The Secret of the Dark

by Barbara Steiner

  “Occasionally a pack rat will live in a cave. And of course there are cave crickets and daddy longlegs,” Neal continued.

  Bats and spiders and crickets and darkness. Worse and worse. I was glad to have both guys along. “I’d sure never explore a place like this alone. Have you ever been in here alone, Rick?”

  “Sure. I keep hoping I’ll find another entrance, a bigger one that we can develop for tourists. And there’s one other possibility —”

  Neal interrupted him. “You’d sell your soul to the devil for a handful of gold, wouldn’t you, Biddleman? It’s not safe to cave alone. And why don’t you leave this natural? You could bring in serious spelunkers. Charge them if you feel this is yours.”

  “That’s fine for you to say, Gallagher. Your daddy’s loaded. Doctors make all the money they need.”

  “Not in this little town. Half the people are desperately poor.”

  I didn’t get into the argument the guys had going. Part of me said lots of people should be able to enjoy the cave if they didn’t destroy it, and part of me liked this scary exploring. I wouldn’t know what side to take if I wanted to. I changed the subject “Are there any other rooms as big as that one?”

  “I haven’t found one. There are lots of dead ends, I know. A couple of fairly dangerous places. We’d fence those, of course, before we would let people in. There’d be a guided walk, like we do in the small cave.”

  “And you’d turn off the lights.”

  “Sure. That’s a big thrill, plus the experience of total darkness.”

  I could have done without that experience.

  “The Ozark Mountains are riddled with limestone caves, Valerie,” Neal said. “Caves throughout this area may connect. And we’re sure there are incredible rooms and galleries we haven’t found yet. That’s the fun of exploring. A tiny crawl space, similar to the one we came through, may open into a Carlsbad Caverns.”

  “That could earn millions.” Rick’s mind was still on money.

  I teased him. “And I’ll win a lottery, and Neal—”

  “Will settle for tramping over the hills, finding a new folk song, or an old man with wonderful stories,” said Neal.

  I laughed. “Can we get down onto the floor of this big room?”

  “If you’ve got the guts.” Rick started walking again. “Come on.”

  What was I in for now? I had very little guts, and underground like this, almost none. We walked up to where the path narrowed and became smooth and rounded. Rick put out his hand to stop me. He squatted down. Neal and I did the same.

  Rick took a piece of loose rock he had in his pocket. He dropped it over the edge of the trail so that it rolled off. Then we waited and waited and waited for it to hit bottom. The silence was awesome with only the three splashes of light playing off the space before us.

  “Not quite a bottomless pit.” Rick laughed loudly, his voice echoing off the cave walls eerily. “Long fall, though.”

  Jumping up, he scrambled across the narrow, sloping ledge with only darkness below on the right

  “Rick, come back!” I screamed.

  Again his laughter echoed, mixing with my scream. “Next”

  “I’m not doing that,” I said.

  “You wanted to go down to the floor, didn’t you?”

  “Not if I have to cross that close to your bottomless pit.”

  “Chicken. All you have to do is walk across. It’s not slick. Just don’t lean to the right.”

  “You don’t have to go, Valerie.” Neal breathed the word on my neck. “We can go back.”

  “City girl,” Rick taunted. “I dare you.”

  I don’t know what made me do it. As I said before, I’m no daredevil. But maybe I wanted to show Rick I could keep up with him. We hadn’t come far. Maybe I just hated to go back.

  “Momentum. Keep coming after you start,” Rick advised. “Your boots are rubber. They’ll grip.”

  I took a deep breath, leaned to the left slightly, as if I were skiing and making a turn. My legs are strong, I told myself. My balance is good. My feet gripped as Rick had promised.

  I was halfway across when my lamp went off.

  CHAPTER

  10

  I PROBABLY hesitated only for a split second. But in that time I lived a nightmare of falling, falling, falling. Into the darkness. Into the cold, damp space of the drop-off. Finally bouncing on the bottom like the rock whose rattle, rattle, splat could hardly be heard.

