Dolores
"Crazy old woman! I'm going to hit you in the head with an ax !" The old woman sighed, "NO you won't, you're only a little brass pig, and if you don't shut up, I'll lock you in the cupboard under the sink."
"Crazy old woman !" The brass pig muttered. He shut up because he didn't like to be locked under the sink. It's all damp, musty, and all those chemical smells, not to mention the mice.
The old lady's face was lined with a myriad of wrinkles. It looked like the dunes of the Sahara as seen from a 747. It had not always been so. Once, many years ago she was a very beautiful young woman, before the pig. It was so long ago she could barely remember the times before him. It seemed like he had been in her life forever. She remembered the day she had stolen him from the old woman, one much like herself now. The woman's son had asked Dolores to take care of his mother. She was ill, sometimes delusional and always tormented and she needed care. "I can give you a decent salary and free room and board." Dolores did not have to think about it twice. Much as she did not want to take care of this woman, she wanted to get married to her young man, John, and she knew it would be possible if she was  working.
	"NO!  Don't say those things!" shrieked the old woman. "Leave me alone ! Leave me in peace and quiet !" Dolores was there in the room, but turned in astonishment. Had the woman thought she said something? She was dusting, being ever so quiet not to disturb the old woman. She wanted to make a good impression on her first day of work. Dolores noticed a bright shiny brass pig. It had little pig ears on a pig head with a typical pig body and curly pig tail. It was strange, she felt as if the pig had looked at her. The old woman, now delusional, would not miss it with all the junk she had sitting around so Dolores slipped it into her pocket. She was so ashamed of herself. She had never stolen anything in her life,  but she knew she MUST have this pig. Leaving the old woman's sickroom she proceeded directly to her own room and put the little brass pig in the corner of her suitcase, hidden under her shear nighties. No one would look there, if they discovered it was missing. When she returned to the sickroom the first thing she noticed was a look of complete joy, relief, and peace on the old woman's face. Upon further examination she noticd the old woman had died. Oh well, the job was over. The son gave her a weeks pay and she was on her way, back to her rented room in the boarding house. She decided she was a weeks pay and brass pig ahead. At least that was the way she saw it then. The next afternoon, she met John in the park. How she adored him and wanted to marry to him. He was so wonderful, handsome, pure, and perfectly brilliant!  "I love you but I have to break our date tonight.  I'm taking the 7:00 train for Mayfield. It's family business and I 'll be back Thursday morning." She hated for him to do this, but she was resigned to it, knowing she could do nothing about it. She returned to the boarding house. "Stupid girl, you don't really believe that story do you?" Dolores looked around there was no one, but there was that voice again. "Stupid girl, you know he's lying to you." Quite startled by this she asked  "Who said that?" The voice replied "Who do you think?" the pig smiled up at her. The little pig kept on and on through out the night. Dolores trusted John completely, but after listening to that little brass pig doubts were taking root in her mind. In order to silence the pig she decided to go to Mayfield and check to see what John was up to. There in Mayfield she felt as if her blood had turned to ice as she saw John greet and embrace a very pretty young woman. She was equally affectionate for him so Dolores knew they were well acquainted. Dolores followed as they went to the train. She watched them on the platform, then after the young woman left, Dolores had approached John. Seeking his attention she placed her hand on the small of his back. Had he stumbled? Had she stumbled? She had no clue as to what happened. She had only wanted to talk with him. The results were too horrible to mention. At the funeral she saw the young woman she had seen in Mayfield. Then, this weeping woman came over to Dolores to express sympathy. "Although we never met I am Johns sister, Althea. I am so sorry we had to meet under these circumstances. John told me you were to be married soon. I was so for happy you both, and now this. It's just too horrible for words. Damn that brass pig. If he hadn't told me those things, none of this would have happened. The years passed and Dolores was very lonely. The brass pig told her things about people. People she knew, people she had just passed on the street. The pig told her horrible ghastly things she didn't want to hear. Many times over the past years she had tried to get rid of this pig.  One night she put it in the Salvation Army donation box several towns away. A week later there it was, that little brass pig, right back in its accustomed place on the bookshelf. She tried throwing it in a pond in the town park one night. There it was the next morning right back on the bookshelf standing in a puddle of water sporting a water lily behinds its left ear. This was just too much for her to comprehend. She gave up trying to get rid of him. She knew it would never happen. The pig would always find his way back to her. She decided the pig was hers "until death do us part". The pig would not shut up so Dolores began to tell fortunes. She would deal cards, look into crystal balls, read palms or tea leaves, whatever, it didn't really matter, she would just repeat what the pig said. The words of the pig. That's all her life amounted to anymore, the words of that little brass pig, dulled by age, no longer bright and shiny like the day she had stolen it. Some of her customers were repeats, some she never saw again. However, one thing in common, the words of the pig were always right. Never a mistake. Years passed. Many of her customers made headlines, many the obituarys. The wrinkles grew deeper on her face with the passing of time. So many years have come and gone, she now reminded herself of the old woman she had stolen the little pig from. She wasn't ill like her predecessor, but she had all the worried tormented lines of age that the other woman had. The pigs personality had grown so brassy over the years it was unbelievable. They traded insults like an old married couple that had stayed together out of habit, not love, never love, all for the purpose of mutual torment. One Sunday afternoon a young woman had come to have her fortune told. Dolores, so very tired, dealt the cards, looked at them and told the woman she would be married in a short time. She would be very happy with her young man. She began to think to herself that would be much like the life she would have had if she had not listened to that pig. She turned for a moment and the girl was gone. She felt as though a heavy burden was lifted from her shoulders and her heart. She hadn't felt this good in so long. She moved swiftly to the bookcase where the little pig had resided all of these years. She looked and the little brass pig was gone. "Yippey" she hollered with excitement. The pig was gone, the pig was gone. She knew it was gone forever.  She would never have to listen to him again.  That brassy voice was gone forever. The young girl had stolen it from her much the same as she had stolen it from the old woman before and probably like that old woman had also stolen it from someone else. She didn't know just why she stole it. After all it wasn't a pretty pig it was dulled from the signs of age. She thought it looked up at her that must have been it, but a pig cannot look at you. The young woman started hearing this little voice. She didn't know where it came from. She just kept hearing it. She listened to this voice then decided to take back the pig.  To her amazement the pig had beocme bright and shiny during the past week, but she knew her conscience was telling her to take it back so she did.  When she approached the decrepit, one story house with faded, peeling paint, and cracked windows, she realized this house had been abandoned. On the door there was a note scribbled by the old woman. "Gone To Disneyland" Dolores
	"Let's go home sweety !" the little brassy voice told the woman "I have many things to tell you !"
		The      End