Cave Dwellers

by Randall, Jonathan

  It was about three feet in height with a depth of four feet. It was built in an arch typed shape curving downward at one end with a small opening for placing things in and out. A large rock was at the end for closing it off. At the other end, it was curved in a smaller arch with a larger rock. Under this arch was a fine pile of ashes. They had built a fire on this end and closed it off forcing the heat back into the oven.

  “This must be what they used to make the pottery,” Ramira said. She loved to think about what it was like to live back then.

  “Pretty ingenious considering how old this thing must be,” Zaac said, impressed. “I never realized that people were so smart back then.”

  “What is that old saying? Necessity is the mother of invention. They proved that to be true.”

  Traveling further, they spotted another tunnel. The entrance was illuminated with moss, as others had been. Walking to it, they noticed the light only went in about a hundred feet then it became pitch black.

  Zaac didn’t like the idea of another dark tunnel. “Maybe it’s just me but I like the tunnels that are lighted much better.”

  “Me too.” Ramira turned from the tunnel back toward the cavern. “We can explore this one tomorrow. We could use a fresh day for it, since we don’t know how long we might be.”

  “That will give me time to adjust to the idea of entering another dark tunnel. If one really can get use to that thought.” He knew that no amount of time would be enough.

  They went toward the lake under the ledge on which the megapetomeinon roosted. At the water’s edge, they could see that the rock wall was concave where it met the lake and that the lake disappeared under it.

  Zaac knelt down and tried to see whether a gap opened between the water and the rock. “It’s no telling how far the lake goes under there.”

  “I know. I thought it stopped at the wall.” Ramira responded peering over his shoulder.

  In fact, the lake was one and a half times larger under the wall than it was in the cavern. It flowed into an underground river that disappeared.

  At that moment, an insect landed on the lake and a large fish suddenly jumped to grab it. The fish swam down under the cavity into the unknown lake territory.

  “I would sure like to catch that baby on a hook,” Zaac said.

  “I’d like for you to catch it, too,” Ramira said. “We could have it for dinner.”

  The mention of food made his stomach ache with hunger. “Speaking of dinner, I am about ready to eat again.”

  “What would you like? Bugs or more bugs?”

  “I guess I will settle for bugs.” Zaac didn’t want to complain. “It would really be nice to find something else to eat though. I’m getting a little tired of just bugs.”

  “I am too.” They didn’t have much choice in the matter, unfortunately.

  After dinner, Zaac’s had a mental flash. All they needed was a sharp cutting tool.

  “Let’s go back up to the cave for a minute. I have an idea.” He seemed filled with excitement.

  “Uh-oh.” Ramira could see him light up like a pinball machine.

  “I think I might have thought of a way to light up the tunnels in the dark areas.”

  “And that is...?”

  “Transplant some of the moss—in intervals.” Zaac pointed at the moss growing in the cavern. “Maybe if we get some dirt along with the moss, and water it after we move it, it might live.”

  “Hmmm.” His idea was taking shape in her mind. “I guess it is worth a try. If it works, I won’t have to lead you in those areas.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping.”

  Zaac retrieved the chiseled bow knife he had found, and one of the large platters and a pot. He rejoined Ramira and they went to a spot where plenty of moss was growing.

  He took a square foot of moss, cutting into the ground three inches around it. Then he angled the knife inward below the three inches until he severed the moss from the ground. Setting the knife to the side, he carefully lifted the moss onto the platter.

  He didn’t want to use the knife for unnecessary work, so he walked over to the pile of rocks for one that was small and pointed on one end. It only took him a couple of minutes until he found a rock that weighed about five pounds. It was a broken piece with a jagged section on one side. Taking this back to the spot where he dug out the moss, he loosened some more dirt and placed it on the platter around the moss.

  Zaac filled the pot with water at the lake. Then he and Ramira went into the tunnel. They walked about fifty feet past the illuminating moss on the right side. It gave off a nice glow that lit up a small area around them.

  “I guess this is as good a spot as any.” He set the pot down and Ramira laid the platter on the ground. Zaac then walked back for the rock with the jagged edge. He knelt and loosened the dirt, digging up an area a little larger than the square of moss he had cut out. Mixing the dirt from the platter with the dirt he had loosened, he placed the moss on it. He pulled the loose dirt up around the square of moss and watered it.

  “Let’s do one more another fifty feet along on the opposite side of the tunnel. We can see if they live before we try any more.”

  “There’s enough water to do the next one,” Ramira said.

  Repeating the same process, they soon had another square of moss transplanted along the passage. Each section gave off a small glow that faintly lit the tunnel area. Walking back out toward the entrance, they turned to see their handiwork.

  “Do they remind you of anything?” Ramira asked.

  Zaac knew exactly what she was thinking. “Yes they do. It reminds me of the solar powered lights that you place around a walkway or garden. Is that what you thought?”

  “Exactly!”

  They went back up to their spot and sat by the boulder, enjoying the quiet and beauty of the cavern. Zaac glanced over occasionally at Ramira as she seemed apparently lost in the moment. Neither spoke. They simply enjoyed the peace.

