Young Writers Society

Heavy rain splattered onto the windshield of the old car, hailing down from the ashen clouds beneath the setting sun. The old wipers creaked and squeaked as they splashed the warm water onto the cold roads. The old wheels rumbled obnoxiously as they rolled staggeringly, carrying the old and lumbering car down the old and lumbering country road, so very far from his comfortable abode. Old, old, old.

He listened to the news on the radio to see what was new in his community, but there was nothing interesting. He turned to the classic rock station, mortified when they started playing Photograph by Nickelback. He cursed under his breath, hammering the radio back off once again.

And so in silence he drove. And he drove, and he drove, and he drove some more until his car came to a creaking halt next to an old creek. He turned an eye to the fuel gauge and low behold – he was on empty.

He got out of the car and hurried over to the back, popping over to the trunk as the rain began to worsen. He grabbed his rusty shovel and turned around, witnessing a single strike of lightning off in the distance. Unfazed by the force of nature, he shut the trunk and took off towards the creek.

Crickets chirped and tadpoles swam to and about. He looked at the shovel and gripped it with one hand, tossing it into the water with a loud splash. He fell to his knees and took a deep breath, absorbing the pain of the fall.

He unfolded his hands and looked to his palms, gazed longingly at his long and narrow fingers. And he dug those fingers into the cold and wet soil, scooping a small amount of earth into his fingers.

He dropped it onto the grass. Looked at the dirt below him and saw he’d created a small hole of his own doing. He stuck the fingers into the hole and clawed it to make it an even bigger hole. His eyes glanced out to the creek, as he wondered for the moment whether or not it was a mistake throwing his shovel away.

He shook his head, returning his eyes and fingers to the dirt beneath him.

Morning came. A wonderful springtime feeling in the air, birds singing and airplanes rumbling pleasantly within the bright blue skies. Dr. Sembagh looked to the creek and saw a young man no older than twenty-five standing there. In front of the young man was a hole, a great big hole in the ground right next to mountains and fields of removed dirt.

“What the hell?” Dr. Sembagh wriggled his eyebrows and curled his fingers in confusion, pulling his car over to the side of the road. “What are you…? Jesus Christ.” He rolled his eyes, exiting the car and storming over towards the man.

His hands on his hips, he stared silently at the young man, and the tired young man stared back at him silently. “What are you doing?” Dr. Sembagh asked.

“I’m digging,” the young man responded. “I’ve been at it for a while now but I still have much more to cover. Did you want to help?”

“Help? Yeah, I’ve got nothing better to do with my day than help you dig holes in the ground,” Dr. Sembagh sarcastically said.

“Then why did you get out of your car?” the young man asked. “Why did you care so much about what I was doing?”

Dr. Sembagh opened his mouth to speak, but the words weren’t there.

The young man shrugged his shoulders, digging his red hands into the gaping hole and removing clunks of dirt from the edges. “Then let me ask you another question,” he said. “Have you ever lost anyone close to you?”

Dr. Sembagh rolled his eyes. “I’m a doctor,” he said. “I’m a very successful one, at that. I don’t have time to be talking to you about my personal life.”

“Then don’t,” the young man yawned, continuing to fling clumps of dirt onto the surrounding grasses. “Just leave me to my digging.”

The doctor turned towards his car, then back towards the young man. He walked towards his car, then towards the gaping hole. “I did lose someone close to me,” he admitted. “I had a nephew once. Name was Marcus. Anyhow, have you ever heard of something called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?”

“Err…I don’t think so,” the young man laughed.

“It’s a heart condition that Marcus had. I tried my best to find a cure for him, but nothing seemed to work. One day, I got a call from his mother crying her eyes out. He’d died at the age of thirteen, just like that! Right at his school desk. Just collapsed and died, right there, right in front of everyone.”

Dr. Sembagh went quiet, expecting the young man to say something. When he didn’t say a word, the doctor continued. “Marcus always told his friends at school that I'd cure him. That his uncle was a doctor and that he was going to get better. But I didn't. I couldn't cure him, and that was my greatest failure as a doctor and as a human being. Ever since then, it’s been my obsession to find the cure for his disease. I haven’t even slept a full night knowing that there are still kids dropping dead because of that thing.”

“Is that why?” The young man continued digging, not once looking in the doctor’s direction. “Is it because in the back of your heart, you know there are people still suffering from this disease, or is it more like an ego thing? Maybe you’re just hung up about it because you think you can accomplish everything you want, and you can’t get over the fact that you might fail at something every now and then.”

“…”

“…”

Dr. Sembagh shook his head back and forth. “Why did I even get out of my car?”

The young man’s legs dangled inside of the gaping hole, as he once more began pulling clusters of dirt from inside of it. “My mother always said that there’s beauty to be found here on the earth,” the young man explained. “But I’ve been all around the world, and I haven’t found it yet.”

“…”

“My parents are both dead now,” the young man shrugged. “My mother wasn’t perfect, but she never lied to me. That’s why I think there’s beauty somewhere here on earth. That’s why I’m digging.”

“And what happens if you don’t find your beauty in this gaping hole?”

The young man laughed. “Then I just go and dig elsewhere.”

Dr. Sembagh sighed. Looked up to the shifting clouds up above, then down to the creek and gaping hole where the young man dragged clumps of dirt out.

He walked to the hole and sat at the edge, and the two began digging together.