A Deep Thing

by A. K. Smith

  Immersed in the glorious landscape, the three-mile hike to the cenote flew by. Scout stopped, holding the GPS, trying to pinpoint their location.

  “It has to be around here somewhere in this general vicinity, my GPS is acting strange.” He checked the batteries.

  Kendall wanted to help, she didn’t travel this far for the cenote to elude them. She moved to the left trying to find an opening. She pushed through the trees, as far as she could see, primitive jungle, surrounded her, no clearing in sight.

  She retraced her steps, she could no longer see Scout, Ryder or Roberto in front of her.

  “Hey, Ryder! Where are you?” Silence. She listened for the sound of movement. “Scout?”

  A yell. Not necessarily an alarming yell, but a yell all the same. Was it jubilation, excitement, or anguish? “Scout! Ryder!” She took off running in the direction of the yell.

  “Kendall, over here.” Scout emerged from the thicket and directed her to the right, they pushed through a cluster of branches.

  Roberto and Ryder were on their stomachs, peering over the edge of a massive hole camouflaged by the lushness of the jungle. Ryder turned around smiling, his eyes sparkling. “It’s the cenote, it’s Dad’s cenote.”

  She lay down beside him, staring into the blackness; it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. The jungle canopy above moved slightly with a soft breeze and the sun hit a portion of the water. Iridescent blue sparkled in the sunbeams. She swallowed her excitement, this must be it. Her mind and heart were in amazement. The hole led to a shaft dropping down some two hundred feet.

  She looked up at Scout. “How would we ever get back up?”

  Ryder was standing. “How long is the ladder?” he asked. “And how much rope do we have?”

  Scout spoke to Roberto in Spanish, and Roberto took off heading deeper into the jungle. He took his backpack off and brought out the treasured map and a magnifying glass hovered over a mark on the map. “I think this symbol is for River and I think there is a river nearby. If I’m right that river should flow into the cave below.” They all studied the map. If they were facing north, it appeared the river should be to the east.

  “How much further do you think it is?” she asked.

  “If I’m reading this right, not far at all. Roberto is trying to find it.”

  ****

  Jubilant, Kendall placed her hand over her heart, the map was correct, just a short way down the trail Roberto found the river. A clear, shallow, winding river, with large rocks jutting out and it flowed into the mouth of a cave. Smooth large rocks unevenly lined the floor of the riverbank and vines hung from the hourglass-shaped opening. The hole stretched up to fifteen feet in height, curving in at the waist with rocks almost meeting in the middle. The gap in the center was only two feet side to side; the lower and higher openings about six feet across. Covered with a green drapery of moss and long hanging vines, five or ten dangling in varying lengths draped across the opening; it was as if a curtain was hiding the entrance. The water immediately outside the entrance of the cave was crystal clear, collecting in a small pool above a tiny waterfall. The pool filled with tiny silver and translucent fish, reflecting light and water and causing a shimmering shine. The river was more like a creek, only two or three feet deep.

  Scout proposed, “We go in here, swim into the mouth of the cave with dry packs and snorkels, and if I’m right it should open up into a large wet cenote. Roberto is going to go back to the hole, and if there’s a dry portion of the cenote he can lower our equipment down. Diagonally we should only be about a mile from the opening.” He paused, then added, “Or if you’d like, let me test it out, go back to the hole and make noise and I can make sure it is possible.”

  “I’m in,” Ryder said crossing his arms. “I want to be part of it, so Kendall can go back with Roberto and make some noise.”

  “I’m not sure, Scout, do you think it is safe?” She shifted from one foot to the other.

  “This is part of the adventure, Kendall,” said Scout. “We will use all safety measures going back in; don’t worry—I’ve done this before.” Like Ryder’s, Scout’s eyes reflected the excitement of the unknown.

  “Okay, I’ll go back with Roberto and I will let you guys see if that’s the access.” She ignored the pit in her stomach.

