The Pig That Paid a Neighbor’s Bills
What Pete said
When the barn started breaking up, the crowd opened a little, and Pete Ferrell walked through it.
He had put his cap back on. His face was wet and red and he didn’t try to hide it. He walked up to Owen, who was standing next to the pen gate with Boone, waiting for the trailer. For a moment he didn’t say anything at all. A man like Pete doesn’t have the words ready for a moment like that. He doesn’t have a place in him where such a thing is kept.
“Owen,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
“I can’t take that.”
“Mr. Ferrell,” Owen said. He looked up at him, and I could see his hands were shaking, and I could see him decide to say it anyway. “It’s not for you. It’s for Mrs. Ferrell. She has to go to Indianapolis. And it’s not from me, either. It’s from the pig.”
Pete stared at him.
“And the whole barn,” Owen added. “I think it’s too late to tell them no.”
For a second I thought Pete might laugh. I think he thought so too. What came out was a sound I will not try to put in writing. He put one hand flat on top of the boy’s head, the way a man blesses a child, and he stood like that with his eyes shut.
“All right,” Pete said. His voice cracked on the second word. “All right, son. I’ll take it. I’ll take it for her.”
Beside him, Luke had not said a word since the letter. He kept looking at Owen, then at his father, then at the floor. He walked up to Owen and, because he is fourteen going on forty, he didn’t hug him. He punched him in the arm, hard, and said in a wet voice, “You’re so weird, man.”
“I know,” Owen said. “You said.”
Annette had gotten herself up out of the folding chair, with Pauline holding one elbow. She came across the sawdust at about the speed of a funeral procession, and when she reached the pen gate, she didn’t say anything to Owen. She put both her hands on either side of his face and looked at him for a long time. Then she looked at the pig.
“Is that the one?” she said.
“That’s Boone,” Owen said.
“Hello, Boone,” said Annette Ferrell, and she scratched the hog behind the ear.