Earnest the pig enjoys the snow. (Photo courtesy Katherine Dunn)
I was in the back corner of the barn doing chores when I heard them talking about me.
“What’s wrong with Mrs. Dunn?” Pickles the goat asked Earnest the pig.
“Yea, she’s really grumpy. Like triple grumpy,” said little Hannah the goat. “She’s kicking buckets again.”
“She’s temporarily gone mad. It often happens to humans this time of year,” the pig said. “She just forgot that this time of year nature wants us to percolate.”
“What’s por-cha-late?” asked little Hannah the goat.
“Per-co-late,” said Earnest. “This is the state where nature seems dead, but it is not, it is alive with activity, we just can’t see it.”
“How do I get to see it?” asked Hannah.
“Well, close your eyes. Now imagine a little seed under the ground, far below all the snow and ice. That little seed is patiently waiting in the dark, storing up energy to become her true self. One day, she’ll emerge out into the light, and grow into a flower or tree. But she has to percolate, she can’t skip over the percolating,” said the pig.
Hannah opened her eyes, and there were tears coming down her face.
“That little seed must be scared! Are there more of them down there, all cold and scared? We have to help them!” Hannah said in tears.
I entered the conversation at this point, as Hannah ran to my side.
“Mrs. Dunn, do you have a shovel I can use, I need to help the seeds,” said Hannah.
“Hannah, they don’t need your help. The sun will warm the ground and the little seed will know it is time to come out of the ground,” said Earnest.
“Earnest is right, Hannah. Seeds are brave, they are very content under the ground, percolating,” I said.
“Well, why are you grumpy then? Why aren’t you happy percolating?” asked Hannah.
“I suffer from the human condition called impatience. And sometimes I let the woes of daily life get in the way of my percolating,” I said.
“What’s a woe?” asked Hannah.
“Frozen water buckets, frozen gates, frozen finger tips, hurt toes from kicking frozen water buckets,” I said.
“Does kicking the buckets help you percolate?” asked Hannah.
“I’m afraid not,” I said.
“It must be hard to have so many woes. I don’t think I have a woe,” Hannah said.
“I have a woe! His name is Puddles!” said Pickles the goat.
And we all laughed and laughed. We laughed so hard and long it made all my woes disappear. And so, I went about the rest of my chores without kicking one bucket. It was nothing short of a miracle.
As I left the barn, I took notice of the beautiful, quiet, white landscape all around me.
And there was little Hannah, her ear to the ground, whispering into the snow, “Little seeds, don’t be scared, you’ll be flowers soon.”
(Katherine Dunn, of Apifera Farm in Bremen, is an artist and writer. Apifera, a nonprofit, takes in elderly and special-needs animals and shares them with elder people. Learn more at katherinedunn.us.)
