Charlotte

"$5 each or $10 for all three."

Luke had pulled up in front of the house with three pot-bellied pigs in the back of his truck, two females and one male. They were cute in an ugly kind of way, and larger than I'd expected.

We had a barn, so technically we could have a pig. But the only part of the barn fit for anything was the grainery. And I knew nothing about raising pigs. Not to mention you can't use them for food. I hear the meat is quite pungent.

"No, thanks," says I, and headed into the house.

When I returned to the porch a few minutes later, I learned that Emily had bought me a 200-lb. black female pig.

I looked at Luke and he looked at me.

"What if this doesn't work out?" I asked.

"No problem. Give me a call and I'll come and get her."

I wanted to name her Wilbur, but she was a she, so I named her Charlotte instead. We set her up in the grainery with food and water bowls and a huge pile of straw for bedding, and she seemed to settle right in.

She wasn't the world's friendliest pig. In fact, she was quite wary and suspicious. But if I could creep up behind her and scratch her back vigorously, she would stand still and seemed to like it. At least she never complained.

And she certainly didn't disappoint when it came to rooting. She dug up all the grass and weeds outside the barn door. That whole area turned into a vast muddy mess when it rained. And she was nothing if not thorough. Where she'd been digging, there wasn't a root to be found.

Charlotte's belly nearly touched the ground, so we had her on sparse rations. Feeding time was 6:00 p.m., and she was always eager to get in our way while we filled her bowl with chop, added water, and mixed. Technically, she was Emily's pig, but we all took turns feeding her.

I stood looking out the pantry window towards the barn one evening at twilight. Emily and Travis had gone out to feed Charlotte and the light was on in the barn - for the first time since we'd moved here. There was life in the old barn again, a living, breathing animal: livestock. I rolled the word around in my mouth. And in that moment, I was perfectly content.