A man lives completely alone on an island, which was deserted when it was realized that the island was floating away from the coast of Georgia into the high seas. The guests and then permanent residents were so scared to lose sight of the mainland that they packed up and left in haste. This man, on the other hand, hid himself deep in the island leaving a note explaining his decision to stay. The Coast Guard searched, but he secured a hiding place until he was left well alone.

Being completely alone, nothing could account for what he finds one morning – the word ‘love’ etched into the sand. It could possibly have been a fortuitous combination of the scuffles left by pigs’ feet, but that idea was almost laughably implausible. No, it must be that the pigs are learning to write. He sees them standing in groups larger than he’s ever seen before, not even feeding but seemingly concentrated on something. He’s identified the strong and proud sow who seems to be the teacher. He’s never seen so many young piglets in one group – they must be teaching the young ones especially. He’s just lacking proof of their writing, because every time they see him they disperse and stamp it out in the process.

On one hot day, the man finds himself confronted by the regal sow/writing teacher. She appears to begin writing him a message in the sand with her forefoot, and he waits on bated breath, but then she erased it. But he is undeterred, he knows she’ll speak to him someday.