a true story
by Astor W. Heinemann
They were always talking about the spring cave and if you hadn't been there you were a sissy. I already had a reputation as a sissy in the neighborhood after some boys were waiting to fight me and I took the long route from school to avoid them. They made sure that since I didn't get the beating they had planned for me, at least everyone would know I was scared, so I wasn't worried too much about not having been there and my poor reputation, but the idea of that cave and the way they talked about it made it very appealing to me.
I can't remember exactly how old I was, maybe around fifteen or so. My best friend was Saul and he had also never been to the spring cave. He was older than all of us by about three years, but he looked younger and his spirit was always glowing with positive attitude. They called him the elf because he was very short. He could do the weirdest things physically, like climb the end of a protruding wall using nothing more than his knees and elbows, jump incredibly high, leap off one story roofs and land on his feet. He was a cool guy and everyone liked him.
One day Saul told me we should go check out the spring cave. I was game. We'd heard it was pitch black after a couple of dozen feet inside but we didn't have any money for flashlights or anything like that. We improvised torches. We each got a few old t-shirts, we'd find something to wrap them on once we were there, it was around a heavily wooded area.
The cave itself was at the bottom of a big national park, some old dictator liked to take long walks in the afternoon and designated about ten miles by two miles of park. Our neighborhoods were between the big rock wall that elevated the park about thirty feet and if you kept walking away from the wall you got to the ocean. That area that separated the steep wall and the neighborhoods had been recently developed into a new road. It hadn't yet opened to the public and was freshly asphalted, so we always had a great time riding our skateboards there in the hot afternoons throughout the year.
We walked the mile and a half to the cave, climbed down some rocks about ten feet, walked through dirt, dead leaves, twigs, rocks and finally got to the entrance.
"Saul, I don't think this is it" I said.
"Of course it is, the guys said it was right below the ten mile mark". The ten mile sign for the new road was right above us closer to the road.
"But it's just a tiny hole in the ground!" And it was. Right where the steep rocks we climbed down from met the flat ground, there was a huge flat rock with a lot of hardened dirt and smaller rocks on top and a slight opening below that couldn't have been more than a foot high and about six wide. "I ain't going in there" I concluded.
"Come on, man, it can't be that bad!" But it was that bad, worse. He ripped a sleeve off one of his old shirts, tied it to a rock, flooded it with his father's lighter fluid then lit it up and threw it into the opening. We could see a little bit how the cave's entrance went down for a few feet then opened up a bit further in. I said "alright, shit, let's just go in" and just as I started looking for a stick for my torch my little brother and a couple other kids showed up. They had followed us here. "What the hell are you doing here, Nicky?" I asked him, but all I got was a mischievous grin from him and laughter from the other kids. So we went in.
To go inside you had to lay on your back and let yourself slide on the dirt. Saul had a huge head and nose and he had to put his head to the side so the tip of his nose wouldn't be scraped on the rocks at the top of the entrance. When inside and while we still had some light coming in we lit up our torches and trekked on. It was an incredible sight. As we kept going in the cave opened up to an incredible ballroom like opening, maybe 30 feet tall. The ground was wet and to keep our shoes from getting muddy we walked on top of whatever rocks protruded dryly from it. The irregular shapes of the walls and ceiling made it look almost gothic and tons of huge rocks served as obstacles as if an ancient ruler had put them there to deter intruders. Saul started saying how we could find dead bodies or a crazy cannibal living down there, the kids were scared and I said "stop that!" for my little brother's sake, but of course it only added to my chicken rep. We saw some old discarded torches and flashlights.
Then we were there, by the edge of the underground spring. A huge lake like formation full of crystal clear water about six or seven feet deep and you could see all the way to the bottom as if the water was just a giant magnifying glass. Saul immediately propped his torch up against some rocks and started taking his clothes off. I put a hand inside the water and it almost felt like I was touching something magical, we had found the eternal fountain of youth and it was now all ours. The kid's followed Saul's lead and I warned little Nicky to be careful, I was still hesitating.
