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Show THE FICTION CORNER \ ' \ 'THE THE ' BARGAIN ' B7 MRS , IRS W E ABBOTT ' - II Emma Hames Haines wakened with dim dltIl diii dltIlculty diiiculty dimculty culty from her early mornmg morning f > IKm " sleep sleepThat sleepThat leepThat That noise ' What was it ItT ! ? It was waslike waslike wa * like water iwirltog SWIrlIng rapidly down "ow'drain owdrain " " . adram adrain a ' dram drain Her brain cleared and nd she sheheu.ed sheheaved theheaved of bed bedOnly bedOnly bedOnly heu.ed heued heaved . her great bulk out Only one thine thing sounded like hke that that ! ! ! The outlaw ouUaw pie pig belonglne belongIng to Ed EdSlatterly EdSlatterly EdSIatterly Slatterly was raidme raldmg raiding her garden gardenagam gardenagain gardenagain agam again Probably wanted more of her herprize herprize herprize prize watermelons She d show her hertHastily I ! IHastlly Hastlly Hastily she thrust her feet into sl1p slip sl1ppers slippers suppers pers put a house dress over her hernightgown hernightgown I Imghtgown mghtgown nightgown and started for the door doorThere doorThere doorThere There the she was the demon demonl ! She d dknow dknow dknow know that bony stubborn flgure figure flgureanywbere figureanywhere figureanywhere figureanywhereGet anywbere anywhere anywbereGet anywhereGet Get out of there you ornery ornerycreature ornerycreature ornerycreature creature ! Emma picked up the thenearest thenearest thenearest nearest stone and threw it with all allher allher allher her strength at the skinny tow sow The ThepIg Thepig Thepig pIg grunted and ran toward the hole holeunder holeunder holeunder under the garden fence which she shehad shehad shehad had prepared for herself She Shesqueezed Shesqueezed Shesqueezed squeezed her gaunt frame under the theVolre thewire thewire Volre wire grunting noisily nomly Emrna Emma threw threwanother threwanother threwanother another stone and the sow trotted trottedoff trottedoff trottedoff off down the road toward homeEmma homeEmma home homeEmma Emma tputtered sputtered to Seth all dur during during durIng ing breakfast about the sowShe sowShe sow sowShe She s agamst against everything everythmg I ve ye veever yeever veever ever seen in nature complained complainedEmma complainedEmma complainedEmma Emma Eats watermelons of all allthmgs allthings allthings thmgs things ' Of all the truck I have In Inmy inmy inmy my garden those melons are re the thethIngs thethings thethings thIngs I prize most . . And doesn doesntthat t tthat tthat that cussed pig know that that7 ' She Shemakes Shemakes Shemakes makes for the melons every tlmeSeth timeSeth tune tlme time tuneSeth Seth duin didn didnt t say much After all allhe allhe allhe fond fondof fondof fondof he was more than ordinarily ordmarlly of pigs all pigs He loved to raise raisethem raisethem raisethem them see them grow large and con contented contented contented tented from good feeding feedmg Anyone Anyonehad Anyonehad Anyonehad had only to look at his hls fifty fat hogs hogsto hogsto hogsto to know S Seth th enjoyed caring carmg for forthem forthem forthem forthemEmma them themEmma Emma sighed . . . I d go over to see seeSlatterly seeSlatterly seeSIatterly Slatterly today if 1 ! I didn dldn t have so somuch somuch tomuch much to do I 111 II ll try to go tomorrow tomorrowIt It s simply got to stop ' Those trashy trashyswamp trashyswamp trashyswamp swamp folk will have to learn tokeep to tokeep tokeep keep their stock to home ' It was three days before Emma Emmafound Emmafound Emmafound found time tlme to visit VlSlt the Slatterlys ItVI Itwas It Itwas VI was as two miles nules back to their shack shackat shackat shackat at the edge of the swamp but butEmma butEmma butEmma Emma was Voas a hearty fifty year old oldVlomaIl oldwoman oldvoman VlomaIl woman , and she loved the walk walkthrough walkthrough walkthrough through the fields and v . wood ood lots Several of the SIatterly Slatterly Sia tterly ch1ldren children ch1ldrenwere childrenwere childrenwere were playing playmg around the cabm cabin cabmThey cabinThey cabinThey They were handsome children ch1ldren In Insplle inspite mcpite , splle spite of their dirty unkempt ap appearance appearance appearanceWhere pearance pearanceWhere Where s your Dad ? said Emma Emmashortly Emmashortly Emmashortly shortly to the oldest boyPawl boyPaw boy boyPaw Paw Pawl Pawlyelled ' yelled the boy boyEd boyEd boyEd Ed SIatterly Slatterly appeared at the door doorof doorof doorof of a shed sbed behind the house He was wasa wasa wasa a small small , , , wizened WJZened man Emma had hadnever hadnever badnever never seen him ham when he v . wannt wanntchewing wasntchewing asn t tchewIng chewIng tobacco She walked to- to towards towards to towards - - wards him Over his hls shoulder she shelooked shelooked shelooked looked inside the shed There hung hunga a butchered pIgOb pigOh pig pigOh Ob Oh , , she said That your pig pigEd pigEd pigEd7 pigEd7Yes Ed ' Yes Ma am am , , , be he replied rephed . . ' 1 'I I ' was . aimin aimln to give you a piece of that thatmeat thatmeat thatmeat thatmeatEmma meat meatEmma Emma softened She walked in insIde inside inside sIde and looked at the meat . . It Itlooked Itlooked Itlooked looked good Watermelons must