  Finally Ramira ended the silence. “If we had a steady food supply and an easy means of traveling in and out of here, this would be a wonderful place to stay. It would be nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world. That’s one of the reasons I’m down here. I loved getting away from it all. Finding a quiet place to be by myself.”

  “I know what you mean. I think that’s one of the reasons I starting rock climbing and mountain biking, besides the exercise. It was nice to get away from it all.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready to call it a day.” Ramira stifled a yawn.

  “I am too.”

  Reaching down, he helped her to stand. They stood for a moment facing each other. Zaac leaned forward slightly, starting to kiss her. Caught up in the moment, Ramira tilted her head, waiting for their first kiss.

  Their plans were interrupted by a loud squawking from the ledge. They turned and watched as the megapetomeinon flew off and started their usual flight around the cavern.

  Feeling a little awkward, Zaac cleared his throat acting like nothing had happened. Ramira bowed her head with a slight smile and started into the cave. Her cheeks had a nice rosy glow. She went to the left side of the cave and laid down on the moss.

  Zaac muttered under his breath as he followed her: “Stupid birds.” He lay down on the moss to the right.

  “Good night Zaac,” she said turning to him with a smile on her face.

  “Good night Ramira. Sweet dreams.” He turned to face her.

  They closed their eyes, each caught up with thoughts of the other. Soon their breathing became even as they went off to sleep.

  10

  Ramira woke first with a warm feeling inside. She faced Zaac, watching him as he slept. His hair was tousled from the night’s sleep. His chest rose and fell evenly. She did not like the predicament they were in. Who would want to be trapped in underground caves and caverns? But she could not have picked a better person to go through it with.

  She believed that she was starting to fall in
love. Her mind went back last night to what was to have been their first kiss. A smile swept across her face. What a time for the birds to interrupt. When the kiss did happen, she knew it would be right and special.

  Just as she was letting her thoughts run further, Zaac roused from his sleep and slowly opened his eyes. Turning his head toward Ramira, he noticed that she was already awake.

  “Good morning,” she said with a smile on her face. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Good morning and yes I did.” Noticing the smile on her face, he replied. “You seem pretty chipper this morning. How did you sleep?”

  “I slept very well last night. I had some nice dreams.” She responded.

  Zaac looked confused. He felt like he was missing something. Girls! You could never be sure what they were thinking.

  “I think I’ll go down and wash my face. Get the sleep out of my eyes.” He stated getting up from his bed of moss.

  “I’ll join you,” she said rising with him.

  They walked down to the water’s edge in silence, knelt and splashed their faces, scrubbing them clean. Zaac tossed a little on his hair and tried to smooth it down the best that he could.

  “So, which tunnel would you like to explore today?”

  Ramira stood and looked at the waterfalls. “Instead of trying the one that’s so dark, let’s try around toward the falls.”

  “I like that. I wasn’t exactly jumping at the bit to go into that dark one.”

  At the edge of the lake, Ramira noticed a plant growing close to the water and bent to get a better look. It had an odd resemblance to a carrot, yet it was not green. It was mainly white with a hint of green. Her parents had a garden in their back yard and carrots were one of the things they planted. She reached down, grabbed a hold at the base of the plant and pulled it out of the ground.

  What came up was a vegetable that was shaped like a carrot but not like any she had ever seen. Its color was mainly white with a slight orange tinge. It was not developed like a normal carrot but was close enough so you could tell what it should be.

  “Look at what I found,” she said holding the plant with the root shaped vegetable out for Zaac to see.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  Ramira was pleased with her find, “I think it’s some type of carrot.”

  Zaac had a confused expression on his face. “How did a carrot get down here?”

  “I’m not sure but there seem to be several growing here.” Ramira pointed at them. “From the looks of it, most of them seem to be budding so they can reseed.”

  “There are a lot of things growing close to the lake. I wonder what else is down here.”

  He walked to another plant. This one was also mainly white with a little green in it. All of the plants were this color. It was different from the carrot plant. It had a larger white object growing at its base. Growing out from the top of the plant was several small pods. Each of the pods contained a multitude of seeds. The pods were starting to turn brown while the seeds inside were much darker.

  Zaac reached down at the base and gave the plant a gentle pull that dislodged the round object growing in the ground. He pulled it out of the ground and held it out to Ramira.

  “What’s this?”

  She took it from him and gave it a small sniff. “It looks like a turnip to me. What I don’t know is how they got down here. How are they growing without the sun?”

  “I’m not sure.” They could try and figure out the explanation to this phenomenon later, he thought; right now food was at the top of the agenda. “What I do know is that I’m hungry and this offers a nice variety from our diet of bugs.”

  “I totally agree. Let’s get a few more and we can wash them off.”

  Zaac found a couple more turnips while Ramira tugged up three more carrots. Zaac got out his Leatherman and cut off the leaves and trimmed the roots. They washed off their finds in the lake and returned to their boulder to enjoy the meal.

  They took a bite of the carrot, savoring the taste. It was unlike carrots they had eaten in the past but they still relished every bite. Once they finished the carrots, Zaac peeled the turnips and handed one to Ramira. They ate the turnips and topped them off with another carrot.

