Me as a child loved reading books.
My mom gifted me once a book about the story of a little pig.
It was my first reading book from when my mind is quite aware of the surroundings.
In that story, the little pig raised in a barn with his own shed, his everyday food, his own mud puddle.
One day, the little pig was not content with the life he has.
He was aware that in his own shed, in his own mud puddle, he was all alone.
One day, the litte pig said, "I am going to escape this shed and explore the city!"
The night after he said that, the little pig escaped his shed.
Brimming with curiosity and excitement, the little pig went on his way to the city.
But, the little pig wondered, "How am I supposed to go to the city?"
Not knowing what to do, he looked a stranger he saw besides him asked a question.
"Hello mister stranger, can I kindly know where the direction of the city is?"
Seeing the little pig asked him politely, the man responded to the little pig in kind.
"How polite you are little pig. If you join me wait here for cars passing by, they, will take us to the city you wanted."
Excited by the response of the strange man, the little pig happily bounced and sat besides the strange man he asked with.
"Thank you for the polite answer, strange man. I shall humbly take your offer and wait with you here."
And so they waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Until finally, a loud sounding car was passing by the road they are in eventually.
Seeing this, both the little pig and the strange man stood up and raised a hand to make a gesture to try and pick up the car it would take them to the city.
Seeing the the gesture of the two, the loud sounding car stopped in front of them.
Along with the smoke that catched up with the car, the smell of burning rubber assaulted the nose of the little pig.
Cough.
Cough.
Cough.
The little pig raised his voice and complained about the car smoke in front of him.
"The car you are on smokes a lot. It is hard to breathe with that smoke."
The little pig complained in front of the owner of the car and did not know that he offended him.
"My car smokes a lot? Then don't sit your ass here in my car and I won't take you to the city."
Not knowing what to do, the little pig is in trouble.
Without a car to carry him to the city he will have to wait another car that will take him to the city.
"Wait kind driver. I am sorry for saying that things. Please give me another chance."
Pleading to get in the car, the little pig blames himself for saying things and just hoped to be able to get to the city with the car in front of him.
"The chance is now gone, little pig. Now, you will have to wait by yourself alone in this highway for some passerby car to take you to the city. Begone!"
The driver shouted at the little pig because he was offended by his remark.
Looking towards the strange man, he gestured him to sit so they can go to the city.
"Let's go to the city!"
And so, they left.
With the little pig all alone, he despaired and took a sit to wait for another car to pass by.
And so, the little pig waited.
And waited.
And waited until no cars came to pass by in those hours.
The little pig is saddened even more.
The wish to go to the city with a car was grim and he was not really motivated to walk on foot to the city.
And so the little pig waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The sun sets and he is still waiting for a car to pass by.
Getting down from the seats, he decided and motivated himself to walk to the city alone.
And so he walked.
And walked.
And walked to the city.
The moon is shining tonight yet the little pig cannot see where the city is.
The little pig sat down by the lamp shades to rest and to look for a shed he can sleep on tonight.
"Where could I possibly find a shed like in home for me to shelter tonight?"
And so he looked.
And looked.
And looked.
But he cannot find a shed to shelter tonight.
The little pig then has no choice but to sleep near the lamp shade hoping the light can give him a bit of warmth.
The next morning, the little pig resumed his walk to the city.
The little pig walked.
And walked.
And walked, until in his eyes, he find some tall buildings so high up in the skies.
The little pig discovered a city!
The little pig is overjoyed and hurriedly walked towards the city.
Upon coming inside the city, the little pig gazed up and saw some very tall high buildings and some cars not too smokey unlike the first he encountered.
Overjoyed, the little pig went to a building and tried to enter it.
However before doing so, a towering bulky man prevented him from entering the building.
The little pig asked, "Kind bulky man, would you please be kind and let me enter this tall building?"
"No you can't."
Said the bulky man.
"What do I need to do to enter this tall building, kind bulky man?"
"You have to be an employee of this building to enter the building."
Said the bulky man in response.
"How can I be an employee of this building then, kind bulky man?"
You have to go over that building to try and get a worker's permit and register to try and become an employee here in this building.
And so the little pig did.
The little pig went to the building pointed by the bulky man and tried to go inside.
However, before coming inside, the little pig was stopped again by the entrance.
"You can't enter this building."
Baffled, the little pig asked the bulky man.
"Why am I not allowed to enter kind bulky man?"
"You can not enter this building."
Not answering the little pig properly, the bulky man ignored the little pig.
"But the kind bulky man from over that tall building said that I must go here to try and get a worker's permit so that I can register to try and become their employee."
