 |
Storyteller's Cabin |
After a mile or so the road leveled out, and I gazed out at the endless rows of pine trees zipping past us. I remember the woods seemed to close in on us the deeper we went, enveloping us in a thick blanket of pine branches. Even with all the laughter and the roar of the truck, I remember how still those woods were. Not a single plane could be heard overhead. Not a bird chirping, nor a fly buzzing - no natural sound at all. Just rows and rows of trees, stretching endlessly into the dark forest beyond. I wondered who, or what, must live back there in the darkness...
"...Hey, wake up, space man!" yelled Marty, cramming a cold beer into my hand. I smiled and took a big swig, my anticipation building once again.
The road suddenly ended in a locked gate with an ominous "No Trespassing" sign. But the simple padlock was no match for Jeff. Jeff had learned a thing or two about picking locks from his older brother, who was constantly in and out of jail for petty burglaries of some sort. So Jeff whipped out one of his mother's hairpins and in no time at all, picked that lock and tossed it in the woods. Jeff rammed his truck through the gate and roared back down the road, howling with laughter.
We then zipped by an old rusted sign that read "Reynolds Mineral." 'Bout time, I thought - it seemed like those woods would never end.
"Dammit!" Jeff screamed, slamming on his brakes. Beer splashed all over my shirt. "What's wrong with you?" I yelled at him.
Then we all looked out the window. Just mere feet from the truck, the earth opened up without warning into a massive crater, yawning up at the open blue sky with a big mouth of jagged, rocky teeth. At the bottom was the deep, cool lake we'd heard about, its glassy surface undisturbed, not a ripple on it - as if waiting all this time just for us.
Faster than you can say "abandon ship," we jumped out of that truck, scurried to the bottom of the crater, stripped down to our skivvies and dove into the cool water. We laughed, yelled and splashed around, our voices bouncing off the towering rock walls around us. We knew there wasn't a soul around who could hear us.
As the blazing sun passed overhead, the beers we'd been drinking all day got to our heads. We wobbled around the lake's edge on jello legs, barely staying upright on the slick rocks. I can't say I remember much about that afternoon, so it goes without saying I didn't notice when one of the younger boys named Logan suddenly wandered off.
"Hey! Help, I need help!" screamed one of the younger boys. I looked over at him jumping frantically up and down on a pile of rocks near the shoals. This must be a trap, I thought. Soon as I come over there, he and his brat friends are going to push me in the water. But then I saw the fear in his eyes and knew this was no joke.
"Get over here, quick!" he screamed. "Logan's hurt!"
Return to top
