The Pig Capture

The Pig Capture is a surreal, feverish episode during Robbie Turner's retreat to Dunkirk, in which he and Corporal Nettle, desperate for water, chase a young sow through the streets of Bray Dunes on the instructions of a gypsy woman, capturing it with a noose made from telegraph cable and dragging it back to her sty in exchange for water, wine, and food.

Context and Desperation

By the time Robbie Turner and Corporal Nettle reached the outskirts of Bray Dunes, they had been walking for days without adequate water. Their thirst had become an obsession, overriding all other concerns. The two men had wandered into a narrow street of flat-fronted terraced houses, and Turner, speaking in French, addressed an old woman who stood in her doorway. She was rather handsome, with dark skin, a proud look, a long straight nose, and a floral scarf tied across her silver hair. Turner understood immediately that she was a gypsy who was not fooled by his speaking French. She looked right into him and saw his faults, and knew he had been in prison. She glanced with distaste at Nettle, then pointed along the street to where a pig was nosing around in the gutter. "Bring her back," she said, "and I'll see what I have for you." Nettle was outraged, calling the task "fuck that" and insisting they could simply go in and take water. But Turner, feeling a familiar unreality taking hold, could not discount the possibility that the woman was possessed of certain powers. In the poor light, the space above her head was pulsing to the rhythm of his own heart. He steadied himself against Nettle's shoulder. She was setting him a test he was too experienced, too wary, to refuse. He was an old hand. So close to home, he was not falling for any traps. Best to be cautious.

The Chase and Capture

Turner told Nettle they would get the pig, insisting it would only take a minute. Nettle was long used to following Turner's suggestions, for they were generally sound, but as they went up the street the corporal was muttering, "There's something not right with you, guv'nor." Their blisters made them slow. The sow was young and quick and fond of her freedom, and Nettle was frightened of her. When they had it cornered in a shop doorway, she ran at him and he leaped aside with a scream that was not all self-mockery. Turner went back to the lady for a length of rope, but no one came to the door and he was not certain that he had the right house. However, he was certain now that if they did not capture the pig, they would never get home. He was running a temperature again, he knew, but that did not make him wrong. The pig equaled success. As a child, Turner had once tried to persuade himself that preventing his mother's sudden death by avoiding the pavement cracks outside his school playground was a nonsense. But he had never trodden on them and she had not died. As they advanced up the street, the pig remained just beyond their reach. Nettle said, "Fuck it. We can't be doing with this." But there was no choice. By a fallen telegraph pole Turner cut off a length of cable and made a noose. They pursued the sow along a road on the edge of the resort where bungalows were fronted by small patches of gardens surrounded by fences. They went along opening every front gate on both sides of the street. Then they took a detour down a side road in order to get round the pig and chase it back the way it had come. Sure enough, it soon stepped into a garden and began rooting it up. Turner closed the gate and, leaning over the fence, dropped the noose over the pig's head. It took all their remaining strength to drag the squealing sow back home. Fortunately, Nettle knew where it lived.

Reward and Aftermath

When the pig was finally secure in the tiny sty in her back garden, the old woman brought out two stone flagons of water. Watched by her, they stood in bliss in her little yard by the kitchen door and drank. Even when their bellies seemed about to burst, their mouths craved more and they drank on. Then the woman brought them soap, flannels and two enamel bowls to wash in. Turner's hot face changed the water to rusty brown. Scabs of dried blood molded to his upper lip came away satisfyingly whole. When he was done he felt a pleasing lightness in the air around him which slipped silkily over his skin and through his nostrils. They tipped the dirty water away onto the base of a clump of snapdragons which, Nettle said, made him homesick for his parents' back garden. The gypsy filled their canteens and brought them each a liter of red wine with the corks half pulled and a saucisson which they stowed in their haversacks. When they were about to take their leave she had another thought and went back inside. She returned with two small paper bags, each containing half a dozen sugared almonds. Solemnly, they shook hands. Turner said, "For the rest of our lives we will remember your kindness." She nodded, and he thought she said, "My pig will always remind me of you." The severity of her expression did not alter, and there was no telling whether there was insult or humor or a hidden message in her remark. Did she think they were not worthy of her kindness? He backed away awkwardly, and then they were walking down the street and he was translating her words for Nettle. The corporal had no doubts. "She lives alone and she loves her pig. Stands to reason. She's very grateful to us." Then he added suspiciously, "Are you feeling all right, guv'nor?" Turner replied, "Extremely well, thank you." Troubled by their blisters, they limped back in the direction of the beach with the idea of finding Mace and sharing the food and drink. But having caught the pig, Nettle thought it was fair dos to crack open a bottle now. His faith in Turner's judgment had been restored. They passed the wine between them as they went along.

Significance

The Pig Capture is a fever-dream interlude that reveals the extremity of Turner's physical and psychological state during the retreat. His willingness to treat the gypsy's demand as a genuine test, and his magical thinking that the pig equaled success, mark the onset of a delirium that will worsen through the night. The episode also provides a rare moment of comic relief and human connection amid the horror, as the gypsy's kindness—water, wine, food, sugared almonds—restores the men briefly before they return to the chaos of the beach. The pig itself becomes a symbol of the absurd, desperate logic of survival, and the encounter lingers as one of the few positive memories Turner carries into the cellar where he will spend his last night in France.