Saul jumped right in doing a bomb dive. He didn't even bother to check the depth before going in but felt it was fine to trust the stories we had heard. The other kids were more careful just walking in from the shallower edges. I took my shoes off and dipped my feet in while they were splashing and playing games in the water. Then Saul came over with both hands together into a ball shape under the water and spread them open before me. Against the light I could see a small shrimp whose body was completely translucent. I could even see the life line on Saul's hand through it. It was short. I couldn't not take part of this, so I took off my clothes and walked in. I felt like I was bathing in a royal heavenly pool.
When one of the kids went out of the water to reload his torch and said it was the last rag we started coming out and dressing up. Going out of that tiny opening was a lot more of a challenge.
Later that week we went back with some of the other kids our age. We were a hit, they had all talked about it, turns out most of them were lying and had not been there. Saul and I were hero explorers discovering new frontiers previously unknown to our peers. It was on our third trip there when one of the kids stole money from his dad's wallet and we bought some flashlights, waterproof. Extra batteries, too.
That time we were in there for maybe an hour, you could feel the air getting more difficult to breathe even with just a couple of torches in there. Saul noticed the spring went further in than we had gone before, but this time we had flashlights and we could go in a longer way without worrying about loosing the light from the torches at the edge of the water on the other end. There were three other kids with us, two of them older than all of us. There was a long stretch that went much deeper than the rest of the water and as you went along the cave's opening closed down to only a few feet. I was scared.
Saul helped me swim through the deep stretch while I held on to the flashlight above water. We made it through the narrow opening in the water and the most amazing thing was before us. The cave opened up once again into what seemed to be a huge mound of mud. The bigger kids excitedly started climbing it while Saul and I hesitated for a second, looked at each other, shrugged and started on our way up, perhaps 15 feet to the top of the mountain of mud. Up there, the guys were triumphantly started hi-fiving each other as if congratulating themselves for being part of a new discovery. Curiously I pointed the flashlight up to the ceiling to try and figure out if the wet tingling I felt falling on my shoulders was water still filtering through the rocks and into the spring. It was a little warm, but I figured it was probably because the summer was so hot. I was wrong.
As soon as the light hit the ceiling the most horrific shrieking sounds, like a million pings being slaughtered, filled the cave. Our screams started mixing in. Hundreds, maybe thousands of bats flew scared towards out and out the new cave's tiny opening. One of the guys said "watch your hair! they go for your hair!" and they started crawling back down the mound. I stayed behind, not to light the way for them, not because I was brave, but because I was so scared and startled that I couldn't move. I didn't say that, of course, and they thought me brave. "This guy's insane, Saul!" and Saul smiled proudly at me from below. I put my ass to the mud and slid down toward the water.
When we came out of it where the torches were one of them started laughing and said I had crapped my pants. Indeed a disgusting brown thing had stained my pants, but it wasn't my droppings. I said "guys, do you have any idea how all that mud got there?" They didn't have a clue, but only Saul had that surprising expression on his face like he had just figured it out. "That's right buddy, we just took a bat shit shower!". "oooh, aaaarrrgggh, noooo!" they yelled as we all dipped ourselves back in the water and rubbed and scraped our bodies to try and clean them as best we could.
It was shortly after that when Saul had the great idea of climbing onto one of the walls and back flipping into the water. The biggest kid applauded and swam towards the same spot to try it himself. As he latched his hand onto the wall and pulled himself up a huge chuck of it broke off and fell into the water missing him by about a foot. The huge splash caused waves and ripples that moved us all a few feet in the water, one of the torches was extinguished from the water that spattered all over. We stood there for a moment, just looking at the huge hole in the wall where the big rock had just been ripped off.
Slowly and silently we walked out of the water and started putting our clothes on. I can only presume the other kids were thinking the same. I hadn't told my mother where I was, nobody knew, it was a secret place. How easily we could have all been trapped in there forever without any hope of rescue or what a horrible accident one of us could have ended up in. It would be the last time any of us would bathe in the glory of the underground spring.
About fifteen years later I went back. The cave had been converted into a tourist attraction, with stair cases, pathways and abundant electric lighting helping you experience the unbelievable beauty of the spring. They had even installed lights underwater all the way into the water where the cave shrinks and opens up again into a mountain of guano. The hole where the big kid ripped a piece of the wall was still there and my spine shivered with the memory of that moment.
