Mime Spent Apart

Part 27

They pulled up at the old house at 2:45am that night. George stopped the engine of his car, then reached behind him and grabbed a small bag from the back seat. He rummaged through the bag then pulled out something. "Here, take this." He passed the black item to Menhaus, who immediately felt wool and opened it up to discover a balaclava. "What is this?" He said, and looked up to see George adjusting his own.

"What do you think it is? It's a balaclava. Is mine on straight?"
"Why are we wearing balaclavas?"
"Isn't it obvious? We don't want them to recognise us if anyone sees us. Now get it on and come on." George pulled a lever near the floor and Menhaus heard the boot release, then George opened his door and got out. Menhaus pulled on his mask and got out of the car as well. He walked up to where George was now rummaging through the boot and was handed a shovel. "Here you go, this can be yours." George pulled out a small gardening trowel and examined it with satisfaction. "This will do." He carefully closed the boot, trying not to make much noise. It clicked at a moderate volume. "Ok." George whispered and then walked quickly up the driveway of the house. Menhaus followed, noting that the façade of the house looked much the same as he remembered it from when he was a kid. The only thing that had changed was that the front garden rose beds had been replaced with a little stone garden. I guess the new owner is lazy.

He hurried up to catch up with George who was already at the edge of the back yard. George pulled out his phone and flicked on the flash torch. He waved Menhaus over. "I think this is it, right Meney?" He said, shining his light on a spot at the edge of the yard.

"How would I know? I buried it in a flowerpot, remember?"

"Oh yeah." George got down on his hands and knees and started chipping away at the spot with his trough. "Can you help me here and dig a bit with your shovel?"

"Sure," Menhaus said and George back away. He pushed the shovel into the ground, then pushed it further in with his foot. It slid reasonably easy into the earth. He pulled out a shovel load of earth and dumped it towards the middle of the yard, then continued shovelling. After a few shovel loads, he hit was felt like solid rock. "Err George?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Said George, "We really don't have time to chat. We might wake someone."

"Yes I know, but I've hit something hard down here. I think it might be concrete."

"Probably a rock." George got back down on his hands and knees and reached into the hole with his trough, then scratched at the rock. "Hang on..." he said, twisted his arm around. "Yes, got it." He pushed hard and the trough went in further with a scraping sound. George stood up and began kicking at the handle of his trough with his foot. It moved about a centimetre and then stayed where it was. "Help me out, Meney. Push in your shovel and find the other side of that rock so we can lever it out."

Menhaus pushed his shovel in again, this time at an angle at the opposite side of the trough. He pushed and felt around in the dirt and then the shovel seemed to find the edge of something and slid behind it. "Alright," he said, "I seem to have found it."

"Ok" said George, "Let's both try to lever this thing out, ok?" He put his foot on the handle of his trough, "On the count of three. One... Two..."

Menhaus strained on his shovel and George pushed hard against the handle of his trough. There was a creaking noise, and then a large rock popped out of the hole they had dug and rolled onto its side. Menhaus smiled, then swung the shovel back as he pulled it out of the hole. A sharp pain hit him in the shoulder and he dropped the shovel, trying not to make any sound. His eyes watered.