by J. L. Salter
“That’s a good thing?” Mitch sounded exasperated.
Kelly answered. “Yeah. If it lands okay, I think we can climb over the top of it.”
“Could work. Any other ideas?” Roger waited a moment but nobody spoke. “Bill, does anything on your side say no go?”
Mitch played his light over the rocks in question. “Well, I can’t see your small bracing piece, but I guess it’s possible. The big rock’s gonna have to fall either straight down, pretty flat, or — better yet — roll off the top of this wall altogether.”
“If it rolls off, we’ve all got to be ready to move… and fast!” Roger pressed his flat palm against it.
All three silently gazed up at the escape hole they hoped would soon enlarge. Each man got into position and pressed upwards, testing the best place to push. Kelly angled around where she could insert the football-sized piece when, if, they moved the big boulder high enough.
****
Mitch took a deep breath and coughed only twice. “If you’re both ready, I’ll give a three count.” Neither of two responses from the near side sounded particularly convincing. “Okay, three count. We lift on three. Starting. One… two… three!” Both men strained and the big rocked moved. But not enough. It just stopped in mid-lift like the boulder had rejected their plan. “Let it back down, slow!” Mitch’s voice reflected the strain. They both let down, and it smacked back into its former position.
“What happened?” Roger sputtered. “We almost had it.”
“I need to get higher. I was already up on my toenails!” Mitch found two more good sized pieces on the cave floor and made a rough pyramid, leaning against the barrier between them. “Okay. This should put me high enough to raise it.”
****
Kelly watched as Roger wiped sweat from his eyes on his upper sleeve. “Hold on,” he said. “I’m counting this time. Your count was too slow.”
“Knock yourself out,” replied Mitch.
“On three. One, two, three!” Roger’s count was fast.
After both grunted and pushed for all they were worth, Kelly tested the football against it. “Just a skosh more, guys!” Both groaned and it moved slightly upward. Kelly placed the football quickly. “Let it down. Gently!”
“Gently?” Mitch grunted. It smashed down against the football, as they both lost control of the massive weight above their heads.
“Perfect!” Kelly smiled.
Roger tumbled down and sat on the damp cave floor, more slime than mud. It sounded like Mitch had done the same on his side of the barricade. Their breathing was heavy and ragged. Kelly doused her light, somehow thinking their few moments of rest deserved the discretion of darkness. The pitch black cave was silent except for their breathing and the dripping of pungent water from ancient limestone. No crickets back that far.
****
Buddy trotted over to Mitch’s side and licked some of the drying slime on his face. “Stop that, mutt.” His protest wasn’t too convincing.
“Quit kissing my dog.” Roger called through the darkness and the immense rock wall between them.
Both men had felt something strange in lifting the huge slab. Their project had just begun in one sense, yet they had conquered something in raising the first piece. Perhaps it was instinctive, even primitive. Ages ago, maybe cavemen had to lift such huge boulders over their heads to make a wall and then they’d sat down to rest, satisfied at what they’d accomplished. Brute force conquering dumb solid rock. Heavy dumb, stubborn rock.
“Okay, break’s over. We got more stone to move.” Kelly climbed back up on the ledge and pushed the ends of the connected leather belts back through the openings on either side of the smaller boulder. “Can you reach it?”
Mitch was slower to get up. “Uh, where? Oh, yeah. All right, got it.”
“Okay, we’re both going to push from this side. You pull on the belts. When it starts to reach the edge, you back away.”
“Yeah, easier said…”
Roger was not yet in position, but he nodded toward the stone. “This one’s no sweat. Half the weight of the other monster.”
“Unless it catches on something. Clear path on your side, Mitch?”
Mitch grunted. “Seems clear enough, but you two are going to have to give it….”
“I’m counting this time,” Kelly announced confidently. “On three, with a medium count speed. Okay, ready?” She paused. “One, two, three!”
