Side Trail
FLYING PIGS
John Duncklee
High in the Sierra Madre Occidental the streams are small, finger-width where they begin. As they trickle their way down they join to form larger streams. Then the larger ones join others to become rivers. This pattern of stream marriage happens all the way to the Gulf of California. Only then does it stop. This pattern streams make from the summits of mountains to the gulf or ocean is called a watershed.
Erosion constantly changes the watershed. Erosion is a natural occurrence unless something unnatural like humans interferes. Sometimes a stream may meander down a mountain slope and where there are curves, caves can be found. The caves are the result of stream flow cutting into the bank bounded by rock of various kinds. As the stream erodes the canyon floor it will eventually leave the cave high and dry except when storms blow rain or snow into the cave's mouth. Some rocks erode easier than others. Many people have used the caves for shelter throughout time. One of the caves, which Geronimo and his people occupied while hiding from the Mexican Army and the United States Cavalry, was cut into sandstone where the stream curves before heading to its confluence with the Bavispe River.
Geronimo was certainly not the first to use the cavernous room; Cave dwelling hunters and gatherers lived there for thousands of years. Some of the smoke on the ceiling near the entrance is not only theirs but also Geronimo's and possibly Pancho Villa's while hiding from General "Black Jack" Pershing when the famous American general chased Pancho all over the Sierra Madre but never found him. Pancho had made a daring invasion of Columbus, New Mexico because he was angry that President Wilson didn't support him for the Mexican Presidency. His attack on Columbus definitely grabbed Wilson's attention.
Nobody knows when the bats arrived to take up residence on the ceiling of the cave, but they have been there a long time judging from the accumulation of guano on the floor. One wonders if Geronimo and Pancho made any effort to clean the bat shit out while they lived in the cave. It is probably something that history will ponder once historians read this story.
The bats lived happy lives until humans arrived on the scene, although early hunters did not cause the near extinction of the bat population because there were far more bats than there were humans for quite a while. Bats do quite well at reproducing their kind with a gestation period of from six to eight months depending on which bat scholar one reads. This amounts to one offspring a year. Bats are mammals so the mother bats suckle their young until they are ready to make their own forays into the nights to catch whatever their kind enjoy for a diet.
The original bats in the cave were not vampire bats because those are only found in Central and South America. But, when the copper mines and smelters were developed in the eighteen hundreds not far from the cave, changes began. The bats became subjected to the pollution from the copper smelters. Some of the metallic dust that flew into the air during the smelting process drifted on the wind to wherever the wind went. One destination of the wind was the cave. For a few years it was probably difficult to observe any changes in the physical makeup of the bat population in the cave, but after fifty years of inhaling the metallic residue from the smelter stacks the bats began to mutate. At first it happened only to a few individuals, but soon the mutants achieved a breeding population and it wasn't too many years before the mutants crowded out the smaller bats from the cave.
The new bats were much larger than their ancestors and adults gained the size of weaned pigs, or twenty pounds. Their faces looked much like them as well. The wingspan grew to three feet instead of the former eight inches. Somewhere in their gene pool they must have traced back to the vampire bats in Central and South America because the mutants changed their dietary habits from insects to blood. Whereas the vampire bats to the south require a couple tablespoons of blood for daily sustenance, the mutants with their greatly increased body size demanded a minimum of a cup. In the mountain country of the Sierra Madre they found it difficult to find sources for sustenance so one evening before flight time there was a discussion about scouting for a different place to live and survive. They had developed a way of communicating with different keyed screeches and humming sounds audible to the bats but to nothing else.
As darkness fell over the mountains the mutant bats began a flight north and east to look for warm-blooded animals to feed upon. The leader searched for another cave in which to spend days hanging from the ceiling. They swooped down out of the mountains to a farm along a large river. They spotted a pasture with many steers, some grazing, others lying down on the grass. The entire squadron of mutant bats landed near the cattle and began making small incisions and lapping the blood into their mouths. The process never bothered the steers and they remained either at rest or consuming grass never noticing that they were being blood donors.
Having finished feeding the leader flew off and headed to an old barn that stood like a sentinel overlooking an orchard of pecan trees. The corrugated roof had rusted in several places and one sheet flapped in the breeze. A large open door where wagonloads of hay once slid in to the loft stood open. The squadron followed the leader and found rafters under which they settled to perch heads down during the following day.