  After the meal, they sat contemplating their new find. They weren’t sure how the vegetables got there or how they grew.

  Although they couldn’t know it, many years earlier a flood had washed over a farmer’s field, taking the vegetables away. They traveled through an underground spring and ended up in their current location. The water was higher in the cavern because of the flooding and deposited the vegetables on the soil. The vegetables died but their seeds remained.

  Without the sunlight needed for photosynthesis, plants cannot normally live. But plants, like every other living organism, struggle to survive. The plants in the cavern evolved so they could live in the phosphorescent light that was available. The pigmentation changed from their natural vibrant colors to the pale colors that were more sustainable in low light. The shapes of the vegetables were altered as well, although a semblance of their original shape remained.

  Ramira thought about the other plants that she had seen among the ones they picked. “If we found carrots and turnips,” she said, “there may be some other types growing down here.”

  “Let’s take a look.”

  They returned to the spot by the lake and started looking. Ramira found several plants a little over a foot high that seemed familiar except for the color. The color was almost completely white, like the other ones they found.

  “Would you mind going back up and getting that rock that you used to dig up the loose dirt when we transplanted the moss,” Ramira asked.

  “I have an idea.”

  “Sure. Be right back.”

  While he was gone, Ramira continued her search of the plants. Nothing seemed to be growing in sections the way vegetables would if you planted them. Everything appeared to be scattered here and there. She found a variety of herbs. She wasn’t sure what kind they were but there appeared to be three different ones. She reached down and broke one off just as Zaac arrived back with the rock. Holding it up to her nose, she inhaled its scent.

  “I think that this might be dill but I’m not completely sure.”

  “Let me smell,” Zaac said. She passed it to him and he took a big sniff.

  “Yes it is dill.” He said it with a funny look on his face.

  Ramira watched him with a puzzled expression. “Have you ever smelled fresh dill? Do you even know what it smells like?”

  “No,” Zaac replied laughing, “I guess I’m busted. We never grew a garden. When my mom wanted fresh vegetables, they always went to the farmer’s market to get them.”

  “That was a good try though. You had me going for a second. If you hadn’t had that funny expression on your face, you might have gotten away with it. Do you have the rock?”

  He handed it over and she walked to the plant that had aroused her curiosity earlier. She started digging carefully around it. She loosened the dirt about a foot out from the plant and scooped it away with her hands. As she took more dirt out, several round white objects began to appear. She plucked the plant out of the ground and tossed it to the side. Grabbing a couple of the round vegetables, she held them so she could have a better look at them.

  “See what I found.”

  Zaac took one and turned it in his hand. “Is this a potato?” he asked.

  “It sure is,” Ramira responded as she knelt to get some more out of the ground. “We use to grow three rows of potatoes each year. At the end of summer, we’d harvest them. They’d last through the winter and sometimes we used them as seed potatoes for the next year. With that many potatoes, I did my share of hoeing them. That’s why I recognized the potato plant—but I admit I wasn’t sure.”

  Zaac got down on his knees across from her to help. “I take it you don’t live in a housing development. Does your family have a farm?”

  “No. We live in a h
ouse on a couple of acres. Dad enjoys raising vegetables so he usually plants about a third of an acre. He says that it relaxes him from the stress of his job. Personally, I think it’s an excuse to give me extra work. He’s always having me help him with planting, hoeing, or when it’s time to get the ‘crop’ in.”

  “He probably just wants to spend some time with you. He sounds like a cool guy. What all did you raise?” Zaac was interested. This was something he’d never experienced.

  “It seems like we raised just about everything.” Ramira thought for a minute trying to recall all the things they had grown. “We grew onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, different kinds of peppers, turnips, carrots, okra, cabbage, lettuce, green beans, peas and a small salad patch. He even had a trellis with bird house gourds growing on it. The trellis was next to the house. The vines of the gourds grow like crazy. One night I glanced out my window and saw this shape right outside. I thought it was a head at first, so it startled me. It turned out to be a leaf growing on this vine.” She gave a goofy smile.

  Zaac had to laugh. He pictured her in his mind, catching the strange image out of the corner of her eye and jumping in response. “I can see why it scared you. It seems you guys did grow everything. The only thing left out was corn.”

  “We tried it one year but it didn’t produce that well. Occasionally we grow a few stalks of native corn for decoration in the fall. My dad will go get a bale of straw and a pumpkin and they decorate the front yard with it.”

  Zaac was impressed, “With all of the stuff that you grew, you should be able to recognize the different plants. Let’s see what else might be growing here.”

  They spotted some kale and lettuce as they drew nearer to the falls. Looking across at the vegetation growing on the other side of the lake made them curious. There was no way to get across without swimming.

  But even as they had that thought, a tunnel in the wall near the vegetable patch caught their eye. They entered and noticed a bifurcation with a bend to the right. They went that way. The tunnel widened and opened back into the cavern under the falls. Ramira went immediately to the falls to watch the water. She could feel the drops as they splashed, sparkling, around her. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back, enjoying the sensation.