The rock shuddered and stalled briefly, then scraped and slid, and edged ahead.
“Stop!” Mitch called out. “I’ve got to change positions, so I don’t eat this hog.”
The two on the inside of the barrier could hear grunting and muttering from Mitch on the outside.
“You all right?” Kelly tried to see through the wall.
“Yeah, good enough.”
“Okay, let’s move this bad boy.” Kelly gulped. “Ready?”
“Yeah, push away.” Mitch.
She cleared the dust from her throat. “On my three. One, two, three!”
As the two insiders pushed, Kelly scraped her right triceps, and Roger smacked the left side of his ribcage.
From his side, Mitch pulled on the belt ends for all he was worth. “It moved!”
“Looks like about a foot.” Kelly breathed heavily while examining her arm.
Roger pressed his ribs gently. “How much more ‘til it’s clear?”
Mitch studied it a moment. “Can’t tell exactly, but maybe it’s about half way out.”
They heard another train in the distance, obviously heading toward them. “Everybody back away from this pile.” Roger barked out instructions. “Stay back against one of the walls. Hold on to Buddy.”
“Okay,” said Mitch.
****
“How many trains go over this area?” Kelly whispered, but didn’t really know why.
“Enough to carry hundreds of thousands of tons a day.”
The noise got louder and the vibrations became heavier. Kelly wondered how much limestone and earth lay between them and the thunderous train. If they had descended only about twenty-five or thirty feet to the floor of the cave, maybe that was all the dirt and rock separating them from the train. “Where is the train, anyway? I didn’t see any tracks when we drove over here.”
“Off to the east a bit. We came from the west, across new 27. Trains run roughly north-south, but east of here.” After Roger paused, he spoke louder so she could hear over the train noise. “It’s not directly above us, even though it sounds that way.”
Pressing their backs against the cool, damp walls, all three realized they were looking up, even though all they could see was the dark ceiling of the little anteroom next to the second large chamber. The train’s vibrations had loosened more algae, but the boulders didn’t seem to have jostled any.
Kelly started to move, but Roger grabbed her forearm. “Give it a minute. On the last one, we heard the crash after the train was gone. Remember?”
She nodded.
When Roger realized he was still holding her forearm, he released it and shrugged.
Kelly slumped down on the ledge and extinguished the light again. “You were really good with little Annie.” Her voice was soft and it broke at the end.
Roger nodded his head in the dark, salty tears riding through the crusty cave slime on his face.
After a moment Kelly asked, “You men ready for another go?” She heard grunts as replies. “Okay, everybody in position.”
“Hold on.” Mitch sounded out of breath already. “You’ve got to make your dog stay back. Or when this rock pops out, he’s a pancake.”
“Lead him over to the far side and tell me when he’s in position.”
There was noise from the other side; Buddy obviously objected to leaving the area nearest his master. “Okay, he’s over here, but he’s one heavy Shepherd. Stubborn, too.”
“Buddy, sit!” The dog obeyed as Roger knew he would. “Buddy, stay!”
Mitch could be
heard returning to his former spot and gathering the ends of the belts. “Ready to clear this stone?”
A grunt from Roger and a heavy sigh from Kelly.
It was Kelly’s count. “Okay, in position. Starting the count… one, two, three!”
The boulder seemed to resist at first, but once it began moving, it gathered momentum and protruded well past the edge of Mitch’s side. “Keep pushing! It’s nearly out!” Mitch dropped the belt ends and began pushing on the side of the boulder already extending toward him. He needed it to fall well clear of his feet. “Little more! Keep pushing!”
A final shove from all three, and the boulder teetered for a second before collapsing clumsily to the rocks Mitch previously stood on. As it hit, it broke into three large, unequal pieces, and smaller fragments exploded from it. A rock chip hit Mitch in the face, cutting his cheek. “Your rock bit me.”
