The immediate response was fire engines, caution tape, police interviews, and certainly hugs for my brother. I wish I had been the one to fall in. The response was quick and then over in a flash. Like the public just wanted to go on with their lives. The caution tape slapped in the wind and a week later we were still waiting for the chain link fence that was supposed to go around the hole to protect outsiders from falling in.
Dad put his extension ladder down to the bottom one morning.
“What are you doing?” we asked.
“I just need to get some of our stuff back. It’s still down there,” he replied. He was right. He had a shovel down there and there were a handful of baseballs and other yard stuff still sitting at the bottom.
“Don’t follow me down,” he warned.
So we waited until he was at the bottom and lifting his shovel before we made our way down the ladder.
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