  ****

  Scout peered into the entrance, a doorway into another world, a new frontier. He loved the rhythm of underwater breathing. The sound of his hollow breath calmed him down as they swam through tubes of total darkness. Scout led Ryder until they reached a narrow passageway; he swam in first making sure it was passable and then returned directing his movements. They drifted with the current in the cold clear water. Following a cave system for a short way, they squeezed between large boulders. Their headlamps bounced off the rocks like a submarine light as they crammed through the last of the small cave passageways, and the lights on their helmets revealed a large opening above. They surfaced to a spectacular cathedral foyer. They were on the inside of the cave looking up two hundred feet to the surface. They both let out a yell of delight in unison. Ryder glowed, his expression made it worth the trip.

  Roberto and Kendall lowered the ladder, which hung in midair—not even close to the water. Then on a pulley system, they lowered down the gear to a dry platform slightly above the surface. Roberto lowered one of the large can lights to illuminate the incredible chamber.

  Scout heard Kendall but could barely see her. She yelled, “I’m coming in.”

  ****

  Kendall had never before climbed down a rope ladder fifty feet into a two-hundred-foot hole. As she maneuvered down the narrowest part of the opening, the ladder lay against the rock until it ended, which left her hanging at the top of a massive cave chamber. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths she looked down, dizzy with the height above the open cenote. You can do this.

  She screeched, anxiety building, “So how deep is it, do you think I can jump?”

  Ryder and Scout were laying out the equipment on the dry part of the cave to the left oblivious to Kendall coming down the ladder. Wide-eyed, they tilted their heads.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Scout yelled.

  “Trying to get down to you,” she called back. “How long a drop is it?”

  “Kendall, it is about a fifty-foot drop from where you are. It would be much easier and safer if you climb back up the ladder and I can meet you at the mouth of the cave!”

  “I could do easier.” She paused for a moment, as if she was headed back up the ladder. “But I’m not going to.” And with that she let go of the ladder and dropped straight down like a bullet into the clear blue waters of the cenote. Can nature be more magnificent? Every nerve ending on her body detected the rush of life. “Simply amazing,” she said.

  Scout shook with laughter as he dug out his copy of Tim’s map from the dry pack and laid it out on the rock platform.

  “Ryder, It’s your exploration; tell us which way you want to go.”

  Ryder studied the map. “I saw a large opening underwater over there.” He pointed. “Wherever that passageway goes, that’s where I want to go.”

  It was decided, Ryder would lead. The decision felt right to Kendall, even though her breath quickened. This is what Tim would want.

  Scout drew a portion of the map on a waterproof clipboard. Ever the professional guide, he checked all their equipment and their air, and explained again the two-thirds rule. It was the classic guideline, meaning use 1/3 of the air going in and turn around with 2/3 of the air going out. Scout checked his dive equipment against a list, as a pilot checks his airplane before taking off. He went over his hand signals once more, then double-checked all the gear and the tanks. He took out the first aid kit and a few bottles of water from the dry pack, laid them out on the limestone platform, then rechecked all the lights.

  As he held out a light, his face resembled a kid who had just won a golden ticket and was about to enter Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. “Let�
��s do it.” He beamed.

  The main passage offered steep downward banks at the beginning, but they were not too difficult to maneuver. The sound of her breath reminded Kendall of a submarine ping. Slow and steady, she focused on the cadence as she followed Ryder. They approached a narrow tunnel and Ryder went first, signaling back to proceed. Their lights illuminated the brilliant white walls of an enormous room. Eye-catching decorations surrounded the three divers. Again, choices, with several different passageways going both upstream and downstream. Ryder chose the one to the left, clearly communicating to all on the clipboard. A narrow and long passageway, they swam single file for at least fifteen minutes. Kendall wondered if it would ever open up, her breathing accelerated.

  She didn’t like it. A constricting narrow tunnel with a difficult turn ratio. Kendall concentrated on the steady beat of her breath, like a metronome, it always relaxed her, but this time it was not working. Ryder seemed oblivious to any concern or danger, for diving and breathing underwater for Ryder was just like Tim, a second home. Please let this open up, she prayed.

