Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Zero ((but he's sooo cute)) nor do I own many other things Louis Sachar and Walt Disney have made up. HOLES belongs to Mr. Sachar, THINGS-YOU-DO-NOT-RECOGNISE probably belong to me.

My Angel, My Only

Chapter Nineteen ll The Great DIG

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It wasn't even noon yet when Zero saw the remains of the Mary Lou. Stanley had been teaching him some nursery rhymes, and the two had been belting out the words loudly when Zero saw the familiar something in the middle of nothing.

"Incy, wincy spider, climbed up the water spout," Stanley was singing, waving the sack around wildly, "Down came the rain and washed poor incy out--"

Zero was laughing, then stopped abruptly when he saw the boat.

"Hey, I think I see the Marya Lou!"

"Mary Lou, Zero," Stanley said with a laugh, but then he turned to look where Zero was pointing to.

"I knew that, but it'll always be Marya to me," Zero said stubbornly.

They hastened over to the boat, where they sat against the shady side and rested. Stanley was still humming.

"I don't know what happened to my mother. She left and never came back," Zero said resignedly with a small sigh.

Stanley was tackling with the sack. He took out two onions and handed one to Zero.

He took it, but put it down on the ground beside him. He sighed and leant back against the boat.

"She couldn't always take me with her. Sometimes she had to do things by herself."

Stanley nodded slowly as he peeled his onion.

"She'd tell me to wait in a certain place for her. When I was real little, I had to wait in small areas, like on a porch step or a doorway. 'Now don't leave here until I get back,' she'd say," Zero sighed again and gazed up at the blue sky, as if looking for answers.

"I never liked it when she left. I had a stuffed animal, a little giraffe, and I'd hug it the whole time she was gone. When I got bigger I was allowed to stay in bigger areas. Like, 'Stay on this block.' Or, 'Don't leave the park.' But even then, I still held Jaffy."

Zero blinked and a vivid image of his precious stuffed giraffe came into his mind.

Stanley watched him carefully, peeling another layer off of his onion.

"And then one day she didn't come back," Zero blinked again, trying not to let the statement hurt him emotionally, "I waited for her at Laney Park."

"Laney Park," Stanley interrupted suddenly, "I've been there."

Zero turned to him with a look of surprise, as if he had just noticed he was there, "I waited there for more than a month. You know that tunnel that you crawl through, between the slide and the swinging bridge?"

"Yeah," Stanley said with a smile, remembering his own memories of the park.

"That's where I slept."

The smile slid off his face.

Zero noticed this, and managed a half-smile, "But it's no biggie," he took a deep breath, "If I could, I would hire a team of private investigators, just to find out what happened to her."

He looked away.

In silence, they ate four onions a-piece and had half a jar of water each. Stanley stood up and looked around.

He said a few words, but Zero wasn't listening. He was re-living the horrible day his mother had left him.

"...saw the boat off to the right. So that means we have to turn a little to the left."

Zero was still lost in thought, "What? Okay."

As they headed out, with Stanley leading, Zero decided to tell Stanley more about his bitter past.

"Some kids had a birthday party. I guess it was two weeks after my mother had left. There was a picnic table next to the playscape and balloons were tied to it. The kids looked to be the same age as me. One girl said hi to me and asked if I wanted to play. I wanted to, but I didn't. I knew I didn't belong at the party, even though it wasn't their playscape. There was this one mother that kept staring at me as if I was some kind of monster. Then later, a boy asked me if I wanted a piece of cake, but then that same mother told me, 'Go away!' and she told all the other kids to stay away from me, so I never got the piece of cake. I ran away so fast, I forgot Jaffy."

"Did you ever find him -- it?" Stanley wanted to know.

Zero didn't say anything.

"He wasn't real," he finally said.

Silence reigned. Zero tried to push off the bitter memories that were coming back in a flood. As he glanced around the barren land, he noticed something wrong.