mustmake mustmake mustmake make good hog feed . ' muttered mutteredEmma mutteredEmma mutteredEmma Emma to herselfMa herselfMa herself herselfMa Ma am ' said Ed SIatterly Slatterly SIatterlyI SlatterlyI I said that would Vlould be nice re replied replied repiled plied . .Emma Emma . We d love havmg having havmgsome havingsome havingtome some fresh meat It s very kind ofyou ofyou of Iyou IyouWith you youWith With the help of one of the boys boysEd boysEd boysEd Ed took the pig down from the hookand hook hookand hookand and cut off one of the hams for forJmma forEmma forEmma forEmmaThat Jmma Emma : JmmaThat EmmaThat That s too much she saId saIdfirmly saidfirmly saidfirmly saidfirmlyNo firmly firmlyNo No Ma am he said I have a alot alot alot lot of young uns ins and they eat eathearty eathearty eathearty hearty but the weather is warm when she went to bed that mghtEarly mghtEarly night mght nightEarly Early the next net nest " { morning mormng she woke wokeup wokeup wokeup up m In confusion That peculiar peculur sound soundagam soundagain soundagam agam again Water going gomg rapidly round roundand roundand roundand and round m In a drain dram No Nol ! It Itcouldn Itcouldn Itcouldnt couldn t be ' She sat up There Therewasn Therewasn Therewasn wasn t another pig anywhere that thatsounded thatsounded thatsounded sounded quite qwte like hke thatShe thatShe that thatShe She bounded out of bed and lut hit lutthe hitthe hitthe the floor with a thud Slippers the thehouse thehouse thehouse house dress over her nightgown rughtgown the theflying theflying theflying flying trip to the garden She rubbed rubbedher rubbedher rubbedher her eyes It was SIatterly Slatterly s sowl sowlThere sow sowlThere ! There couldnt couldn t be two such pigs pig * in inall inall inall all the world . . Dazedly she picked up a stone to tothrow tothrow tothrow throw at the creatureEmma creatureEmma creature creatureEmma Emma Seth s voice was rall tall rallIng tallmg railmg Ing mg from the bedroom window wmdow Leave her be 111 III Ill b be " do\n do n dorm dovn"A dovnA . \ " " A moment later bar h J > * . appeared In Inthe inthe inthe the yard his overalls drawn hastily hastilyover hastilyover hastilyover over his hls pajamas paamas ) He lookedsheepish lookedsheepishIt looked lookedsheepish lookedsheepish sheepish sheepishIt sheepishIts Its It s all right Emma be he said said.That saidThat . . That s our pig nowOurs nowOurs now nowOursi Oursi Ours ! cried : Emma Jmma Oh no nonot nonot nonot not that ! ! Seth ran his bands hands nervously nervouslythrough nervouslythrough nervouslythrough through his hair You see I just justcouldn justcouldn justcouldn couldn t bear seeing seemg that hog look looking looking lookIng ing the way she did all run down downand downand downand and thin thm and neglected So I traded tradedone tradedone tradedone , one of our pigs to SIatterly Slatterly tor for her herThat herThat herThat That cave gave them meat and I thought thoughtI I could maybe fatten her upEmma upEmma up upEmma Emma stared at him lum open openmouthcd openmouthed openmouthed openmouthedAlthough mouthcd mouthed mouthcdAlthough mouthedAlthough Although I gotta admit she Is an anoutlaw anoutlaw anoutlaw outlaw said Seth May have to toget toget toget get nd rId of o1 her after all'lUay all 'lUay lUay ' May have to cried Emma EmmaIUay EmmaMay EmmaMay IUay May have to indeed ! What about aboutmy aboutmy aboutmy my watermelons ' You certainly certainlywill certainlywill certainlywill will ha\ ha ha\e ha e hae hate \ e to ' Seth grinned and wiggled his toes toesin toesin toesin in the grass like hke a small boy boyWhatever boyWhatever boyWhatever Whatever you say Emma he h .i i . .iwp wp wpa a - azwat azwats azwath h s 'Get Get ' Get out of there . , you ornery creature ' Emma picked up the thenearest thenearest nearest stone and threw It wIth all her strength at the skIDDY skinny sow Meat Mej.t Mejt : . won t keep too long You take takeit takeit takeIt it right along home home'That home'That That 'That ' ' s mighty I111ghty fine of you Ed EdSlatterly EdSlatterly EdSIatterly Slatterly said Emma Her con consCience conscience conscience sCience was beginning begmnmg to hurtEmma hurtEmma hurt hurtEmma Emma carried the ham all the theway theway theway way home and put it In the retriger refriger retrigerator refrigerator refrigerator ator to cool Meat VI wasexpensive vas was vasxpensiveand as 'xpenslve xpenslve expensive 'xpenslveand expensiveand -xpensiveand xpensiveand - " ' and the thought of a roast of fresh freshham freshham freshham ham made her happyShe happyShe happy happych She ch chas . -as as VIas was - , , at oeace peace with the world said meekly Whatever you say saymv saymy saymv mv my dearSeth dearSeth dear dearSeth Seth hadn t been married thirty thirtyyears thirtyyears thirtyyears years for nothing notlung He knew the theI thevalue thevalue thevalue value of ot silence He knew with cer certamty certamty certainty I tamty that this tlus was not the time to tomention tomention tomention mention that he had promised the theSlatterlys theSlatterlys theSlatterlys Slatterlys a dozen of Emma s prize prizewatermelons prizewatermelons prizewatermelons watermelons as soon as they were wereripe wereripe wer werripe ripe to complete the deaL |