Writing Prompt #2
28-Mar-06
Writing Prompt: You’ve discovered an underground shelter on the farm you just bought. Describe it. When was it built? What was it used for?
(From WritersDigest.com)
The Shelter
I found it out back, about fifty yards from the house, just by the small wooden storage shed that had been used to keep the push mower, hedge trimmers, and the like. The realtor didn’t mention anything about it. Neither did the old lady that sold us the farm. I don’t know if she forgot about it or didn’t want to mention it. I can’t imagine anyone forgetting about a place like this though. How does a person forget they have a fallout shelter?
My wife and I were excited about the mystery of it. I even found it by accident, as if it didn’t want to be remembered. I had noticed a patch of dirt with little grass, and when I went to work up the soil a bit to scatter some grass seed that’s when I heard the metal clink as I struck the dirt with my rake. It didn’t take much to uncover the lid. It was a hatch really, a domed circular lid with a handle placed at the top. I stared at it for a long time in the heat of the day, the cicadas humming in the background from the ancient oak tree in the side yard. I thought maybe it was some kind of storage tank, for heating oil or even fertilizer. Finally I opened it with a great upward pull. There was a hissing sound, as if a hundred years of trapped air was making a run for it. I peered into the hole, but could see only a metal ladder, welded to the side of the tubular hatch, descending into blackness.
(more…)