Caleb did not answer immediately. He studied the mountain landscape, the pigs wandering calmly through tall grass, and the simple farm that nature had continued building without him. A slow smile finally appeared on his face for the first time in years. “Maybe my dream never ended,” he said quietly.
Later that afternoon he leaned against the old fence listening to the pigs rooting through the damp soil while the mountain breeze moved gently through the trees. That simple sound represented something powerful to him because it meant life had continued even when he believed everything was finished.
He eventually called Angela on his phone.
When she answered he said softly, “You are not going to believe this, but our pigs are still alive and they have multiplied.”
After a long silence she responded with disbelief before finally whispering, “Maybe it is time for us to return.”
As the sun began setting behind the hills Walter mentioned one more surprising detail. A large agricultural company had recently shown interest in buying land across the mountain to build one of the biggest modern farms in the region.