The Buried Book Read Free

a whopper of a fish.
    “Easy, Wayne.” Uncle Leo gave his head a small shake and turned to Jasper. “What your overly enthusiastic cousin over there is tryin’ to say is that we have to castrate that pig.”
    Jasper felt sick. “Why?”
    “’Cause if we don’t, he’s liable to go wild and hurt the other pigs,” Wayne explained as though this were common knowledge.
    “Nuts make you wild?” Jasper frowned and fought the urge to grab his own.
    “Not wild. Aggressive. Bullish. We want happy pigs in this pen.” Uncle Leo was trying to reassure him, but it still didn’t make sense.
    Why would a pig be happy without his nuts? Jasper wanted to ask but held his tongue.
    “Besides,” Uncle Leo continued, “one boar is enough to keep the whole county in piglets for years, and that boar belongs to Arthur Hoyt over the hill there. So, we ready?”
    Jasper was not, but he stood his ground and followed his uncle’s orders.
    “You gotta grab and cut quick, or the pig will eat you alive. And it will eat you if it gets a chance.” Uncle Leo laughed like this was a joke as he led a medium-sized pig into the holding stall and shut the door.
    Wayne nodded at Jasper. “That’s why you never let yourself fall down in a pigpen. Right, Pop?”
    Jasper barely heard his uncle’s answer. Poor Roy was being hog-tied on his back to a fence post. Without a moment’s hesitation, Uncle Leo grabbed what the good Lord had given the pig and split it in two. Roy let out a tortured squeal. Jasper lurched back at the sound and felt himself turn green.
    “Don’t worry, kid.” Wayne chucked his shoulder. “Pop’s done this a hundred times. Right, Pop?”
    “Every summer.” Uncle Leo nodded. “Wayne, have the salt ready.”
    “Got it.” Wayne slapped a cardboard box onto the fence post.
    “What’s the salt for?” Jasper whispered.
    The question was lost in a high-pitched squall as his uncle sliced off the pig’s testicles in one clean swipe. Everything Jasper had eaten the night before rose up in his throat, and his own tiny balls shrank into his stomach.
    “Okay, boys. Back up!” his uncle barked.
    Wayne grabbed Jasper by the arm and pulled him back several feet. What happened next happened too fast for Jasper to fully comprehend. Uncle Leo dumped half the box of salt on the open wound. Roy let out a shriek twice as loud as when he’d lost his nuts. Uncle Leo released the ropes and hopped the fence in one motion. The nutless pig took off bucking and squealing around the pen.
    “Once you’re done, you better clear out of there, ’cause he’ll be madder than a nest of hornets.” Uncle Leo dusted himself off. He rinsed the bloody knife in a bucket of water before hanging it back up on the wall.
    Jasper gaped at poor Roy as he circled the pen, kicking and screaming. “Is he gonna . . . be alright?”
    “Of course. He’ll be fine by supper. Speaking of supper, here.” Uncle Leo held a bloody handkerchief out to Jasper. It contained something the size of a grapefruit. “Go run these back to your aunt in the kitchen.”
    Jasper’s jaw dropped at what his uncle was implying.
    “This here’s a farm, boy, not a zoo. We don’t let nothin’ go to waste. Not like in your big, fancy city. Now, here.” Uncle Leo grabbed Jasper’s hand and made him take the bloody rag and everything it held. It was still warm. His uncle clapped him on the back. “You keep your ears open and your mouth shut, we just might make a farmer out of you.”
    Jasper forced a smile.

CHAPTER 3
    Would you say you had a happy home life as a child?
    “Where the hell’ve you been?” Jasper heard his father yelling on the other side of his bedroom door.
    “Don’t you use that tone with me!” his mother barked back. “I had to pull an extra shift.”
    “I called down to the dairy, Althea. Now, you better tell me where you been!”
    “I wasn’t at the goddamned office, now was I!” The door to a cupboard slapped open. Something wet splashed