Danny’s van crawls through a desolate area in eastern Kankakee County known as the sand hills. Danny’s headlights illuminate the sandy ground, barren except for weeds and gnarled bushes. He finds a place that looks perfect—there are no tire tracks, no footprints, no evidence that anyone comes here.
Welcome to the middle of nowhere, he thinks.
Danny climbs out of the cab and circles around to the back of the van. Inside sits the wooden box he built, the PVC pipe, a cloudy jug of water, an assortment of candy bars, a car battery, and a shovel. Danny reaches for the shovel and circles back to the front of the van, where the headlights illuminate a section of sandy ground.
Danny stabs the blade of his shovel into the loose dirt. He tosses a shovelful of sand aside. Then another. And another. Particles of dust float in the headlight beams. He works hard, breaking a sweat. His hands start to ache. He takes a break to smoke a cigarette and then gets back at it.
When the hole is big enough, he turns the van around and backs up to it. He grabs ahold of the box and drags it out. It fits snugly in the hole. Once he shovels the dirt back on top, there will be a good two feet of earth between the box and the outside world.
Danny puts the car battery into the box, along with the water jug and the candy bars. He closes the lid and admires his craftsmanship—and his plan.
But Danny isn’t done yet. He takes the shovel and begins scraping a trench in the dirt, starting from the hole and working his way toward a cluster of weeds about twenty-five feet away. Once he’s satisfied with the trough, he takes the PVC tubes out of the van and begins connecting them. He lays them in place and then shovels back over the trench until the only pipe visible is a stub sticking into the hole that he will connect to the lid once he seals the box. The other end of the air tube is hidden in the weeds.
Danny sits in the back of the van and lights a cigarette. His hands are filthy, his shirt sweat-stained.
To the east, the dark horizon is beginning to turn blue with the first hints of sunrise.
Danny smiles to himself. It’s a good plan, he thinks. It’s going to work.