I was the elementary librarian at Christine Donnell School of the Arts for 9 years. I absolutely loved my job! My favorite part of the job was getting the students excited about reading. I am a lover of books of all kinds and my students knew it! Each day I would end our library time by reminding my kiddos to READ, READ, READ, READ, READ! We used our five fingers to count out how to be a better reader! One year I gave the students the challenge of reading 100,000 minutes in one month. If they reached their goal, our principal, Mrs. Perry and I would dye our hair pink and kiss a pig!! The kids were so pumped to see their beloved principal and crazy librarian with pink hair and kissing a pig! They read like crazy and reached the goal so I had to deliver the prize.
The problem was that the mild, sweet potbellied pig that I had used when I worked as the program director at the Meridian Library had passed away. I searched in vain for another potbellied pig to carry out my promise. Unfortunately, I couldn't find another one in the Treasure Valley! So I talked to a friend from church who had connections with a pig farmer in Kuna and asked for a suggestion. He knew of a pig farmer who he was sure would help me out. Sure enough after a phone conversation with the kind and generous farmer, I was given permission to borrow a piglet for our assembly. The plan was that on the appointed day all classes would gather in the gymnasium after attendance was taken to meet our piglet and observe the aforementioned activities.
Early one cold morning in January, I drove Rich's pick-up truck to Kuna to pick up the piglet. The farmer loaned me a cage and provided bales of hay for the piglet to use on the trip to school. One of the farm workers put "Penelope" (my name for the piglet) in the cage and packed hay around her to keep her warm. He cautioned me that piglets are very feisty and I would need to pick her up by her feet and hang her upside down when carrying her into the school. Evidently, that would calm the piglet. If I tried to put a collar around her neck, she would snap and bite at me so I would need to move quickly. With great trepidation I agreed to follow their suggestions! I was not a farm girl but a city bred gal through and through. Although, I did spend summers in Lake Nebagamon, WI, the extent of my experience with farm life was getting rides on our friend's old tractor or swinging from ropes into bales of hay in the barn. I don't mind telling you that I was petrified at the idea of picking up a snapping piglet!
When I arrived at school, I quickly found our custodian, Eddie, hoping that he could help me with getting the pig out of the truck and into the school. Well, here is when the hilarity began! I soon found out that Eddie was even more unsure of himself than I was. I grabbed Penelope's feet as she tried to bite me and asked Eddie to grab the feet so that I could slip the collar around her neck and we could "walk her" into the school. That was wishful thinking!
As I was trying to do my part, Eddie panicked and dropped Penelope and that little piglet shot out of the parking lot, squealing for all she was worth. Oh my goodness, she was fast! Eddie and I took off after her and let me tell you - the chase that followed would have won the grand prize from America's Funniest Videos!! She darted between our legs as we chased her up and down the frozen fields next to the school. She wove around cars that were driving down Five Mile Road and then to escape from any possibility of us catching her, she disappeared into a culvert under the road. Many thoughts were running through my brain but the most urgent one was how I was going to explain to the farmer that I lost his piglet! I wondered how much piglets cost and how I was going to pay for her. I agonized in telling the students and our principal that I lost the pig. Finally, however, I had to concede that Eddie and I couldn't catch Penelope. With a sinking feeling, I went into the school to tell the whole student body (who by this time were waiting in the gymnasium) what had happened. Mrs. Perry sent the students back to their classes and several teachers and the kitchen staff trouped out to help me catch our erstwhile piglet!
I have to admit that we had the most amazing staff. We split up and covered both sides of the culvert and Mrs. Q, our resource teacher, crawled into the culvert after Penelope. This ploy eventually worked and Penelope tried to make her escape out the opposite side. Our kitchen manager, Denise, was a real farm girl and knew just what to do. As soon as Penelope peeked her head out of the culvert, Denise scooped her up by her feet and calmly held her for about 15 minutes while the classes trooped back into the gymnasium.
Mrs. Perry instructed the students that since Penelope was extremely skittish and scared, we had to be very quiet and not cause her to try to escape again. To their credit, the student body followed her directions and held their breaths as we quickly kissed the pig (taking care not to get close to her snapping teeth). I then took the now much calmer pig and carried her by her feet as quickly as I dared to the waiting truck. As soon as I deposited Penelope into her cage and latched the door, I breathed a sigh of intense relief. I could not return this bundle of trouble fast enough!
We had more reading challenges in the years to come but I never again promised to kiss a farm animal as a prize!! I learned that I'd rather read about Wilbur, Charlotte, Templeton, and all the other amazing farm animals in "Charlotte's Web" than meet them in person!!
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