"Hold on," he said, stopping abruptly, "We're going the wrong way."

"No, this is right," Stanley insisted.

"You were heading to Big Thumb when you saw the boat to your right. That means we should have turned right when we left the boat."

Stanley wasn't convinced, "You sure?"

Zero bent down and drew a diagram in the dirt. "We need to go this way," he said, first drawing a line on the map and then heading that way himself.

Stanley followed.

He continued to teach Zero nursery rhymes as they walked closer and closer to the invisible compound.

"Mary had a little lamb, little lamb--"

Zero suddenly stopped Stanley and held out his arm so they couldn't walk any further.

"Listen," he whispered. He could hear the faint sounds of the camp. They were still too far away to see the compound, but he could hear a blend of indistinct noises.

Stanley paused and listened as well.

They stopped singing and began to walk slowly and quietly, occasionally keeping their heads down.

After a little while, they approached a cluster of holes. Zero decided it probably wasn't the best thing to go traipsing any nearer to the camp; it was too risky. There were probably still campers out digging.

"Let's wait here, until they go in," he said quietly to Stanley, who nodded.

They both climbed down into adjacent holes, waiting for the last of the diggers to finish their holes. When Zero was certain that everyone had returned back to camp, he carefully hoisted himself up. Stanley was doing the same.

Without saying a word, they crept towards camp. Zero held the shovel across his arms, so that it wouldn't drag across the sand. Stanley was cradling the sack so that the jars wouldn't clink together.

The compound came into sight.

The tents, the Wreck Room, the Warden's cabin, the showers...

Zero felt his heart sink with fear. The whole familiarity of it was overwhelming. He felt so frightened. What if we get caught?

"That's the one," Stanley whispered, pointing out a hole. Zero glanced over. Good, it was about fifty yards away from the compound.

He didn't want to go any nearer.

"Let's wait for them to eat dinner, then for them to go to bed," Zero said quietly. Stanley nodded, and they both climbed down into adjacent holes again.

Zero tried to fall asleep, but he didn't trust himself to. What if a camper came out to go to the bathroom? Not that staying awake would do too much good, but-- at least he'd be able to yell at them to stop before it was too late.

He quietly put the shovel aside, and laid his head against the dirt. Whoever dug the hole hadn't been terribly good at it. The sides had lumps and bumps in it, not like the smooth sides Zero's holes always had.

Distinctly, he heard the showers. He heard distant chatter coming from the Wreck Room. Later, he heard the clinking sounds of dinner.

Zero took out an onion and bit into it nervously. The sky was full of clouds. It surprised him. There had hardly been any clouds when he first arrived at Camp Green Lake. Now there were plenty.

After finishing the onion, he drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep. His mind was switching off but his heart told him to stay awake, so that the sleep did him no good. He kept waking up, then falling back asleep.

Finally, he woke up and looked up at the sky. It was quite dark.

Zero yawned and stretched. He picked up an onion and ran his hands over the smoothness of it. He liked the feel of it. He took a loud, crunchy bite that seemed to shatter the quiet atmosphere. He guessed the boys had fallen asleep in their tents.

He wondered what Stanley was doing. Zero finished his onion quickly and washed the taste down with a swig of water. He had been hoping to have a few dreams during his nap, but he had been half-conscious during his sleep that there had been no room for dreams.

And anyway, he didn't have time to take a trip down memory lane again. There were more important things to deal with.

Zero carefully climbed out of the hole and, lying flat on his stomach, peered over into Stanley's one. Through the dim moonlight, he saw that he was sleeping.

Smiling slightly, Zero lowered himself into Stanley's hole and softly called for him to wake up. He opened his eyes and seemed quite alarmed.

They left the onions and water jar in the holes, but carried the canteen and shovel. Stanley carefully led Zero to the hole where he had found the lipstick tube.

"I think this is it."

This didn't wash down too well with Zero, "You think?"

"It's it," Stanley said, sounding more confident this time. Zero handed him the shovel, and Stanley clambered down into the hole.

