“Children, come on! Lunch is ready!” Mrs. Piggie yelled from the kitchen table, setting a few empty plates down.
“I can’t find Wolfie” Wilber yelled back.
Wilber has had his plush toy since he was a little piglet. He didn’t go anywhere without it. He takes it almost anywhere he goes.
“Ugh. I still don’t understand why you have that thing. He gives me the creeps”, Mrs. Piggie shuttered as her son walked into the room.
“I love Wolfie, mommy,” Wilber whined. “Granny got it for me.”
“I know dear.” Mrs. Piggie kissed Wilber on the forehead as he sat down for some lunch. She cut off two thin layers of meat and placed some crisp, green lettuce onto Wilber’s plate. “Eat some roast beef and when I get back from the market, I’ll help you look for Wolfie.”
“Thank you,” Wilber squealed. He took a big whiff of the roast beef into his tiny snout.
“I want to go to the market with you,” Hamlett, Wilber’s brother, said as he sat down at the table.
“No, Dr. Peppa said you shouldn’t be going out until you guys feel better,” momma scolded.
“But, we do feel better!”
Mrs. Piggie gave her son that stare that showed she knew he was fibbing. The one that pierces a child soul.
“Oh, fine.” Hamlett said with a sniffle.
“I’m feeling a lot better!”, Georgie shouted from the other room. Georgie was the oldest of the triplets. He enjoyed giving his brothers a hard time as most older siblings do. He earned that right, even if it was only a two-minute head start. Hamlett came after that and Wilber was the youngest, popping out a minute after that.
“You all three look well, but I think you should stay in one more day” Mrs. Piggy instructed her boys as she put her coat on. “It’s just down the road, I’ll be right back.”
“Come on boy. It’s lunch time." Mr. Piggie said as he entered the kitchen.
“He better hurry up or I’ll eat his roast beef”, Hamlett said.
“You better not eat it, Porky!” Georgie shouted.
“Mom!” Hamlett whined.
“Georgie, please don’t call him that” Mrs. Piggie scolded. She opened the front door and looked back at her husband. “Can you help find Wolfie while I’m gone. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Oh, yes. I think I washed him. He looked like he had been rolling around in the mud.”
Mrs. Piggie caught Wilber’s eyes before she walked out. “See. Mystery solved” she said as she closed the door.
Wilber couldn’t finish his roast beef. He was too excited. His fork echoed throughout the kitchen as he dropped it onto the plate and ran to the laundry room. His hooves made a clicking sound on the wooden floors with every step.
“Wolfie?” he asked as he opened the washer door. To his surprise, there was nothing in there. “Dad!” he yelled with a sigh. “Oh, maybe he put it in the dryer,” he thought. He looked over to see the dryer door cracked open.
“A-ha!”
Wilber swung the door and looked inside. He swung it too fast though as it bounced back, hitting him in the temple. “Ow,” he moaned, rubbing his head.
“Did you find him?” Mr. Piggie asked his son, stepping into the room. He saw Wilber clutching his head. “Oh, no. Are you all right buddy?” Mr. Piggie knelt down to find Wilber fighting back tears.
Wilber took a deep breath. “Yeah. I’m OK”, as he resumed his search inside the dryer. They must have finished drying recently because Wilber could still feel the heat coming from the load.
Shirts, a couple of slacks, and ew, gross, a pair of underwear. No stuffed animal though.
CRASH!
“What was that!?” Mr. Piggie yelled as he went to go investigate in the kitchen.
“Georgie did it!” he heard Hamlett shout back.
Wilber then heard his brothers trying to plead their case to their father. He wasn’t paying attention to them though as he slammed the door to the dryer. “Hmm!” he puffed as he stomped back out into the kitchen.
Wilber coughed as he returned to find Mr. Piggie grabbing a towel for some roast beef juice that made its way to the floor. “Can you two just eat and stopping pigging around!” he screamed.
“Hamlett did it!” Georgie shouted.
“NO! Georgie did it!” Hamlett squealed.
“Nuh uh!” Georgie stuck his tiny tongue out.
“I don’t care who did it. I just want you to clean it up.” Mr. Piggie handed the piglets the towel. “And we don’t stick out our tongue. That’s very rude, Georgie.”
Georgie ripped the towel from his father’s hand. He knelt down and aggressively patted the wooden floor to sop up some of the meat juice.
Wilber caught Mr. Piggie’s eye. His father motioned him to come back up to the table. “Come, finish your lunch, son.”
“But I have to find Wolfie, Dad” Wilbur whined.
“Son, you’ll just have to wait. I don’t know where he is.”
“I saw a basket up in Mom and Dad’s room, Wilber” Hamlett uttered. “He could be in there.”
Wilber’s eyes lit up. He turned and ran up to the room where his parents slept. He was too excited and wanted to skip a few steps but his tiny legs had other plans. His hoof nicked a stair, tripping him up. “Mmff!” he let out as he caught himself with his front hooves. His face inches from the stair in front of him. He reached the top to find the woven basket that Hamlett had seen. It was as if a volcano erupted as he started throwing clothes over his shoulders. One after another, each piece of clothing dropped to the floor beneath.
Wilber reached the bottom of the basket to find just that…the bottom of the basket. No sign of his friend anywhere. His eyes flooded with tears. He couldn’t hold them back anymore.
How can Wolfie be gone?