  Finally, the narrow tunnel spilled them out into a rather large area with a small air hole at the top. The decorations were stunning, with many formations and stalactites hanging all around. It was an elaborate, spell-binding display of what nature could create.

  Scout signaled for their attention and pointed to the air hole at the top. They nodded, recognizing a safety chamber. They continued to the other side, swimming through a much larger passage, and entered a halocline, part saltwater and part freshwater, where they could see Swiss cheese perforations all over the sides of the rock.

  The extreme beauty blurred time. Scout tapped Ryder on his shoulder and all three checked their air. They had used almost one third and knew it was time to turn back. Scout motioned, and Ryder pointed in the forward direction asking for another minute. He raced through a gaping hole of narrow rocks and immediately stuck his head back through, urging Kendall and Scout to join him.

  Making it through one smaller tight passage, they found themselves in the mother of all caves. It was part wet and part dry and they could see the surface just above them. Swimming up, they emerged into the air. Looking up a hundred feet to the ceiling, they took off their masks in awe. The crystalline water and the visibility were perfect. Shining their lights on the inside of the cave, they could see dry smaller caves and what looked like tunnels on a higher level.

  Breathtaking, staggering, and mesmerizing; Kendall inhaled the beautiful landscape.

  “I believe this is what my father wanted me to see.” Ryder floated on his back, his eyes scanned the ceiling. He pointed up to a dry ledge; something white glinted in the headlamp’s beam.

  “What is it?” Ryder asked Scout, who was shining his light capturing the same reflection.

  “It could be anything, possibly bones, and artifacts…it has obviously been dry for a long time.”

  ****

  Ryder wanted to climb out and explore the dry ledge; he was fascinated. “Imagine the artifacts…imagine what we could find in here.” Then he stopped dead, inhaling, staring at the wall above the small cave. He swam over to the ledge and tried to pull himself up. His mouth gaped but no words came out. How could this be?

  Scout swam over beside him and said, “It looks like a Mayan symbol.” He took out his board and drew the symbol.

  Kendall gasped. “Oh my God,” she exclaimed, “I’ve seen this before, I’m not completely sure it is exactly alike, but I’ve seen this. It has to mean something.”

  Ryder shouted. “You’ve seen it before—on me! It looks like my birthmark. Dad always thought I should put a tattoo over it.”

  Kendall’s whirled around, her eyes wide. “Your birthmark? I never knew you had one—It’s the same mark on the man in the pictures. The pictures on your dad’s zip drive of the man with all the presidents…” She could barely catch her breath. “If you enlarge the area between the shoulder and collarbone, you can see that marking. Tobias has the same mark.”

  Ryder unzipped his wet suit at the neck and pulled it over his shoulder.

  “Like this?”

  ****

  There it was, a replica of what they could see on the wall. A light discoloration on the skin, unlike the darker one on the man in the photos. Kendall had attempted to draw the symbol several times at home. Ryder’s birthmark was eerily similar, and it was on the same area between the shoulder and collarbone. She stared at Ryder’s skin, then at the symbol on the wall.

  “Do you know what it means?” Ryder asked Scout.

  “I’m not sure,” Scout said. “But I know it’s a Mayan symbol.”

  Ryder hoisted himself up, trying to find a ledge to get closer to the dry cave.

  “It’s a sign. I just know it. We need to bring a rope and backup tanks tomorrow, we need to come back here and explore some more. Dad was right, this is epic!” It was the happiest Ryder had looked since his father died almost two years ago.

  Kendall, still a little freaked out by Ryder’s birthmark, blew out her cheeks. “Should we stay another night?”

  Scout didn’t look convinced. “We can discuss it. That’s what I originally planned, at least two or three nights here. But, everyone has to be in agreement. It looks like whoever’s following us doesn’t seem to want to cause any issues, it’s probably just some local hunters trying to figure out what we are doing here… So yes, if you both want to stay another day, I’ll talk to Enrique and Roberto to find out if anything else was heard or seen today.”

  Scout checked the air supply in the tanks. “But for now, we need to head back, get the tanks lifted back up to the surface and swim to the mouth of the cave to get out.”

