The Barbed-Wire Kiss (2003)
“He leapt the creek carefully, made his way through the willows. When he was about two hundred yards from the house, he found the blackberry tangle that was his landmark. He stood in one spot and turned slowly, watching the ground, until he spotted the cement well cap, half hidden in the undergrowth.
He dropped the knapsack and squatted. Using the pry bar, he tore away vines, then wedged the forked end below the lip of the cap. The concrete grated as he pushed on the bar. When the cap shifted sl...ightly, he sat down in the dirt and used his boot heels to push it away from the opening.
The well had been dry for as long as he could remember. Much of it was caved in now and it was only ten feet at its deepest. Bricks from the shaft wall littered the dirt below.
He lay flat on the ground and reached in. When his fingers found the loose bricks in the wall, he began to pull them out one by one and stack them beside him. By the fourth brick, he’d exposed the hollow space he knew was there, a natural cubbyhole formed by a rock shelf.MoreLess
He dropped the knapsack and squatted. Using the pry bar, he tore away vines, then wedged the forked end below the lip of the cap. The concrete grated as he pushed on the bar. When the cap shifted sl...ightly, he sat down in the dirt and used his boot heels to push it away from the opening.
The well had been dry for as long as he could remember. Much of it was caved in now and it was only ten feet at its deepest. Bricks from the shaft wall littered the dirt below.
He lay flat on the ground and reached in. When his fingers found the loose bricks in the wall, he began to pull them out one by one and stack them beside him. By the fourth brick, he’d exposed the hollow space he knew was there, a natural cubbyhole formed by a rock shelf.MoreLess
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