I heaved the shovel full of soil out of the hole and went back for another. I still had several feet to go before I was anywhere near deep enough.

Clink. Crap. A  rock. I moved over and tried again hoping the rock wouldn’t be too big and take forever to dig out. Pulling the shovel handle back, something glinted in the dim light from the lantern.

Picking it up, I realized it was heavy for it’s size about the size of my closed fist.Taking a closer look, realized it was gold. My heart beat faster. What if there was more. I wanted to keep digging to see if there was the only one, but I couldn’t, not now-

First I had to figure out anther way to dispose of the body.

Meelesa Stephens

******

“We have to bury the cat,” said Ken to Arlene.

“I cant bear to put her in the ground. Can’t we just find a taxidermist in Yuma and get her stuffed?”

“Are you kidding? First of all I don’t think there is one here and then just imagine what that would cost.”

“Cost, cost, money is all you ever think about. At least, are you going to dig the hole for me?”

“You know what the doctor said about my back.”

“Okay, I’ll just water the ground with my tears and dig the hole myself,” she said grabbing a spade and started to dig.

‘I have to make this deep,’ she thought, ‘otherwise the coyotes will dig up poor Lizzie.’

Tears and sweat mingled and dropped to the ground as Arlene dug.

“Damn, another rock.” She reached in and pulled it out and tossed it aside. A glimmer on the rock caught her eye. She cleaned the soil off and realized it was a nugget of gold the size of her fist.

‘This is mine. I’ll hide it from Ken. If this is as valuable as I think it is, I can afford to divorce Ken.’

Ellynore Seybold-Smith