I Can Dig It

The First Hole

"So I guess it's time to dig a hole now, right?"

"That's right, Sugar." X-ray replied. "Let's go to the Library to get you a shovel. C'mon guys, let's show her the Library." He jolted his head slightly towards what looked like a beat down shed with 'LIBRARY' painted in white above the doors. There was a line of the guys from the other tents behind Mr. Sir, who was searching desperately for the keys in his pocket. We walked to the line, where the other guys backed up so that we could be at the front.

I heard a clink from the "library"'s direction.

"Alright, ladies. Come and get it!" Mr. Sir yelled sarcastically.

X-ray was first in line. He grabbed two shovels, one of them had orange tape, the other one was bare like the rest. "You see that tape?" I nodded. "This is my shovel, alright?" He handed me the plain shovel. Magnet walked up to me and explained.
"That shovel belongs to X-ray. It's shorter than the rest of them."

Squid removed his toothpick from his mouth before he finished the explanation, "Smaller shovel, smaller hole."

We walked out to the middle of what used to be the lake, and it was dark as hell. I could see just fine, nonetheless the guys walked around me protectively just in case something bad happened. I love them. They aren't bad people, they just mad e a few mistakes. Caveman was just unlucky. I believed his story, about how the shoes fell on his head. Ziggy drew an 'X' on the ground in front of me.

"You can dig here, and I'll dig right next to you, okay?" He said.

"Sure. How exactly will I know when to stop digging?" I asked in return.

"When the hole is as deep and as wide as your shovel all around." I nodded and set my canteen on the ground a little ways away, and then twirled my shovel above my head in my right hand, before gracefully hurling it into the ground at such an angle that I could scoop the dried lakebed up with little effort.

"Damn...." Zigzag mumbled under his breath. "That is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I don't think he knew that I had heard him.
The rest of the guys just stood in shocked silence. I don't think they had ever seen anybody do something of that nature, let alone a girl. I was just being me, nothing more.

"What?" More silence. "Did I not tell you I took Okinawan weapons class?"

"No, you actually didn't." Armpit remarked sarcastically, before rolling his eyes and returning to digging. One by one the guys resumed their digging (Zigzag was the last to start shoveling again) and so did I. A few minutes passed and the sun started to rise above the mountain horizon, and it was beautiful. The orange sky was overcoming the starry dark blue night, and the mountains held the sun between them like a pair of loving hands.

We dug for probably 2 hours, and Zero was already done. He hopped out of his hole and spat in it, before picking up his shovel and walking back towards camp. Everybody was drenched in sweat, it was running down our faces like little waterfalls. X-ray was almost done, with only about eight inches left to dig. I was close second with about a foot, Ziggy and Squid right behind me with about a foot and a half, but Armpit, Magnet, and Caveman still had a good two feet to go. I was relieved to see the water truck coming in our direction, I went to the back of the lineup, behind Zero, but I was coaxed to the front of the line by Ziggy.

"Ladies first." He said, as he led me to the truck. Mr. Sir filled my canteen and handed me some graham crackers and an apple before I walked back to my hole.
We sat on the edges of our holes for about ten minutes to eat. I was offered countless shares of the guys' lunch, but each time I refused.

Another half hour (I'm guessing) of digging, X finished his hole, and did the same as Zero did. The last fifteen minutes of digging my hole were the worst of that day. I don't operate well on a full stomach, but I dug just as efficiently as the morning nonetheless, so that I could get it over with. The occasional sip was taken from my canteen, but the water couldn't do anything to the blistering heat of the sun. When I finally got done, I hopped out of my hole and spat in it. I was just about to walk back to camp when I heard a deep, somewhat shaky voice.

"Please don't go. I don't want you to leave me alone."