I dig with the others in our HUGE hole/underground thing. I lean on my shovel,tired from the digging.
"You okay?"Squid asks from behind me.
"Huh?Yeah,I'm just tired."I say.
I start digging again when I hear Mr. Sir and the Warden's voice.
"Today's the day. I can feel it."I hear the Warden say before she and Mr. Sir come into view.
"You know,the ancient Mesopotamians,they didn't have shovels!"Dr. Pendanaki says from the ground above us.
"Glad to have you back X-Ray!We could use your sharp eyes."The Warden says to X-Ray.
"Hello Warden."Dr. Pendanski says coming down to us.
I laugh when Armpit pushes
X-Ray away from The Warden.
"Malm,I think I found something."Armpit hands her a dial off the broken wreck room T. V.
"Are you trying to be funny or do you just think I'm stupid?"The Warden asks seriously.
Armpit isn't prepared for those questions.
"Um,no malm,I wasn't trying to be funny."Armpit says.
"Excuse me?"The Warden asks handing the dial back to Armpit.
"Well,Armpit,your little joke just cost you a week of shower privileges."Mr. Sir says.
Squid,Magnet,X-Ray,ZigZag,and I all groan.
"Everyone back to work!"The warden says.
"Man,you sleeping outside!"Squid says to Armpit.
"You heard her,back to work!"Dr. Pendanski says.
"Aside from that,everything's going real well."Mr. Sir says walking away with the Warden.
"I don't think so. I want results."The Warden says before their both out of hearing range.
I dig for a while more before I need to rest. I sit and ZigZag sits by me.
"I'm tired."I say leaning my head on ZigZag's shoulder.
"It'll be fine. Get back to work."ZigZag mimics the Warden.
I laugh before standing and doing just that.
"Four days. Four long days and this is all you jackasses got to show for it."The Warden says from above ground. Fine,miss priss.
"I ain't on stupid pills!"I hear Mr. Sir yell.
"What are you jawing about?"The Warden asks him.
"If you can't get em' to dig any faster then you can grab a shovel and join em'!How bout' that?"The Warden asks.
"Get to work!This ain't no kindergartners in the sandbox,I wanna see some effort here!Or I'll put a hurt on ya'!"Mr. Sir yells.
I silently groan but continue to work.
We all stand in front of the mess hall porch.
"Listen up!After the behavior exhibited these past several days,the warden and I have decided that your character building would be best served by returning to the digging of individual holes."Mr. Sir says.
"On to you."He mutters to Dr. Pendanski.
"Alright!Let's go dig,boys and girl!"Dr. Pendanski says.
"Let's go!Let's go!Let's go!"Dr. Pendanski yells.
Everyone,like usual,follows.
Stanley,the rest of D tent,and I all stand by the water truck where Stanley is getting his canteen filled.
"Water's the most precious commodity on the face of the planet. All life begins with water. So think of it this way...I'm giving you life. Say thank you."Mr. Sir says giving Stanley his canteen back.
"Thank you,Mr. Sir."Stanley says with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Next!"Mr. Sir yells before he takes Zero's canteen.
A little bit of thunder rumbles in the distance.
"Don't get your hope's up!Them storms never make it past the mountains."Mr. Sir says.
"Well maybe this time they will."I say.
"I got a story for you girl scouts!"Mr. Sir says giving Zero's canteen back.
"Once upon a time,there was a magical place where it never rained. The end!"Mr. Sir says before he starts laughing.
"I don't get it."Squid says to Zigzag and I.
"Have a nice day."Mr. Sir says getting into his truck.
"I never get anything he says."Squid says as we go back to our holes.
"Hey guys!"Magnet says as Mr. Sir drives away.
"What?"We all answer.
"Anybody want some sunflower seeds?"Magnet asks holding up Mr. Sir's sunflower seed bag.
He must've stolen it out of the truck! Everyone but Stanley,Zero,and I give sounds of approval.
"I can't help it,man. My hands are like magnets!"Magnet says as X-Ray goes and takes some seeds.
Armpit takes the bag from X-Ray and gets some seeds.
"I'll take some of those!"ZigZag says before Armpit throws him the bag.
ZigZag catches it and puts his hand in the bag.
"Hey Zig,come on man!Hurry up!"Squid says.
I look at Mr. Sir's truck to see it turning around.
"Hey,Mr. Sir's comin' back!Hey,he's comin' back,he's comin' back!"Magnet yells.
