By FirefighterSIR
Part 9: Work
“Only 3 more feet!” shouted the Captain just before he began swinging the pick again. The slave did not look up but continued to shovel the dirt and rocks out of the trench he was buried in up to his knees. The sweat ran down into his face and made it hard to see. But when he did take moment to look up, he could see the Captain was right.
They had almost finished the trench, its end marked by a tiny yellow flag snapping in the warm breeze blowing down the length of the canyon. The Captain had taken the lead on the digging, swinging the pick to break up the soil enough for the slave to shovel it out and carve the trench. The only fortunate thing about the project is that it was almost done and that the day had not been hot. The slave had been trying to focus on each shovel full of dirt, pushing himself to complete each toss, not looking up, should he lose focus and strength on another grueling day as the 24/7 labor muscle slave at the Bear Trap Ranch.
Arranged just beyond the tiny flag were 8 concrete piers that the Captain and slave had cast days earlier.
The Captain had decided to build a new truck shelter with a solar array on the roof. That meant digging and casting foundation piers and digging a 200-foot long trench across the dry grass from the camp compound to the new structure. What that meant for the slave was days and days of backbreaking work. The soil of the Bear Trap Ranch had long since given up the last of its moisture to the summer heat and even now, in September, months since the slave had been collared on the ranch, the ground was more like rock than soil.
