I think we should build a hole

“Scott, I’ve been thinking.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yup.”
“I think we should build a hole.”
“A hole? Why a hole?”
“Why, you ask?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, why not?”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Every kids done it. You know you have. I'm not quite sure why. A hole? What's so exciting about a hole? I think some kids do it with the intent to dig to China (What always got me about that one is where do the kids in China dig holes to?) Some probably do it bury hidden treasure. Maybe if I had any treasure growing up I would have been tempted to bury it. (I lost all my treasure about three minutes after I got it.) Some kids might do it with the intention of building a bomb shelter. You never know when it might come in handy. (I personally was never too worried about bombs and dying, but I'm sure some weird kids do.) Whatever your reason, you had fun. It was a good time.
When we moved into our new house I was eight and Scott was five. (Kelly must have been about two. I think we were just trying to wean her from a pacifier at the time.) We had a big back yard. Scott got a swing set for his birthday from our Skinny Grandma. (You see, we had a Skinny Grandma and a Fat Grandma. That's what we called them-- till Fat Grandma went off and got skinny on us this past year. Crazy.) There was a big spot that had rocks and bushes--landscaping of some sort I'm sure. Then there was the sand pit. I wouldn't exactly call it a sand box. The wood that enclosed the sand (not really even sand at all, but dirt) was uneven and poorly laid around the area. It was not smooth, but full of hills. When Scott and I looked at, we saw potential.
Every Saturday, Scott and I had to get out the shovels and clean up the yard full of dog poop. We sure did love our dog, Duke, but honestly, he was a big dog. Was it really worth having this dog after we saw how much he pooped? I guess so cause we were out there every Saturday shoveling up the poo. I got the big nice shovel because I was older. (Duh.) Poor Scott got the lame little shovel that just got stuck in the grass and dirt better than it did at picking up after the dog.
After a long (probably about 30 minutes) day of shoveling up after the dog, we decided to dig our hole. It was surprisingly hard. (Remember, we were just two little kids.) After digging most of the day we were dismayed to see that our hole was more like a little divot of dirt missing from the spot we had picked. Though discouraged, we dug that hole whenever we had time (and weren't grounded from beating each other) and when we were done with all our other chores.
One day, many months after we had started (okay, probably more like weeks) we were satisfied with our hole. It was big enough to fit Scott and I in it up to about our necks. We got the bright idea to fill that hole with water. It took a long time to fill. We couldn't shut the water off because the dirt would suck all the moisture up. (We lived in a desert you know.) We ran in the house and threw our bathing suits on and decided to go swimming in our new swimming pool. It sure was cold and muddy, but man even those kids in California would have been jealous of our swimming pool! While splashing around and throwing mud at each other, I noticed something. There, hooked to the side of our house was this pipe thing. (You know--a drainage tube from the gutters.) I didn't know what it was but I just knew it would make a perfect water slide. (Not for us, crazies, but for the G.I. Joes!!) We ran to the garage and got some of our dads tools and more less tore that pipe off the house. We ran down to the basement (isn't it sad that houses don't have basements anymore) and grabbed our handfuls of little military men. We stuck the hose in the top of the pipe and turned the water on. It was perfect!! We'd stick those little camouflaged guys in the top and out they'd shoot. It was great fun. (Barbies were too big to fit down the hole, but matchbox cars worked well.) The only bummer about our whole plan was finding those little guys. Not only did the dirt suck up the water, but it sucked up those poor little men too. (I'm sure many an honorable G.I. Joe is buried there to this day.)
One Saturday, after cleaning up after the dog, we set off to play with the ultimate water slide. We didn't have any men left so we grabbed our shovels and started hunting. Our little sister was out there with us that day, probably mostly watching. (I do remember she brought out when of her My Little Ponies--you know, the one I gave her for her birthday that I bought with my own money--and chucked it in the hole. She didn't really like her Pony, the punk.) After digging a bit, I felt a plastic like clink against my shovel I reached my hand down and out came a pacifier. (We called them jo jo's--I think cause my dad called it that as a kid.) Kelly yelled, "Jo Jo!!!" and grabbed it. Who knows how it got there, but remember we were trying to wean her of it. She hadn't had one it weeks. It must have been fate or something cause my mom was looking out the window to check on Kell or something and saw her with the pacifier in her mouth. She rushed out to snatch it. As she was reaching to grab it, she looked our at the hole. Her eyes got kind of big and she got this look in her eye. Great. We knew that look. We were in trouble. Apparently our cool sand box wasn't a sand box, but a garden. Opps. How were we to know. My mom freaked out and made us grab the shovels and start filling up our great hold. We were so upset. We loved that hole. Amazingly enough we didn't fight with each other when we were working on the hole. (I partly blame my mom for the fact that Scott and I never really got along for years after we had to get rid of the hole.) It was a tragic day for the two of us.
I never ever dug another hole after that. I was too traumatized I think. But digging that hole sure was fun. (I'm sure Scott would agree with me there.) Just remember when your kids dig a hole in your garden or something that you probably did that when you were a kid too. Don't get too mad at them. They're just kids you know.