Chapter 40

DENNIS COULD HEAR the quarter-ton pig behind him, thundering as it galloped on the packed sawdust path. As soon as he cleared the woods onto the grass track, he made a quick decision and veered out into the huge meadow between the woods and the school, rather than following the path all the way back to Abernathy’s farm. It was only about three hundred yards to the football field and bleachers where he thought he could find safety. He threw his head back and sprinted toward his goal, hoping he was still out-running the pig. He hit the end of the track around the football field and saw the coaches gathered on the track, apparently examining the newly marked out football field.

“Run!” he yelled as he raced toward the bleachers. The coaches all spun to look at him, fifty meters away. After a moment’s hesitation, they all headed up into the bleachers. Dennis drew even with the end of the bleachers and hit the first level, vaulting the railing. He heard the pig squealing in frustration as it bounced up two levels after him and got trapped between rows as it attempted to scramble up. Its hind legs slipped through the opening between seats and it could get no purchase as it squealed in anger.

Dennis continued down the row of bleachers away from the pig and toward the coaches. They gathered around him. Ardith grabbed him as he began to collapse forward.

“Are you okay?”

“Pig!” Dennis gasped, pointing behind him.

“That’s a damn big hog,” Coach Torvalds said.

“How far was he chasing you?” Coach Andy asked.

“Way ... out in ... the woods. Tearing up ... the sawdust.”

“That’s ... What is that, Coach? Half a mile?”

“At least,” Ardith answered.

“You were running that fast the whole way?”

“Had to. Pig.”

“What are we going to do with a pig stuck in the bleachers?” Torvalds asked.

“I think I know who owns him,” Coach Byers answered. “I just need to locate a number for him.” He was on his phone and finally connected. “Derek? Coach here. How do I get hold of your uncle, the pig farmer? I think we’ve got one of his lost pigs in the bleachers. Yeah. It’s stuck, at least for now. I don’t know how the hell he’ll get it out. Okay. Thanks.” Coach disconnected and turned to the others. “Derek is going to call his uncle, Art Johnson. Said they were only missing one mean old hog. I’d say you found him.”

Dennis just sat on the bleachers gasping for breath. Ardith held a water bottle to his lips.

“How long do you think you could have kept running like that?” Andy asked out of curiosity.

“As long as there was a pig behind me,” Dennis answered.

“You know cross country starts Monday.”

“Figured I’d be here to help organize things. I’ll be mowing Mr. Abernathy’s hayfield in the morning. You called cross country practice for six in the evening,” Dennis said.

“Well, you might consider running instead of managing it. We’re trying to coordinate the times of our practices so we don’t have everyone running in and out of the locker rooms at the same time. Janet’s already had cheerleaders practicing in the gym and asked yesterday how soon you’d be available. Grant, Jim, and Neil will have every kid who’ll play football out here Monday morning and Pat and Renée are taking the late afternoon in the gym for volleyball. We’re just hoping things will cool off a little for running in the evening,” Andy said.

“I’ll think about it. I’ve got a lot of work to do on the course to get it ready for the first competition in two weeks. Mr. Abernathy doesn’t want me out here working on Sunday because it’s the Lord’s Day. Since I’ll be using his equipment, I’ll abide by that.”

“We need to clone you,” Ardith said. “You need to get up and walk it off so you don’t cramp up. I’ll bet you weren’t warmed up before you took off on that sprint.”

Dennis snorted. “Didn’t have time to stretch properly, Coach. I’d better take care of that.” He got up and shakily made his way down to the track. Torvalds, Byers, and Griffith went back out to the football field to continue their discussion. The pig appeared to have given up its struggle to get free and everyone wondered how Mr. Johnson would get him out.

“Ardith, tell me I wasn’t seeing things out there,” Andy said as they watched Dennis walk around the track and start stretching.

“That was a hell of a run,” she answered. She showed Andy the quick video she’d taken on her cellphone as they ran up into the bleachers. “I guess I’d dig deep if I had a big hog chasing me, too.”

“That was not an 800-meter pace. More like a 200-meter. That would have smashed any record we have at this school. And he had to be maintaining it the full distance. The pig was still gaining on him.”

“Well, how fast does a pig run?” Ardith asked. “Must take a little time for one to get up to speed.”

“I read that a feral hog could hit fifteen miles an hour within fifty meters and maintain that for a mile or more.”

“That’s four-minute mile territory, Andy.” They both looked out at Dennis and shook their heads.

Using a backhoe and several heavy-duty straps, Art Johnson was able to lift a squalling and writhing hog out of the bleachers and swing it around to deposit it in his livestock truck. Derek and his father had come to help, as had a couple of other neighbors.

“He’s always been a mean one,” Art said as he shoved a plug of tobacco between his teeth and cheek. “But he was the best breeder I’ve ever had. I’d about given up ever finding him. Never would have thought he’d cross the river.”

“Do we need to worry about any more?” Andy asked.

“Not of mine. He’s the last one I was missing. Being loose for two months doesn’t seem to have harmed him. O’course, didn’t help his attitude, neither.” Derek drove the backhoe and followed Art in the truck away from the school.

Dennis had watched the operation from what he hoped was a safe distance.

“If you don’t mind, Coach, I’ll wait until Monday to go out and try to repair the place he tore up. I’m supposed to meet my girlfriends for shopping this afternoon and I really need another shower now.” He shoved his crumpled hat on his head. It had flown off and been trampled when he ran from the pig. That had probably distracted it the second he needed to reach the bleachers first.

