Falling In Holes

Sunflower Seeds

"Come on, boys."

"We're digging around, then we're digging towards the center, you see?" Powers explained, leading the warden through the tunnels in the ground.

"Today's the day," the warden murmured. "I can feel it."

"You know, the ancient Mesopotamians, they didn't have shovels," Trigger told the campers.

"Nice to have you back, X-Ray," the warden said to the boy. "We can use your sharp eyes."

"Hello, warden," Armpit shoved X-Ray aside to stand in front of the woman. "Ma'am, I think I found something."

Warden took the dial from Armpit's hand. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you trying to be funny?" She asked. "Or do you just think I'm stupid?"

Armpit's face fell.

"N-no ma'am, I wasn't trying to be funny," he denied.

"Excuse me?" The warden questioned.

"Well Armpit, your little joke just cost you a week of shower privileges," Powers punished. The others groaned.

"Alright, everyone back to work," the warden ordered.

"Man, you sleeping outside."

"You heard her!" Powers shouted. "Back to work! Aside from that, everything is going really well."

"I don't think so," the warden said. "I want results."

Sam and Katherine stood in front of the school.

"Sam, this is the finest schoolhouse in all of Texas," Katherine smiled. "Heh. Thank you."

"Thank you, Ms. Katherine," Sam smiled back as he shook the woman's hand. He slowly pulled a large feather from the side of his hat and gave it to Katherine. She smiled and watched him as he left, getting in his boat to go across the lake.

As Sam rowed, with his boat full of onions, he watched Katherine head back into the schoolhouse.

-----

It rained heavily, but not a single drop came through the school roof. Tears fell from Katherine's eyes onto the pages of the book in front of her. As she cried, Sam came up and softly took her hand. She gasped, looking up at him.

"I can fix that," he whispered. He pulled her to her feet and slowly leaned down to kiss her. Mr. Walker rode past on his horse outside, seeing the events through the window. When Sam and Katherine broke apart, the former slowly moved his hand to wipe off the tears on Katherine's cheeks.

"...Come on," Mr. Walker growled to his horse. "Ha!"

He rode off, leaving Sam and Katherine in the schoolhouse.

A kid poured another bucket of dirt through the sifter, which was being held by two over kids. As everyone worked, the warden paced around the edge of the hole up top.

"Four days," she said. "Four long days and this is all you jackasses got to show for it."

"There probably isn't anything down there," Powers murmured to Trigger across the small chasm. "We would have found it by now."

"I wouldn't tell the queen bee that," Trigger murmured back.

"I know, I'm not stupid," Powers hissed.

"What're you jawing about?" The warden called. "If you can't get 'em to dig any faster, you can grab a shovel and join 'em! How about that? Huh?"

"Get to work!" Powers yelled at the teens. "This is no kindergartners-in-the-sandbox-type deal! I want to see some effort here!"