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| Source: Feral hogs |
Nat
was not ashamed of his family or of his herd.
He had been born into the community of feral hogs, been nurtured, and
now was expected to learn the ways of the hunt.
Being
a runt had not been easy, but Nat bore up to the digs, the snorting
derision. But, this revealed to Nat even
more that he was not meant to be a raging boar with deadly tusks.
It
was out on another foray for food, which involved destruction of some field or
roots that a thought occurred to Nat. He
was eager to share it with the sow mother who was already nursing the next
generation of wild feral hogs.
He
grunted a few times, and his mother looked at him. She rolled her small hog eyes, shook off the
piglets from her teats, and guided Nat to a secluded part of the mud roll. When Nat began to share his desires for a
different life, she grunted and squealed quietly.
“Don’t
you ever say those things again! Especially
to your father!” Then she turned tail
and waddled off in a huff.
But
Nat could not help himself. He
confronted his father, who was the Alpha Boar of the herd. He grunted quietly. “Pa, I don’t want to be a feral hog. I want…”
But
that was as far as Nat got. His pa lit
into him with every profane squeal he knew, which was quite impressive. Then Pa knocked and rolled Nat with his huge
tusks, slashing Nat’s hind quarters. Nat
took off, knowing that he was forever banned.
Where to go was the question. Nat raised his snout to sense the air. West. He would go West.
