"It's a machete, it's supposed to be intimidating," Roger said as he continued to continued to dig.

"But, isn't it dangerous. I mean, do you know how to use it?" Conroy had stopped digging and had begun to just stare at the weapon that hung from Roger's belt.

"Yeah, it's dangerous. That's the whole idea. I have this with me and then if we run into someone we don't want to run in to, even though I doubt that will happen, they will be less likely to give us a problem when they see I've got a machete in my hand."

"Are you going to kill someone? Could you kill someone? Have you used the machete before?"


Roger stopped digging and looked over at Conroy. "Look, it's something I've had in my garage for a long time. I had an uncle who used to use it for yard work. He gave it to me because I thought it was cool when I was a kid. I was coming to get you and I saw it on my wall and thought I should bring it along. It's a deterrent. I don't have it to cause trouble, I have it to avoid trouble. People who carry machetes around in the city are generally crazy, right? So, I have this with me while we're trying to find whatever these clues are leading us to and people will just think we're a couple of strange maybe crazy people. And if anyone else is around looking for whatever it is we're looking for they'll think I'm crazy and steer clear of us. I'm not going to use the machete. Unless we maybe run into some really heavy brush."

At the end of his sentence Roger stuck the shovel hard into the ground and he heard a sharp metal on metal sound. He and Conroy looked at one another. Conroy picked up the hand trellis and got on his knees at the edge of where Roger had been digging. The dug more carefully and slowly the more solid part of the ground began to take on the shape of an oval.


More later?

LW