Swine Fever

Manno wakes. Manno rises.

Manno is hungry. Manno takes a rock and beats the dog's skull. Manno eats. Manno is happy. Manno sleeps, and when Manno sleeps he is at peace for he does not dream; his mind has no need for reflection. What Manno wants Manno takes then moves on, the act of taking satisfying all ambition. Manno is ruthless in his desires. Yet satiation does not make him lazy; his desires gnaw at him even as he gnaws at the dog's grizzled paw.

Manno is clever enough to know that others are not so fortunate in their clarity of thinking. Manno wears a disguise. Manno calls himself Andrew and dons a tie, puts on a suit, and speaks the language of the herd. Manno laughs when they laugh, cries when they cry. Manno is adept at making the right noises. Manno only wears his real face when he is alone. Thus, Manno dwells among the flock, an anonymous and ravenous god.

Manno has forged his disguise in such cunning detail that sometimes Andrew believes he is the one who is real. Manno has to wrestle him to seize control and this makes Manno tired. Sometimes Andrew gets to drive the body for whole months at a time before Manno has the strength to wear the Andrew mask. Manno feels sick when he is hidden, listening to Andrew be nice. Andrew is always so bloody pleasant.

Andrew goes to church and knows his bible. Andrew does favors for no reward. Andrew wants to be liked.

Andrew likes women (pigs) even though they use him. Andrew spends his time trying to get women (pigs) to notice him, buying flowers and offering compliments, but the women (pigs) reject him at every turn. And still he continues, as Manno screams in his ear he is a fool, paying court and hard earned money to impress women (filthy dirty pigs) who laugh at him behind his back. Manno has created a monster.

Manno bides his time. Manno lies low so long, gathering his resources, that Andrew forgets there is even such a thing as Manno. Manno knows the time for disguise is done. When least expected, Manno bursts forth and rips the charlatan facade asunder. Manno is back in control, the sheep's bleating has ceased. Manno no longer wears a suit. He burns it and dances naked through the flames.

Manno is happy, but Manno is so, so hungry; he could eat a crèche.

Manno goes to town to feed. He meets a (pig) girl he recognises (Judy, the pig's name is Judy and she is awful) from the office, and she mistakes him for the made up man who used to share his head (but that man has gone and Manno has changed the locks) and says, `Hi, Andrew', in her pathetic beat me voice. He can see in her piggy little eyes she thinks Andrew is nice; Manno is a long and twisting potholed backroad from anywhere approaching nice.

`Oink oink,' his voice is sandpaper on bone, a hate filled rasp. Judy looks frightened. Manno laughs. Manno's laugh is even more disturbing than his voice. Manno grabs her by the ears and begins chewing on her face; her

flesh tastes of pork, her screams are minty and delicious. The clouds part as Manno feeds. Manno feels such a rush of freedom he wants to sing.

Manno hollers his song all the way to the seafront. Manno attacks with random abandon as the herd flee from him down the promenade. The herd are only brave in movies. As they spill their ice creams, Manno spills their blood; lapping at their uncooked brains, guzzling on their uncooked fillets. Manno hears sirens and knows his time is short. Manno has lived more this day than the pigs he dines on have in their entire snuffling lives.

Manno hears more than just sirens; Manno hears Andrew, faint but persistent, a bluebottle at a windowpane. Andrew knows his bible. Andrew tells him of the Gadarene swine, of how Jesus (Porco Dio) cast the demons into them. Manno feels doubt for the first time.

Manno knows the sirens play his funeral dirge. Manno runs to the cliff, enjoying even in his last moments how the herd bounds from him in terror. Andrew tells him his name is not really Manno (My name is Legion for I am many), that Manno, too, is just another disguise. Manno leaps from the cliff top never breaking stride, plummeting to the wave-kissed rocks below. Manno thinks any moment now an angel will spread its wings and save him.

Manno sleeps. Manno falls.