Broken Hands and Withered Souls
Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING, I TELL YOU!
Author's Note: Well, it's been edited. Yes, this has been edited. Be happy! If you didn't read this before it was edited, don't worry. It's just about the same, except it doesn't have any of the spelling or grammar errors that my spellchecker didn't notice.
~*~
If you are going to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet wide everyday, there is something you need to remember: slow and steady wins the race. It is nice to be the first to finish digging, but if your digging was quick and jerky, you would probably collapse before your hole was even three feet deep.
That was what Zigzag was thinking as he sat in his tent on a particularly humid day, with a pen and paper lying in front of him on his cot. He had an idea that would allow him and the other occupants of D Tent to dig at a good pace: they could sing a song while out on the lake.
When the idea had first occurred to him, he had thought they would sing a song they all liked that someone had already come up with. But now he had decided to write a song, a song about digging that belonged to the boys from D Tent.
Zigzag picked up the pen and wrote,
'You've got to dig holes, five feet deep,'
He crossed that out. Somehow, it didn't seem right. After a few moments of twirling the pen between his fingers, he put the following words down on paper:
'You've got to go and dig those holes,'
Pleased with that, he looked up and saw Zero sleeping on his cot. Zero and him were total opposites -- he was one of the tallest 'campers' and Zero was probably the smallest. He was one of the slower diggers and Zero was the fastest. People made fun of him because of what he did, and people made fun of zero because of what he didn't say. But what did they have in common with the rest of the boys at Camp Green Lake?
"Broken hands and withered souls," Zigzag answered himself, writing down the words that he had said as he felt a burst of inspiration. Using up the last of that inspiration, he added,
'Emancipated from all you know,
You've got to go and dig those holes,' He grinned almost delusionally at what he had just composed, jumped off his cot, and scurried off to the Wreck Room to show X-Ray what he had come up with.
"You know," X-Ray said as he handed the paper back to Zigzag, who still had not managed to keep a straight face. "That's pretty good."
"Hey, X, you wanna write part of it?" Zigzag asked. He didn't want to admit it, but he had just got a huge writer's block.
"Sure," X-Ray pulled off his glasses and attempted to wipe the dirt off them. "I'll tell you when I come up with something. Why don't you start workin' on the chorus?"
"Uh..." Zigzag knew better than to argue with X-Ray. "OK." He sat down, and, after several minutes, produced this:
'Diggin' up a hole, diggin,
Diggin up a hole,
Diggin' up a hole, diggin'
Diggin' up a hole, yeah!'
When he showed it to X-Ray, he didn't get the same response before. Instead, the leader of D Tent said to make the refrain simpler.
"But, how?"
"Change 'diggin'' to 'dig it' or something." X-Ray told him. "And get rid of the rest of the stuff. Like this..." X-Ray took the pen and wrote,
'Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah!'
"How's that, Zig?"
"Great," Zigzag said, reading X-Ray's contribution to the song over again, looking mesmerized.
~*~
The next day, word had spread that Zigzag was writing a song. X-Ray had told him that he already had thought up a few lines before breakfast, Armpit said it was a good idea, Squid said it was kind of stupid, and Magnet kept saying random things that were somehow related to what the others were talking about.
After digging, Zigzag went to the tent and brought out the paper and pen, before rushing off to the Wreck Room. X-Ray was already playing pool with Barf Bag. Zigzag cleared his throat to make his presence known.
"Hey, Zig," X-Ray said, abandoning the game of pool. Barf Bag, who had never been that good, was still trying to prove that the table was causing him to lose, and only noticed that X-Ray was gone when he looked up to confirm his theory.
"Hey, wait up!" Barf Bag called, running after Zigzag and X-Ray who were sitting on a couch that looked like it could fall apart at any moment. "Oh, hi, Zigzag! Heard you're writin' a song about digging?"
"Uh... yeah..." Zigzag still wasn't used to everyone paying him so much attention. The good kind of attention, anyway.
"Cool! I'll try to write something!" Barf Bag said, bouncing off to find some other source of entertainment. He always was a little too happy...
