Part Three Camping in a Cave

    Little Rhino’s love to play in the water and the sun with their families. It’s among their favorite things to do,  mine too. It’s so much fun for them to dive and splash and chase fish and their brothers that they could do it all day. Fiona was no different. She loved to play, but was still so little that she couldn’t stay far from her mother and father for long. She had been a good daughter and followed them across the big grassy plain and then down into the valley by the water and behind the waterfall, but then she got separated and she couldn’t find them anywhere. All she wanted was to have one more dive into the water. They had told her they were bringing the whole family somewhere safe and secret, but of course had neglected to say where that was. Now, with them gone she had nowhere to go and since the bad men were following them hunting them she couldn’t very well go roaming about outside this little cave. It had been two days and she wasn’t excited about swimming, or eating anymore. She was just lonely and sitting in the dark, damp cave. Engrossed in these thoughts it’s no wonder she didn’t hear someone come into the cave until to late.

    “This is amazing!” the lady said to her friend a rather big cat. “I just can’t believe I’m standing behind the falls.” The lady cat was quite a bit smaller than the other one.

    “Neither can I” said the big one “It’s truly remarkable and look how far it goes back.” he held up a flashlight and the light danced all around the cave insides until it finally fell on her. She had been sitting in a dejected crumple on a rock. Cody and Macy jumped as she moved. They had thought she was part of the rocks

    “That’s bright. It hurts my eyes.” Fionna exclaimed at the same time the others gasped and she shielded her eyes with her arm.

    “Sorry, about that. Hey what’s your name and where are your folks?” asked Mama Macy taking charge. Having raised her children she still loved to mother everything she could.

“My name is Fiona and I don’t know where they are.  I was playing in the water over there and we were hiding in this cave I came up and they were gone. We were being hunted by those bad men and they showed up the night before which is why we were staying in here. You don’t think they got them do you?” asked little Fionna and started crying. She had been brave long enough and now that someone was going to help her she just wanted to cry. It’s ok to cry after all. It’s a healthy release and we usually feel better afterward.

“There there,” said Macy and ran right over to the little Hippo and petted her affectionately on the head comforting her. Normally she would have hugged her but Fiona; although little for a Hippo, was still way bigger than Macy. “I don’t think they got your parents because they would have had to go through the town and come right by us on the way and we didn’t see anyone.  That means they didn’t get them but I am wondering something. Do you think the poachers knew about this cave, and might have come to investigate in here? What if while you were swimming they snuck in and surprised your folks? They would have had to run deeper in the cave. They could be back there right now looking for you.” Macy explained her idea to Fionna whose tears had started to dry by that time.

“Hey now that sounds like a fantastic idea. I bet if we look around we could find footprints. Yup, here they are.” Cody pointed and everyone came over to look. “It looks like two humans and there are your parents hoofs. It looks like they did go deeper into the cave. The humans with them, so I’m betting they’re both lost in the cave.” he guessed and looked at Macy who had been listening.

“What a great idea.” said Macy “I think we brought along some spelunking gear didn’t we Cody.

“Yes ma’am we did. Should I go and get it?” He had been very keen to explore this cave, but never had the chance to.

“No, we’ll have to do it tomorrow. It’s getting late and we need to eat, and sleep.Come along everyone.” Macy started walking out and everyone else followed in line. Soon they had a fire going, food cooking and a place for Fiona to sleep with Macy.  Fiona felt content, happy, and safe for the first time in many days. She felt sure that she would soon be seeing her parents again.  Mama Macy, and Cody were chatting outside the tent after the sun went down.

“What do you think Macy? Will we find her parents? That cave probably goes on for miles and miles down through the mountain.” said Cody.

“I don’t know, but if we don’t look we’ll never find them. I’m more concerned with finding the poachers. What are we going to do if we find them, or they find us? Hey maybe we’ll wake up and her parents will find us?” she said with confidence.

“I don’t know what I’d do without your confidence Macy and with that I’m going to bed. Do you want to stay up longer or shall I put out the fire?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m very tired too. We sure had a big day. You can put it out.” she sighed as she got comfortable next to the tent with her blanket. Fiona was little for a Rhino but she was still big enough to take up the whole tent, and even bulge it out a bit around the edges, so Macy slept outside and whispered “Good Night” to Cody as he put out the fire and zipped his tent up. Before she knew it she was fast asleep and so was Cody. The moon came out that night and all the stars too. It was a perfect night for sleeping to the sound of the falls and the night birds.

Sometimes morning comes softly as the sun rises and the watchful stars disappear. The songs of the night animals change slowly into the songs of the day animals. The security of a dark tent and being zipped up in your sleeping bag, a warm happy tiredness embracing you, exchanges for a moment of gray and a gradual increase in light. The colors of the tent are coming into few as it gets lighter and there is more activity outside.  You suddenly realize what you have to do that day and the list begins. Other mornings happen quite suddenly. Instead of the gradual shift to daylight the sun is suddenly up beyond the horizon and the birds are around  singing, eating, and dancing. You wake up with the same fierce brightness as if you swallowed the sun whole and it’s shining out. Today was of the first variety for our friends. It was the slow gradual awakening that was happening to Fiona, Mama Macy, and Cody. The slow movement from darkness to gray to sun, along.

