Boarus: The Story of a Young Boar Coming of Age

By Nancy Brumbelow

In a world where his species is considered destructive and dirty, a young wild boar finds himself in a wrestling match with his identity. He would much rather be a delicate bunny rabbit or a domestic cat, but how? With the help of some very loyal friends, Boarus embarks on a journey to change who he is and encounters some very risky situations along the way. This is his story about his adventures and the important lessons about life he learns along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nancy Brumbelow
• Release date: Feb 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310928772

Nancy Brumbelow

This is my first book. I hope my readers enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. More to come.....

Book preview

BOARUS

The Story of a Young Boar Coming of Age

Nancy Brumbelow

Published by Nancy Brumbelow at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Nancy Brumbelow

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events are the product of this author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, places, or events is entirely coincidental.

For my loving husband

who always lets me be

exactly who I am

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

About the Author

CHAPTER 1

I peered curiously through the open doorway and down the empty hall. I could hear the murmur of the crowd followed by applause and a male announcer’s voice rapidly delivering an account of what was happening.

The excitement in the air was electric. I felt the lump in my throat growing larger as my heart beat faster and faster in my young boar chest. I tried to slow my breathing and calm myself down. I felt anxious and closed my eyes, willing the feeling to go away.

Someone touched my shoulder causing me to flinch. It was John.

Come on, he said gently. We have to get ready.

It was almost our turn to compete in the agility trials. I followed John back to the space referred to as our benching area where my crate was placed next to a table along with a mixture of our things. I drew a deep breath, held it for a moment and slowly let it out. There was no turning back now. This was to be my biggest challenge yet.

CHAPTER 2

I was born in the middle of a beautiful day when the sun was warm and the air was dry. I was the last of three wild piglets belonging to my mother to be introduced to the world. My father named me Boarus.

We were a healthy family of five consisting of my mother and father, my two sisters and me. We were pretty much like every other boar family in the area and nothing specific about my clan necessarily set us apart from the rest. At least not at first.

I don’t remember how old I was when I realized I was different. Though I looked just like my siblings with brown and white stripes, strong tiny snout for rooting in the dirt and a little hoof at the end of each leg, it soon became clear to me and everyone else that I was unusual.

To put it frankly, I didn’t want to act like a boar or do boar things. My sisters followed Mother’s lead, rooting in search of grub and insects, making a giant mess of the vegetation and surrounding landscape. I preferred to spend the majority of my time on patches of soft clean grass, lying quietly in the sun with eyes closed tight -- dreaming of living as anything but a boar.

My behavior was tolerated for the most part though my mother consistently encouraged me to try and fit in. There were times I would make a half-hearted attempt to appease my mother but as a rule I was not inclined to participate in boar activities of any kind.

One day as I rested on some lawn lost in a daydream, my mother approached me with a disapproving look. She sat next to me with a sigh.

You realize you will have many responsibilities as a male boar, she said. When you grow up, you will be just like your father.

I opened my eyes, turning my head to look at my dad. I took in the image of his sizeable tusks protruding from each side of his mouth, his misshapen, oversized head and the shaggy clumps of hair which clung to his enormous skull. My father smiled at me, exposing the full length of his dirty tusks. I shuddered and let out a gasp, ducking my head beneath a large leaf lying on the ground.

But I don’t wanna be a boar, I lamented softly, more to myself than to my mother.

Boarus! my mother said sharply, looking at me with an expression that could not hide her disappointment. What on earth is wrong with you?

I shrugged and let out a heavy sigh. The truth was, I had no idea how to make my family understand I did not want to be a boar. I did not know how to explain how unhappy it made me to do boar things. I especially did not want to look like my father.

My mother’s statements made my heart pound and my throat close. I was going to look like my father and there was nothing I could do about it. No one in my family could possibly understand the extent of my unhappiness as I considered my future.

I began to spend less and less time with my siblings. I spent my days trying to stay clean, watching bunny rabbits with envy as they gently ate plush green grass, wiping their adorable faces with their paws. If only I could be a bunny too. Watching them made me feel happy and sad at the same time.

They were pleasant to watch, peaceful, light on their feet, beautiful, soft. They were quiet, graceful creatures with fur on their feet and they could hop with speed and silence -- everything I wanted to be -- which made me happy. Boars had hooves and crashed through