  “Keep going, Valerie,” Neal called. “Don’t stop.” He pointed his light at me to give me some confidence.

  Rick shined his lamp from his side of the drop-off. I kept going.

  “Why’d you stop?” Rick asked, catching me as I fell forward into his arms.

  “My light went out. It scared me.”

  We stepped back from the smooth, rounded ledge so Neal could follow. Rick pulled my headlamp from its bracket. “You scared me. The tip must be clogged.”

  “Didn’t you ream it out before we started, Biddleman?” Neal was angry.

  “I’m not the boy scout you are, Gallagher.”

  “Well, do it now. Valerie could have fallen.” Neal took my arm. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. I just froze for a minute. Let’s go on. I don’t want to think about it.” I couldn’t think about it and keep going.

  Rick took out a tiny wire, ran it through the tip of my lamp, then lit my lamp from the flame of his lamp. He placed it back on my hat and winked at me. I guess what had happened didn’t worry him, but it sure scared me.

  We wandered till we reached the gallery floor. It was sandy and dry. Rick led us up one branch off the large area to show us a delicate formation he called calcite soda straws. From the ceiling hung hollow white tubes.

  “See the drop of water right there on the end?” Rick pointed to one straw. A crystal droplet paused, got larger, longer, then dropped to the floor. “Each drop leaves a minute bit of calcite. It builds up over the formation after thousands of years.”

  We sat by the calcite straws to eat our lunch and leaned against the cave wall where it was dry and had no formation to destroy. I wished I’d brought more food since the walking had made me hungry. I dusted dried mud from my hands and then gobbled the cheese and crackers.

  “How deep do you think the drop-off is?” Neal asked.

  “I can stand below and look up and my light won’t reach the ledge. Maybe sixty feet or better, I’d guess.”

  I shivered, not wanting to think about the drop-off, my near accident. I liked the big room. After we finished eating, we walked more, our lights revealing igloos, more mushrooms, polar bears, lots of shapes your imagination could identify.

  “I like it here where it’s flat. Being underground is scary, but I could get used to it if there weren’t cliffs and drop-offs.”

  “Lots of caving is like mountaineering,” Neal said. “We should have had a rope for that crossing up there.”

  “Too much weight to carry for one bad place,” Rick disagreed.

  “Not if it keeps you from falling.”

  A thought hit me as we talked about the crossing. “Do we have to go back the way we came or is there another way out of here?”

  “We’ll go back the same way,” Rick said.

  I tried not to think about it, but if I had to do it, I wanted to get it over with. “Let’s go now. I’d better get back. Fleecy wanted to leave about four.”

  “It’s two-thirty now.” Neal’s watch lighted up when he hit a button on it. “I always lose track of time underground. I could explore a cave like this for days.”

  It was too bad that Neal and Rick weren’t friends. Different as they were, they had the caving sport in common. You would think in a small town they’d have gotten acquainted and found they had common interests.

  While Neal crossed the ledge over the bottomless pit, Rick held me close and whispered, “Why do you bother with that lightweight, Valerie?”

  Anger made me scramble across the sloping
path without thinking or stopping this time. I had to make the crossing or stay in the cave forever. So I just walked across, glad for my anger. Maybe Rick wasn’t Neal’s friend, but he didn’t have to make fun of him.

  The small tourist cave seemed tame after our visit to the big cavern. I’d wiggled through the squeeze quickly, not thinking, just as I’d crossed the smooth rock traverse. It helped to know how it went and what was on the other side this time.

  “How about a movie, Valerie?” Rick asked when Neal was out of hearing distance.

  There was one movie in Catalpa Ridge. One grocery, one drugstore, one taxi. But two cute guys, and right now I wanted to divide my time equally, and not have to choose. “Call me, Rick. I’ll see when I can get away.”

  “Don’t play hard to get.” He grinned.

  “I’m not Granny is my responsibility. She comes first.”

  He shook his head as if he didn’t understand. I guess he’d had few responsibilities, living alone with his dad who seemed to ignore him. He had more or less raised himself. I shouldn’t make judgments. I hadn’t met his dad. But it did seem that way.