Wilber has had Wolfie through some extraordinary times. When Wilber lost his first tooth. When he was learning how to read. Even when Wilber learned how to first ride a scooter.
Mr. Piggie heard his son crying from the bottom of the stairs and went to go investigate. He took his first step and called out to Wilber. He heard the sound coming from his bedroom so he locked his eyes on the slightly cracked door at the top of the staircase. As he reached the next to last stair, Mr. Piggie’s hoof crunched down onto a plastic toy one of the piglets left on the floor.
“Aaahhh! Boys! Pick up your toys!” Mr. Piggie hobbled into the room, holding his hoof. He entered the room and saw Wilbur sobbing on the floor with his head between his legs. His heart dropped and suddenly the pain left his hoof as he approached Wilbur.
“Hey. Don’t cry.” Mr. Piggie couldn’t think of anything else to say at the moment.
“Wolfie’s gone!” Wilber cried. “He’s not anywhere!”
“Come on. He’s got to be in this house somewhere”, Mr. Piggie said as he sat down next to his son. He wrapped his left arm around Wilber and pulled him in for a side hug. Then, he gave him a kiss on the top of his head.
“Wolfie doesn’t like me anymore. He probably moved away.”
Mr. Piggie smiled, holding back a giggle. “Children have some imagination”, he thought. “Tell you what. Let me finish cleaning up the kitchen and I’ll help you look for him. It shouldn’t take long.” “OK”, he heard from underneath Wilber’s legs. “It tends to go faster when there are more hooves helping. You can’t do it alone. Just like I can’t do things alone. We need each other.” He wrapped his arms around his son and squeezed him gently.
Another crash broke the silence that sent a shiver down Mr. Piggie’s back. He let out an enormous sigh as he realized he may have bit off more than he could chew. He rose up to see what the commotion was.
“That’s not how you do it!” he heard from downstairs.
“Boys! Don’t make me get my belt out!” he screamed as he descended the staircase.
Wilber stopped crying and wiped his eyes. His dad made him feel better. He always knows just what to say. He got up to help as he sniffled his runny nose. He didn’t want Wolfie to move away so he wanted to find him and tell him.
Wilber got up and made his way back to the kitchen to find a pile of cookies over the floor. The kind the piglets weren’t supposed to have until after meals.
“We’re sorry dad,” muffled Hamlett as a tear fell from his eye and sunk to the floor. “We just wanted some but you weren’t around.”
Mr. Piggie regained his composure and let out a deep breath. “It’s OK. Accidents happen. Just ask me next time.”
“Yeah. Sometimes we need help” Wilber chimed in.
“That’s right, Wilber. We can’t do it alone.” Mr. Piggie got down on his hands to start cleaning the small mess. Wilber spun around to grab a plate from the counter for his father to place the crumbs onto.
“Come on guys. Let’s help pick up. Four pigs is better than one.”
Mr. Piggie turned to little Wilber and smiled as he placed a piece of cookie down.
“Hamlett, I’ll race ya!” Georgie said as he knelt down also, scooping up cookie pieces with both hooves.
The three piglets helped their father pick up the cookie disaster and Mr. Piggie swept up the last remaining crumbs, thanking his sons for a job well done.
“Ah, yes. Many hooves make light work” he finished.
“What does that mean?” Hamlett asked with a sniffle.
“It means…” Mr. Piggie turned to his son. “It means you can go and play now” he said with a smile. He decided to save that lesson for a later time.
Wilber stood next to his dad as his brothers ran cheering into the den. He patted little Wilber on the head and thanked him.
“Now can we find Wolfie, Dad?” he asked looking up with his hooves folded. “Pleeeeeease. I don’t want him to move away.”
Mr. Piggie perked up and chuckled. “Move away? I don’t think he’ll move away. His best friend lives here”, he answered pointing to Wilber.
The creak of the door broke their concentration. Mrs. Piggie had returned home from the market down the road with two brown bags in each hand. The kind of bags that make the crinkling sound when you walk. She couldn’t even set them down before Wilber tackled her with a hug.
“Mommy!”
“Oomf. Wilber, I have groceries in my hand. Wait until my hands are empty before you do that”, she snickered.
“I’m going to help Wilber find Wolfie now”, Mr. Piggie chimed in. “Things haven’t gone the way we planned so far.”
Wilber looked back at his father. “Maybe we should help mommy first. Everyone needs help, right?”
Mrs. Piggie opened up one of the brown bags. “You don’t need to help me with these, but thank you.” She pulled out a matted, gray stuffed animal. “You just go play with Wolfie.”
“You found him!” Wilber exclaimed as he jumped for joy.
“You must have dropped him outside because I ran over him with the car.”
“Oh boy! I’m just glad he didn’t move away.” Wilber gave his friend a hug and scurried into the den with his brothers.
Mrs. Piggie looked at her husband with a puzzled look. “Moved away?” Mr. Piggie simply shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I only got a few things to last the rest of the week.”
Mr. Piggie walked over to his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, babe. I’ll put these away.” He began taking the items out.
“Thanks, dear. I need to go wash my hooves after touching that nasty thing”, she said as she shook her head. “We’ll need to wash it again.”
Mr. Piggie took more items out and began to put them into the cabinets as he heard Mrs. Piggie walked upstairs. He was enjoying some quiet until it was abruptly halted,
“Who dumped my basket of clothes everywhere!? This place looks like a pig sty!”