Don’t Quit

Brat Boy and Char left and I went back to digging. My shovel hit a rock. I tried to dig around it. The rock was huge. I cursed under my breath.  “You just gonna stare at me?” I yelled at the frogs.” No reply.

I flipped the rock onto the slope of the creek bed. The next flip was going to be uphill. I put my back into it, felt something shift and knew I was going to be in pain the next day. The frogs kept staring. “I know a French restaurant that would be happy to have you on the menu.”

When I had the rock halfway up the slope, I wanted to quit, let the rock fall down, cover it in clay, and pretend I didn’t know it was there.

I pushed the rock over, thought I couldn’t possibly do it again, got my legs into it, and heaved the rock onto level ground.

 As I sat to down to rest, I realized every time I came to the pond I’d get to sit on that rock and be glad I hadn’t quit. 

Today I won’t quit.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/