the hole

  

   The cold tea was just the thing for my mouth and throat but I was still hot and sweaty so I turned on the hose and let the cold water run down my back, across my chest and then cascade down my not so thin stomach. Damn, it felt good.

   I soaked my hat in the water, put it back on my head and admired the hole I had just dug. I looked up at the sun thinking that it had to be over 90 degrees and it wasn't even noon. I let the water run over my head  and down my body again.

   I was proud of the work that I had just completed. I had started at 7 AM and the hole was almost 5 feet deep. I know that some folks might think that I wasn't moving all that fast and maybe they would be right. But, digging a 5 deep hole that is 3 feet wide on all sides was a good piece of work for a 70 year old man. I accomplished my hole with a pick and shovel and a lot of swearing at the rocks.

   I stood above the hole, using the shovel to lean on and wondered how much deeper it needed  to be. I scratched my head and thought for a few minutes before I realized that I couldn't remember  what I was digging the hole for. I decided that maybe some more tea and the shade of my patio might be the best thing for me because I might have been suffering from heat stroke.

   Maybe as soon as I cooled down I might remember why I was digging the hole. As I mulled over my problem, my wife came home from her soccer match (yes, she plays soccer) and as she walked through the patio she asked, "What's the hole for"?

   Now, I wasn't about to tell her that I couldn't remember what the hole was for, so I told I was making a Koi pond.

  "That will be nice," she replied. "When you finish that will you dig a hole for the new mail box like I asked you to?"