A Pig That Can’t Fly —
There existed a pig with wings, the only one of his kind, however, he couldn’t fly.
Neil dropped from the second story window. He felt a familiar stir in the pit of his stomach every time the wind whipped through his wings but he never flew. Neil landed near the front door and walked the pathway toward the sidewalk. Neil was wearing his favorite sweater as it was finally turning fall. He loved wearing sweaters and living in New Jersey where he could enjoy autumn and a cup of coffee at 2 AM but still maintain normal sleeping hours — 11 PM on most nights, asleep to late night news, or on occasion 3 AM on the weekends when he accidentally started a movie on the TV and of course he had to finish it.
Neil started a slow walk toward the bus stop, about four blocks from his mother’s home and one block from the corner store. Neil enjoyed taking the bus to work — he worked full time as an assistant to the lead accountant of a small medical supply company — even though he owned an ’05 Toyota Corolla in burgundy. He parked it at his mother’s home and made sure to move it twice a week to avoid street cleaning. At 35 he still lived with his mother but had his entire apartment on the second floor. Besides at 70 years old his mother really loved having Neil around.
Neil smiled as he waited for the bus to come because Neil had a great life. Neil’s only problem really was that he was a pig with wings and though he could hide them when he was younger and even through high school, by the time Neil became an adult the wings had grown to his full height and were a constant conversation topic. Try as he might he had never flown in his life and never really had another pig with wings to train him. His mother tried and his father had tried but keeping a little round body in air with only small wings to support them might’ve been asking too much. And there were many animals, birds with wings that never flew. Neil eventually, with the support of his parents, managed to get over the whole flying thing.
Neil boarded the bus, showed the driver his bus pass, and chose a window seat. There weren’t many people on the bus at this stop but soon enough the bus would fill up. Neil enjoyed the company of others. Still, Neil remembers all the teasing and whispers growing up. As I’ve said Neil could hide his wings well enough when they were smaller but as he grew so did his wings and eventually it became uncomfortable to bind them under wraps and shapewear. He had heard it all growing up and sometimes even felt guilty. The worst of it came when a woman dropped by his mother’s home and begged him to fly. Her daughter was severely ill of cancer and believed that if a pig could fly then a cure for cancer could be found and all the things that people believed couldn’t come true would finally come true. Neil felt horrible when he found out on the news that the little girl had passed away.
My name is Alicia Narrea and I enjoyed coming up with this little story idea — A Pig that can’t fly. Of course now I’m curious about a world where all pigs fly and yet Neil cannot. It reminds me of a famous and beloved children’s book by E.B. White called The Trumpet of the Swan. How I’d love to write a story as wonderful as that. Thank you for reading and leave me a comment if you’d be interested in reading more stories like these.