Zero watched as he began to deepen the hole.

"I'm going to try to refill the water jars," he said to Stanley, after watching him dig for awhile.

Stanley merely nodded, concentrating on digging.

"Be careful," he had warned.

Zero quickly crept back to his hole and retrieved the jars. Then he slowly tiptoed across the holes (careful not to fall in) towards the showers. He was afraid at first that there might be counselors on guard, but then he realised that he and Stanley had been missing for at least a week. More for Zero. They'd all have thought they'd be dead by now. Buzzard food.

Smiling grimly, Zero tiptoed towards the spigot and filled the jars as quietly and quickly as he could. If anyone came for a drink of water, he'd be dead meat.

When the three jars were full, Zero decided that he could try and sneak into the kitchen. He set the jars just outside the shower building and crept into the kitchen, a joint part of the Wreck Room.

There was no one around.

Zero was careful to be quiet and he kept to the shadows. He thanked his few lucky stars that he was a small kid.

He had never been in the kitchen before, and it seemed huge and foreign to him. He peered into the cupboards and found many canned items.

Then he peered at the cabinets and looked around. There were boxes of cereal and bags of bread.

Scrunching up his face, Zero was wondering how much he could carry when he heard a bang in the Wreck Room. Panicking, he grabbed at whatever box he touched first and shut the cabinet door.

He quickly dived onto the floor, into invisibility. He heard a few more noises; the noise of someone moving around in the Wreck Room. Then there was a thud, and silence.

Zero waited for at least a minute, but there was no sound. With his elbows, he crawled towards the open door of the kitchen and looked out. It was too dark to see anything and there were no movements.

Quietly, he got to his feet and escaped from the Wreck Room. On his way out, he grabbed the three water jars and quickly crept towards where Stanley was. He couldn't really see, but he could tell by the occasional tip of the shovel appearing at the top of the hole.

"You want some breakfast?" Zero said cheerfully, putting the jars down and jumping into the hole. He handed Stanley the box of cereal, which turned out to be Frosted Flakes.

Zero took the shovel and started digging as Stanley emptied the flakes into his mouth. He choked on it and began to cough.

Zero grinned as he continued to dig, "Tastes awful, doesn't it?"

"Only if you've been living on onions for a week," Stanley replied, still coughing.

As Zero dug, he began to slip back into his own mood of digging. He remembered how he had felt before, just digging holes out in the hot sun. Back then, it hadn't felt like anything.

They finished the water in the jars.

"I'll go refill them," Stanley said, getting to his feet.

Zero shook his head, "No, I'll do it. No offense, but you make too much noise when you walk. You're too big."

Stanley just grinned and punched his shoulder playfully. Then he picked up the shovel and started to dig again. Instead of digging deeper, he began to widen the hole instead.

Zero took the jars and tiptoed back to the shower stalls. While he turned the spigot on, he had the distinct feeling someone was watching him. But when he looked around, he saw no one.

He shrugged off the feeling and returned back to Stanley. He wondered what the time was.

"How's it going?" he asked.

Stanley shrugged one shoulder. Zero sat on the surface and let his legs dangle into the hole, and watched. Stanley brought the shovel down the side of the hole, shaving off a slice of the dirt wall. As he did so, he felt the shovel bounce off something hard.

Zero was immediately alert, "What was that?"

Stanley looked alert as well, "I don't know..."

Zero jumped into the hole as Stanley moved the shovel up and down the side of the hole. The dirt chipped and flaked away, and the hard object became more pronounced.

Though it was dark, both boys saw the object sticking out the side of the hole, about a foot and a half from the bottom. Stanley dropped the shovel and felt it with his hands.

"What is it?" Zero wanted to know.

"I think I might have found the treasure chest," Stanley said, sounding astonished.

"Really?" Zero said skeptically.

"I think so," Stanley said, sounding pretty awed and uncertain, "Hand me the shovel."

