The Pig Shepherd

Christmas looms ahead. A charitable heart takes flight for the animals, and weirdness prevails for the Party plans.

 The Riddle Farm Sanctuary telephoned Brenda to say that her sponsored pig, Minniehaha, died from a viral infection, and that the Veterinarian had supervised the burial to be certain that it complied with state regulations. All of the other sponsored pigs were being placed in quarantine for two weeks.

The Sanctuary always needed "Miss Grayson's" money, and sponsorship, so being the wonderful benefactor and animal lover that she was, a date would be set to obtain another pig. or two, or three, just after Christmas if the prevailing  weather and health conditions were compatible.  

Sherman delivered several more mannequins to the Blundon House on his way to Baltimore. Black mannequins were fairly rare, and the three that he found were from a museum display depicting the history of Slavery. Brenda vowed to obtain as much information as possible from any surviving Blundon family members, even if she had to enlist a proxy to "hunt them down." Daniel was too busy,she surmised, to do any more sleuthing. 

His insane wife made life miserable for him when things didn't magically fall into place during  her "fame and fortune" haze. She mumbled about getting Henry signed with a modeling agency, and hiring a child sitter so that she could "groom and style" herself "so as to be" be a good representative when his big bucks began to roll in. 

Everyone said that Henry was "cute" so why not "let the world" see him on the big screen ? Caitlin had extreme flights of fancy every hour on the half hour, especially if she had been drinking. Daniel tuned her out too often for Henry's well being, but heaven help Caitlin if he ever caught her abusing him.

For the Christmas Party, the mannequins would be moved around from room to room all night. A violinist named Charles Keeley had been hired to play on and off for the first two hours.  Some of the food would be catered, and the cake was ordered to be very tall lathered with white frosting and huge buttercream red roses surrounded by big green leaves. The "celebrity" mannequins could be dressed in a hurry if she made a few phone calls to the "black section" of town. They all respected Brenda for her charity works, and friendly tone. Finding helping hands for a good salary was never a challenge.  

Mr. Griffin's young friend, Webster, telephoned out of the blue and thanked her for the invitation. When she mentioned the cake, he asked if he could add several red marzipan Octopai to the cake, next to the roses, and she said absolutely, and would be curious to see who would actually eat one. If none of the guests would eat the almond paste critters, she and he could do so. Her words echoed in Webster's ears.  His goal in life was to be a photographer like no other, and with Mr. Griffin, the Freemason, as a mentor, nothing could stand in the way of that lofty goal.

An hour after Brenda returned to her shop a young man came in, and introduced himself as "Nover Trundence" from Beltsville. He was well dressed, and clean cut. The sanctuary had called him about her desire to sponsor more pigs. She offered him tea, and they chatted while the customers browsed. He said that he was a Pig Shepherd, and used to work at the Department of Agriculture, but stopped for ethical reasons. 

He purchased many 4-H pigs from children who had fallen in love with their pigs, and could not deal with the prospects of slaughter. There were three pigs that needed to stay together, and the trio could be had for one hundred dollars delivered to the Sanctuary. Ruskin and Troubles were gelded, and Blossom, the girl, was neutered, as well.

Brenda handed him 100 dollars, and got her receipt. Nover left with a smile, then two ladies bought a set of Victorian China.  The Christmas windows were a bit understated, but  Brenda was slowing down "a bit" from her usual hyperactivity. There were relationships that needed tending, a new neighbor to study in depth, and of course, animals to rescue. 

CJ MARKS