■我的小猪挚友阿诺德
My Best Friend Arnold

◎Brock Gibson/布洛克·吉普森

I recently lost my best friend Arnold in an automobile accident while moving my family to our new home in Arizona. Arnold was an 8-month-old pot belly who taught me so much about love, devotion and companionship. I am devastated by his loss, but thank God daily for blessing me with the joy of having Arnold for his short life.

Anyone contemplating a pot belly as a pet should know that if you are a true pet lover and devote yourself to them, a pot belly will make the most wonderful friend. You will be assured of endless hours of fascination and entertainment as you both grow together in understanding the human/pot belly relationship. Words cannot describe this relationship and it can only be fully understood by experiencing it.

Arnold didn’t know he was a pig—he thought he was just another member of our family—modeling his behavior through observing me, my wife, my two daughters and our beagles. He was convinced he was loved by all; and he was, even when he was ornery trying to just get our attention. He learned his name, how to sit and how to use the litter box all in the first week

经典谚语

A bad beginning makes a bad ending.

不善始者不善终。

前不久，在我搬到亚利桑那州新家的途中，我的挚友阿诺德遭遇车祸丧生。它是一只8个月大的宠物猪，是它教会了我怎样去爱，怎样奉献，怎样维系感情。对于它的离开，我悲痛欲绝，但我还是感谢上帝，让我与阿诺德度过了一段短暂却快乐的时光。

任何考虑想养宠物猪的人都应该了解，只要你真心爱它，全身心地对待它，小猪就会成为你最棒的朋友。在这个与小猪一起成长的过程中，了解到人类与宠物猪之间的关系时，你一定会非常着迷，并从中发现无穷的乐趣。言语是无法描绘这种关系的，只有亲身经历才能体会。

阿诺德并不知道自己是一只猪——它只是把自己当作我们家的一员，观察并模仿我、我太太、我的两个女儿和我家小猎犬的一举一动。它深信我们所有人都爱它，事实也的确如此；甚至当它很淘气，想吸引我们的注意时，我们仍然很爱它。它在来到我们家的第一个星期时就已经学会了自己的名字，学会了怎么坐，以及如何使用那个小盒子（那时它只有7周大）。

we had him（at 7 weeks old!）.

He loved to sleep on your lap as you sat on the couch watching TV. He didn’t care if he grew to weigh 45Lbs., he still expected you to hoist him onto your lap at precisely 8：00 pm every evening where he would fall fast asleep within seconds after snuggling his wet nose between your neck and shoulder. If you didn’t respond to his initial “honks” letting you know it was his nap time, he would bump your legs with his nose until you picked him up. With his weight as it was, you couldn’t hold him all evening as he preferred, so you had to slide him off onto the couch next to you where he would sleep for hours with all four legs and his nose sticking straight up in the air. He would snore as long as he could feel you next to him but would immediately wake up if you tried to leave the couch. We had hours of fun balancing objects liked a salt shaker on his flat nose while he slept soundly.

Arnold helped me in all my chores around our five acres in the country. Just being there at my feet, interested in what I was doing made even the most mundane tasks enjoyable. When he was out roaming and foraging and you would call out his name, he would come running at top speed, honking the whole way until he got close to you where he would dodge you, zigzagging around with a few victory roles turning in circles before settling down and calmly walking up to you with his tail wagging as if to say（winking）“hah, got-cha.”

He even helped me build a kit aircraft and a customized trailer to haul it around in. I was planning on taking him fiying with me some day. He loved to play with my sockets and rolled them around on the shop floor. Just as I would struggle and get frustrated with some difficult task, Arnold would show up underneath the trailer, with his wet nose in my ear and honking—seeming to say, “take a break and laugh with me for a while, that should make it all

当你坐在沙发上看电视时，它喜欢睡在你的大腿上。它毫不在意自己已经45磅重，就是要你每天晚上8点准时把它抬到你的大腿上，湿乎乎的鼻子依偎在你的脖子和肩膀之间，眨眼工夫就酣睡起来。开始时，它会“鼾鼾”地提醒你到它的休息时间了，倘若你没反应，它就会用鼻子撞你的脚，直到你把它抱起来。以它的重量，若要让它如愿，整晚抱着它，那你是根本受不了的，所以得把它顺势滑到旁边的沙发上，让它四脚朝天地呼呼睡上几个小时。只要它感觉到你就在身边，它会尽情地打呼噜睡觉；但是，一旦你想要起身离开，它就会立刻醒过来。它沉睡的时候，我会在它那扁平的鼻子上摆放像盐瓶那样的小玩意儿，试图让它们保持平衡，这样一玩就是几个小时。