"Well, anyway, here's what I have," X-Ray began to scribble some words. When he had finished, he moved the paper so that Zigzag could see it.
'Take a bad boy, make him dig five feet
________________________________
OK, you gotta find something never found before
If not, we'll just have to dig some more,'
"Why's that line there?" Zigzag asked, pointing at where the second line of X-Ray's verse should have been.
"Well, I dunno what to put there." Zigzag hadn't thought it was possible for X-Ray to not know something, but he nodded anyway.
"Okay, well... Um... What rhymes with 'feet'? Uh... Meat... Wheat... Beet..."
"Yeah! That's it!" exclaimed X-Ray, scribbling furiously.
"Beet? I was just kidding... I don't like beets. They taste kind of funny and they make your--"
"No, not that kind of beet..." Zigzag thought he saw X-Ray roll his eyes but couldn't tell because his glasses were so dirty. "The sort of beat... like in music," Zigzag mouth became a small 'o' and he read what X- Ray had added.
'The dirt in each shovel will give us the beat'
Zigzag shrugged and muttered an "OK," X-Ray was pretty good at this stuff.
Later, when the boys were sitting down to dinner, a new kid who was in E Tent started complaining loudly.
"I don't wanna dig! I'm sore and I have blisters and..." He didn't shut up until the tent door slammed on his face.
"Tell that to the Warden..." someone mumbled.
Barf Bag stared at his dinner, muttering something under his breath. His head jerked up at a dangerously fast speed and he grinned across the table at Armpit.
"Man, what's wrong with you?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing... well, actually..." He said, still grinning like a maniac. "I just thought up another verse for that thingy you're writing, Zigzag." His smile widened, if that was possible.
"Thingy? What thingy?" The... stuff Zigzag had been about to put in his mouth fell back onto his plate with a sickening squelching sound and a few people were sure they heard the food give a squeak of protest. "Oh... That thingy."
"Yeah, so it goes like this," Barf Bag cleared his throat.
"Your hands may blister
Your muscles stay sore
You want a break?
Knock on the Warden's door," He looked around the table for signs of approval, but the others simple shrugged and went back to their dinner. "Hey, guys, how was that?" silence... "Oh, fine, ignore me." He sighed and resumed eating, only to live up to his nickname a few minutes later.
"So, let's see what we've got," Zigzag muttered to himself sometime later. He pulled the piece of paper out from under his pillow, smoothed it out, and read what had been written on it.
'Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
Take a bad boy; make him dig five feet
The dirt in each shovel will give us the beat
OK, you gotta find something never found before
If not, we'll just have to dig some more
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
A-R-M-P-I to the T
What is that you're smelling?
Dawg, that's me
I don't take showers and I don't brush my teeth
'Cause all I do is dig holes, eat, and sleep
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
You've got to go and dig those holes
With broken hands and withered souls
Emancipated from all, you know
You've got to go and dig those holes
Your hands may blister,
Your muscles stay sore
You want a break?
Knock on the Warren's door,'
Armpit had made up his part a while ago; no one knew exactly how long it had been since then, except Zigzag. It had been on the 3rd of February, and now it was April 12th. For no reason in particular, Armpit had just said it loud enough for everyone to hear, then gone back to digging.
Zigzag smiled, placed the paper back under his pillow and lay down on his cot, trying to fall asleep, because in the Wreck Room, no one would leave him alone anymore. Now the tent was the only place he could get his personal space.
Just as he had gotten comfortable, Magnet walked in.
"Hey, Ziggy, Squid, X, and some other people made up a new thing for your song!" Zigzag opened his eyes, sat up, stretched, and yawned, as though he had been asleep the whole time.
"What?" He asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. Magnet wasn't fooled so easily. "Oh, fine." He yawned again, just for the heck of it, and got out of bed. He was going to go to the Wreck Room when Magnet gave him a piece of paper, folded in half.
"Where's everyone getting this paper from?" he demanded.
Magnet shrugged. "I thought you gave it to X-Ray."
"Oh. Right, I did." Zigzag avoided further embarrassment by unfolding the paper and reading what was written on it.
