Short Story: The Dirt Diggers

The Dirt Diggers

by Floyd Looney


The dirty, bare-footed child is dressed in rags, using a stick to dig in the dirt. She is looking for “things”, anything that could be useful or valuable. Something valuable might be a piece of tin or aluminum or anything that can be sold for some small change. She was not the only child out in the fields digging but she was one of the youngest.

The loudspeakers spoke again “Everyone pays their fair share of the burden”

There is something there, the little girl realized. She looks around to make sure none of the older or bigger kids see her react to it. Then she digs all around the object, it seems to be a few inches across and a bit deeper than across. Soon she has pulled it out of the wet ground and started rubbing off the dirt.

The loudspeakers chirped again, it was being especially chatty today “We all give things up for the common good.”

It was an old cup, a mug or coffee cup that was missing a handle, otherwise it seemed to be in good condition. She stood up and ran back to the tarp-covered hovel that was her home. “Mama” she said “Mama, I found something”

The loudspeaker, Mama calls it the lie-speaker spoke again “Obedience is patriotic”

Mama dipped into some muddy water outside in a bucket and shook off as much dirt as she could and took a good look at it. No cracks in the cheap ceramic except for the missing handle. She looked close and could make out the faded wording on the mug. “Worlds #1 Brat” she whispered and smirked.

“Egalitarianism is next to Godliness” the chirp from above announced.

“We shall put it with the other things” Mama said and gave the girl a hug “Maybe we can sell it in the town when we go”

The city is where the people with money live, they have cars and helicopters and plenty of food and robot servants. The kids go to school and grown folk have things called jobs. That is where all the important government people lived.

“Shared responsibility for shared prosperity, it is the law of the land”

After this the girl was happy to return to her digging. She felt that this was a lucky day.