Angel Digs

For heavens sake, the heat seems like it is melting everything around me. The bougainvillea spilling over the rusty fence is droopy instead of pointing up to the blue sky in hot pick victory. The once green grass is now all torn up since my truck has been digging up the dirt every time I'm here. Dry, brown, sad. The blue, filthy rag I wipe over my forehead is filled with sweat, you know the kind, it's dry and wet at the same time but hey, I'm not here for a pretty boy contest.

My thoughts wander over to Chloe, my bride of a couple of years, who loves this red, dirt land. See, we met at the university, such an odd pairing of a city boy and a country girl. I had dreams of being a big time lawyer, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, it didn't matter to me. I wanted the modern building so I could look out of my office window, like the ones in the movies, you know, a Big Shot window. Ah, but Chloe, a soon to be famous interior design student, or so she hoped, changed that brilliant idea. After bumping into me and spilling her beer all over my new shirt, I might add, at a student drama production of My Fair Lady one night, she toppled my world. In mere moments, I knew I wanted to be with this fiery, intelligent, compassionate soul no matter where this journey took me. Well, here I am, sitting on a dusty, broken, blue paint faded wooden porch on a house that nature has done a good job of reclaiming.

We come out here, driving 8 miles out of town, every chance we get to make this ugly duckling, worn out cottage into a farm "chateau" as Chloe calls it. You guessed it! The school production of changing the poor, unrefined lass into something of an elegant, educated lady gave her the inspiration. Chloe has all kind of lofty plans to turn this place around but I have to constantly tell her that we really do need to stick to the dreaded budget. She tosses her head in that "I'll show you" maneuver and I understand that ultimately she will get her way, someday, somehow. The small town attorney firm where I handle mostly small land contracts and civil disputes, doesn't have the big glass window of my dreams. Instead, there is a green plant in an old clay pot that sits in front of my single, cobwebbed window, that hopes to catch of the sun's rays.

I take the last sip of out of my Starbucks tumbler that was filled with fresh made lemonade from a dry powder packet found at the local grocery store. Chloe was so proud of making this, you see, for a country girl, she's not a cook so that packet was the next best thing to homemade in her mind. I get up to tackle the last bit of work to be done before I head back to our tiny apartment we have rented until our homestead is once again livable. I lift up the claw hammer to start taking out nails in the old wall. The small screech sound that the nails make when I tug is satisfying. One, two, three, I count as I make a rhythm in my head. Done the last one! Now, I can go home but then I remember I had promised Chloe I would remove the wallpaper today in the soon to be living room. Talk about ugly! Faded green birds sitting in a fake gilded cage print just looking at me in defiance of my intention. My glove starts to tear away the paper that easily broke off into my hands. I rip off pieces, some small, some large quickly so I can end this project on this miserable sweltering day. Suddenly, something fell and I jumped, like I had been bit, thinking it might be a bat lurking in the walls. I cautiously looked down and in between the joists was a dusty, little black book, the kind you in which you would put addresses from the era of my parents or grandparents. I started to toss it in the dirty bird wallpaper pile but curiosity go the best of me and I opened it. I had to go outside to see the penciled words that reminded me of a first graders hand writing. The letters said "find the biggest rock in the back yard and dig until you hit the box". Huh? Well, I didn't have time to dig and a shovel was nowhere in sight so I shoved the book in my front pants pocket and decided I was ready to go home, step into a hot shower and wash this day out of my mind.

I tossed what few tools I had into the truck bed and climbed into the seat but the simple words just would not leave my mind. I got out, went around to the back of the property and saw a pick ax leaning up against that wooden fence. I had never noticed that ax sitting there before, was it a sign from the angels to start digging? No more lemonade left and the light of the day was dimming but what the heck said my tired mind. There was no mistaking the big gray rock, it stuck out like a sore thumb at the edge of the yard. But where to dig? I decided that if I was going to hide something I would put it right in the far corner where the fence, dirt and rock met on the ground. If you have never dug up red clay before you are in for a surprise, hard as a rock and it does not give you an inch of hope in breaking its earthly bond. I hit the ground time and time again with the ax and little luck but then I get smart. I get some water from a puddle left from a garden hose and poured on the ground, ok, I made mud but the ax work got easier. My arms are tired and forgotten muscles were telling me to stop but he sound of wood being chipped caught my attention. I used my glove to reach down the muddy hole and felt a bulge. A metal box emerged now wet and slippery. My heart raced and my brain said it was probably a dead animal that was revered and loved from the former owners so I was a little freaked out about opening and seeing the contents. I had gone this far so I lifted the lid and low and behold was another box inside. I felt like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, "ahoy mate, what do we have here" I said to no one listening. I jerked the lid up in anticipation and found cold, hard cash. Was it stolen money? Was it drug money? My mind raced to all kinds of menacing thoughts but I counted out all the bills laid out in front of me. Are you kidding me! $20,000 in my big, grimy hands! As I gathered the pile in a state of shock a folded piece of paper fell out with words that brought tears to my eyes. "To whomever finds this money, it is yours. Free and clear of harm to anyone. By the sweat of my brow, I saved this money for my angel, my bride, for a house that was worthy of her beauty and love but she left me one day before the wedding to the held here, on this property. May your home be filled with the love, hope and happiness that I had dreamed of".

My head starts to spin, I can't breathe, I need to lie down and the only thought that comes to mind is to scream out loud, Chloe, remember what Professor Higgins said so long ago when we met? "I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things I've never done before."

This is for you, Chloe, my angel, my love.