Buried

My older brother Kevin bought his first house from my aunt and uncle who had owned it for 10 or so years. At the very back of the back yard was fairly large hill or berm or abutment (I don't know what you call it) which the tracks to the local commuter train ran. Once Kevin had kids he decided to install a fence around the perimeter of his back yard.

The fencing company that was due to come out in the next couple of days needed Kevin dig up some bushes to prep the area. At that time he, my cousin Bryan T and I all worked together at various nightclubs in the city. Since we mostly worked at night and slept during the day most of the home projects he worked were all done at odd ball hours. Kevin started digging in the early evening hours. As the sun started to set, a light rain started to fall, when Kevin's shovel hit something other than dirt. With the daylight fading he had a hard time figuring out what was in the hole. He moved more dirt to discover an old torn up plastic bag. He tried to pull the bag out but most of it was still buried. After several tries to yank the bag free it tore open in his hands to reveal bones. Lots of bones. Kevin was bit freaked out.

The rain became heavier. The back yard was dark except for the yellow glow from the old porch light which cast long shadows across the slope of the yard. Kevin continued to dig in a wider area around the bones. Half an hour later Kevin had dug up the remains of what he guessed was a fairly large dog. Kevin then made two phone calls. The first call was to our aunt, the previous owner of the home to confirm that she indeed at one time had a dog. She did. She confirmed that the dog Kevin had dug up was hers. The second call was to Bryan T. Kevin asked if Bryan could bring his pick-up truck because Kevin needed to dispose of something.

Bryan T showed up at Kevin's house a little bit later. Kevin called him into the back yard and asked Bryan to help him lift a rolled up carpet into the back of the truck. Kevin asked Bryan to take the carpet to one of the dumpsters at one of the nightclubs. It was dark. It was raining. There was a big hole in the yard and a shovel sticking out of it. Bryan never asked any questions and rode off with the carpet.

I have been told this story several times over the years from both Kevin's and Bryan's perspective. The story makes me laugh every time. I have not heard it in a while and my re-telling it here may be slightly embellished.

I was reminded of this story two days ago when I was digging a hole in our backyard. The hole was for our cat Bogart who died on Tuesday. I don't mean to be rude, but I chuckled to myself as I dug that hole thinking about Kevin and Bryan. I don't know who was more scared; Bryan for seeing the large hole and shovel and being asked to dispose of a rolled up carpet, or Kevin, because Bryan never asked any questions and acted like this happened to him all the time.