Good morning all. Today the sound of drip, drip, dripping will form most of the sound track of the day. it is still cold, but managed to warm up just enough to start melting things down. I don’t mind the melting, I just hope it melts and runs off before darkness brings cooler temps and causes ice to form in inconvenient places. Like roadways and sidewalks. But for the moment I am tucked snug in the dry with the coffee pot brewing. Don’t you think the scent of coffee wafting through the air on a morning like this is something sort of magical? maybe it is just me. So while the coffee brews, lets dive into our morning prompt. then I’ll feel virtuous for waiting for my magically scented cup. So timers set and off we go.
Not bad. I kind of wonder what’s in the sink hole and if Stan’s father has seen them before. Perhaps they are becoming common in the area. Something to think about.
Tuesday, January 18th: They watched with growing horror.
They watched with growing horror. The sink hole just kept getting bigger. It started off as a small hole, maybe about the size of a pancake. It rapidly grew to a small, medium and now large pizza size and it didn’t seem to be stopping.
“Do you think we should tell anyone?” Colin asked. Normally Stan would have shaken his head no and then just left it hoping no adult noticed or if they did, that they didn’t connect it with them. But this was something different. They may have found it, but he didn’t think they caused it. Normally that wouldn’t matter, e knew they’d get blamed.
This time it was different. This time it looked…dangerous. While Stan was usually fine with most sorts of danger and had accomplished more dangerous stunts on his bike than any of the others, as well as having more trips to the emergency room, this sort of danger was different. It left a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was something different. More of the edges crumbled, enlarging the hole.
“Yeah,” Stan said. “We need to tell.” He looked around. They were in Stan’s back yard, but they were close to the edge of it. If the hole grew much bigger, it would pass the invisible line into Colin’s yard. “I’ll tell my folks and you tell yours,” Stan said. “Then we’ll meet back here.”
Colin nodded and as one they each turned and raced back into their respective houses.
Stan found his parents in the kitchen. They were smiling and laughing, talking about going out to the movies and wondering if his grandma would come around and watch him on such short notice. Stan forgot his father had the day off today and wondered if his presence would be a good thing or not. He swallowed hard as both of his parent’s faces swiveled towards him. Their amusement faded as they took in the unusual seriousness of his expression.
“You guys need to come see this.” He told them.
“What is is son,” His dad asked, already half rising from his chair.
“I don’t know,” Stan confessed. “Colin went to get his folks too.”
His parents exchanged a look and without a word his father stood fully, nodded an gestured toward the door.
“Show us,” He was told. Stan nodded and turned leading his parents back towards the hole in the ground. Colin was already back, his mother staring in wide eyed shock beside him. Colin’s father didn’t have the day off, Stan remembered. He was supposed to, but got called in for an emergency. By now, the hole was the size of the family car. In fact Stan was certain it could have swallowed the family car. And the hole was getting bigger. Dirt was still crumbling from around the edges as though the hole was a hungry mouth nibbling at the edges.
The hole had crossed officially from Stan’s yard and was now working its way into Colin’s.
“Stand back from the edges all of you,” Stan’s father warned them. “It’s a sink hole. We don’t know how large it will get. Delia, have you called it in?”
Colin’s mom shook her head. “No, I just….came out to see.”
“Okay then, I’ll call it in. You might want to Call Steve and let him know what’s going on. Just stay away from the edges of the hole. Watch it to see if it is growing faster or slowing down.”
Everyone nodded as he left them to go back to the house to call in someone official.
Ten til Midnight 