What Happened to Anna? by Jennifer Robins
Copyright 2009 Lyrical Press, Inc.

  • What Happened to Anna?
  • Jennifer Robins


    • John stood at the grave, holding the shovel firmly with both hands. With a strong thrust, he drove it into the dirt. “This ground isn’t as hard as I thought it would be,” he said as he pushed the shovel down the second time.

    What a relief for Andrea to know the task might be a little easier for him than previously predicted. This meant John would carry through with his commitment.

    He continued to dig while she held the light close to the gravesite. After almost two hours she began to get tired and sat on the ground by the grave. She had the lantern next to her and held the flashlight on the area. He had gone down about three feet and squared it off as he dug deeper into the earth.

    John looked at her. “It’s getting deeper, and I think it’s more like clay. Get me the large pick, so I can break some of this up.”

    The cloud that had covered the moon moved and the lunar globe shone down once again on the land, providing the much needed light. Shadows moved along the rows of monuments in a rhythmical dance.

    John took a break and joined Andrea on the blanket. “I don’t think it will take much more to reach the casket. I wonder what shape it’s in after all these years?”

    Andrea grinned with surprise to hear John talk with some interest and curiosity. “We’ll find out when we get to it. I’m going to help you dig.” She stood up and walked over to the opening of the grave. Setting the shovel next to the grave, she climbed down and then reached for the handle to drag it in with her so she could start digging.

    No longer were they concerned about where they were and what time of night it was. The fear and anxiety of what they were doing had disappeared and been replaced with a strong desire to get to the casket and open it.

    Overwhelmed with excitement, Andrea liked the way John got into it. He had stopped complaining. She’d been afraid that he’d give her a hard time throughout the entire night but to her surprise—to the contrary. John went on actively with this assignment.

    Another hour passed, and Andrea’s arms and back were beginning to hurt. John had joined her with the pick to break up the soil as they dug deeper and deeper. She stopped and put the shovel back up on ground level at the edge of the now opened earth. “I have to rest, John,” she said as she climbed out of the squared off cavity. They had dug down about five feet and still hadn’t reached the casket.

    John needed a break also. He came to the blanket and sat next to her. She poured a cup of coffee for them, and he held the cup up in the air and toasted her. “Here’s to my dear wife, who can get me to do anything.” Then he just snickered at her.

    She didn’t find that very funny, but she smiled and kept herself in a congenial mood. On a more serious note, John began to question her. “What happens if we find that this grave is empty? I just hope that there is a corpse in there, and if there is what happens then, Andrea?”

    “I don’t know, John. If she’s not there… Well, that means that something strange happened to her. If she is in there, I guess I’ve been wrong about some things.”

    “That’s right, Andrea. You agreed to move if we find this Anna’s remains here,” he said as he pointed to the grave. “I hope you live up to your agreement.”

    He wanted desperately for there to be a decomposed human found in there. He didn’t know what she’d really do if the coffin was empty, but he was almost sure she’d want to go on looking into the life of this Anna Dickens woman. He tried to talk to her. “You know this woman lived some hundred years ago. What more can you learn about her?” He watched her facial expressions as he spoke. He could see her getting upset with him, so he changed the subject. “Well, time to get back to it.” He stood and went to resume the dig. It was not a good time to talk to Andrea that way.

    The mound of dirt by the grave grew higher and higher. John would raise the shovel high, and then thrust it down into the solid earth, deep into the grave cavity.

    A loud thud sounded from the open cavity and echoed through the lonely night. John hit it again. This time he knew he had come upon something. He began to work even faster. Once again, another loud thump.

    “I think it’s the casket. Come over here and hold the light up so I can see it better.”

    She rushed over and shined the light from both flashlights down where he stood. “Is it the casket?”

    “I don’t know. I think it is, but I have to clear away more of the dirt to take a good look.” He had excitement in his voice as he went on to instruct her to continue to shine the light directly down where he worked shoveling. No question about it—something there.

    He scooped the loose soil up with the shovel and threw it out of the open grave in quick, furious motions. They could hear the shovel scrape across what sounded like a hard surface. At last the moment Andrea had been waiting for. Perhaps minutes away until they would know one way or the other if Anna’s remains were buried in that grave.

    His voice echoed in the night as he declared, “Yes, this is it. We hit the casket.”