I pawed at the door again, and the pigs watched curiously. They did not know what I was doing, but they were very interested in it, anyway.
With a flutter, Casey the crow landed on the bars at the top of the cage. This was very exciting to the two pigs, who raced around in small circles and then jumped on each other.
Casey was watching me, though, not the pigs. He twisted his head one way and the other, in a gesture that I had learned meant that he was trying to figure something out. I raised my paw to the cage door again. The crow spread his wings and lifted himself off the top of the cage and landed right on my head!
I sat and held still, because Casey doesn’t like it when I run around with him up there. The two pigs looked absolutely dumbfounded to see a bird on a dog’s head. I waited patiently to see what Casey would do next.
Casey fluttered up off me and pecked at the cage door, gripping the wires with his feet so that he hung there, going peck, peck, peck. I watched as he did this for what seemed a long time. Then suddenly, with a rattle, the cage door opened!
Instantly, Scamper and Dash charged out, so thrilled to be free that they were paying absolutely no attention to where they were running. I watched as they vanished around the corner of the house, and then I took off in pursuit.
8
Scamper and Dash are very fast, but I was able to catch up with them. As soon as I did, their game shifted from Let’s-Chase-Small-Pigs to Let’s-Chase-Lily!
I could smell the scent of the mother pig as clearly as anything I had ever smelled. Since the two little pigs were already chasing me, I turned and ran straight for some trees, tracking the scent as if it were a trail in the dirt. Scamper and Dash instantly followed.
The trees were very similar to where I had seen and smelled the baby creature in the grass, but there were no other animals here except some squirrels high overhead. Scamper and Dash followed me eagerly. They seemed really happy to be in the woods. Though pigs are not dogs, they sometimes act like dogs, especially when there’s an adventure happening. Scamper and Dash were as excited to race through the woods as I was.
As I skillfully led the two pigs through the forest, I could see Casey tracking us from the air. He would flutter along and land in a tree, and then when we passed it, he would flap and go to another tree.
It wasn’t long before we were out of the trees and in a grassy field. I led Scamper and Dash up to a wire fence. I could smell the mother pig nearby, just on the other side of the fence. Her smell was strong, as if she spent a lot of time here.
However, I could see no pigs, just flat ground. After a moment, one of the strangest-looking horses I had ever seen trotted closer.
The horse’s body was shaggy instead of smooth. What made it really bizarre, though, was its head, which was perched on a very long neck. Most horses have ridiculously large heads, with huge noses. This horse-thing had a face more like a dog’s and ears that stuck straight up.
The horse creature spotted me and came directly over to where Scamper, Dash, and I were huddled near the fence. I did not know if I should bark or not. The horse-thing was odd, but it didn’t seem to be a threat. In fact, it seemed more curious than anything, gawking at me.
It was probably astounded to see an amazing dog and her pig friends.
After a time of staring at the horse creature and having it stare back, I heard a woman’s voice. “What do you see?” the woman called.
I wagged as I saw a woman walking slowly across the field toward us. The odd horse turned its head to look at her.
“What is it?” the woman asked.
I decided that this horse creature couldn’t talk any better than regular horses, or it would have responded by now.
All of a sudden, the woman clapped her hands together. “Piggies!” she said, and she started moving very swiftly toward us. “Piggies!”
She was obviously happy to see me, which made sense, because I am a dog.
When she was very close, she turned to look back and put her fingers to her lips. There was a very loud, very shrill whistle. “Pig-pig-pig-pig!” she called in a high voice.
I wondered if she had a dog named Pig-pig-pig-pig.
But instead of a dog, a big, fat, pale-colored pig appeared around a corner of a house on the other side of the field. She came waddling toward us, and I knew at once that she was the pig I had been smelling since we had arrived! There was no longer a milk scent clinging to her, but she was definitely the source of the odor that had been painted all over Scamper and Dash the day I’d first met them.
My little pig friends began squealing. At the sound of their voices, the mother’s trot broke into a full-out gallop—not a fast gallop, though. When animals get older, they don’t move as quickly as Scamper and Dash. But I could tell that she was moving as swiftly as she could manage.
She raced toward us while the horse creature stood frozen, clearly not sure what was going on.
I honestly didn’t understand everything myself. But the woman was now very close, and I knew that she would take charge the way people always do.
“Could it be?” the woman asked. I heard the question in her voice and wagged, thinking she was asking me if I was a good dog. Obviously, I was.
The woman was now right up to the fence, and the horse creature took a step back from her. She reached a hand through the wires, and I licked it.
Then the mother pig arrived. My little pig friends went completely crazy, squealing and squawking and rubbing up against the wires and pressing their snouts at their mother.
Their mother was squealing, too. “Come on, pig,” the woman urged. She began walking along the inside of the fence, and so I led Scamper and Dash in the same direction. Casey was watching from a nearby tree.
The horse creature decided to tag along with us because I was a dog and obviously knew what to do when things are confusing. There was a good long stretch of fence, but after a while, the woman came to a gate.
