BREAK GROUND: a story in 60 seconds

Get your hands dirty

“So we got the three boxes of nails, the two-by-fours, plywood panel, hammer, two sets of hinges, and,” the store clerk peeked over the counter before ringing up the last item, “one long-handled digging shovel.” He refocused on the man standing across from him. “Are you going to need a bag for all that?”

The man shook his head.

The clerk shrugged. “Going to be $280 even.”

The man dug into his jeans and placed three wrinkled hundred-dollar bills beside the register.

The clerk studied him for a second longer before picking up the money and making appropriate change. He handed back a twenty-dollar bill. The man slipped the money into his pocket, grabbed everything off the counter, and left the hardware store without another word.

Twenty-five minutes later, the man was standing in the middle of his garage, staring at the pair of bulky garbage bags he had leaning against the wall, calculating silently. Then he headed out back with the shovel.

After walking a few paces, the man stabbed the point of the shovel into the pale-yellow ground and began to dig. Dirt quickly piled up around him, and an hour later, he stopped and tossed the shovel aside. He went back to his car and retrieved the rest of the stuff. Without pausing for rest, he began hammering the planks together and didn’t stop hammering until he had a long wooden box.

He returned to the garage and dragged the two garbage bags into the yard. Breathing heavily, he slowly began untying the first bag. His nose wrinkled at the stench of decomposing matter, but the sour smell didn’t stop him from wrestling the bag to his newly dug hole. When it was near the edge, he kicked it over and watched its contents slowly empty into the wooden box.

Once again, he reached for the shovel and spread everything around.

Then, he smiled.

His new flowerbed was ready for planting.

***Thanks for reading. More stories on the way.***