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I wanted more

The earth, still cool and hard, nearly bent the spoon in half Woozy, I stuarden spade somewhere, or maybe a shovel? I knocked down half of Jesse’s tools, but I found a rusty old digger behind a pile of rakes

My nor suburban yard appeared dark and round, flipping up a chunk of sod, and then another and another, continuing on, stopping only once, to open up another bottle of wine

CHAPTER 5

The alarm blared, but I awakened slowly, reflexes dulled by the heavy weight of a wine hangover My pillow felt gritty against my cheek, and when I raised my head, more dried dirt fell from my hair onto the white linen

Dirt was everywhere Sernails Grains of it stuck to the inside of my bra When I hauled myself up, I could see h I’d charred theht

Mees How long had I stayed out in the backyard, stabbing at the ground? Gingerly, I walked over to theto sneak a peek and found th and width of a grave

"Fuuuuuuck"

I’d have to worry about resodding it later I’d have to put off evaluatingfor nine in the , and here I was, dirty as an unsupervised toddler, with nothing to wear (why hadn’t I done laundry yesterday?) and nothing to show Lukas (why hadn’t I worked last night?) I would think in the shower The best thoughts came in the shower

Except when the shoas so icy the droplets felt like tiny needles pricking the skin (why hadn’t I asked Jesse who to call?) I stayed in the shower only long enough to rinse the dirt off, shivered in a towel until I could find the suit I wore yesterday, and attempted to make myself presentable

When I left for work, Mr Eckhardt was standing in front of a pile of dandelion carcasses, his long pale index finger shaking with the effort to command my attention