Modern Flash Fiction

Once there were three brothers. And yes, they were pigs. The oldest brother was methodical and hard working. What he lacked in native intelligence, he made up for with dogged diligence. The youngest brother was the spoiled one, who had a myriad of talents which he wasted through his indolence. The middle brother was the one who was constantly trying to bridge the gap in between the life styles of his two brothers—sometimes aligning himself with the older brother in performing the daily chores while condemning those who lacked discipline and fortitude. Other times, the middle brother pig would join in playing with his younger brother, who usually spent the day chasing butterflies, singing and rolling in the mud.

As it so happened, the brothers were let free to roam a few acres of pasture, which had been suddenly vacated by the herd of sheep that had lived on it, who were there one day, and then were last seen boarding a large semi truck trailer, never to be seen or heard from again.

Immediately, the oldest brother set about building a home on the top of a small hill which over looked the pasture.  He made several preliminary plans, consulted many books, and asked lots of questions at the lumber yard. When he was finally satisfied with his plan, he carefully laid out a rectangular foundation, and began to slowly construct four very solid brick walls.

The middle brother tried to follow his older brother’s example, but only after he had spent several days playing kick the can in the pasture with the youngest brother. By the time the older brother was beginning to put the roof on his home, the middle brother finally quit playing in the fields and hurried to build a home of his own. Bricks, he found, were not only very heavy, they were expensive, and so he opted to build his home out of sticks that he collected from around the creek.

The youngest brother, who rarely bothered to wash the mud off of his face, now continued to romp in the mornings, and to take long naps in the afternoons.  As the soft days of spring progressed into the harsh heat of summer, however, the youngest pig realized that he needed some shelter from the sun. He went to his oldest brother’s brick house, which was finally being finished, and asked if he could nap in its cool interior, only to be told to go build his own damn house.

And so the youngest pig did. He made four walls by arranging four bales of hay into a square, with a small gap between two of the bales for easy access. He then tossed a few gunny sacks across the top of the bales, which made a suitable roof, as long as it wasn’t too windy or rainy. It wasn’t much to look at, and was barely large enough to turn around in, but it served its purpose, and the youngest pig crawled in and lay in the shade of his new hay home, and through the gap in the walls, watched his foolish older brothers continue to toil under the hot sun.

It wasn’t much later that the once in ten thousand years earthquake hit. The gunny sack roof collapsed on top of the youngest pig, but being more like a coarse horse hair blanket, it didn’t harm the him. As a matter of fact, the gunny sacks completely covered him, making him invisible to lone wolf who, in the aftermath of the earthquake, was scrounging the area looking for food in the collapsed structures.

The wooded home of the middle pig had swayed back and forth like a tree in the wind, but being flexible, had held together, although now the little house leaned a bit sideways. Unfortunately, the front door would no longer close, so the wolf had no problem entering the little shack and eating the middle pig, who had been hiding in one corner with his eyes closed.

Meanwhile, the heavy brick home of the industrious older brother had collapsed on him, killing him instantly. Even the wolf could not reach him through the rubble, but he was no longer hungry anyway. With his belly almost dragging on the ground, the wolf returned to his den in the woods and slept for two days.

R.H. Brooke is a graduate of UCSD and a is former public school teacher. He currently is living in Southern California.