I’ve done some research and haven’t found anything to corroborate. I did find reference to sending the pig to be slaughtered (to market) but I dismissed that long ago because it doesn’t make sense. Oh, and my boss laughed at me that Ethan’s theory isn’t right. It does make sense though!

Here’s the rundown:Mina Thorne loses her beloved older brother to an abusive father. Then the reader meets the boy, Ryan Sandler, who has troubles of his own, but he also has a brother that looks out for him, as well as an abusive father. It begins to focus on his life, and the people around him, people that he’ll come to meet on his path towards growing up. We meet Ian Fanning, having to deal with a flaky wife, he takes it upon himself to raise her daughter as his own. He loses her. Then we meet Lester Quartz, the Serial killer, whose father is not much better. Lt. Harry Quartz is the worst kind of human being there is, and he’s a figure of authority. His son goes on a rampage throughout the country while he tries to figure out how to cover his son’s acts. Ryan’s soon-to-be girlfriend, Becca remembers what her life used to be like before she met Ryan. She remembers surviving her own encounter with Lester.. She holds close to Ryan as parts of her old life try to pull her back into a place she doesn’t want to be. All the while, Mina has managed to liberate herself of her father, and has come to the town where Ryan is. She can’t decide if she can actually trusts what she feels about him, or if she should just categorize him as she would her father. The cross-conflicts and character relationships thicken. Ties are made stronger. Rivalries become bitter, and one man drives along the great big nowhere, taking lives.

But, after the first act . . . c’mon, can’t we give ‘em a little something. A smattering of way-to-go-you-made-it-halfway applause. Just a little? They’re actors– they need the applause to feed their egos, no?