Roger immediately focused on the opening they’d just cleared. “The hole still isn’t big enough, but I think Kelly’s right.” He tried to slow his heavy breathing. “If we can knock the football rock back out of the way, the big one ought to fall back down. If it comes down pretty flat, we can probably crawl over the top of it, there where the ceiling curves up a little.”
Kelly followed with the flashlight beam. “It’ll work, Mitch.”
“Let me see your face,” Mitch asked softly. He climbed atop the slab pieces just recently tumbled from the hole. Each peered through the opening.
Kelly stood up on the ledge. “You’re bleeding.”
Mitch touched his own cheek absent-mindedly. “You’re going to get out of there, Kelly.” It was a statement, but it also sounded like a question.
“Yeah, I am. We are.” Both reached through the opening and touched hands briefly. It was as if Kelly were just seeing him for the very first time. She eyed the football again. “It’ll work, Mitch.”
“If you lovebirds are ready,” said Roger, “let’s move some more rocks.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kelly realized Buddy had returned to Mitch’s spot because the whimpering sounds moved.
Mitch spoke soothingly to the animal and then called to his owner. “Roger, can you send him back to the other side, or do I have to tote him again?”
“Buddy, go lay down!” The dog’s ears perked up; he sniffed toward the barricade, then trotted to where he’d been before. Buddy sat and then lay with his belly on the cool, damp floor.
“You guys ready to lift the big one again?” Kelly examined it up and down. “Remember, when it comes back down, we’ve all got to be out of the way.”
All three needed to check behind them to see what they would jump back to once the big boulder was let loose.
Roger had been studying it carefully. “We can’t just let it fall. We have to lower it slowly. Controlled descent.” He peered at Mitch through the hole. “You got enough juice left to lift the big one, let Kelly get the football out, and then we let it down real slow?”
From the other side of the barricade Mitch replied, “I can if you can.”
“Okay, everybody in place.” Kelly directed the scene. “Slow and easy. If there seems to be any play, let it work out that way a little.” She motioned to the far wall. “Now, starting the count — one, two, three!”
Both men heaved, and the huge boulder slowly rose. Kelly grabbed the football-sized rock. “Got it!”
“Coming down!” Roger called out.
“Okay!”
“Slow, guys!” Kelly realized her teeth were gritted.
“Can’t… hold… it… any… longer.” Mitch took short gasps as the rock seemed to melt his arm muscles.
Both men lowered the load as slowly as they could, but it still had significant distance to go. The boulder slammed down, sliding a bit forward as Kelly had hoped, but not quite settling flat enough into the empty spot.
After they caught their breaths, all three climbed back up and examined the new hole above the large boulder.
“Can you get through, Kelly?”
“If I had a wet suit and lots of grease. But no way Roger fits through.”
“No way,” Roger agreed.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it.” Mitch was still gasping. “Over here, there’s a couple of relatively small pieces. What’s on your side?”
“We got a couple like that, too.” Kelly patted one.
Roger stood again. “If we pull all those out, you think the boulder on top will settle down enough?”
“There’s nothing else we can move.”
Kelly quickly examined her hurt forearm. “Let’s get started, guys.”
Roger and Kelly pulled the first small rock loose. Mitch wiggled the next one out. Then he tapped on another. “Okay. If we can get this one next, I think the big one’ll settle down.”
The insiders carefully removed the one Mitch had identified. Still suspended, the large slab seemed almost ready to drop. Its nose, if one could call it that, was already down as far as it would go. Only the hind end remained up in the air, blocking the part of the ceiling which was slightly recessed. The chunks they’d already dug out made a spot where that portion could rest, but it was hung up on something.
“Can you see what’s blocking it up there?” Kelly was up on her toes.
Roger climbed up and investigated closely with his light. “Looks like this scrap right here is holding it.” He poked at a chunk about the size of a cigar box. It was wedged between the topmost corner of the boulder’s hind end and a convex portion of the ceiling, adjacent the concave part they hoped to utilize for escape.