ZigZag throws the bag to Stanley who misses it.
The sunflower seeds fall out of the bag into his hole.
"Oh,Stanley!Butterfingers!"ZigZag says.
"Better hide it!"X-Ray yells.
Stanley tries to hide it and I try to go help but Squid grabs me before I can.
"It's his problem."Squid says to me before he puts me back at my hole.
By the time I'm able to go to Stanley,Mr. Sir is here.
Stanley sits down acting as if he'd been doing it since Mr. Sir left.
Mr. Sir gets out of his truck and looks at our holes before getting to Stanley's.
"Well,well,how did this get here?"Mr. Sir asks him.
"What?"Stanley asks innocently. Well he is innocent but if ZigZag wouldn't have thrown that bag to him,he'd be okay right now.
"How did that get there?Did it fall from the sky?Huh?" asks pointing to the uncovered sunflower seeds and the half hidden bag.
"No."Stanley says getting up from the ground and grabbing the bag.
I look at Magnet to see him with a pleading face.
"I stole it out of your truck."Stanley covers for Magnet.
"I think maybe the warden'll like to see what you found." says beckoning for Stanley to follow him.
"Ya'll having a nice day?" asks us.
"Yes Mr. Sir."We all say.
"Hey,what're you doin',dog?"
X-Ray asks Stanley as he walks by.
"Let's see what turns up." says before he and Stanley leave in the truck.
After their out of sight,I get out of my hole and go to ZigZag's.
"What the heck was that?!"I ask angrily.
He looks up from his hole.
"What was what?"He asks confused.
"You just got my brother in trouble by throwing that dumb bag of sunflower seeds into his hole!"I yell.
He gets out of his hole and stands in front of me.
"Maybe your brother deserved it!"ZigZag says.
"What did he ever do to you?!"I ask.
Squid and X-Ray come and pull us away from each other.
"I think he thinks what I thought when I first met your brother."Squid says to me.
I give him a confused look.
"I said 'what Stanley did to me was come here',remember?"Squid asks.
"Oh yeah!"I say.
"By the way,I didn't mean that."Squid says.
"It's okay. Well,I'm gonna get back to digging."I say kissing his cheek.
I go back to digging and after a little,I'm done.
I see Zero digging Stanley's hole and I realize... Zero wants to help my brother. I jump down into Stanley's hole.
"I'm gonna help you if that's alright?"I ask.
Zero looks up,gives a small smile,and nods.
We dig and soon,we're done. We get out of the hole and go sit by Zero's finished hole.
Soon,Stanley comes walking up to us.
"Look who showed up!"ZigZag yells.
"Hey man!We thought you were dead for sure!"Squid yells.
"Hey Caveman!What'd you say?"Magnet asks.
"Nothing."Stanley says.
"What'd she do to you?"I ask.
"Nothing."Stanley says.
"Nothing?"We question.
"Yeah,she didn't do nothing."Stanley says before he realizes his hole is already dug.
"What is this?Thank you guys!"Stanley says.
"Don't look at us!"Magnet says.
"Yeah,it was Arch and Zero!They sure do like do dig holes!"ZigZag says.
"They could dig a hole to China!"Armpit says.
"Yeah,but then where would them Chinese kids dig to?"Squid asks.
"Man,shut up!"Armpit says.
"Why'd you dig my hole guys?"Stanley asks Zero and I.
"'Cause you're my brother."I say.
"What about you,Zero?"Stanley asks.
"You didn't steal the sunflower seeds."Zero answers.
"Yeah but neither did you."Stanley says.
"Neither of you stole the shoes."Zero says.
How does he know we didn't?
"You still wanna learn how to read?"I ask after a moment of silence.
Zero nods.
"Alright man."Stanley says as we all shake hands.
I smile and realize,this could be the start of a wonderful friendship.
We're in the dinner line when I hear Mr. Sir complaining about the price of onions.
"I'll taste it!"He says.
It's then that I see two fresh,wounds on his left cheek. It looks like from a pocket knife or something.
"Woah!What happened to your face?"Squid asks him.
Not a good thing to ask.
Mr. Sir grabs Squid's collar and brings him closer.
"Something the matter with my face?Huh?"Mr. Sir asks.
"No!No Mr. Sir."Squid nervously gets out.
"You got that right!"Mr. Sir says before he throws Squid backwards onto the floor.
I run to help him.
Mr. Sir walks out from behind the food line.
