Pearl

Jeff looked over his shoulder back to the hidden pigpen.

Pearl was all he could see. Pearl. Sitting on his ass like a person might, his front hooves limp at the sides of his belly, his head was cocked slightly to the side, his pink ears straight high above his head. His bad eye looked dark, hidden, but his good one was fixed on Jeff.

In it, Jeff saw an intelligence that scared him.

A half smile appeared under the pig's snout, or maybe it was just the way his lips naturally curled up at their ends.

Jeff fingered the latch. Pearl watched him. Staring. Assessing. Planning?

Jeff pulled his fingers away. A streak of shame ran down his back, like he'd come close to letting something very bad out of the pen...