Shelley climbed
down the ladder first followed by the angels. The rainwater had soaked into
the dirt floor and left behind soggy leaves, sticks and piles of muddy dirt
that had fallen into the hole when the stump had been removed. The room was a
mess.
The four
flashlights shined around the room casting eerie shadows on the walls. “This
was probably a root cellar or some storage area. See the bins built into the
wall,” Shelley said shining her flashlight into cubby holes. The root cellar had
the appearance of a cave. The walls had rounded corners and appeared to be
elongated. It looked like it had been dug like a hole in the ground.
“Whatever was in
the bins is dirt now,” Jason said shining his flashlight into a bin that
appeared to be full of crumbled dirt.
“Potatoes Jason.
Those were potatoes,” Eric said looking over Jason’s shoulder.
“How do you know
that stuff was potatoes?” Jason asked squatting to look closer in the bin.
“It says so. See,
here,” Eric pointed to a piece of wood nailed above the bin with faint
lettering on it. “It says potatoes.”
“Oh yeah. So what’s
in the other ones?” Jason asked, swinging his flashlight to the next bin.
Shelley smiled as
Eric and Jason put their heads together to look in the other bins along with
wall. Jonathan stood next to her as she shined her flashlight on an adjacent
wall which was covered with shelving. Some of the shelves had old jars that
were black with dirt. Roots had invaded the cellar and it appeared mice had
used the roots to enter the abandoned room. Collections of twigs, string and
fur lined the shelves and jars making a home for the mice.
“Look Shelley,”
Jonathan said shining his light at the floor. “Are those sticks?”
“Probably sticks,”
Shelley said stooping to get a better look. A dark brown ball covered with root
threads was nestled among the sticks. She picked up the ball and rolled it in
her hands to knock the roots off. Shining her flashlight on the ball, Shelley started
at seeing two empty eye sockets gaze back at her and she dropped it with a shriek.
“That’s a skull. These aren’t sticks Jon, they’re bones.”
