Did you ever just feel the dirt beneath you? Rub your hands in it? Roll around in the mud as a kid? Of course you did. Like the song goes, “It’s red rust clay you grew up on”.
Do you know how much a cubic yard of dirt weighs? Approximately 1 ton. Heavier than you thought? Yea me too. It sneaks up on you. A fissure in an excavation wall you didn’t notice, running water, excess weight on the trench wall, or just a section of ground that decides today is not your lucky day. Anything that can keep the dirt from staying stable will and BAM the next thing you know you’re surrounded by darkness, swallowed amongst the cool clay of Mother Earth.
It’s not a quick death either, but it isn’t necessarily painful. Ok I can wiggle my toes on both feet , all good there, finger wiggle, also good. Now what? Well I guess I’ll just sit here and wait until someone digs me out. Can’t take too long right?
OH GOD HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?? Is it seconds? No, no it’s only been a few minutes ….right? Shit. Ok check your toes and fingers..all good there again. Alright maybe I can wiggle my foot around and AHA! There we go, the dirt’s shifting a little bit. Ok just gotta keep this up and maybe I can work enough mud around to get some mobility. What is that a rock? Well I’m not moving that with my foot. Alright let me try my hands.
Well, it doesn’t seem to be working, every movement, every little progress just compacts the dirt onto my extremities from the weight above. Hey at least the slight breeze I can feel on my face means there’s air coming from somewhere. WHAT IS CRAWLING ON MY FACE?! Calm down. It’s nothing that will hurt you just let it be. DID SOMETHING JUST SQUIRM UP MY PANT LEG?! Relax. You’re wasting whatever little air you do have. Why is my chest getting tight?
Do you know what that’s from? No you’re not having a heart attack or suffering from heart failure. What’s happening to you, every time you exhale, the dirt shifts to fill the empty space between your chest and what lays on top of you. Just a little bit of movement each time. Each breath slowly, getting smaller and smaller as the Earth begins to squeeze the life out of you. You don’t realize it’s happening at first, and when you do you start to panic. Maybe you calm yourself but by then it’s too late. Each breath becomes more and more exhausting. All u feel is the pressure building around you until it’s so tight, that you can no longer expand your lungs to take a breath. The Earth reached and grabbed you in its’ hand, and squeezed the life out of you. She held onto you just tight enough to know that you were hers, and there was nothing you could do about it.