They were always talking about the spring cave and if you hadn't been there you were a sissy. I already had a reputation as a sissy in the neighborhood after some boys were waiting to fight me and I took the long route from school to avoid them. They made sure that since I didn't get the beating they had planned for me, at least everyone would know I was scared, so I wasn't worried too much about not having been there and my poor reputation, but the idea of that cave and the way they talked about it made it very appealing to me.
I can't remember exactly how old I was, maybe around fifteen or so. My best friend was Saul and he had also never been to the spring cave. He was older than all of us by about three years, but he looked younger and his spirit was always glowing with positive attitude. They called him the elf because he was very short. He could do the weirdest things physically, like climb the end of a protruding wall using nothing more than his knees and elbows, jump incredibly high, leap off one story roofs and land on his feet. He was a cool guy and everyone liked him.
One day Saul told me we should go check out the spring cave. I was game. We'd heard it was pitch black after a couple of dozen feet inside but we didn't have any money for flashlights or anything like that. We improvised torches. We each got a few old t-shirts, we'd find something to wrap them on once we were there, it was around a heavily wooded area.
The cave itself was at the bottom of a big national park, some old dictator liked to take long walks in the afternoon and designated about ten miles by two miles of park. Our neighborhoods were between the big rock wall that elevated the park about thirty feet and if you kept walking away from the wall you got to the ocean. That area that separated the steep wall and the neighborhoods had been recently developed into a new road. It hadn't yet opened to the public and was freshly asphalted, so we always had a great time riding our skateboards there in the hot afternoons throughout the year.
We walked the mile and a half to the cave, climbed down some rocks about ten feet, walked through dirt, dead leaves, twigs, rocks and finally got to the entrance.
"Saul, I don't think this is it" I said.
"Of course it is, the guys said it was right below the ten mile mark". The ten mile sign for the new road was right above us closer to the road.
"But it's just a tiny hole in the ground!" And it was. Right where the steep rocks we climbed down from met the flat ground, there was a huge flat rock with a lot of hardened dirt and smaller rocks on top and a slight opening below that couldn't have been more than a foot high and about six wide. "I ain't going in there" I concluded.
"Come on, man, it can't be that bad!" But it was that bad, worse. He ripped a sleeve off one of his old shirts, tied it to a rock, flooded it with his father's lighter fluid then lit it up and threw it into the opening. We could see a little bit how the cave's entrance went down for a few feet then opened up a bit further in. I said "alright, shit, let's just go in" and just as I started looking for a stick for my torch my little brother and a couple other kids showed up. They had followed us here. "What the hell are you doing here, Nicky?" I asked him, but all I got was a mischievous grin from him and laughter from the other kids. So we went in.
To go inside you had to lay on your back and let yourself slide on the dirt. Saul had a huge head and nose and he had to put his head to the side so the tip of his nose wouldn't be scraped on the rocks at the top of the entrance. When inside and while we still had some light coming in we lit up our torches and trekked on. It was an incredible sight. As we kept going in the cave opened up to an incredible ballroom like opening, maybe 30 feet tall. The ground was wet and to keep our shoes from getting muddy we walked on top of whatever rocks protruded dryly from it. The irregular shapes of the walls and ceiling made it look almost gothic and tons of huge rocks served as obstacles as if an ancient ruler had put them there to deter intruders. Saul started saying how we could find dead bodies or a crazy cannibal living down there, the kids were scared and I said "stop that!" for my little brother's sake, but of course it only added to my chicken rep. We saw some old discarded torches and flashlights.
Then we were there, by the edge of the underground spring. A huge lake like formation full of crystal clear water about six or seven feet deep and you could see all the way to the bottom as if the water was just a giant magnifying glass. Saul immediately propped his torch up against some rocks and started taking his clothes off. I put a hand inside the water and it almost felt like I was touching something magical, we had found the eternal fountain of youth and it was now all ours. The kid's followed Saul's lead and I warned little Nicky to be careful, I was still hesitating.