She pushed it open. My two pig friends burst past me and ran to their mother, so I followed.
The woman shut me into her yard with a clank of the gate.
“I don’t understand how this happened,” the woman marveled. “But these are your babies, aren’t they, Sadie?” she asked the big pig.
Scamper and Dash were leaping all over their mother as if she were Brewster trying to take a nap. She was nuzzling them and making low, happy cries.
Just then, I heard a high voice coming from the direction of the trees. “Lily!” the voice called.
It was Maggie Rose.
9
Well, even though my girl was yell-ing for me, I couldn’t run to her because I was in a yard behind a fence! When I heard Dad call my name, I barked. The moment I barked, that horse creature regarded me in absolute amazement.
A lot of animals are really impressed when they hear a dog barking, as well they should be.
I went to the gate and did Sit, being a good dog, expecting the woman to open it, but she did not. I looked up in the air to see if Casey could fly down to help. He’d opened the pigs’ cage, so he could probably open this gate, too.
But Casey was still in the trees and didn’t seem to know I needed his aid.
Every time I heard Maggie Rose’s voice calling my name, it sounded closer, and I joyously barked right back. Soon, I saw Dad and Maggie Rose emerge from the trees, their scents coming to me on the air.
“Lily!” Maggie Rose called again. She broke from Dad’s side and ran up to the fence, so I was able to push my nose through the wire to touch her outstretched hand. “What are you doing here, Lily?” Maggie Rose asked.
Dad approached, peering at the big pig and the woman. He took off his cap and scratched his head. “Hello,” he said to the woman. “Looks like you found our dog and our pigs.”
Scamper and Dash were still joyously climbing all over their mother pig.
The woman was smiling. “Howdy,” she said. “I’m hoping you’ll be able to explain what just happened, because I’m
pretty sure these are the same two little piglets that I lost more than a week ago. At least, I think they are. And Sadie sure acts like they are.”
The big pig had rolled onto her back, and the little pigs were all over her, still squealing and jumping around.
“They are? Well, my wife’s rescue got a call that there were two little pigs loose in a truck stop off I-25. When she got there, these little girls were racing around, knocking over clothing racks, and having a grand old time, so she scooped them up and took them back to the animal rescue, and we bottle-fed them until they were old enough to eat on their own. Now we’ve been out looking for a home for them.”
The woman shook her head. “I-25? Truck stop? I wasn’t at a truck stop.” Suddenly, she gasped. “Wait! I did stop at a rest area. And I think … Yes! There was a truck stop across the highway. Somehow these little girls wriggled their way out of the livestock trailer and must’ve crossed that highway. It’s hard to believe, but there can’t be any other explanation.”
“We’ve been trying to find a good home for Scamper and Dash,” Dad said. “That’s what my little girl here named them.” Maggie Rose looked up and smiled a little. “We were at your neighbor’s place, and they somehow escaped their cage. Her dog, Lily, must have led the pigs straight to your ranch.”
“Well, if you’re looking for a good home, there isn’t a better one than right here with their mommy,” the woman said. “I have ducks in my pond, I have that llama, I’ve got a few cats and an old donkey, and I just love farm animals. I bought Sadie and her two little ones so that they could come here and have a happy life. Scamper and Dash? Those are fine names.”
“Scamper is the one with the dark spot on her face,” Maggie Rose said.
“I like this ranch,” Dad observed. “I especially like the llama.”
“Why do you have a llama?” Maggie Rose asked. “Do you ride it?”
“No,” the woman replied. “Llamas are pack animals, so I suppose if I did a lot of camping up in the mountains, I’d take him with me and he’d carry my tent and supplies. But no, I just have him for safety.”
“Safety?” Maggie Rose asked curiously.
“She’s right, Maggie Rose,” Dad said. “Llamas are protective. They watch out for their own young, but also for other animals who live with them. Especially a lone male like this one. If a predator showed up, the llama would run to attack it. They don’t bite, really, but they can stomp with their legs, and they spit, too. Most predators will back off.”
I noticed that my two pig friends had fallen fast asleep on their mother, who was sprawled on the ground, lying on her side. It looked pretty cozy. I’ve never napped with a grown pig before, but I was starting to feel tempted.
“So,” the woman said, “as you can see, this would be a good home. How much do you want for the pigs?”
“Oh no,” Dad said. “I was never going to sell them. We were looking to adopt them out. I’m a game warden, but I spend almost as much time helping my wife’s animal rescue as I do anything else. This is the first time we’ve had pigs, though.”
“Well,” the woman responded. “You must let me make a donation to your wife’s rescue operation, at the very least.”
Dad smiled. “That would be nice,” he agreed.
“Could we come visit Scamper and Dash someday?” Maggie Rose asked. “It always makes me sad when we find a new home for an animal and I never get to see it again.”
“Of course!” the woman said, grinning broadly. “I promise you Scamper and Dash will never forget you. And they’ll definitely never forget your little dog!”