  The sunshine was delicious. I turned up my face and drank it in. I didn’t even mind the heat for a few minutes, yet I quickly shed my sweatshirt and rolled up my shirt sleeves. Then I started to sweat, and perspiration mixed with the dirt on my face. I felt gritty all over. I hated to have Neal see me looking such a mess, but he looked the same way, so I made light of it.

  “I think we must both look like coal miners.”

  “You do.” He laughed. “I’ll bet you’ve never been so dirty in your life.”

  “You know, I think you’re right. I even missed the mud pie stage, with only sidewalks and a bit of park for ingredients.”

  “I can’t imagine growing up living in an apartment.”

  “It wasn’t too bad. And I didn’t know anything else. Now that I see all this open space — out of doors — I think being a kid here must have been fun.” We walked along in silence for a minute. I continued breathing the clean, fresh air and celebrated being above ground. “Neal, why haven’t you ever been friends with Rick Biddleman?”

  “To begin with, I’ll risk your saying I’m jealous and say I don’t like the guy. He’s always been a loner, even as a kid. His dad seems to have just let him grow up wild out here like a panther cub or any other of the woods animals. His only ambition seems to be to find a bigger and better cave.”

  “I can’t imagine one bigger and better than we were in today.”

  “You’re right. It’s a good one. Too bad they can’t find an easier way in. But on the other hand, it will stay wild.”

  “Wouldn’t some tourist pay to crawl in there and look around like we did? I enjoyed most of it, and I’m sure a tourist would, too.”

  “I guess a few would, but not the hundreds that come in if they can walk and take no risks, to look for a few minutes. Crawling through mud isn’t most people’s idea of fun.”

  “I guess I got a new idea of fun today.” I looked at my hands and laughed. Why hadn’t I washed at Rick’s?

  “Do you think it would be fun to have dinner with my family tomorrow night? Mom says I can invite you and Granny. It’s her half day off so she has time to cook.”

  “That’s sweet of her. I’m sure she hates to spend her time off in the kitchen.”

  “That’s exactly how she likes spending it. She loves to cook. Often she prepares meals ahead and freezes them or bakes and freezes. You’ll be assured of something good.”

  “All right, Neal, and thanks. I’ll try to get cleaned up by then.” We were at the cabin. Neal went on home without coming in, and I knew why when I looked in the mirror.

  “What happened to you, Valerie?” Fleecy packed up her quilt scraps. Granny dozed in her rocker. She didn’t wait to hear. “By the way, the piano tuner came. I wish I had time to stay and hear you play. Another day?”

  “Sure, Fleecy. If I don’t get some of this dirt off my hands, I’ll ruin his job anyway. The piano keys would end up full of sand.”

  “Granny and I put away your laundry, and I’m taking this new batch you laid out.”

  “You’re a lot of help to me and Granny, Fleecy. I appreciate it.”

  “Don’t think none on it, Valerie. Hit’s my pleasure. This place and Granny are looking good. I’d be proud if you was my granddaughter.”

  I smiled and headed for a hot shower. Soon I felt wonderful, even good about having the guts to cross the almost bottomless pit. Maybe I was more of a daredevil than I knew. The scariest thing I’d ever done before this was a dance or piano recital.

  After a bit of supper, I went to the piano and played and played. Granny seemed to enjoy it and I felt more relaxed than I had for days. I resolved right then that I wasn’t going to let some joker ruin my summer. Or make me afraid of my shadow. With “fellars courtin’,” my music back, and Granny happy, what more did I need?

  Granny said she’d like to go to Neal’s for dinner. So the next night I brushed my hair till it shone, tucking a small white flower behind my ear. I put on the other white dress I’d bought, this one with light green embroidery on the neck and shoulders. White sandals set it off, and I noticed I’d gotten fairly brown in the time I’d been in Arkansas.

  Neal came early, on his way home from some deliveries, so we got to his place in time to help his mom finish dinner. Granny visited with Dr. Gallagher, who had delivered two babies and was high on the events.