Saddened by his response, the little pig told the bulky man the reason he wanted to enter the building.
"You can not enter this building. As this building is not the place to get a worker's permit."
The bulky man said.
"Really?! Then kind bulky man, where is the building that can give me a worker's permit?"
Asked the little pig.
"Little pig, it is that building."
"Thank you, kind bulky man."
Elated, the little pig went off to that building in a hurry.
However, the same events happened over and over again.
The little pig is exhausted walking around this city from trying to find a building he can find a worker's permit.
The little pig was so tired he did not noticed he was walking towards a newly cemented walkway.
"I am so tired... Oh?! Just perfect! I just discovered a puddle I can rest on just like the mud puddle back home."
And so he sunk in the cement to relax himself.
He relaxed and relaxed until he slept on the cement.
Tomorrow morning, the little pig was awakened by the heavy pressure in his body.
"This... Oh puddle, why are you refusing to let me go. I am hungry but I can not move."
Not knowing what to do, the little pig asked for help to someone passing by the walkway.
"Kind sir, can you please help me get out of here? I am stuck."
Glancing at the little pig annoyingly, this kind sir just ignored the little pig's plea for help and just walked faster to get away from this situation.
Saddened by his reaction, the little pig went and asked another person walking towards him.
"Kind lady, can you please help me get out of here? I am stuck."
Seeing the little pig's plea for help, the lady stopped and looked towards the little pig.
The lady then took out her phone and took a picture of the little pig stuck in the cement and just left with smiles on her face.
Not knowing what to say about the lady, the little pig just went on to ask again and again for people passing by to help him get out of the cement.
The commotion then gathered people and they all looked towards the little pig as if this is an interesting show.
The people laughed, took a photo, a video, and some even doodling on the little pig's face just for fun.
Experiencing this, the little pig was scared.
Scared of the people living in a city.
Seeing as no one will help him, the little pig just closed his eyes to try not to see what's in front of him and to not feel his hungry tummy acting up.
A day later, the commotion around the little pig is yet to die down when a loud siren sound is picked up by his ears.
Opening up his weak eyelids, the little pig saw people clearing a line for the tall men wearing red suits.
"So, are you the little pig that got stuck in the cement?"
One of the man wearing a red suit said.
"Ye-yes kind m-man."
Muttering weakly, the little pig answered the man.
"Is that so. Then don't be shocked and try not to squeal as we try to remove you here."
Not waiting for the litte pig's answer, the men in red got something from their truck and socketed its plug nearby.
Aiming near the little pig's body, the jackhammer started to drill down the cement to remove the little pig.
The little pig however, did not know what the jackhammer is and did not expect to vibrate the ground so wildly.
"Squeeaaaal! Squeeaaaal! Squeeaaaal!"
Surprised and mostly horrified by the thing besides him, the little pig squealed to get out of this cement and squealed to try and remove the jackhammer besides him.
However, the people surrounding the rescue attempt of the little pig and the men in red interpreted the little pig's squeal as something else.
The men in red just continued drilling down the cement to set free the little pig albeit a little annoyed by the squealing sounds.
The people surrounding the men in red and the little pig however, backed off a bit because of the noise coming from the jackhammer and mostly because of the squeal of the little pig.
Minutes later, the jackhammer stopped as well as the squeal of the little pig.
As soon as the little pig is freed, he left the scene hurriedly and ran towards back home.
"The city is scary. I don't want to go back again."
Thinking of his own shed, his own mud puddle and his everyday food, the little pig hastened his run back home not noticing his hunger and fatigue from being in the cement for hours.
And so the little pig ran.
And ran.
And ran away from the city.
He did not looked back nor he had any intentions in mind of ever going back to the city.
The sun sets, the moon rises, the moon falls, the dawn came.
Continuing running for several hours straight, the little pig eventually saw his own shed from afar.
He saw the barn that his shed was part of.
He saw his own mud puddle waiting for him to comeback.
Finally reaching back home, the little pig was in ecstasy of going back home, of feeling something that he is from.
"Finally, I am back here in my shed, my mud puddle. I am sure maybe later or tomorrow I can eat food again!"
Running towards the mud puddle, the little pig dived and washed away all his worries and just sunk and sunk and sunk beneath his own mud puddle.
And so the story goes.
As a child, my mother praises me when I spokenly read aloud to a part much farther than the first.
It was thrilling to hear praises from my mother.
Also, because of this story, I, as a kid, became aware of something called, the city.
Thinking to myself, "I kind of wanted to go there myself."