'There is no shade, no place to hide,
There is no lake,
So just sit and wait to bake,'
"Personally," said Magnet after Zigzag folded the paper in half again. "I think it should be 'fry',"
"'Fry'?" Zigzag repeated. Magnet nodded.
"Yeah, if you just switch 'lake' and 'place to hide' around, and make it 'fry' instead of 'bake', it'll make a lot more sense."
"What?"
"Well," Magnet took the piece of lined paper and, in the margin, drew a line on a slant, then made the line straight, then it slanted up again, like this: \______/
"This is sort of how the lake looks, right?"
"Not really..."
"From the side," said Magnet. Zigzag nodded. "Well, doesn't it look like a frying pan to you?" he asked. Zigzag nodded again. "So, 'fry' would be more appropriate. And it sounds better, too."
He then wrote,
'There is no lake, there is no shade,
There is no place to hide, so just sit and wait to fry,'
"Then, I was thinking of adding 'You've got to go and dig those holes' after X's part, since you did write that part and the whole song thing was your idea. It sounds good, too." suggested Magnet.
"Uh... Alright." Zigzag did what Magnet recommended.
~*~
The next morning, Zigzag was the last to wake up. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw two staring at him. Zigzag gave a little yelp.
"Hey, Zig, it's just me!" Barf Bag. Zigzag made a mental note to kill him later. Barf Bag backed up a little. "You've got wake up in the morning before the sun, keep digging those holes 'till the day is done!" He grinned, waiting for a reaction. The one he was expecting didn't come.
"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Zigzag yawned and stretched his arms out to the side, hitting Magnet while doing so.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, Magnet..." he yawned again and stumbled out of bed.
"No, Ziggy, it's another verse for that song!"
"What is?"
"Wake up in the morning before the sun, keep digging those holes 'till the day is done!"
"Oh..." Zigzag yawned for a third time this morning. He made another mental note: stop yawning so much. People will start suspecting things. "I'll write it up later. Now go away." He got dressed and went to the Mess Hall to get breakfast.
Between spoonfuls of mouldy-smelling cereal, Zigzag wrote out the rest of the song.
'Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
Take a bad boy; make him dig five feet
The dirt in each shovel will give us the beat
OK, you gotta find something never found before
If not, we'll just have to dig some more
You've got to go and dig those holes
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
A-R-M-P-I to the T
What is that you're smelling?
Dawg, that's me
I don't take showers and I don't brush my teeth
'Cause all I do is dig holes, eat, and sleep
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
You've got to go and dig those holes
With broken hands and withered souls
Emancipated from all, you know
You've got to go and dig those holes
Your hands may blister
Your muscles stay sore
You want a break?
Knock on the Warren's door
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
There is no lake; there is no shade
There is no lake, so just sit and wait to fry
You've got to go and dig those holes
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
Wake up in the morning before the sun
Keep digging those holes 'till the day is done,'
"Almost done," he said. "How should I finish?"
He must have said it very quietly, because no one replied. No one replied using words, anyway. As he looked at each member of D Tent's face, he saw that five were looking at their breakfast. All except for Zero.
Zero was staring intensely at him. His cereal lay forgotten. Zigzag held his gaze for a few moments, then Zero's eyes fell to the paper.
Zigzag was sure Zero couldn't read. Mr Pendanski had always said he was too stupid to know how to read. Then why did he feel so sure that Zero was looking down at the first line he had written? He shrugged it off, guessing that he had just imagined it. Zero was just looking at the paper, that was all. Even so, he couldn't help but smile at the small boy when he looked up. It was the first time he had smiled in a long time.
~*~
Barf Bag sang his part of the song, his voice breaking through what would have been silence if he had been digging with any other tent. Now he had finally left his mark on Camp Green Lake. He had two verses that were all his own. He had finally joined D Tent. Sure, he had had the nickname for a long time, but he had never really felt as though he belonged there. Now he was a member. Now he was part of their song. And now, he could finally leave.
