Red Rock

Chapter 12: A Difference of Ways (Part 2)

Daire spent the whole next day digging a hole large enough to bury the exposed rations. He took his time with the laborious process, trying to enjoy the warm slightly overcast day. Every twenty minutes or so, he would stop work and take a gander through the small forest where he was relocating the rations. The new location of the rations was less than a kilometer away from the cabin making it easy to remember which cluster of trees in which the edible goods were buried.

The last of the dirt piled on top of the buried rations signaled that the job was done. Daire threw the shovel on the ground and collapsed on his back, looking up at the clouds. He had never been so sore in his life. He felt as if a bulldozer had hit him, went in reverse, and then hit him again. There were muscles that he never knew he had screaming in pain. It didn't matter. He was done.

Daire shuffled back to the cabin with the shovel to take the rest of the day off, and stumbled upon Jacob skinning a squirrel. "You done?" Jacob asked, motioning to the shovel.

Daire nodded and dropped the digging utensil, slowly making his way down to a seated position, feeling every muscle transfer over responsibilities. "Ow!" he ached. "I've never been this sore in my life."

Jacob smiled. "I'm guessing you don't want to dig out the outhouse then? The hole has been buried over time and needs to be cleared."

Daire looked at him distressed. "No."

"Take the rest of the day off. I've been pretty lazy today, I'll dig out the outhouse," he said, grabbing the shovel.

Daire didn't acknowledge Jacob's leaving and lay down, letting his mind wander before falling asleep in the warm sun.

*

Jacob pressed his foot against Daire's chest, waking him, causing Daire to give a hateful grimace. "Wake up. You won't believe what I found," Jacob grinned, not taking Daire's condition into consideration.

Daire rolled on his side and instantly remembered that he was sore from the deep aching pain that accompanied it. "What is it?" he asked, slowly making his way to a kneel.

Jacob didn't respond and left toward the outhouse expecting Daire to follow. Daire took a deep breath and stood up, feeling his quads and groin scream at him to sit back down. The walk behind Jacob was slow and painful. He felt each muscle in his body individually in motion, each aching in their own way. "This better be good, Jacob!" he said.

Jacob opened the outhouse door and motioned downward in the deep hole that he had dug. "It is," he responded confidently, watching Daire's face turn from frustration to confusion.

"You found all this stuff here in the outhouse?"

"It's not an outhouse, it's a shed," Jacob corrected. "All of this stuff was buried here so it wouldn't get stolen or age."

Daire carefully dropped down into the hole and was amazed of all the clutter that was sitting at the bottom - two shovels, an axe, a stone hammer, twenty squirrel traps, a dull gutting knife, a weighing scale, a blade sharpener, rope, and five sandbags of salt. "Why haven't you taken any of this out yet?"

"Because you're the lucky guy who's going to help me. Start handing it up, champ."

Daire wasn't too sure how he felt about being called 'champ'. He looked up to Jacob to something similar of a father figure, but being called champ was much too banal for comfort. Daire grunted and moved as fast as an arthritic patient and handed off the miscellaneous items from below.

Once the items were outside the hole, Daire barely pulled his body from below and stopped to rest at the edge. Jacob gave him a devious look and handed him a shovel. Daire sighed and grabbed the spade, sinking the blade into the moist dirt to start filling up the empty hole.