“Just beyond the
ridge, workers were shoveling gravel into a trench”
WHAT WAS IN THE BOX
©2004 by Mae Ondracek
I was standing on
a rise overlooking the city when all of a sudden I found myself looking up,
into the sky. What could have happened? I lay on the ground for a little while; then
I tried to get up. I sat up but was
still stunned by the fall I took. I
don’t know how it could have happened, but I sure took a wallop and landed flat
on my back.
I don’t know what
it was that made me aware that something was happening over the ridge but I
sure had to find out. I thought this was
going to be a very lazy trek up the mountain side, stand there and view the
city and then head back down again. But
something had disturbed my dream world and now I had to find out what it was.
I couldn’t stand
up, so I crawled over to the ridge and very carefully I looked down. There were eight men shoveling gravel into a
hole. First, one man would throw in a
shovel full of gravel and then the next and the next, etc. It went that way until all eight men had
thrown in a shovel full of gravel, and then it started all over again. Why were they only throwing in a shovel full
at a time? What could they be
doing? Why was it a trench?
I watched in agony
because I still couldn’t stand up. I
listened very carefully as I was sure I heard the gravel hitting cardboard or
wood, I wasn’t sure which it was.
Suddenly one of the men shouted, “That’s enough. We’ll finish tomorrow.”
They left. Just like that, they left; all of them. I watched them slowly go down the mountain
side until they were out of the light. I
stayed where I was for another half hour and then slowly proceeded down to
where they had been working. If I wanted
to find out what was down there, I better hurry or it would be to dark.
I was surprised to
see all eight shovels here. They hadn’t
taken anything with them. What kind of a
job was this anyway, where they left their tools behind?
No use wondering,
I had just better get down there and check it out. The day light was fast fading and I was still
a long way from home.
At first, I
couldn’t see how I was going to get down into the hole but there was a log
there and I slid it down into the hole and it just reached the top. I got on the log and almost forgot to get a
shovel. So, back I crept, picked up a
shovel, then back onto the log and slid down.
By this time it was sort of dark down there but I was compelled by the
mystery of what was in the hole.
I hurriedly
shoveled gravel until I heard a rasp or grating of wood. Yes, it must be wood. I hurriedly shoveled off the dirt and saw it
was a box. Now I was so engrossed to see
what was in the box, that I scrapped off the covering but, drat, the lid was
nailed down. I used the shovel to get
under the board by the nail and I really worked hard at it. Slowly the nails were coming up and I could
see I’d soon know what was in the box.
I could hardly
wait until I was through taking the lid off so I could see inside. I gasped and jumped back, as I would be
damned, there I lay. No, No this couldn’t
be me, I’m here. This has to be someone
else, I thought.
I slammed the lid back
on, threw the gravel around and hurried out of the grave.
Suddenly the men
were all back and began to pick on me, saying I was dead and in the box. I tried to get away from them but they had me
surrounded and I couldn’t get away.
I screamed and
screamed and suddenly I sat up in bed, the sweat running from me. I looked at the clock and it was only
When suddenly a
new smell overcame me and I realized something was wrong. I jumped from the bed and tried to figure
where the smell was coming from but I couldn’t.
All I could do was open the door and get outside and just as I got half
way down the steps, the house blew up. I
went flying into the street and lay there for a few seconds. Then I sat up and looked at my house. It was all filled with smoke and fire, but I
crawled to the curb and sat there until the firemen came. I was very thankful that I am alive.