Maggie Rose walked over to where Sadie was lying sleepily with her dozing babies. “Goodbye, Scamper,” Maggie Rose said, giving Scamper a big hug. Dash opened her eyes and got to her feet so she wouldn’t be left out.
“You, too, Dash,” Maggie Rose said, hugging her as well.
We tracked back through the woods, following our scents. As we walked, I could not see or smell Casey anymore, and I wondered if he had flown back to be with Mom and Bryan and Craig.
When we returned to the truck, I saw that the boy and the man who had greeted us were no longer outside. The cage where Scamper and Dash had been wrestling still sat with its door open.
And there was Casey! He was inside the cage, watching us.
“Ree-ree,” Casey croaked.
“He must have followed us somehow,” Dad marveled. “But he doesn’t want to fly all the way back. He wants a ride!” Dad put the cage with Casey in the back of the truck, and we slid in for the long car ride home. As soon as the car started moving, I climbed up and put my feet on the back of the seat so I could look at Casey.
I remembered the pigs. I remembered how happy they had been all the time, how fun it had been to have them with us. I understood now that they had found a new home back with their mother where they belonged. I did not know if I would ever see them again, but it had been wonderful to know them.
Casey was watching me, his head twisting from one side to the other.
I think he agreed.
MORE ABOUT PIGS
Pigs are quite smart. In experiments, they learned to play video games (using special joysticks) and to tell the difference between spearmint, peppermint, and mint. One particular group of pigs even learned to put all their toys away at the end of the day.
Piglets like to play. They chase each other, scamper about, toss their heads, and play-fight with other young pigs.
Pigs are actually quite clean. But they can’t sweat to cool down, so they roll in mud to keep themselves from getting too hot. They will also huddle with other pigs to warm up.
Pigs don’t lick themselves to keep clean, as dogs and cats do. Instead, they rub against something hard (like a tree, a rock, or a fence post) to scrape dirt off.
Pigs are easier to train than dogs or cats.
There are pigs on every continent of the world except Antarctica.
Pigs are not native to North and South America. Christopher Columbus brought the first pigs to this part of the world in 1493 when his ship landed in Cuba.
A female pig is a sow. A male pig is a boar.
A newborn pig is called a piglet. Mothers nurse their piglets for three to five weeks. Once a young pig is old enough to stop nursing it is known as a shoat.
Wild pigs live in a group called a sounder. There are usually one to six sows and their children in a sounder.
Wild pigs eat mostly plants, including leaves, roots, berries, grass, seeds, or mushrooms. They will also eat worms, insects, and other small animals if they can get them. On farms, pigs usually eat corn or barley.
Pigs make nests to sleep in. Wild pigs use branches and grass. Farm pigs make piles of hay.
Pigs with curly tails may uncurl them when sleeping.
A pig’s sense of smell is as keen as a dog’s. Pigs can tell other pigs apart by smell.
Pigs are used to sniff out truffles, a rare and expensive fungus that grows under- ground.
READ ON FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT LILY TO THE RESCUE: THE-NOT-SO-STINKY-SKUNK, COMING SOON FROM STARSCAPE
In the bushes behind Maggie Rose, I caught a new scent. I stopped and sniffed hard.
An animal! A new friend! I could hear it now. It made a rustling sound. It was coming closer. It had stopped being shy and was ready to play.
Then a slender, dark head with two glistening eyes poked out of the bush behind Maggie Rose. My new friend was small, about the same size as Freddie, my friend the ferret, and I could smell that she was female. I could also smell that she was not a dog. As she emerged from the shrubs, I saw that she was all black, except for two long white stripes down her back.
Another new type of squirrel? I already knew that dogs came in all sizes and shapes, but I’d never before considered that squirrels might try to be like dogs, and be different from each other as well.
A striped squirrel! How exciting! Maybe this one would play Chase-Me fairly. I bowed down with my front legs low, my rump high, and my
tail waving, to let my new squirrel friend know I was ready.
The squirrel made a funny kind of grunting sound, turned, and waddled back into the bush.
Time to chase!
“Lily! Where are you going?” Maggie Rose shouted as I plowed through the bush. “Come back! That’s a skunk!”
ALSO BY W. BRUCE CAMERON
Bailey’s Story
Ellie’s Story
Lily’s Story
Max’s Story
Molly’s Story
Shelby’s Story
Toby’s Story
Lily to the Rescue
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
W. BRUCE CAMERON is the New York Times bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, A Dog’s Way Home, A Dog’s Promise, and the young-reader novels Bailey’s Story, Ellie’s Story, Lily’s Story, Max’s Story, Molly’s Story, Shelby’s Story, and Toby’s Story. He lives in California. You can sign up for email updates here.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Jennifer L. Meyer is an award-winning artist whose work has been featured multiple times in the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art annual, Spectrum. Born into a fantasy-loving military family, she grew up a big fan of comics, reading, and drawing animals (especially bunnies). Jennifer’s art has appeared in comic books, children’s books, graphic novels, and other media. She is the illustrator of the Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet series by Jacqueline Kelly. You can sign up for email updates here.
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