"Anybody see something wrong with my face?Huh?I think I'm kind of pretty don't you?!"Mr. Sir yells.
"Yes Mr. Sir!"Everyone says.
Mr. Sir turns to Squid and I on the floor.
"Clean this up."He says to us.
He starts walking away as Dr. Pendanski speaks.
"I think we've just learned a valuable lesson. We're all people and Mr. Sir is a very sensitive man!"Dr. Pendanski tells us.
I look at Mr. Sir as he angrily tips some stuff over.
I roll my eyes before helping Squid up from the floor.
"Your head okay?"I ask.
"Yeah. Thanks."He says.
"Welcome."I smile.
Mr. Sir fills my canteen before giving it back to me.
"Next."He says before Stanley hands him his empty canteen.
"You thirsty Yelnats?"Mr. Sir asks my brother.
"Yes Mr. Sir."Stanley answers.
Mr. Sir turns the water on and he lets it make a puddle of mud on the ground. He turns off the water and gives Stanley his still empty canteen.
"That should hold you. Next."Mr. Sir says before he gets Zero's canteen. I go to Stanley's hole(Mine is dug because I've learned to become a fast digger like Zero).
Stanley sits by me before Zero comes over.
"Want some water?"Zero asks Stanley.
Stanley drinks some og Zero's water before speaking.
"You remember that golden tube I found?"Stanley asks.
"Yeah."I answer taking a sip of water from my canteen.
"I think that the tube was a tube of lipstick and K. B. stands for Kate Barlow."Stanley says.
"Kissin' Kate Barlow?"Zero questions.
"Kissin' Kate Barlow."Stanley whispers to himself before they start digging their holes.
The pretty blonde from my dream keeps coming to mind and I realize,it's Kissin' Kate Barlow.
The reason she's been in my mind is because she robbed my great grandfather!Who knew getting caught with those shoes would help uncover this?
I sit with Stanley and Zero as we teach him how to spell and read.
"Z-E-R-O."I say and write it at the same time.
"I can help you dig your hole so you won't be so tired to teach me."Zero says to Stanley.
"No,I'm fine."Stanley lies.
"Look,you're a slow digger."Zero says.
"Well are you gonna help Angel?"Stanley asks.
"Angel is nearly as fast at digging as I am. By the time I get done helping you,she'll be here on her cot."Zero says.
"I'll help you two when I get done with my hole so I'll have something to do. That way,we'll all be done at the same time."I say.
They both nod.
Zero writes his name and with Stanley's help,he gets it.
"There ya' go."I smile.
"You know Zero's not my real name."Zero says.
"It's not?But even Pendanski calls you that."I say surprised.
"My name's Hector. Hector Zeroni."Zero says.
"Nice to meet you Hector."I say as we all shake hands.
I smile as we start to spell again.
Zero,Stanley,and I dig Stanley's hole while Zero talks about our agreement.
"Twenty-six letters. So we can do five letters a day for four days and then six letters on the fifth day."Zero says.
"That's some good math."I say.
"I'm not stupid. I know everyone thinks I am but I just don't like answering stupid questions."Zero says.
"Hey yo Caveman!Must be pretty easy working with you own personal slaves and all huh?"X-Ray asks.
"'Sup stupid."X-Ray says to Zero.
"Come on Squid."X-ray says.
"Stupid."Squid says pushing some dirt into our hole.
Jerk.
Stanley,Zero,and I sit on Stanley's cot while Zero's writing.
"M-O-M."Zero spells and writes.
"We weren't always homeless."Zero says.
Must be talking about his mom.
"I remember we used to live in a lot of different places and then?We didn't live anywhere."Zero says.
"Must've been hard."I say.
"Yeah. My mom had problems...but she would try so hard to make a better life for us. She always used to say,'I love you more than air'. She couldn't take me everywhere she went. I used to ask to wait on a porch or a playground. Then one day she didn't come back."Zero sadly says.
"What happened to her?"Stanley asks.
"I don't know. That's what bothers me the most. If I could,I'd hire a whole team of private investigators just to find her...or to find out what happened to her. I used to wait at Laney park."Zero says.
"Laney park?"I ask.
Zero nods.
"We used to go to Laney park all the time!"Stanley says.
"Really?I used to sleep in the tunnel next to the swinging bridge."Zero says.
"But no biggie."He adds one he see's our shocked faces.
REVIEW FOR MORE!
MWAH!
xx-Angel