Day the Earth Moved

They were working together in a back room that was almost finished when the earthquake rumbled along the ridge and collapsed the framing of the new house in upon itself. As the walls of the house came in upon each other and the ceiling drooped down, the two construction workers were thrown against each in other in a small air pocket.

The lithe and wiry young blond’s cheek was flattened against the back wall, which still held, although he could hear the roaring of the surf dangerously close. his hands were flung out, his palms leveraging against the wall.

The olive-skinned older Italian, the cut and horse-hung bodybuilder with curly black hair in abundance, had been flung up against the blond’s back; his pelvis nestled up under the blond’s buttocks.

The two huddled closely together as they waited out the earthquake and its ever-weakening aftershocks, hoping that the walls of their prison would hold.