Fiona, had friends around her she wasn’t all alone anymore. After her parents disappeared she was so lonely. No one heard her calling out no one helped her. There just wasn’t anyone around. She was very scared. Now though she had her friends around, and she could hear Mama Macy outside the tent. She was making a fire and beginning to cook breakfast. Cody was sitting somewhere near and they were chatting like old friends. Fiona felt cared for again, but she still missed her parents. She wondered how they would find them if they were so far into the cave. How were they going to find them?

“Fiona!” Macy called “It’s time to get up. Breakfast is ready and we have a big day ahead of us.” Macy found herself wishing they had a door she could knock on, but you can’t very well knock on a tent flap can you?

“Ok Macy. I’ll be right out.” Fiona said excitedly. She wasn’t sure about some things like finding her parents but she was very sure about being hungry and she wasn’t going to miss any meal any more that’s for certain. She pulled herself out of the tent and saw that Macy had made a makeshift table out of the top of a flat rock and a tablecloth from a blanket. She was sitting right next to Cody’s whom she went right up to and hugged and Mama Macy was next. “Thank you both for helping me out. I can’t wait to find my parents and tell them all about you. Macy and Cody smiled back at her returned her hug then looked at each other hoping they could help her find them, but not knowing how.

Once they were back in the cave and had brought the right equipment with them. Namely a couple of flashlights and a long length of rope that everyone tied themselves to, some heavier clothes, and a few blankets. They went deeper into the cave following the footprints. Deeper and deeper they went and it got darker and darker. Stalactites and stalagmites were beautifully decorating the floors and ceilings. Taking millions of years to grow here. Thankfully Fiona's parents had taken the easiest and biggest tunnel, so their trail was easy to follow and would be easy to get back out again. A few hours past and just as they were beginning to wonder if they’d ever find anything they heard new sounds. Up till now their steps were echoing off of the walls which were really near them. The sound told them so. If you listen inside a small room with your eyes closed it makes a small sound than if you do it inside a larger room. Well this happened to our friends just as it was lunch time. The sound of their footsteps coming back to them sounded much farther away.

“Wow, we must be in a very big room. It sounds giant.”, said Macy who had experience in caves before. “Can anyone tell me what the English word for caving is?” she asked. “Spelunking, and it’s just as dangerous as it is fun, so we won’t be going to far from each other in this big room. I was in a cave back home almost fell down a giant cliff in a room just like this. Let’s have lunch. I’ve made some cheese sandwiches and we’ll pass the water around.

As they were eating they made plans on what to do next.

“I think we need to explore this giant room a bit because they could be in here somewhere, and if it gets to late tonight I think we should camp out in here. I brought some blankets in our bags.” said Macy

“Yes, I think so to”, said Cody. “I’d like to begin walking the perimeter of the room and then maybe go inside. What do you think?”

“Good idea.” Macy and Fiona said together.

    With lunch finished and packed away they began their exploration of the caves room. It was a giant cave and they couldn’t even see the ceiling it went so high and it was so dark. The rest of the day went by as if in an instant. They had begun their exploration of the cave by going counter-clockwise. Picture where they had lunch being six o’clock. They decided to go to their right or counter-clockwise around the cave.

“This room doesn’t have many pathways from it. Which is wonderful because that means less to get lost in.” expressed Macy who was just beginning to feel a little nervous and had been hearing something ticking for the last few hours but couldn’t figure out what it was. “It is so dark in here just beyond the light I have to keep checking my rope to see if we’re still all connected.” They all agreed to the same thing. Everyone had been doing the same thing which made for a great laugh and broke some of the tension which had been building.

“Wait look at that!” said Fionna who had found something. It looks like a tunnel leading away from the room. Like it’s going back towards the waterfall, and there’s something else human footprints.” She was so excited she yelled her discovery to her companions who were only a few feet away from her.

“We’re right here dear.” soothed Macy as she stroked little Fiona’s ear affectionately. “No need to shout little girl.”

“Sorry, I just got excited.”Fiona explained.

“You should be excited. You just found a wonderful clue, and we will follow this clue early in the morning, but for now I think it’s later than we thought. I wonder if you could tell us the time Cody. It is your watch I’ve been hearing ticking for the last few hours isn’t it?” Macy asked.

“Yes, it is and it’s even got an alarm on it, so we can get up early tomorrow. It’s almost 7pm!” Now it was his turn to almost shout.

“There is a smallish indent in the rock wall back here a bit let’s put our things here and cook a meal.” said Macy. They put their things away set up camp and used their little gas stoves to cook a smallish supper. It wasn’t much but it was plenty to beat the cool of the cave back for a bit and give them energy for the morning. After crawling into their blankets it wasn’t long before our very tired crew of travelers were fast asleep.