[ WP ] `` Let the kids watch . They 'll have to do it one day . ''

I led the fat hog out of the pen, just as father had asked me to. It followed me, slowly, lethargic in the cold, crisp winter air. 
 
 I shivered, pulling my jacket tighter around me, feeling sorry for the pig. All it had to keep it warm in the winter months was the barn I was leading it out of, and it shuddered in the cold. I felt a knot of guilt in my chest. Hopefully whatever father wanted with the pig would be over soon and I could bring it back indoors to spend the holidays with its friends and family, as I was. 
 
 I led the pig around the back of the barn. Ahead of me, shielding their faces from the snow, stood my father and older brother, waiting for me by the old tree stump, where the grand oak tree used to stand. Father cut it down in the autumn for firewood, even though I told him I wanted to build a treehouse in it. Parents were no fun. 
 
 `` Pa', I got the pig, just like you asked,'' I said to him as I got nearer. He nodded and looked at my brother, who grabbed the pig and led it to the stump. It was then that I noticed the axe lying in the snow by my father's feet. 
 
 `` Kid,'' he started, `` do you like Christmas dinner?'' 
 
 I nodded. What a silly question. *Everybody* likes Christmas dinner. ``'Course I do, Pa'.'' 
 
 `` Alright kid, time to go back inside,'' my older brother interrupted, motioning for me to leave. Pa shook his head. 
 
 `` No, let the kid watch,'' I remember him saying. `` He'll have to do it one day.'' 
 
 I did n't eat anything that Christmas.
