Reader’s Digest International — August 2017

August• 2017 | 35

READER’S DIGEST

The excavator was still running,

spewing hydraulic oil and diesel into

the water. Eventually the oil would

flood the engine and the noise would

stop. Then who would notice?

No-one else was on the property.

Saimaa was 300 kilometres away in

Sydney, and Mel, the next-door neigh-

bour, about 500 metres away, would

be at the swimming carnival. He

cursed himself for cancelling the guy

who was supposed to come and mow

the grass that day.Maybe he would

turn up anyway? Were there any cou-

rier deliveries due?he wondered.

Most likely, the first people to miss

him would be his son’s teachers when

he didn’t show for school pick-up. They

wouldn’t come to the property to look

for him; they would just send Kalan

to after-school care, and the alarm

wouldn’t be raised until after 6pm. It

was the same with Leilani’s preschool.

It was now just past 11.30am.That

meant he would have to stay alive for

six or more hours,he thought.

Mel might come home around 3pm.

Could he hold on till then?

The weight of the roll bar didn’t

seem to be evenly distributed along

Daniel’s back and he didn’t feel like

he was carrying the full weight of the

excavator. That might mean he could

dig himself out. As he propped his

Below: The yoga position

Daniel assumed for hours

to allow himself to breathe

was the upward dog, as

demonstrated below

Above: The scene that greeted emergency workers was of

Daniel submerged, with his nose just above the waterline

PHOTO: (DANIEL) CHANNEL NINE; (YOGA POSE) iSTOCK