“No problem, Dennis. Assess the damage on our first run of the course and we’ll stop out there and have everyone help make the repair,” Andy said.

“Sure, Coach,” Dennis said without really comprehending what had been said. He brushed himself off and started walking home. It occurred to him, about halfway home, that it sounded like Coach expected him to lead the team out there. What had he done?

“Dennis, you need to take money today,” Dot said. She handed him three hundred dollars. “I’m supplementing what you spend. You need to take at least that much from your bank.”

“Mom! Why would I need $600 to go shopping for school clothes?” Dennis protested.

“I want you to go into your room and try on everything you own. Here’s a box to put it all in. You might not have noticed changes in your body other than your eyes finally being corrected. But I’ve never had to look up at my son when I’m talking to him,” Dot said. Dennis suddenly realized he was standing next to his mother and looking down slightly to look in her eyes.

“I’ve grown!” He didn’t even notice his voice change register to a deep and mellow tone.

“You’ve worn nothing but shorts and baggy overalls all summer. You need an entire new wardrobe. You found out how little $300 got you when you got work clothes. If I were you, I’d take $500 of your earnings and maybe you’ll have enough left over to buy your girlfriends a Coke.”

“Wow! I never even suspected. I guess I’ve been so busy lately that I wasn’t paying attention. I think my girlfriends have been growing, too,” he said.

“I wouldn’t mention that unless you can make it a compliment. Girls can be sensitive about such things at this age.”

“Of course, Mom. I still can’t believe how beautiful they all are and that they want to hang out with me.” He went to his room and pulled the satchel out from under his bed. Each week, he’d made note of how much he put into the satchel from his pay envelopes. He noted that he’d ‘deposited’ over $1200. It was a good summer. He decided to take $700 to make his funds an even thousand. Perhaps he’d have a chance to treat his girlfriends to more than a Coke.

At one o’clock three cars pulled up in front of his house and Dennis opened the door to meet his chattering girlfriends as they bounded up the steps.

“You outran a hog!” Lana exclaimed as she hugged him. “How can you outrun a hog?”

“That was so close!” Natalie shouted.

“Don’t do stuff like that, boyfriend! I’m still a virgin!” Diane shouted at him.

“What?” he asked, stumbling back into the house as the twelve girls poured in. “How did you even know?”

“Coach sent us a video,” Brenda said, shoving her phone at him. Ardith must have started shooting the second Dennis yelled to run. She was definitely in motion as they climbed into the bleachers, but had caught nearly the last fifty meters of his race against the pig and leap into the bleachers. The video was only forty seconds long, but it was obvious what was happening as the hog attempted to follow up the bleachers and got stuck.

“How did she manage to get that?” he asked.

“Look how fast you’re running,” Tori said. “I thought I was the fast one.”

“You and Brenda and Judith and Diane,” Natalie clarified. “I’d sure never try to outrun a hog.”

“There wasn’t much choice,” Dennis said. His mother and sister had come to examine the video and just stared at Dennis open-mouthed.

“And you didn’t consider this worth mentioning to me?” Dot said. “This should have been the first thing you mentioned rather than haying Mr. Abernathy’s field Monday. Get your priorities straight, young man.”

“Yes, Mom. I’m sorry. I didn’t want anyone to worry since it really didn’t hurt anything but the pig. Mr. Johnson came and lifted it out of the bleachers with a backhoe and cradle made of webbing straps. It was pretty cool,” Dennis said.

“We’re not interested in the pig,” Dot said in exasperation. “Oh. Just go do your shopping. And stay out of trouble!”

The kids headed out for the mall in Des Moines.

For the girls, the trip to the mall was just a convenient excuse to get something special for themselves. The real draw was dressing Dennis. He was dragged from store to store to try on various clothes for school. They did all get new matching sports bras and short shorts for practice. They were planning to start the season with the heat turned up.

They also found some nightshirts that were essentially the same thin T-shirt they’d been using, but were cut a little longer for the taller girls to be able to wear without exposing themselves unintentionally. Then it was ‘dress Dennis’ time. The girls had become quite aware that Dennis had grown taller over the summer. He was looking more of them in the eye and a few were looking up to him. He might never be a seven-foot basketball star, but five-ten was looking reasonable. Coupled with the amount of work he’d done and the building of his body and the surgery on his eyes, he had progressed from being a cute nerdy little guy to a very sexy hunk. They wanted to show him off.

Dennis went along with some of their ideas and flatly refused others. He simply was not going to wear skin-tight sleeveless T-shirts to school. He wasn’t even sure if that was allowed. And he wanted trousers that were comfortable. He had to spend a while at Boot Barn explaining to his girlfriends why certain tight blue jeans simply wouldn’t work. He did it quite succinctly.

“The problem is these jeans are like a cheap hotel,” he said. His girlfriends all turned puzzled looks on him. “There’s no ballroom,” he finished. It took a minute for a couple of them to catch on, but they granted him looser fit jeans and trousers. He picked up a nice western shirt, too.

At Younkers, he allowed the replacement of all his jockey style underwear with boxers, but they were the stretchy type that didn’t ball up in his crotch when he pulled his pants up. And that led the girls to choosing athletic wear at Champs that he reluctantly agreed to with some modifications. A lot of the guys on the track team had gone out to buy spandex shorts like the girls wore. They were actually more comfortable for working out and for running. And they showed every single lump and rise. Dennis also bought a couple of pairs of looser shorts he could wear over the tight ones. And here, he allowed a singlet tank top shirt for running and working out.