Chapter 5

Deep in their brick built bunker, the piggy trio looked up in shock from the bowl of liquid that shimmered and moved before them. The elder of the three rubbed his ear with a trotter that had been painted in a garish shade of blue nail varnish before clearing his throat and beginning,

 

“Brothers…Let us share a moment of silence to mark what we have witnessed…”

 

The brothers bowed their heads in reverence, the smallest of the three reaching into his dark waistcoat pocket to retrieve a white, cotton handkerchief that had been carefully embroidered with the initials ‘L.P.’. He sighed heavily before using his hankie to stifle a sob that crept up on him from nowhere. After several minutes, when the only sounds to be heard  were the smallest pig’s muffled crying and the gentle, rhythmical tick, tick, tick of a pocket watch, the boss pig raised his head and began to speak.

 

“Brothers, our time of reflection is now passed, we must move forward now with caution, our mission is proving to be more challenging than we at first thought.”

 

One of his younger brothers continued to dab his teary eyes which had gone from being merely piggy and small to virtual slits that bore little resemblance to eyes at all.

 

“Brothers, we must think…the Aunties have been successful in all previous missions, yet this once they have failed. We must consider our next move. This serves to warn us that we need to consider a different approach. Who must we send to complete the mission that Spiker and Sponge began? We cannot fail, this is our chance to pay our debt to the witch and taste freedom from her demands”

 

An ominous silence once again filled the room as the three pigs cogitated and ruminated upon their dilemma. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, the smallest of the three brothers raised his trotter, which had badly chewed nails, him being of a nervous disposition following an incident earlier in his life during which his house was swept from around him in a hurricane of wolf breath, and squeaked.

 

“Wwwwwhat abbbouut the bbbbear?”

 

The incident in his past had also left him with a stammer which often made it difficult for him to speak.

 

His brothers stopped pondering for a moment and looked intently at him.

 

“Do you mean the American bear? The funny one who wears the ridiculous hat and tie?”

 

“Yyyessss.”

 

“He is unproven brother; we have yet to see how he handles direction and pressure.”

 

“Bbbutt wwe aare aaassking hhhim tto ssstop a bbboy aaand aaa bbbaby, bbbrother.”

 

“True, true, although these apparently harmless individuals have managed to overcome two of our most able agents, the Aunties.”

 

“Wwwwell mmaybe this iiis our chance ttto ttest the bbbear out. Hhhe ccan tttalk a ggood bbbattle bbbrother bbbut cccan hhe cccarry one out?”

 

“You may be right my brother, it is time that the bear was put to the test.”
Boss pig raised his manicured trotter into the air and punched it in a show of strength that belied his deep seated anxiety,

 

“Unleash the bear!”

Deep in their brick built bunker the piggy trio looked up in shock