Saul jumped right in doing a bomb dive. He didn't even bother to check the depth before going in but felt it was fine to trust the stories we had heard. The other kids were more careful just walking in from the shallower edges. I took my shoes off and dipped my feet in while they were splashing and playing games in the water. Then Saul came over with both hands together into a ball shape under the water and spread them open before me. Against the light I could see a small shrimp whose body was completely translucent. I could even see the life line on Saul's hand through it. It was short. I couldn't not take part of this, so I took off my clothes and walked in. I felt like I was bathing in a royal heavenly pool.
When one of the kids went out of the water to reload his torch and said it was the last rag we started coming out and dressing up. Going out of that tiny opening was a lot more of a challenge.
Later that week we went back with some of the other kids our age. We were a hit, they had all talked about it, turns out most of them were lying and had not been there. Saul and I were hero explorers discovering new frontiers previously unknown to our peers. It was on our third trip there when one of the kids stole money from his dad's wallet and we bought some flashlights, waterproof. Extra batteries, too.
That time we were in there for maybe an hour, you could feel the air getting more difficult to breathe even with just a couple of torches in there. Saul noticed the spring went further in than we had gone before, but this time we had flashlights and we could go in a longer way without worrying about loosing the light from the torches at the edge of the water on the other end. There were three other kids with us, two of them older than all of us. There was a long stretch that went much deeper than the rest of the water and as you went along the cave's opening closed down to only a few feet. I was scared.
Saul helped me swim through the deep stretch while I held on to the flashlight above water. We made it through the narrow opening in the water and the most amazing thing was before us. The cave opened up once again into what seemed to be a huge mound of mud. The bigger kids excitedly started climbing it while Saul and I hesitated for a second, looked at each other, shrugged and started on our way up, perhaps 15 feet to the top of the mountain of mud. Up there, the guys were triumphantly started hi-fiving each other as if congratulating themselves for being part of a new discovery. Curiously I pointed the flashlight up to the ceiling to try and figure out if the wet tingling I felt falling on my shoulders was water still filtering through the rocks and into the spring. It was a little warm, but I figured it was probably because the summer was so hot. I was wrong.
As soon as the light hit the ceiling the most horrific shrieking sounds, like a million pings being slaughtered, filled the cave. Our screams started mixing in. Hundreds, maybe thousands of bats flew scared towards out and out the new cave's tiny opening. One of the guys said "watch your hair! they go for your hair!" and they started crawling back down the mound. I stayed behind, not to light the way for them, not because I was brave, but because I was so scared and startled that I couldn't move. I didn't say that, of course, and they thought me brave. "This guy's insane, Saul!" and Saul smiled proudly at me from below. I put my ass to the mud and slid down toward the water.
When we came out of it where the torches were one of them started laughing and said I had crapped my pants. Indeed a disgusting brown thing had stained my pants, but it wasn't my droppings. I said "guys, do you have any idea how all that mud got there?" They didn't have a clue, but only Saul had that surprising expression on his face like he had just figured it out. "That's right buddy, we just took a bat shit shower!". "oooh, aaaarrrgggh, noooo!" they yelled as we all dipped ourselves back in the water and rubbed and scraped our bodies to try and clean them as best we could.
It was shortly after that when Saul had the great idea of climbing onto one of the walls and back flipping into the water. The biggest kid applauded and swam towards the same spot to try it himself. As he latched his hand onto the wall and pulled himself up a huge chuck of it broke off and fell into the water missing him by about a foot. The huge splash caused waves and ripples that moved us all a few feet in the water, one of the torches was extinguished from the water that spattered all over. We stood there for a moment, just looking at the huge hole in the wall where the big rock had just been ripped off.
Slowly and silently we walked out of the water and started putting our clothes on. I can only presume the other kids were thinking the same. I hadn't told my mother where I was, nobody knew, it was a secret place. How easily we could have all been trapped in there forever without any hope of rescue or what a horrible accident one of us could have ended up in. It would be the last time any of us would bathe in the glory of the underground spring.
About fifteen years later I went back. The cave had been converted into a tourist attraction, with stair cases, pathways and abundant electric lighting helping you experience the unbelievable beauty of the spring. They had even installed lights underwater all the way into the water where the cave shrinks and opens up again into a mountain of guano. The hole where the big kid ripped a piece of the wall was still there and my spine shivered with the memory of that moment.
Ende.
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