Having Loaded

Having loaded the last thunderous orange dump truck with the slope into which the road is now bumping its broad shoulder, the backhoe operator pauses, adjusts his Zebco Rods hat, and like a concentrating baker smoothing the white icing before adding an arc of candy roses, he nudges the final crumbs of dirt to the side, beyond the string, sliding his creaking steel bucket like a fine knife held in the fingers, again, again. Then, with a final pat, he quits.