There was a rattlesnake coiled up by his hole. It was as though it knew what he was planning. Barf Bag closed his eyes and tried to remember the exact sounds of Green Lake, since it wasn't too spectacular to look at. He memorized everything: the way X-Ray said 'yeah' the loudest at the end of the chorus, the way Zigzag's voice fell a bit when he came to the end of his verse, the way Zero seemed to be singing, too, even though he never spoke.
Satisfied that he wouldn't forget, Barf Bag climbed out of his hole. No one noticed.
He yanked his shoe off his foot. No one noticed.
He peeled off his sock. Still, no one noticed.
He put his bare foot down on the hot ground, then picked up back up again with a little hiss when his foot got burnt from the heat of the earth. No one noticed.
Barf Bag gulped and stuck his foot out towards the snake.
Some one noticed.
"Barf Bag!"
"Come back here, Barf!"
"What're you doin', man?"
"Don't do it! Don't do it, Barf Bag!"
Barf Bag screamed in pain, but he knew that the worst was over.
~*~
They didn't sing again. No one knew what to do. Should they sing Barf Bag's parts, or should they just cut those out? What would Barf Bag want them to do? He hadn't told them anything, so the others just stopped singing all together.
Then, a week later, someone started the chorus.
"Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh..." Six boys stopped digging. Only Zero kept going. When no one continued, he sang it again.
"Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh, yeah!"
X-Ray started digging again and the other boys followed his example. Zigzag realized something that made him smile. It was the first time he had smiled since finishing the song. His verse had come true. Barf Bag had been "emancipated from all, you know".
~*~
Stanley Yelnats passed by another group of holes, but this time dirt was flying out of them. He shifted in his seat to see the group of holes more clearly. Then, he saw a boy with frizzy hair that might have been blonde but was so dirty it looked almost light brown. The boy was digging one of the holes.
When the bus came closer, Stanley was sure he could hear someone singing. It took awhile for him to figure out what he had heard.
"You've got to go and dig those holes
With broken hands and withered souls
Emancipated from all, you know
You've got to go and dig those holes..."
~*~
Author's Note: Yay! It is now one chapter! WOOHOO!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING, I TELL YOU!
Author's Note: Well, it's been edited. Yes, this has been edited. Be happy! If you didn't read this before it was edited, don't worry. It's just about the same, except it doesn't have any of the spelling or grammar errors that my spellchecker didn't notice.
~*~
If you are going to dig a hole five feet deep and five feet wide everyday, there is something you need to remember: slow and steady wins the race. It is nice to be the first to finish digging, but if your digging was quick and jerky, you would probably collapse before your hole was even three feet deep.
That was what Zigzag was thinking as he sat in his tent on a particularly humid day, with a pen and paper lying in front of him on his cot. He had an idea that would allow him and the other occupants of D Tent to dig at a good pace: they could sing a song while out on the lake.
When the idea had first occurred to him, he had thought they would sing a song they all liked that someone had already come up with. But now he had decided to write a song, a song about digging that belonged to the boys from D Tent.
Zigzag picked up the pen and wrote,
'You've got to dig holes, five feet deep,'
He crossed that out. Somehow, it didn't seem right. After a few moments of twirling the pen between his fingers, he put the following words down on paper:
'You've got to go and dig those holes,'
Pleased with that, he looked up and saw Zero sleeping on his cot. Zero and him were total opposites -- he was one of the tallest 'campers' and Zero was probably the smallest. He was one of the slower diggers and Zero was the fastest. People made fun of him because of what he did, and people made fun of zero because of what he didn't say. But what did they have in common with the rest of the boys at Camp Green Lake?
"Broken hands and withered souls," Zigzag answered himself, writing down the words that he had said as he felt a burst of inspiration. Using up the last of that inspiration, he added,
'Emancipated from all you know,
You've got to go and dig those holes,' He grinned almost delusionally at what he had just composed, jumped off his cot, and scurried off to the Wreck Room to show X-Ray what he had come up with.
"You know," X-Ray said as he handed the paper back to Zigzag, who still had not managed to keep a straight face. "That's pretty good."
"Hey, X, you wanna write part of it?" Zigzag asked. He didn't want to admit it, but he had just got a huge writer's block.
