Her Last Breath: A Kate Burkholder Novel

didn’t cover it all the way.”
    “Some old lady could walk in here and break her leg!”
    Jack looked at Leon and they cracked up. “Old ladies don’t go into grain elevators, you moron.”
    Leon felt around for the stolen cigarettes and his eyes widened. “I dropped the smokes!”
    “Hang on.” Jack had never had cause to use his new flashlight, and he was pleased he’d remembered to bring it along as he tugged it out of his back pocket. Leon watched as he dropped to his belly and shined the light into the pit. “Whoa.”
    Leon got down on his stomach beside him. “Holy shit.”
    “Man, that’s creepy.”
    “It’s cool is what it is.” Leon thrust his finger toward the bottom of the pit. “Lookit! There’s the smokes!”
    Jack shifted the beam. Sure enough, two tiny white cigarettes lay side by side atop a dust-covered two-by-six.
    “Let’s go down,” Leon said.
    “I ain’t going down there.”
    “Come on! Man, this is the best! We can climb down—”
    “We ain’t got no way down.”
    “I saw a rope in the office.” Leon jumped to his feet.
    “It’s probably rotten.” Jack rose as well. “We get stuck down there and no one will ever find us.”
    “Jack, you are such a puss! The rope’s nylon and nylon don’t rot. We’re not going to get stuck.”
    Realizing there was no way he could refuse the challenge and save face, Jack sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was start seventh grade with Leon calling him chicken. “Damn it, Leon.”
    But the other boy was already running toward the office. Jack watched him disappear inside. Dread landed like a brick in his gut when he came back with a coil of dirty yellow rope.
    “This is awesome!” Leon declared.
    Jack didn’t think so. “We’re going to have to tie it to something. Is it long enough?”
    They looked around. “That post over there,” Leon decided.
    “We should probably tie some knots in it so we can climb out.”
    “Good idea.” Leon took the rope over to a massive wood beam and tied one end around the base.
    Jack reluctantly set to work on the rope, tying knots a foot apart so they’d have something to grip when they climbed out.
    Within minutes, the rope was secure, knotted, and dangling into the pit. “How’re the batteries on that flashlight?” Leon asked.
    “I just put ’em in.”
    Leon looked at him, as if the gravity of what they were about to do was starting to sink in. “You want me to go down first?”
    Relief slipped through Jack, but he didn’t let it show. Instead, he shrugged. “I’ll keep the light on you from up here.”
    A grin spread across Leon’s face. “I can’t wait to tell everyone about this.” He went to the opening, picked up the rope, and looked down. “Wish I had some gloves.”
    “Don’t fall, you idiot.”
    Leon gave a cavalier wave and started into the hole. “Geronimo!” he cried, his voice echoing.
    Jack held the flashlight steady and watched his friend descend. In less than a minute, Leon was standing at the base, looking up at him. “Nothin’ to it.”
    “Here.” Jack tossed the flashlight at Leon, who caught it with one hand. Mr. Cool. “I’m coming down.”
    The descent was easier than Jack had imagined. The rope bit into his palms, but war wounds were a good thing when you were about to ask Lori Deardorf to go steady. He couldn’t wait to brag about this.
    When he reached the base of the pit, Leon was already lighting up. “Jeez, you could have waited on me.”
    Leon shoved a cigarette at him. “Go for it, dude.”
    Proud of himself for making it down without incident, Jack lit up, trying not to cough when the smoke hit the back of his throat. “This place is cool.”
    “A lot of crap down here.”
    “Lookit all this old corn and shit.”
    “Bet there are rats down here.”
    “Probably as big as fuckin’ groundhogs.”
    The smoked in silence for a couple of minutes, and then Leon dropped his on the ground and crushed it beneath his foot.
    Jack had just tossed his butt into the dirt and was about to step on it when something beneath a pile of wood caught his attention. “Hey Leon. What’s that? Over there?”
    His friend turned around, walked to the dusty heap. “Looks like a rock.”
    “I ain’t never seen a rock like that.”
    Leon squatted, reached for a splintered two-by-four, and tossed it aside. Dust motes swirled when it landed in the dirt behind him. Next came a rusty one-gallon paint can. A piece of rotted cloth.
    Kneeling beside