Dirt (Short story)

"Dirt", is set in a small rural community currently being pestered by a sheep-mauling bear.
The plot centers on Alec, a young man offering to carry out a seemingly good deed for his friend's wife; and Solveig who is waiting for her husband to come home from the hunt.

While Alec's helping her excavate the foundation for a sundeck at her cabin, it becomes evident there's more to unearth than she realizes.

"Drowsily he shifted his head back and forth trying to breathe, but his mouth filled with a sandlike residue instead of air. In his disoriented state he felt like he was waking up inside his own dried-out mouth cavity, desperately pressing his hands against his upper jaw when in reality he was shoving away the wheelbarrow filled with soil and twigs being tipped over him.
'This is my own fault.' The judgement running through his mind was clear. Resigning to the guilt, he let himself be punched in the face."