Holes.

The old barn was perfect. The perfect place to be digging my holes. I was digging three of them. 9 x 4 feet each. I was just about done with the third. Just a couple more inches.

And done! Phew, what a relief. I could finally relax. It had been a long day.

I clambered out of the hole, and wiped my brow with an already sweaty rag before taking a drink of water and standing back to admire my work. Three perfectly sized and evenly spaced holes. Mmm, nice. Beautiful. I could not be more proud of myself.

I planted my shovel in the nearby undisturbed soil, and headed back to the house, whistling a happy tune the entire way.

It was almost 10PM. I headed upstairs to the bedroom. I wasn’t sure what to do now. So, I just stood in the doorway, staring at the bed and the shape under the covers. My wife. Melissa. Gorgeous. How I loved her. And how she loved me. She’d be proud of me too.

I went to Amy’s room, just down the hall, and stared at her, lying in her bed, under her covers. Aww, how I loved her also. I was sure she would be proud of me as well. Her old dad. Digging those holes. Just for us. Our happy little family.

I went back to the master bedroom, beaming and grinning ear to ear. What a wonderful day it had been. I had achieved everything that I had set out to achieve. Three holes. One for each member of the family.

I went to the window, slid open the curtains slightly, and stared out across the way to where my neighbor Brian lived. I couldn’t really make out his yard from here, so I grabbed the binoculars that Melissa kept on the sill for bird watching.

Ahhh, there they were. I could see perfectly now. Four holes. Brian, Wendy, and Jack and Sonia. That was his happy little family. Hmmm, they didn’t look as good as my holes though. They didn’t look as big, nor as evenly spaced. And they weren’t under cover either. Oh well, it wasn’t a competition. It was just about digging your holes. That was what was important about it. If you did that, then you had succeeded. You had achieved. And you could be proud. I would congratulate Brian tomorrow for sure.

I went and sat on the bed. My muscles were aching, and I was very tired. I was looking forward to a great sleep after such a productive day.

I heard a slight groan from behind me. Melissa. She was awake. Excellent. I didn’t turn around.

She sat up, placed her hands on my shoulders, and began massaging.

“Mmmm,” I moaned. “That’s nice.”

She continued for a little while longer before putting her arms around my waist, and resting the side of her face on the back of my neck.

“All done?” she asked, simply, plainly. I could tell she was smiling. I could tell she was happy.

“All done,” I replied, turning my head and body around to meet her loving gaze.

“Awww, honey, I am so proud of you.”

I beamed again. This time even more so. I was overjoyed at her praise of my wonderful work. It meant so much.

“Awww, thanks, hon,” I said, kissing her on the lips.

“I saw Brian digging earlier,” she stated.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve just had a look. Not bad. But I think we did better,” I informed her, with not a hint of arrogance.

She nodded. “I think so too.”

And we smiled at each other. We were so happy. It seemed liked everything was going to be all right.

“Amy wanted to wait up for you,” Melissa began, “but she fell asleep, poor thing.”

“Awww, how sweet,” I said, making an appropriate face, and placing my hand over my heart. That meant the world to me. My wife and daughter being so supportive was all I could ever really, truly hope for. It made everything seem worthwhile.

“Hey,” Melissa said. “Let’s see what they’re saying on the news about it.”

“Oh yes,” I agreed, excitedly, glancing at the clock on the bedside table. “It’ll be just about to start.”

Melissa jumped off the bed like a child full of sugar. I moved around so I was sat facing the TV. She flipped it on, and came back to sit next to me. We held hands, and waited, expectantly.

Drum roll please…

“And now, with the 10 o’clock bulletin, here is…Alison Chaney.”

Melissa and I glanced at each, and smiled knowingly. We held each other tighter. Never before had things felt so right.

Alison was about to speak.

“First, our top story this evening…” she began.

“Here it is,” I said, in hushed tones.

“I can’t wait,” Melissa said, in a whisper.

Alison continued.

“The mysterious craze currently sweeping the nation shows no signs of abating tonight. The…hole digging craze…is…err…is…”

She paused, and glanced left and right, before shuffling some papers on her desk. It was hard for her. Had to be. These were such important and joyous times. But I knew she could do it. Come on, Alison!

She continued. Again.

“…is…according to officials…is….err…well, there’s a lot of holes…they have said.”

“Amen to that,” I said, without taking my eyes of the screen.

“Uhhh, huh,” Melissa agreed, without taking her eyes off the screen.

We laughed to each other.

Alison tried to go on.

“Local police departments, and the…err…FBI, have urged people to…umm…to…take…to be…cautious…when…when...they…”

But poor Alison couldn’t go on any further. So overcome was she that she simply stood up mid-sentence and began removing her microphone.

Melissa and I looked at each other, shaking our heads and smiling.

“She gave it a good shot,” I said.

“She did well,” Melissa said.

“It’s tough,” I continued.

“It was never going to be easy,” Melissa concluded.

And we hugged. Tightly. Happily. The show continued in the background.

“Can someone please…” Alison was saying, in a panic. “I need to go! I haven’t even started…”

Another voice entered the melee.

“EVERYONE! THEY’VE RUN OUT OF SHOVELS!”

A collective gasp.

“THEY MIGHT HAVE SOME LEFT AT O’DELL’S!”

Total silence.

We turned our heads back to the screen. Just an empty shot of an empty studio. We laughed again.

“Oh dear,” I said.

“Hope they can get what they need,” Melissa said.

We went back to hugging. I stared at my pile of shovels in the corner. Shiny and new. We were safe. We had what we needed. I had made sure of it.