Diggers Don't Share

10 pages · 6 min · ages 4+

Dig had the best mud patch on the whole building site. It was soft. It was squishy. It was perfect for digging. Today Dig was going to dig the biggest, deepest hole in the world. Then somebody new rolled onto the site. He was small and orange, with a big shiny roller at the front. “Hello!” said the new machine. “I'm Rolly. Can I play in your mud?”

“Diggers don't share,” said Dig. He put his bucket down in the middle of the mud, like a flag. “This is MY mud.” Rolly looked at the mud. He looked at Dig. Then he rolled slowly away. Squeak, squeak, went his little back wheels. Mama Dump Truck frowned her big chrome frown. “Dig,” she said. “Rolly is new. He doesn't know anybody.”

Dig started to dig. Scoop, splat. Scoop, splat. The hole got deeper and deeper. Then the wall of the hole wobbled. Slurp! It slid right back in, and half of the hole was gone. Dig dug it out again. Slurp! The other wall slid in. “Diggers don't share,” Dig told the hole. The hole did not answer.

Dig patted the walls with his bucket. Pat, pat, pat. That's how you make a wall stay. Slurp! The wall slid in anyway, and so did Dig's bucket. Cement Mixer rolled past, spinning his drum. “Mud walls need pressing,” he said. “Hard and flat and smooth. Want some cement?” “Holes don't want cement,” said Dig.

Dig had one more idea. He would push the walls hard with his own tracks. He drove right up the side of the hole. Up, up… and over. Squelch! Dig slid down into the mud on his side, with his tracks spinning in the air. Grandpa Crane lowered his big silver hook, very slowly, and lifted Dig out. Dig dangled from the hook, dripping. “Diggers… don't… share,” said Dig.

Dig sat by his hole. It was not the biggest, deepest hole in the world. It was a puddle. Across the site, Rolly was rolling all by himself. Everywhere he went, the ground came out flat and hard and super smooth. Cement Mixer zoomed along it. “Smooth!” Mama Dump Truck zoomed along it. “Smooooth!” Dig looked at his wobbly, slurpy walls. Then he looked at Rolly.

Dig rolled over to Rolly. His red light went blink, blink. “Rolly,” said Dig, “can you roll mud hard and smooth?” “I can roll anything smooth,” said Rolly. Dig looked at his tracks. “Do you want to dig with me?” he asked, very quietly. Rolly's roller did a happy little spin.

So they worked together. Dig dug a long, curvy groove all the way from the top of the dirt hill down to the big puddle. Rolly rolled right behind him and pressed it hard and flat and smooth. Dig, roll. Dig, roll. Dig, roll. The walls didn't slurp. The walls didn't slide. It wasn't a hole. It was something much better.

It was a mud slide. Dig went first. Wheeeeee! Splash! Rolly went next. Wheeeeee! Splash! Cement Mixer slid down, spinning his drum. Mama Dump Truck slid down with her bed up like a sail. Everybody went again, and again, until the whole building site was laughing.

Grandpa Crane looked at the slide for a long time with his sleepy headlight. Then, very slowly, he rolled to the top. Whooooosh! Splash! His sleepy headlight popped wide open. The next morning, Rolly rolled up to the mud patch. “Can I play in your mud?” he asked. “It's not my mud,” said Dig. “It's OUR mud.”