The Pig in Her Bag by Britta Nathan

It was December, a busy month for the farmer’s market.  Mia trekked past the stands with her pig, Leo. He was named after Leonardo Da Vinci, Mia’s favorite scientist, and had been a birthday present from her late Grandmother.  Mia had ridden there on her rusty bike, with Leo in the basket. Leo was a tiny pig, but healthily plump. They had been sent by mother to get some beans. They secretly bought some honey from the honey stand. Then they got to the beans.

Mia got in line with Leo under her arm and fished for her money.  Soon it was their turn.

“Why, hello!  That is quite the pig!  Think I could buy it off you?  Where are your parents?” The person at the stand looked around.

“He is not for sale, and my parents are at home.  Now could I have some beans, please?”

“Sure thing, that would be $5, please.”  Mia pulled out her money. $3.00. Oops. $2 spent on honey.  Mia thought mother had sent extra money.

“I actually don’t have enough money!  Sorry!” Leo and Mia went home to get more money.  As they pulled into the driveway, they heard mother open the broken screen door.

“Mia!  You’re back!  Did you bring the beans?” mother asked.  Mia explained. Except for the honey part, of course.

“And to think!  That lady thought she could buy Leo!” Mia finished angrily.

“I could have sworn I gave you $5, but, Mia, you can’t keep that pig of yours forever.  It might be about time we sold it. We could use the extra cash. Tell you what, I’ll come with to the market and we can-”

“Leo is a he! And you’ll never sell him!  I won’t let you!” she interrupted. Mia ran into the house and up the bare stairs to the room she shared with  three younger siblings. She locked the door and sat on her bed, eyes wide, for a moment. Then she grabbed her old school backpack and emptied out all the folders and notebooks still inside.

“Mia, let me in!  Listen to me! You unlock this door right now!” she heard mother say.  Mia did not, however, follow mother’s instructions. Instead, she reached into the closet and grabbed a few outfits, which she put in the backpack.  Then she rushed to the window and opened it. Mia and Leo were on the second floor. They needed to get out without using the door. Mia stuck Leo in the backpack, closed it, and jumped.  Leo squealed. Mia ran to her bike and got on.

The ride was uneventful, and pretty soon Mia and Leo were at the playground, a rusty mess of slides and monkey bars.

“Hi, Mia!” Uh oh, Tina, a younger sister.

“Hi, Tina, I’m just here playing with Leo.”

“Can I play?”

“No.”

“Why?” Tina whined.

“Go away, Tina.” Tina reluctantly left.

“Now, Leo, we wait,” Mia said.  And so they waited for dark, eating the honey that Mia still had in her pocket.  Before long, the park emptied out and the sky darkened. Mia put Leo in the bike basket and they rode home.

Mia pulled out the keys from her backpack and unlocked the door.  During the school year, she often got home to an empty house and so had to have her own keys.  They had never been taken out of the backpack after the school year ended. Mia could hear her parents snoring gently in the next room.  She snuck into the kitchen on her tiptoes, every moment listening for her parents. Mia opened the pantry and pulled out dried fruit. She knew it would keep for a while, a necessity for her plans.  Then she grabbed some peanut butter and a few apples. Mia crept up the stairs, wincing at every creak. The snoring in the room below stopped. Mia froze. The door to her parents room opened. Mia was immensely grateful Leo was outside in his little pen instead of with her.  She climbed the rest of the way up the stairs just as mother came out of the room. Mia turned around.

“Oh, hi mother!” she said nervously.  Mother swept up the stairs and hugged her.

“You came home!  But where is that pig of yours?”

“I, um, I realized you were right.  And I… Sold him. To the green bean lady.” Mia sweated.  She hated lying to her parents. But it was worth it if it saved Leo.

“Oh, Mia, I am so proud!  How much did you get?” Mia froze.

“Um… I got...er... $10.  It’s... in my backpack.” She was in deep now.

“Well, let’s talk about this in the morning.  You go to bed now.”

“Actually, I was just going to put my backpack in my room,” she held up the backpack, “And then put my bike away.”

“You do that.  I will go back to bed as well.” Mother went back down the stairs and into her room.  Mia dropped off the backpack and went outside to put the bike away. But instead, she opened the garage and grabbed the family’s camping tent and a sleeping bag.  She put these in the pen with Leo. Then Mia wheeled her bike to next to the pen and went inside after closing the garage door. In her bed, Mia waited for an hour to make sure mother was asleep.  She almost dozed off a few times, but managed to stay awake. Then Mia grabbed her backpack and jumped out the window again. In the small yard, she grabbed her equipment and put Leo in the bike basket.  Soon they were riding to the park again.

This time, they never came back.  Within a few weeks, Mia and Leo became experts at hiding.  They moved camp often and Mia took small jobs to make enough money to keep them going.  They only got caught once, and escaped. And that is the story of Mia and her pig, Leo.