"Sure," X-Ray pulled off his glasses and attempted to wipe the dirt off them. "I'll tell you when I come up with something. Why don't you start workin' on the chorus?"
"Uh..." Zigzag knew better than to argue with X-Ray. "OK." He sat down, and, after several minutes, produced this:
'Diggin' up a hole, diggin,
Diggin up a hole,
Diggin' up a hole, diggin'
Diggin' up a hole, yeah!'
When he showed it to X-Ray, he didn't get the same response before. Instead, the leader of D Tent said to make the refrain simpler.
"But, how?"
"Change 'diggin'' to 'dig it' or something." X-Ray told him. "And get rid of the rest of the stuff. Like this..." X-Ray took the pen and wrote,
'Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah!'
"How's that, Zig?"
"Great," Zigzag said, reading X-Ray's contribution to the song over again, looking mesmerized.
~*~
The next day, word had spread that Zigzag was writing a song. X-Ray had told him that he already had thought up a few lines before breakfast, Armpit said it was a good idea, Squid said it was kind of stupid, and Magnet kept saying random things that were somehow related to what the others were talking about.
After digging, Zigzag went to the tent and brought out the paper and pen, before rushing off to the Wreck Room. X-Ray was already playing pool with Barf Bag. Zigzag cleared his throat to make his presence known.
"Hey, Zig," X-Ray said, abandoning the game of pool. Barf Bag, who had never been that good, was still trying to prove that the table was causing him to lose, and only noticed that X-Ray was gone when he looked up to confirm his theory.
"Hey, wait up!" Barf Bag called, running after Zigzag and X-Ray who were sitting on a couch that looked like it could fall apart at any moment. "Oh, hi, Zigzag! Heard you're writin' a song about digging?"
"Uh... yeah..." Zigzag still wasn't used to everyone paying him so much attention. The good kind of attention, anyway.
"Cool! I'll try to write something!" Barf Bag said, bouncing off to find some other source of entertainment. He always was a little too happy...
"Well, anyway, here's what I have," X-Ray began to scribble some words. When he had finished, he moved the paper so that Zigzag could see it.
'Take a bad boy, make him dig five feet
________________________________
OK, you gotta find something never found before
If not, we'll just have to dig some more,'
"Why's that line there?" Zigzag asked, pointing at where the second line of X-Ray's verse should have been.
"Well, I dunno what to put there." Zigzag hadn't thought it was possible for X-Ray to not know something, but he nodded anyway.
"Okay, well... Um... What rhymes with 'feet'? Uh... Meat... Wheat... Beet..."
"Yeah! That's it!" exclaimed X-Ray, scribbling furiously.
"Beet? I was just kidding... I don't like beets. They taste kind of funny and they make your--"
"No, not that kind of beet..." Zigzag thought he saw X-Ray roll his eyes but couldn't tell because his glasses were so dirty. "The sort of beat... like in music," Zigzag mouth became a small 'o' and he read what X- Ray had added.
'The dirt in each shovel will give us the beat'
Zigzag shrugged and muttered an "OK," X-Ray was pretty good at this stuff.
Later, when the boys were sitting down to dinner, a new kid who was in E Tent started complaining loudly.
"I don't wanna dig! I'm sore and I have blisters and..." He didn't shut up until the tent door slammed on his face.
"Tell that to the Warden..." someone mumbled.
Barf Bag stared at his dinner, muttering something under his breath. His head jerked up at a dangerously fast speed and he grinned across the table at Armpit.
"Man, what's wrong with you?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing... well, actually..." He said, still grinning like a maniac. "I just thought up another verse for that thingy you're writing, Zigzag." His smile widened, if that was possible.
"Thingy? What thingy?" The... stuff Zigzag had been about to put in his mouth fell back onto his plate with a sickening squelching sound and a few people were sure they heard the food give a squeak of protest. "Oh... That thingy."
"Yeah, so it goes like this," Barf Bag cleared his throat.
"Your hands may blister
Your muscles stay sore
You want a break?