在我们乡下那5英亩见方的土地上，我做什么家务杂事它都会与我相伴。它只是在我脚边，对我做的事兴致勃勃，这就足以让最索然无味的杂务变得有趣起来。它在外面溜达觅食的时候，只要喊它的名字，它就会以最快的速度飞奔而来，一路“鼾鼾”地叫着；跑到离你不远处时，它又会跟你玩捉迷藏，左躲右闪地绕着圈，一副凯旋的模样，然后才静下来慢慢走到你面前，摇摇尾巴，仿佛眨着眼对你说：“哈，找到你啦！”

它甚至还帮我一起组装了一架小型飞机和一辆载飞机的特制拖车。我打算哪天带上它跟我一起飞翔。它很喜欢玩我的插座零件，在工场里把它们滚来滚去。每当我为一些高难度的工作伤透脑筋、灰心丧气时，阿诺德就会从拖车的下面钻出来，湿乎乎的鼻子伸到我的耳边，“鼾鼾”地似乎在说：“休息一会儿，对我笑一会儿，什么事都会变好啦！”的确有效，每次都行。只要我们能停一停，仔细观察就会发现，上帝绝妙的创造物总在以最特别的方式照顾我们。上帝派阿诺德来给我们上了这

better.” And it did, every time. God’s marvelous creations minister to us in the most special ways if we can just stop for a few moments and observe them. God used Arnold to teach us this very important lesson in life which we will never forget.

My wife and two daughters began to say that Arnold and I were so close that he had become the son that I never had in our family. It seemed that we could no longer have any kind of conversation in our family or with our friends without Arnold being a main topic. The neighborhood kids would make appointments to come visit Arnold and couldn’t wait to come over and play with him.

Arnold went most everywhere with us—Pet’s Mart, Wal-Mart, birthday parties, Christmas vacation to Grandma’s. He loved riding in the car/shopping basket and was a big hit everywhere he went. Arnold had become such an important part of our life that when we found out that our family would have to move to another state, we insisted that the contract on our new house be contingent on the homeowners’ association approval of Arnold in writing before we would agree to purchasing in our prestigious neighborhood.

On the day we left our old home town, we had a going away lunch with our friends from church. Everyone there just had to go out to the truck where Arnold and all our other pet were and say goodbye. Arnold trusted me to take care of him and get him to his new home. Tragically, along the way, the wind blast from a semi knocked our trailers out of control and pushed our truck off a 40’ bridge. We lost a big part of our family that day when our pets Arnold, Sweeti and Leanna were killed. I feel terrible for not being able to protect Arnold the way he trusted me to. However, I will be forever grateful for the fond memories of him which I will cherish forever.

人生的重要一课，我们永不忘怀。

我太太和两个女儿都说阿诺德跟我亲密如父子，而我们家一直缺儿子。家人或者朋友聊天，仿佛都离不开阿诺德这个主题。邻居的小孩会预约来我们家，迫不及待要和阿诺德玩。

无论我们去哪里，阿诺德几乎都跟我们在一起——宠物用品超市、沃尔玛、生日派对，圣诞假期还和我们一起去奶奶家。它喜欢坐在手推车或购物篮里，无论去哪儿都大受欢迎。阿诺德已经变成我们生活中很重要的一部分，所以，当我们要搬到另一个州时，我们都坚持在买房合同里附上邻居的联合书面允诺，同意让阿诺德在该区生活，这样我们才会考虑在那些区里买房子。

离开老家的那天，我们和教堂的朋友一起吃了离别午餐。在场的每个人都走到货车旁，同阿诺德和我们的其他宠物告别。阿诺德相信我会照顾好它，把它带到新家。不幸的是，在路上一辆半拖车呼啸而过，强烈的侧风气流导致我们的拖车失控，货柜继而被抛到40英尺的桥下。那天我们家损失惨重，我们的宠物阿诺德、甜甜和莲娜都离开了我们。我感到特别难过，阿诺德如此信任我，我却没法保护它。但是，我将永远珍藏和它在一起的时光，感激它给我带来的美好回忆。