|
MONOLOGUE
“Oh life. A pig’s life.
Rolling in the muck. Eating anyting. Don’t care
if it’s shit or not. If it came from hell knows
where. Living with every other pig in the same space
which is your bed, comfort room, bathroom, dining table,
playground rolled into one. Shyness is prohibited. It’s
not in style.
“Then, dawn. A nightmare wakes
you. Giant mouths with sharp teeth are running after
you. You thought you were safe. Coz when you opened
your eyes, they’re gone. But they just changed
faces, darling. Do you hear those footsteps? You don’t?
Open your ears. They’re here.
“No! No! I shouted, but they
can’t understand me. They have never understood
us anyway. Or they understand and they just don’t
want to listen. And the other million cries of my fellow
pigs that passed. Like they didn’t hear nothing.
Or they notice and they just don’t care. Even if
I cry my heart out, which I was doing a while ago. Even
if I cry as many bucket of tears, will things change?
I’m still dead. Maybe this is just a ritual every
pig has to go through, the cries you heard, thanks for
bearing with us. All comes to pass.
“And after this, what? My
head would be given to Mang Berto. My internal organs
to Aling Sitay. My feet to Manong Jess. My body, shared
by Manang Mine, Aster, and other interested neighbours.
Lucky for them. They’ll be stuffed. I heard pork
is delicious. Too bad I haven’t tasted any up to
now. I’m dead and my tongue is still a virgin to
the taste of pork. It’s not that some cannibal’s
blood got mixed with our family. No, sir. I just can’t
imagine why you people are so fond of our meat.
“Is there delight in the killing
of a fellow who just a while ago was living, breathing,
running, blabbering around? Is it like winning a contest
or a war? Hey I’m better! I’m greater! I’m
stronger! Okay, you win, you’re the best. You’ve
proven this for how many centuries now. Can’t you
change for variety’s sake?
“I remember the pig from Animal
Farm, what’s his name, Tikboy? What happened there?
Did it reach the point wherein pigs and the other animals
were eating the humans? I heard that men are delicious
(also women), very palatable. And you say, oh how gross,
how inhumane. And I say you’ve lost it man. Oh
never mind.
“What does it mean to be a
pig in your language? “Pig” means gross, someone
with no manners whatsoever. Greedy, wants everything
for him or herself. An over-eater, a glutton. Not satisfied
with what he’s got, wants more more more. So now,
who’s the real pig? Oh I’m sounding so angry
and didactic. Just like my master.
“Aren’t we just mirrors
of each other’s follies and glories? And what is
left of me to exalt? Oh I forgot, I will be the reason
for these people’s hearty meals. I wonder where
my heart went.
“I wonder what will happen
after I watch this slaughter. Will I laugh, thank Whoever
it’s over? Will my soul still linger for forty
days and forty nights like the Pig bible says? Or will
I go straight up? So if they ask me, so what do you
want to be when you return to Earth? Do I still want
to return in the first place? Well if I do and they’d
ask, Would you like to be a human being? I think I’ll
pass. Or maybe I won’t. Like I’ve said, I’ve
never tasted pork. Nor human flesh for that matter.
A time to have the tables turned, ‘no? Nah, I’ll
probably just pass.
|
