Little Bit o Writing Monday

The beginning of my short story for class. 

When Dora's son tugged on her pants leg, the last thing she expected was to see him holding a tooth. A tooth that clearly did not belong to him. She was no dentist, but she was smart enough to know the colossal thing couldn't have come from Mark's mouth.

“Mark, where did you find that?” Dora scolded.

“In the backyard.”

“Show me where,” Dora commanded. Excited, Mark ran out to the backyard, Dora following on his heels. He led her over to the back of the yard, to the particular corner that couldn't be seen from the kitchen window. There, her other two children were gathered around a hole in the ground. Hole was an understatement though, they'd obviously been working on this, pit, for quite sometime. If there had been no tooth, Dora would have sat the kids down and explained how digging holes this deep was dangerous because of all the water, electric, and who knows what else lines were under the yard. She'd also have to explain that they would not in fact be able to get to the other side of the earth by digging. But, there was the tooth, so the talks would have to wait.

“You found this in here?” Dora asked. Mark nodded proudly, pointing down into the pit. There was an indentation where the tooth had lain. Nearby, a speck of white caught Dora's eye. When she wasn't able to reach it by bending down alone, Dora instructed her children to stand back and she herself laid down on the ground next to the pit. Ever so gently she brushed the dirt around the speck away. More white was revealed. She brushed and brushed, the white speck turning into a spot, into a circle, and then a very large object. An object embedded deeper in the dirt. Borrowed red plastic shovel in hand, Dora loosened the object. Ever so carefully, she brought the well preserved skull back into the light of day. Then dropped it with a scream.

Dora had a hard time getting her children to leave her side as she retold what had happened to the officer who'd answered her frantic call. Only when a second officer had shown up was she able to walk the man to where the skull lay. A few pieces has broken off from Dora dropping it, but it was obviously a skull. The officer picked it up wearing latex gloves, turning it ever so carefully in his hands.

“Ma'am, I'm going to have to call in someone else to examine this. See if this is a human skull, and if it is, approximately how old it is.” The officer pulled out a cell phone and took a few steps away so that Dora couldn't hear his rushed words. That was when Dora was able to get a good look at the skull. It's wide empty eyes. Holes where nostrils had been. A gap in the teeth, presumably where the tooth Mark had found went. The face seemed to be mocking her, telling her that that this was just the beginning.