This Little Piggy Went Home
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| 1922-2015 Click here for audio version |
Mom had a wonderful sense of humor. She often told funny family stories, and most times when I phoned her, she had a new, cute joke to tell. I can still hear her say, "Oh, I just have to share this little joke I heard the other day. I think it is so funny."
Mom's jokes were always sweet, never trashy or hurtful. She passed along many humorous rememberances too from her own growing-up years, as well as those she heard from her parents and other relatives. She did not shy away from telling stories in which it turned out the joke was actually on her. This is one such tale.
In the back of Mom's closet for years there hung clothes from her young adult life in the late 1930s to early 1940s. Beautiful, elegant garments, each with a story of its own. Oh, how I loved hearing again and again how Grandma made them, or where Mom bought them, and about the events and dances to which she wore them.
As it turned out, growing up in the same area, Mom and I had many similar experiences, as we attended the same schools, even having some of the same teachers, and going to a number of the same entertainments and formal affairs, just separated by 20 plus years. So, the story I am about to tell really resonates with me, as I too, on numerous occasions, danced away the hours in the same place it unfolded.
I am not sure if this happened when Mom was a senior in high school or the year after she graduated. She was invited to a formal dance at the City Auditorium, a wonderful, huge old building, sadly now pulled down in the name of progress. This was not a sock hop, but a party worthy of one's best bib and tucker. Mom had never been out before with her escort that night, but she knew him from the neighborhood, and they were double dating with another couple, both of whom she knew well.
The evening went along swimmingly. The young man turned out to be a good dancer, the orchestra was great. The other couple was fun to be with, and the foursome was having a wonderful time. That is until, midway through the party, when the orchestra took a break, and it was time for doorprizes to be awarded. Mom said as they entered the auditorium they had signed and turned in their tickets and kept the stubs.
The four young people enjoyed some refreshments and listened as one after another. all the prizes were claimed by other lucky attendees. At last the announcer said, "Folks, we only have one more rather special prize to give away. When I announce the winner's name will they kindly come up on the stage for the presentation." He reached into the container of tickets, drew one, and...you guessed it...read out my mom's name.
Oh, Mom said she was both flustered and excited as she made her way onto the stage, wondering what this special prize would turn out to be. The announcer disappeared behind the stage curtain, as Mom anxiously waited to receive her prize. She could scarcely believe her eyes when the announcer returned leading a chubby, pink piglet on a leash.
Mom was always a good sport, and her sense of humor carried her through the audience's hearty laughter and the following picture-taking session. How I wish we had that photo to include in this blog. I am not sure if Mom ever received a copy, but it did appear in the next day's paper, I believe.
The announcer said they would keep the piglet until the end of the evening, but then Mom should return and take it home with her. Needless to say, the "special prize" caused a bit on consternation on the part of Mom's date and the other couple. I wonder now why she did not call her dad or brother to fetch the porker home.
Somehow, after the last dance was danced, the foursome managed to pack themselves and the squealing, forty pounds of ham into the roadster Mom's date had borrowed for the evening. No midnight supper for Mom and her young man. They dropped off the other couple and began to figure out where to stash the hoglet for the night.
After they considered several options, the young man gallantly offered to sequester piggly-wiggly in an old dog kennel in the backyard of his family's home. Mom happily agreed, saying she would send her dad and older brother over in the morning to collect her prize. Once more, the couple pushed, pulled, and coaxed the prize piglet, managing at last to get it put away,safely they hoped.
When Mom got home she wrote a note to her dad and brother and collapsed into bed, leaving her lovely formal, now in less than pristine condition, in a heap on the floor. She wondered if her mother would ever be able to repair the damage the pig rodeo had caused to her finery. I am happy to report Grandma, ever a resourceful woman, did indeed put the dress to rights, and it lived on to waltz yet again.
This, however, was not the end of the story. Of course the old kennel was no match for the hungry young piglet. It took him no time at all to escape his canine jail. In the morning he was discovered tearing around the neighborhood, rooting in gardens and turning over trash cans. It took a small posse of men and boys to corral and crate him.
Grandma got on the phone, calling country friends and relatives, asking would anyone like to take in a free pig. Someone said yes. Grandpa delivered the hogster, and as far as I know, that was the last they heard of him. It was the last Mom ever heard from the young man too. He never asked her out again-probably afraid she might win another doorprize.
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