help but join in. They all were filled with an emotion they couldn't suppress. When the boy had disappeared into the trees, everyone felt a sense of loss; they had glimpsed a better, brighter world for a moment and then it was gone.
David was disappointed when he entered the tall trees of the park. Zhiv and his usual companions were not there to meet him. After he had locked his bike and put his clothes away, Chirko, the squirrel, came and chattered to him. David listened and tried to open his mind to the mara. First, he saw Zhiv's image and then pigs, many pigs, squealing in distress. Then he saw Zhiv again. He decided he would go to the cave. If Zhiv was not there, he would wait.
Zhiv did not arrive until noon. He walked up to the cave with a gray horse on one side and two pigs on the other. One of the pigs was wounded. David ran over to Zhiv and hugged him, then hugged the horse and the pigs. The wounded pig looked exhausted and lay down. David gave him a belly rub.
Zhiv leaned his forehead against his horse companion. They muttered deep in their throats.
David dug out the first aid kit Doreen insisted he carry in his pack. Though the pig's head wound had bled a lot, it wasn't deep or serious. Once David had cleaned it up, he applied some antibiotic ointment and a large bandage.
When David had hugged Zhiv, he noticed that his thick hair was damp. "You've been swimming," he said, when the gray horse had trotted away.
"Yeah. I had to go down into the valley this morning, and I took a little swim in the river when I got there."
"What happened?"
David listened, enthralled, as Zhiv described how he helped the trapped pigs escape. "How many pigs," he asked.
"I didn't count them, but there was a bunch – maybe fifty or seventy-five. They want to stay free. I told them they should spread out so they'll be harder to find. Most of them are heading for the wilderness beyond the park and the plateau."
"That was great, Zhiv. You saved their lives."
"I had to help them get out of that truck. I don't have any choice in these things. They needed some help, and that's why I'm here."
"And these two decided to come home with you?"
"The pig who hurt his head is here so we could fix him up, and he can rest for a day or two. The other pig is his brother, and they want to stay together."
"They're brothers?" said David. "I never thought about pigs having brothers."
"Yeah," said Zhiv. "They know who their family is. When they were in the truck, they knew something bad was going to happen to them. Now that they're free, they want to stay together for the rest of their lives. Their mother and their other brothers and sisters are still in cages in the pig prison."
"That's terrible," said David. "I'm starting to understand better why it's got to be war."
"Yeah," said Zhiv. "I feel good that I could help these pigs, but I'm worried too. It wasn't only me and the pigs down there; there were a lot of people watching, like ten or twelve, and some police cars and a van."
"And you were naked!"
"Oh, yeah, but it doesn't bother me that they saw me naked. What worries me is that they saw me. Even if they don't try to hunt the pigs down, there'll be some who'll want to hunt me, to catch me so they can make me live like them." Zhiv's forehead wrinkled with concern.
David held him tight and stroked his back until Zhiv relaxed. "Let's have lunch and then just hug all afternoon. Okay? Let's not think about stuff."
David removed their lunch from his pack.
Zhiv said, "There's one thing I want to talk about, or hear about. What happened to you yesterday? After you'd been gone for a while, I got a weird message from Lilili. He sent some pictures of you with some boys. You had some trouble?"
David told him how River and Jude had forced him into the gravel pit. Then he described how the starlings, wasps, and rattlesnakes had defended him.
"Wow," said Zhiv and pulled David into his arms. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
"It's okay now — now that I've told you about it. At first I was really angry, but I'm not angry anymore, just sad about what they did."
"Yeah, it is sad, but maybe what happened will help them change their minds; stop them from doing that kind of thing," said Zhiv. "Don't worry about anything like that happening again. You're one of us now. If somebody picks on you, payback is gonna come quick."
When the boys were full of lunch, they stretched out in the warm sunshine and lost themselves in each other's arms and the mara.
As soon as Melissa returned to her home, she transferred the video she had taken onto her laptop. Her excitement grew when she watched the rescue again on her computer. She had seen touching and exciting rescue footage before, but the images of the naked boy on horseback were extraordinary. It was spellbinding to see him risk his life to save the pigs from a long, agonizing death in the river's swift, dark waters. The penultimate clip showed the spectators cheering the boy as he disappeared into the forest. The final shot was a sheriff's deputy grinning with joy while he wiped a tear from his cheek.
She edited the video to ensure the horse's neck or river water always obscured the boy's genital area. There were a few shots from the side where it was obvious that he was naked, but nothing objectionable. She added some explanatory notes and put links to the animal rights group in the description. Then she uploaded the finished video to several sites. It was one o'clock in the morning before she collapsed into bed, exhausted.
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