  Mrs. Gallagher had outdone herself, serving a meat pie with biscuits on the top and peach pie for dessert. We laughed and Neal played some of his recordings. I realized how much I enjoyed these people. I had brought my recordings of By Golly. Granny settled down and listened quietly. But she didn’t say she didn’t like him this time. I was glad. I thought it might have something to do with jealousy on her part.

  I resolved to make a number of tapes of Granny singing and talking. I could do a package of them for Rue for Christmas. It would be something to treasure forever.

  All too soon it was time for Neal to take us home. I knew Granny was tired, but I’d had so much fun, being in a family, I’d have stayed longer. I missed my family, complete again with Rue marrying Dad. Dad was like a new man, happy again, and we’d had some good times. Rue said they’d take me along on one of their next trips.

  The moon was almost full and sailed toward us as we climbed the stairs. Mrs. Butterworth waited for us on the doorstep. She sneezed as we got close.

  “If a cat sneezes, it’ll rain soon,” Granny predicted.

  Neal and I both laughed. “Guess it’d break the heat to have some rain,” Neal said. “Sneeze some more, Mrs. B.”

  Granny went in the house ahead of me.

  “Didn’t you lock the door, Granny?”

  “Course not, child. Never locked the door before. You know Rue made me put that lock on it.”

  I turned to Neal. “I’ll never get used to the casualness of living here. If we didn’t lock our apartment door, we’d come back to empty rooms.”

  “I’d hate that.” Neal took my hand and we walked around the house to sit on the rock wall that tried to keep mountain and yard apart. Wild roses bloomed by the wall and their scent filled the night air.

  “It’s a fact of life. You get used to it.”

  “I can’t get used to your being in my life.” Neal put his arm around me, and I was glad to snuggle close to him.

  “If you get used to me, you might be bored. I don’t seem to have much direction in my life right now.”

  “No way would I get bored with you. I could sit and look at you for hours. You looked prettier than ever tonight. The mountains agree with you. Maybe you need some time to think about what you want to do. It’s all right not to know. You’re happy here, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I am. I don’t miss New York as much as I thought I would. I miss Rue and Dad, of course, but I didn’t see much of them when we were at home. Except for my mother dying, I’ve never had a lot
to be unhappy over. I guess I’ve had an easy life.” I realized that what I’d said was true. I wasn’t super popular at school but I had friends. I didn’t date but I thought it was all right. Now I knew what I’d been missing. I liked Neal’s arm around me.

  I turned my head toward him to tell him I’d enjoyed the evening, but I never got a chance to say it.

  His kiss was sweet, his lips soft and warm on mine. Then he held me close and I felt so secure. How could I not be happy?

  “I’ve never met a girl like you, Valerie,” he whispered. Then he pushed me away and studied me in the light of the moon. We were surrounded by a silvery glow that was magic. His eyes pulled me in and I wanted to kiss him again.

  “You’re so soft and pretty and you have your music, yet you didn’t seem out of place in the cave. My heart stopped when you crossed that drop-off, but I was proud of you when you managed it. It was a risk for us all and Rick knew it, but most sports have some risk involved.”

  “Letting you kiss me may be more of a risk.”

  He laughed softly. “Think you could fall for me?”

  “I have to think about the risk. Maybe I need to carry a rope to keep me from falling too far.”

  “Don’t think about it. Just do it” He reached for me again but I jumped and ran.

  “You men are all alike. You want women falling at your feet all the time,” I teased. “I’ve used up my portion of daring for the week — maybe even the month. I have to think about this new adventure for a long time.”

  “Till tomorrow?”

  “Go home, Neal Gallagher. The moonlight is getting to you.”

  I ran into the house and quickly shut the door, leaning on it, breathless. I did want to think before I started liking Neal too much.

  A few minutes later I stood, barefooted in my nightgown, looking out the window. I liked the way the moon silvered the yard, the grass, the trees. Maybe Neal was moon mad, but I liked the things he’d said. I liked him thinking I was like no one he’d ever met I liked his wanting to risk falling in love with me, and me with him. But this was all so new for me. I did want to give it some time.