  Kendall couldn’t wrap her mind around the coincidence of the Mayan symbol and the birthmark. Did Tim know Ryder’s birthmark was on the wall? The road back was no less impressive as they were dazzled at each turn by colors and formations. Unable to discuss what she had seen, she tried to enjoy and be in the moment, but her breath sounded shaky in her head. When all the equipment was either stored on the platform or raised to Roberto on the pulley, they continued their trek.

  Swimming and hiking through the wet cave to the mouth of the river with the hourglass opening flew by. The excitement of their discovery still energized their hike back to camp. Ryder was elated. Kendall’s stomach was in knots.

  ****

  Kendall could not get the symbol out of her mind. She asked Ryder to show her the birthmark again on the trail back to camp. The brown pigment on his skin clearly resembled typical birthmarks, but it was the arrangement of the spots and shapes of the mark that reminded her of a faded henna tattoo, the kind one gets on the beach in Mexico for fifty pesos. A circular mark, not quite a perfect circle, with four short straight marks underneath it and a series of specks or dots around the circle.

  “I never knew you had this.” She touched Ryder’s shoulder. “Did you know your father’s tattoo was in that same area?”

  He pulled back from her touch, his voice irritated. “Of course I did, he got the tattoo with the SEALs. He told me when I was little not to worry about the birthmark because he had a mark there too, his tattoo. I’ve always wanted to get the same tattoo he had to cover up my birthmark and Dad told me to wait until I was at least eighteen to make that decision, and we would do it together.”

  Scout spoke up. “We’ll ask Enrique, he’s part Maya. He might know what the symbol means.”

  ****

  When they arrived back at the camp, Kendall’s anxiety seemed to dissipate as Scout chuckled, listening to Enrique explain his day. Enrique had not experienced any disturbances except for a wild howler monkey sitting up in the tree staring at him for several hours.

  She laughed as she plopped down on the canvas tarp until she heard the low tone of Roberto’s speech. She looked up, Enrique and Roberto spoke rapidly in Spanish. Roberto flinging his hands. Scout joined the conversation. Unfamiliar words blurred together as Kendall attempted to deciph
er meaning.

  “What’s wrong?’ she asked.

  “Nothing,” Scout said as he trotted over to his pack and retrieved his clipboard. He handed it to Enrique. His crude drawing of the symbol etched in marker.

  “Agua.” Enrique’s eyes darted to Roberto’s and they continued speaking in Spanish.

  Scout turned facing Kendall and Ryder. “Water, it’s the Mayan symbol for water. Enrique states water was sacred to the Maya; they believed the cenotes were spiritual passages to the underworld. And that’s why over the years so many artifacts, jewels, and skeletons were found in the caves. The Maya believed water had special healing power and extended life. The reality of this belief is that they were right, because without water they could not survive.”

  ****

  Ryder rubbed his shoulder thinking of the birthmark he always wished wasn’t there. He walked over to Enrique and pulled his shirt off to show him his birthmark.

  Enrique’s face changed, his eyes widened and his mouth was set in a line, as he examined the skin. He backed up, staring at Ryder.

  “Ay dios mio,” Enrique whispered.

  Ryder knew enough Spanish from living in Arizona, it was an expression of “Oh my God.”

  “What? What?” Ryder asked. “Why is he saying ‘Oh my God’?”

  Scout, Roberto, and Enrique continued talking in Spanish, Enrique shook his head several times and gestured with his hands. Ryder could not understand what they were saying. Finally, Enrique and Roberto walked away, ignoring him.

  “What? What was that all about?” Ryder asked, and threw his hands in the air. Something was wrong.

  “They are going to get the tanks ready for tomorrow before it gets dark, and start the fires so we can get dinner ready.” Scout rubbed his temples. “Enrique was explaining there is a legend that the people of the dyznot, meaning the cenote people, carry that symbol on their body. He is saying you might have part Maya in you and was asking about your father, and your grandfather.”

  “I never met my grandfather. He died when my father was young.”

  Kendall put down her water. “Seriously? Scout, what do you know about the cenote people?”