Thus they proceeded in a northeasterly direction, living in deserted barns by day, feeding and traveling by night, always on the lookout for another cave. At one barn the rancher had a floodlight to light up the barnyard and corrals at night. The bats had spent the day in the spacious barn. As they flew out after dark several circled through the light and the rancher, who happened to be heading to his house after checking on a mare, due to foal, saw the bats leaving his barn.
As usual, the mutant bats went about their feeding on the cattle in a nearby pasture. The following day the rancher went to the local newspaper and told his story of seeing "Flying Pigs" coming out of his hayloft right after dark.
Three nights later the squadron found a new cave. It was different than the home they had had for so long in the Sierra Madres. It had been made from water dissolving limestone instead of water wearing away sandstone. The leader discovered it by accident when hordes of small bats exited for their nightly feeding on insects. The leader of the mutants soared through the opening and looked around with his sound probes and sense of smell. Returning to the squadron that was contentedly supping on a flock of sheep that had bedded down midst piñon and juniper, the leader told them about his discovery. Finished with their foraging the squadron followed the leader into the cave and found places to hang for the following day. They all agreed that it was fortunate to once again be able to have a cave for shelter but that the sheep were more difficult to make incisions in because of the thick wool on their bodies.
The leader informed the squadron that they should scour the countryside for other animals to feed upon because the newly found cave would provide better shelter than the barns and other buildings they had been frequenting. The squadron agreed and as darkness fell they flew out to reconnoiter.
As they flew north they came upon a few cattle that grazed in the moonlight. Swooping down they got their fill of the blood. The leader suggested that they use what darkness remained to scout for more animals to which they could return the following evening. After an hour's flight the leader circled around a field that held horses, cattle and off to one side a flock of goats. The leader inquired if any of the mutant bats felt the need for more sustenance. None replied so the leader flew at the head of the formation back to the cave, arriving just prior to the early morning light that came creeping onto the landscape.
The following evening, just before darkness covered the land, the leader summoned the squadron to admonish them to hasten to the new feeding area because it was farther away than their previous foraging grounds.
Flying north the squadron was aided by a tailwind and they arrived in good time. As he approached the field the leader suddenly flapped his wings to slow down. He looked at a strange disk sitting in the middle of the field where they had seen the horses, cattle and goats. The disk's lights shone out from the body of the craft. As the squadron circled, inspecting the appearance of some sort of new phenomenon, they saw figures leaving the craft through several openings.
The creatures were short in stature, about four feet tall, pale green in color with one eye in the center of their yellowish foreheads. Their feet had two large toes in front of heels that looked bulbous compared to the toes. Their ears protruded horizontally from the sides of their heads and small noses were just above wide mouths that looked like they maintained perpetual smiles.
Thinking they had come upon a new sort of animal to feed upon, the leader of the mutant bat squadron signaled for landing. Leading the squadron in downward flight the leader saw the creatures looking up at them. They all appeared to be laughing. The leader landed at a safe distance in case there was a need to take off to escape violence.
The leader signaled the others to try feeding on the strangers, but admonished them to flee if there was any sign of resistance from the one-eyed strangers. The mutant bats approached the creatures cautiously, carefully searching for the best part of their bodies to bite with their teeth to be able to lap the blood into their mouths with their tongues.
The mutant bats met with no resistance from the strangers even after they had made incisions in their necks and began lapping the scarlet liquid that oozed from the incisions. It looked like blood. It was the texture of blood, but it tasted sweeter than the blood they were used to and the mutant bats felt exuberance from whatever it was. The mutant bats continued lapping the liquid much longer than usual. It was soon evident that there was something in the life liquid of the strangers that made the mutant bats immobile when they stopped lapping and slumped to the ground with their eyes rolling in circles.
The strangers seemed to know exactly what they were doing and began carrying the mutant bats into the disk. When all were loaded, they saw an earthling watching them, and quickly battened the hatches of the craft and started the quiet propulsion equipment that lifted the craft upward from the ground. Within seconds the craft disappeared beyond the moonlight.
The rancher who had seen the strangers and their craft spoke to the local paper the following day. He did not mention any "Flying Pigs" as he had previously because everyone had ridiculed him, but he caused quite a stir in the entire country with his sighting report.
Since that day in July, 1947 there have never been any other reported sightings of "Flying Pigs".
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