Playing in dirt

Of course we made a bee-line to my back yard, and I grabbed a shovel to dig at the divot site.

“‘Ziah…   what in the world are you doing?”

“Oh, hey mom, we’re looking for that meteorite that fell that night.”

“Oh, you think there’s something left?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Hello, Mo and Kimberly,” Mom said cheerfully.

“Hey Mrs. Thompson,” they said in unison.

Kimberly punched Mo’s shoulder, and Mo said, “See, she loves me.”

“Dream on, handsome,” Kimberly retorted.

Mom said, “Be sure to put all that dirt back and put the grass back on top.”

“Yes Ma’am,” I said.

Then my friend said, “Be careful when you remove it, Josiah, the earth around it will be useful.”

“I have to be careful when I remove it, since the dirt around it will be useful,” I said to Mo and Kimberly.

“This is all crazy,” said Kimberly.

Mo asked, “How do you know the dirt will be useful, JET?”

“Because my friend just told me,” I responded as I dug around the divot.

“Seriously,” Kimberly asked rhetorically.

“He is speaking to you now, JET?” asked Mo excitedly.

“It’s like we’ve been on a long phone call and never hung up. We only talk when we have something to say,” I explained.

“So you’re hearing voices right now…?” Kimberly asked.

“Not RIGHT now, but a moment ago. I wonder how deep it is in the ground.”

Just then I raised the clump of dirt that I had dug around and it felt like it was caught on a root. I leaned harder on the shovel and it popped free, sending dirt into the air and all over Kimberly.

“JET!” she yelled, and brushed it off her arms, t-shirt, and jeans.

But as we looked on, the dirt disappeared, as if it was absorbed by her skin and clothing.

“Tell Kimberly to rub the dirt all over her skin and clothing, Josiah.”

“My friend says you should rub more of the dirt all over your skin and clothing, Kimberly.”

“Are you CRAZY, JET? You want me to wallow in the dirt because you’re hearing voices?”

“What about me?” Mo asked excitedly.

“I got nothing for you yet, Mo.”

“Ugh!” said Mo, as he stooped down to look at what I dug up.

“You see, you absorbed it, Kimberly. Your clothes are not even dirty with all the dirt that got on you.”

“That’s because I wiped it off, JET. You saw me do it.”

“Only one way to find out which of us is right. You’ve always said you only believe empirical evidence. Well, if you get dirty then you can say for sure I’m crazy; but if you absorb it, you have to believe that my friend is real and I’m not crazy.”

“I still think you’re crazy, but I’ll put some on my shoe and see what happens.”

So I sprinkled some of the dirt on her shoe and it just sat there. She said, “See?”

But when she tried to brush it off with her hand, it absorbed into her shoe and hand.

Mo yelled, “Ya ‘ilahi!  Did you see it go?”

Kimberly said, “Wait a minute.” She reached down, picked up some dirt, looked at it closely, then slowly rubbed her fingers together, and it melted into her fingers. “Fascinating…” she said. She then picked up a handful and rang her hands with it. Most of it absorbed; the remainder she rubbed her arms with, and it absorbed.

Mo and I stood there watching as Kimberly began to rub dirt all over herself, everywhere but her hair and face. “My hair and face too?”  she asked me, wide-eyed.

“Yes,” my friend said.

Kimberly spun around. “Who said that?”

Mo stood up. “Said what?”

I said, “You heard my friend too?”

Kimberly’s eyes were so wide now.

Mo plopped down. “I want to wallow in the dirt too!”

She began to wipe the dirt in her hair and on her face, and just like on her clothes and the rest of her body, it absorbed without a trace.

“Don’t forget your back,” our friend said.

Kimberly handed me some dirt and turned around, so I wiped it all over her back, and it too absorbed.

“Is that the stone?” Mo asked, as he looked closely at the dirt.

My friend said, “Tell him to pick up the stone.”

“Pick up the stone, Mo.”

Mo looked at me, then Kimberly, and grinned. He then picked up the stone, and as we watched, a purple and green mist came out of the stone like a million stands of thread and moved along Mo’s hand, arm, shoulder and neck, and then engulfed his whole body.

“It tingles!” Mo laughed. Then it was gone.

“Give the stone to Josiah.”

Mo said, “It’s the voice of your friend, JET.”

“Our friend,” I said.

Mo handed me the stone.