Abby and Wendy
Episode 9
THE UNDERGROUND WAY FROM THE DAWN OF TIME
Illustration by Carlos Uribe
Wendy rose early in the first light of dawn. Abby heard her walking around, but stayed in bed for an extra hour of sleep. Eventually Wendy held her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Nooww… that’s enough sleep, even for you. Think of the breakfast I’ve prepared, and the fun we’ll have today! More than fun. Take my word for it. We’re blessed with such a day.”
Abby sat up and saw a pile of clothes next to her. “Wear something comfortable. The place we’re going may be cooler than you expect. This is not a hike in the sun on a summer’s day.” Breakfast included goat cheese and onion omelets with fried finger beans. Wendy had already packed a knapsack with food and sweaters.
The sun was bright as they stepped out the door. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” came the old woman’s voice behind her. Abby looked back, feeling defensive. “If I knew what we’re going to do, I might know what to bring.”
“So how did you get here?”
“I walked, of course, I know the way.”
Wendy’s dark eyes looked thoughtfully into Abby’s eyes.
“Oh, I see," Abby replied. "That’s not quite true. I got scared and confused, and the mapstick helped me. Now I understand.” Abby walked back into the house to retrieve her staff. She unwound the velvet material and carried it in the open in all its glory. They climbed a gradual slope filled with ancient beech trees, tall and silver with thick trunks and smooth bark. At the top of the slope they came to a limestone ridge, about twenty feet high. Massive blocks of stone were piled together as if they had fallen from the sky.
“How are we going to climb that thing?” Abby asked.
“Who says we have to?”
Abby studied the ridge, and noticed a flat stone sticking out of the pile about four feet off the ground. It made a bit of a shelter she had never noticed before. Abby crawled under the rock. Immediately the mapstick began to shine, lighting up another six feet of space. The ceiling actually rose a couple of feet as they entered the small back room of this little house. “I wonder what we’re doing here?” Wendy asked.
“Okay, okay…” Abby sighed wearily. “I know what the game is. There’s something I’m not seeing.”
“If you say so.” Wendy replied with an innocent look.
“Oh stop it! This game is starting to annoy me.” In frustration Abby closely examined the walls of this claustrophobic little room. In the back left corner a very large and smooth egg-shaped stone stuck out from the wall. It didn’t quite fit the part of the wall it covered.
Abby set the mapstick aside, and put both hands on top of the stone and pulled. It rolled, revealing an empty hole about two feet square. "A narrow tunnel! But only big enough for a medium size dog!"
“What a surprise!” exclaimed Wendy.
“You’re laughing at me,” retorted Abby. “I suppose you can crawl in there.”
“You’re the leader today. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Abby sighed, feeling the panic attack growing inside her. ‘I’ll have to try it,’ she thought. ‘I’ll never be able to live with myself if I back out. I’d rather die than back out.’
She reached into the hole with the mapstick, and pushed it ahead of her. It shone more brightly every moment. Abby followed, and wriggled through the tiny hole, holding her arms ahead and moving like a snake. Her skinny form went through with unexpected ease. A moment later she stood up in a spectacular hallway, so large that the light of her staff could not reach the far end. A walkway outlined in stone ran down the middle of the hall. The pale, curving walls on the right and left seemed far away. Dripping stalactites like icicles six and seven feet long appeared near the edges, unexpectedly white in the light of the mapstick. Abby realized that the outline of the walkway was made of stalactites broken from the ceiling and laid down end to end. Clear surfaces on the curve of the walls and ceiling were adorned with artwork or writing in a deep red color. The walkway opened at intervals with paths running off to the right and left.
She was tempted to wander around in amazement, but she was certain that Wendy planned a particular destination for this adventure, and this hallway did not seem like the final goal. Indeed, that final goal might be far off. The setup of the hallway appeared to be designed for a procession of people marching two by two, heading toward some incredible destination further underground.