Zero stooped down and groped around for the shovel. He handed it to Stanley. Luckily, the hole was wide enough to hold the shovel horizontally and dig into the dirt wall.

Stanley was very careful; he was afraid that if he dug too quickly and hard, the side of the hole would cave in, along with the dirt pile on the surface.

He didn't want that to happen.

Zero bit his lip in anxiety as Stanley scraped at the wall. He didn't stop until he had exposed one side of the box-like object. Silently, he handed the shovel to Zero and began to feel the object. It seemed to be eight inches tall, and almost two feet wide. Stanley tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge.

Zero continued to watch and wait patiently as Stanley, with beads of sweat on his forehead, continued to scrape away the dirt. It was still dark, but both boys knew they didn't have much time left.

"I'm going to try to dig a hole underneath it," Stanley finally said, "Then maybe I can pull it down and let it slip out."

"Go for it," Zero said, trying to hide his nervousness.

Stanley jammed the shovel into the bottom edge of the hole, and carefully began to dig a tunnel underneath the metal object. Zero sucked in his breath and hoped the dirt didn't cave in.

They probably remained like that for five minutes, but to Zero it seemed like years.

Occasionally, Stanley would stoop down and reached into the small tunnel he had dug, to see if he could feel the other end of the object. But even when the tunnel was as long as his arm, he still couldn't feel the other side.

"Give it a real, strong pull," Zero had suggested.

With both boys' combined strength, they pulled at the object -- but it wouldn't budge. If they pulled too hard, Stanley was afraid they'd cause a cave in.

Stanley continued to dig. Zero, realising how thirsty he had become, reached for the water jars above and took a sip of water. He offered some to Stanley.

"Can you pry it loose with the shovel?" he suggested as he handed the jar to him.

"I'm afraid the side of the hole will collapse," Stanley said, unscrewing the lid off.

"You might as well give it a try," Zero said. He didn't add the fact that they were running out of time. He didn't want to rush Stanley.

Stanley took a sip of water, "Might as well," he said thoughtfully.

Zero took back the jar of water while Stanley picked up the shovel again. He forced the tip of it between the dirt and the top of the metal case and tried to wedge it free. He wished he could see what he was doing.

Stanley worked the end of the shovel, back and forth, up and down, until he felt the suitcase fall free.

Zero gave a small gasp as the dirt came piling down on top of it. Luckily, it hadn't been a huge cave-in. Stanley quickly dug at the dirt with his hands, before he felt the leather handle. He pulled the suitcase up.

"I got it!" he exclaimed.

Zero had never heard more beautiful words.

He felt Stanley give him the suitcase, and he almost fell over. It was heavy.

"You did it," Zero said, sounding awed. One thing was for sure, he admired Stanley.

"We did it," Stanley said.

Zero grinned.

Stanley tried to pull himself out of the hole, and Zero was about to suggest they dug out footholds when suddenly a bright light was shining in their faces.

"Thank you," Zero heard the Warden say, "You boys have been a big help."

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---- A/N: Hi hi! I hope you liked that chapter. Hehe, I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. It's the holidays for me, but I mostly spent my time on Neopets. (Cowers from angry readers)Sorry! :) Hehe. I have A LOT of editing to do for the next chapter... So you won't see an update very soon. :( Pwease dont hurt me! Hehehe... wow, Neopets is SO fascinating sometimes! LOL. Who's seen Swan Princess? (Swan Lake?) I love that movie. So sweet. And that French frog cracks me up. Hehehe. Yeah, Zero is cute. :) He's so adorable. Hehe, Magnet's pretty cute too. I love his accent.

Anywho...

I have to go now and seek revenge on no one in particular.

Zero: (waves while sucking on a lollipop) We went to tha thopping thentre today.

Shopping centre... Yup. We went to Target and saw Holes DVD posters. :D

Zero: MTHQ almotht pathed out with exthitement.

SHHH!

--MSQ.