Whole front line down in the dirt. Silence pins us under stone. Nobody moves. Hour by hour, no one speaks. His shadow climbs across the field, swallows the front, swallows the back. He feeds on the hush. And I'm down there too. Heart going hard, knees locked. I hate the hush. I stay down. Then I come off the ground. I stand. Nobody told me to. I grab the stone nobody touched, up out of the dust. Wind drops. Valley goes still. All that kneeling comes up at once. Here comes the crack. Stone off the ground, one throw, and crack, silence splits and the giant goes down, ten thousand get up off the rock, stone wants more. Crack still hangs in the air, dust won't lie back down, and the crack got into me. More. Giant down where he stood. He owned the whole valley. Now he's meat in the dust. Field breaks open, roaring. Ten thousand on their feet, my name ringing back at me, bigger than his shadow. But I turn from the noise, back to the dirt, hunting the next loose stone before the cheering stops. Another stone's already up. Giant's not even cold. And I want it again. That crack. Stone off the ground, one throw, and crack, silence splits and the giant goes down, ten thousand get up off the rock, stone wants more. Crack still hangs in the air, dust won't lie back down, and the crack got into me. More. They're free. I should feel it. I don't. Still listening for the crack, and the quiet's come back wrong. I hear myself want him back up, big as he was, over us all, just to hear the crack. Quiet again. I hate it now. Down in the dust, picking up stones, throwing them at nothing. Dust just settles. No sound. Stone off the ground, one throw, and crack, silence splits and the giant goes down, ten thousand get up off the rock, stone wants more, stone wants more. Crack still hangs in the air, dust won't lie back down, and the crack's the only thing I kept. More.
