Digging Up Bodies for the Mayor

My AmeriCorps year is almost finished and I am no longer in the classroom. The children made some cards, rap songs, and dance moves to say goodbye to me. This week for me is mostly service projects. For instance, yesterday I started some prep work on a community garden for an elementary school (only Nick will know where this is but it is near the Anacostia metro). The first job was to tear down the old garden, which required machetes, chainsaws, and a back hoe. The whole day we kept smelling something that sort of smelled like a wet dog. Well the mayor decided to come to kick off his new garden initiative and hold a press conference.

As the camera guy was setting up he stumbled over something in the ground in the playground. We pushed back the mulch and discovered a dead dog. It must have been there at least three months and the stench was absolutely horrible. The guy refused to film and mayor's aides told us we had to get rid of it. I had to dig up this dead dog and throw it in the back of a van. Later, I was talking to a local resident and he said that it was hit by the car and I thought he said its name was Shotgun. I asked him why they named the dead dog. He replied that the guy's name who buried it was Shotgun. Despite the problems the mayor held his press conference (I am standing in background on local DC TV) and I still smell like dead dog. A pretty typical week for me.