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Sidney & Norman
a tale of two pigs
By Phil Vischer, Justin Gerard Thomas Nelson
Copyright © 2006 Phil Vischer
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4003-2172-8
CHAPTER 1
On a quiet street, in a quiet town, lived two pigs.
They didn't oink or eat slop—no, this isn't that kind of story. They wore suit coats and went to work.
And even though they lived right next door to each other, they didn't know each other's names.
The pig on the right was Norman. He was a very good pig. Rules and hard work had always come easily to him, and it showed. His house was neat and organized. He always looked his very best. He gave money to the "needy," and never missed church on Sunday.
Norman's teachers liked him when he was young, and his boss at work liked him now that he was all grown-up. He was pretty sure God liked him, too. After all, he was a very good pig.
Norman figured that everyone could be as good as he was, if they'd just try a little harder.
He wondered why they didn't.
The pig on the left was Sidney. Things didn't come quite as easily for Sidney. Rules and systems and schedules seemed, well, a bit slippery. One minute he thought he had them, and the next minute—whoops! Where'd they go?
He was forever running ten minutes late, and could never manage, no matter how hard he tried, to get his tie perfectly straight. Not like his neighbor ... what was his name?
Sidney got in trouble in school, which frustrated his teachers. He got in trouble at work, which frustrated his boss.
He knew God was watching, and figured he was pretty frustrated, too. But most of all, Sidney frustrated Sidney. Why was everything so hard? Why couldn't he be more like ... oh, what was his name?
Sidney felt broken. And some days that made it hard to get up in the morning. Some days, in fact, Sidney couldn't get up at all.
Since Sidney was usually late and Norman was usually early, they very seldom saw each other. Unless, that is, they happened to fetch their mail at the same time. Which is exactly what happened one bright morning in October.
Now, normally if Sidney saw Norman, he would look down and shuffle back inside. He was sure Norman was staring at his tie, or his hair, or the papers half-stuck into his briefcase. He was sure Norman was looking down on him for being messy. Which, for the most part, was absolutely correct.
But this day Norman didn't look at Sidney's tie and Sidney didn't look away because they were both staring at the small, pale blue envelopes they had received in the mail. One was addressed to Norman, and the other to Sidney. Hmm. Had someone invited them both to the same party?
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Sidney & Norman by Phil Vischer, Justin Gerard. Copyright © 2006 Phil Vischer. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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