Mitch peered at it from his side. “Yeah. If we move it, the big one ought to fall down out of the way.”
“You still got the belts over there?”
Mitch scrambled down to retrieve them. He looped them around the cigar box and passed the ends back through to Kelly.
Kelly inspected it closely. “Too much tension on this spot. Can y’all lift up the nose just a little?”
Roger climbed up. “Got no choice. It’s obviously wedged in against the ceiling. Unless we counter it slightly, there’s no way you’ll pull the small one out.”
“In case this thing gets funky, we gotta be ready to jump outta the way.” Mitch let out a big breath.
Roger got into position below the nose of the huge boulder. “Let’s give it all we’ve got, Tex.”
“Kelly, you gotta snatch the little one in a hurry,” said Mitch.
Kelly wrapped the ends of the belts around her palms. “My count. On three — one, two, three!”
Roger and Mitch pressed upward with every bit of their remaining strength. The boulder rose perhaps a quarter inch. Kelly pulled the belts against the box-sized stone. It moved! “One more second!”
No replies. Just loud groans and sputters.
Kelly yanked again, and the rock scraped out from between the ceiling and the hind end of the boulder. The small piece flew across the cave and shattered against the other wall, then the large boulder crashed down. Roger fell backwards to the cave floor in a heap, landing in the murky stream, and gasping for breath. He cradled his left hand.
“You okay?”
Roger nodded. “Busted my knuckles.”
From the groans, it was obvious Mitch had fallen backwards also. “It’s down! The big one settled down! You guys all right?”
“Yeah, okay.” Kelly scrambled up to the new opening. “You?” She smiled broadly through their new escape hatch and checked back with Roger. “Good to go?”
Roger nodded, still breathing raggedly.
“Coming through.” Kelly eased her head and shoulders onto the top of the newly settled boulder. Needing every bit of the recess in the ceiling, she scraped her chest in the process but squirmed her way through.
Mitch helped steady her as she landed on the other side, and Kelly hugged him tightly. “Your face is a mess.” Kelly spoke softly, then cried quietly.
“Well, yours is beautiful.” Mitch switched off his light and his eyes fi
lled.
Roger’s light shined down on their embrace. “Will you two love birds help me out of this hole?” After tossing down his stick and the light, he squirmed, wiggled, and pulled himself along. Something ripped, but he kept moving. Finally Roger’s trunk was through the hole, with only his legs remaining. Mitch helped steady him, and Kelly played the light at the place he should descend to. With another loud groan, Roger managed to pull his legs through and lowered himself to the pile of rocks on the outside of the barrier.
“Let’s get out of here. Buddy, come!” Roger’s voice was a hoarse whisper. The loyal, worried dog was already licking him and didn’t need a command.
All three lights on, the bedraggled party made their way along the second low ceiling stretch. Kelly and Mitch had their arms around each other’s backs. At the first large chamber, they rested briefly, hugged again, and then took a sip of water from Mitch’s supply. Nobody spoke — they were panting too hard.
At about the same time, all three bent over again and began traversing the final low ceiling stretch toward the opening. One by one, they doused their lights as the thin, crooked smile of entrance daylight showed in the distance. Mitch’s light was the last one off, waiting until they were within about thirty feet of the opening.
Pop and Annie smiled broadly as they approached. Annie ran into the cave to her grandfather and hugged him tightly. Roger knelt on the damp cave floor and hugged her back.
Annie reached over and touched Kelly’s hand. “Did Mister Bill give you the cookie I left for you?”
“No, as a matter of fact, he didn’t.” Kelly was still out of breath. “Just where is my cookie, Mitch?”
Mitch smiled sheepishly and pointed to his left chest pocket. Kelly felt it from the outside and detected a tumble of crumbs and pieces.
“Maybe I could have one of those other ones. I don’t think Mr. Bill did a very good job keeping that one safe.”