Knock on the Warden's door," He looked around the table for signs of approval, but the others simple shrugged and went back to their dinner. "Hey, guys, how was that?" silence... "Oh, fine, ignore me." He sighed and resumed eating, only to live up to his nickname a few minutes later.
"So, let's see what we've got," Zigzag muttered to himself sometime later. He pulled the piece of paper out from under his pillow, smoothed it out, and read what had been written on it.
'Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
Take a bad boy; make him dig five feet
The dirt in each shovel will give us the beat
OK, you gotta find something never found before
If not, we'll just have to dig some more
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
A-R-M-P-I to the T
What is that you're smelling?
Dawg, that's me
I don't take showers and I don't brush my teeth
'Cause all I do is dig holes, eat, and sleep
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
You've got to go and dig those holes
With broken hands and withered souls
Emancipated from all, you know
You've got to go and dig those holes
Your hands may blister,
Your muscles stay sore
You want a break?
Knock on the Warren's door,'
Armpit had made up his part a while ago; no one knew exactly how long it had been since then, except Zigzag. It had been on the 3rd of February, and now it was April 12th. For no reason in particular, Armpit had just said it loud enough for everyone to hear, then gone back to digging.
Zigzag smiled, placed the paper back under his pillow and lay down on his cot, trying to fall asleep, because in the Wreck Room, no one would leave him alone anymore. Now the tent was the only place he could get his personal space.
Just as he had gotten comfortable, Magnet walked in.
"Hey, Ziggy, Squid, X, and some other people made up a new thing for your song!" Zigzag opened his eyes, sat up, stretched, and yawned, as though he had been asleep the whole time.
"What?" He asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. Magnet wasn't fooled so easily. "Oh, fine." He yawned again, just for the heck of it, and got out of bed. He was going to go to the Wreck Room when Magnet gave him a piece of paper, folded in half.
"Where's everyone getting this paper from?" he demanded.
Magnet shrugged. "I thought you gave it to X-Ray."
"Oh. Right, I did." Zigzag avoided further embarrassment by unfolding the paper and reading what was written on it.
'There is no shade, no place to hide,
There is no lake,
So just sit and wait to bake,'
"Personally," said Magnet after Zigzag folded the paper in half again. "I think it should be 'fry',"
"'Fry'?" Zigzag repeated. Magnet nodded.
"Yeah, if you just switch 'lake' and 'place to hide' around, and make it 'fry' instead of 'bake', it'll make a lot more sense."
"What?"
"Well," Magnet took the piece of lined paper and, in the margin, drew a line on a slant, then made the line straight, then it slanted up again, like this: \______/
"This is sort of how the lake looks, right?"
"Not really..."
"From the side," said Magnet. Zigzag nodded. "Well, doesn't it look like a frying pan to you?" he asked. Zigzag nodded again. "So, 'fry' would be more appropriate. And it sounds better, too."
He then wrote,
'There is no lake, there is no shade,
There is no place to hide, so just sit and wait to fry,'
"Then, I was thinking of adding 'You've got to go and dig those holes' after X's part, since you did write that part and the whole song thing was your idea. It sounds good, too." suggested Magnet.
"Uh... Alright." Zigzag did what Magnet recommended.
~*~
The next morning, Zigzag was the last to wake up. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw two staring at him. Zigzag gave a little yelp.
"Hey, Zig, it's just me!" Barf Bag. Zigzag made a mental note to kill him later. Barf Bag backed up a little. "You've got wake up in the morning before the sun, keep digging those holes 'till the day is done!" He grinned, waiting for a reaction. The one he was expecting didn't come.
"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Zigzag yawned and stretched his arms out to the side, hitting Magnet while doing so.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, Magnet..." he yawned again and stumbled out of bed.
"No, Ziggy, it's another verse for that song!"
"What is?"
"Wake up in the morning before the sun, keep digging those holes 'till the day is done!"
"Oh..." Zigzag yawned for a third time this morning. He made another mental note: stop yawning so much. People will start suspecting things. "I'll write it up later. Now go away." He got dressed and went to the Mess Hall to get breakfast.
Between spoonfuls of mouldy-smelling cereal, Zigzag wrote out the rest of the song.
'Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
Take a bad boy; make him dig five feet
The dirt in each shovel will give us the beat
OK, you gotta find something never found before
If not, we'll just have to dig some more
You've got to go and dig those holes
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
A-R-M-P-I to the T
What is that you're smelling?
Dawg, that's me
I don't take showers and I don't brush my teeth
'Cause all I do is dig holes, eat, and sleep
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
You've got to go and dig those holes
With broken hands and withered souls
Emancipated from all, you know
You've got to go and dig those holes
Your hands may blister
Your muscles stay sore
You want a break?
Knock on the Warren's door
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
There is no lake; there is no shade
There is no lake, so just sit and wait to fry
You've got to go and dig those holes
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it,
Dig it oh oh oh, yeah
Wake up in the morning before the sun
Keep digging those holes 'till the day is done,'
"Almost done," he said. "How should I finish?"
He must have said it very quietly, because no one replied. No one replied using words, anyway. As he looked at each member of D Tent's face, he saw that five were looking at their breakfast. All except for Zero.
Zero was staring intensely at him. His cereal lay forgotten. Zigzag held his gaze for a few moments, then Zero's eyes fell to the paper.
Zigzag was sure Zero couldn't read. Mr Pendanski had always said he was too stupid to know how to read. Then why did he feel so sure that Zero was looking down at the first line he had written? He shrugged it off, guessing that he had just imagined it. Zero was just looking at the paper, that was all. Even so, he couldn't help but smile at the small boy when he looked up. It was the first time he had smiled in a long time.
~*~
Barf Bag sang his part of the song, his voice breaking through what would have been silence if he had been digging with any other tent. Now he had finally left his mark on Camp Green Lake. He had two verses that were all his own. He had finally joined D Tent. Sure, he had had the nickname for a long time, but he had never really felt as though he belonged there. Now he was a member. Now he was part of their song. And now, he could finally leave.
There was a rattlesnake coiled up by his hole. It was as though it knew what he was planning. Barf Bag closed his eyes and tried to remember the exact sounds of Green Lake, since it wasn't too spectacular to look at. He memorized everything: the way X-Ray said 'yeah' the loudest at the end of the chorus, the way Zigzag's voice fell a bit when he came to the end of his verse, the way Zero seemed to be singing, too, even though he never spoke.
Satisfied that he wouldn't forget, Barf Bag climbed out of his hole. No one noticed.
He yanked his shoe off his foot. No one noticed.
He peeled off his sock. Still, no one noticed.
He put his bare foot down on the hot ground, then picked up back up again with a little hiss when his foot got burnt from the heat of the earth. No one noticed.
Barf Bag gulped and stuck his foot out towards the snake.
Some one noticed.
"Barf Bag!"
"Come back here, Barf!"
"What're you doin', man?"
"Don't do it! Don't do it, Barf Bag!"
Barf Bag screamed in pain, but he knew that the worst was over.
~*~
They didn't sing again. No one knew what to do. Should they sing Barf Bag's parts, or should they just cut those out? What would Barf Bag want them to do? He hadn't told them anything, so the others just stopped singing all together.
Then, a week later, someone started the chorus.
"Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh..." Six boys stopped digging. Only Zero kept going. When no one continued, he sang it again.
"Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh
Dig it, oh oh oh, dig it
Dig it, oh oh oh, yeah!"
X-Ray started digging again and the other boys followed his example. Zigzag realized something that made him smile. It was the first time he had smiled since finishing the song. His verse had come true. Barf Bag had been "emancipated from all, you know".
~*~
Stanley Yelnats passed by another group of holes, but this time dirt was flying out of them. He shifted in his seat to see the group of holes more clearly. Then, he saw a boy with frizzy hair that might have been blonde but was so dirty it looked almost light brown. The boy was digging one of the holes.
When the bus came closer, Stanley was sure he could hear someone singing. It took awhile for him to figure out what he had heard.
"You've got to go and dig those holes
With broken hands and withered souls
Emancipated from all, you know
You've got to go and dig those holes..."
~*~
Author's Note: Yay! It is now one chapter! WOOHOO!