Crisscross Moon - 34. Chapter 34

33.

He shined it everywhere. And kept shining it. Hitting a wall. Hitting the floor. Hitting the ceiling. Finally, I turned my flashlight on him and shielded the beam so I could see his face. He was beginning to smile.

"I'll give you this," he said quietly. "There are no bones. Not. A. Goddam. One."

And his smile got a little bigger. And I think he was starting to believe me.

He started back towards the stream. Still shining his beam around the cave. Always searching.

"You can't stop doing that?" I said when I caught up.

"What?"

"Smiling."

"Am I?" He almost put his hand up to check his face. "No... I guess I can't."

He shined his beam around.

"I really want to believe you," he admitted. "It would be so easy... I know you believe yourself..."

His smile had broadened into a grin. But he still managed to shrug.

"They got out," he almost whispered. "Every single one of those suckers got out."

I knew he'd cleaned up his language for me.

"They had to be here," I quietly told him. "We found the stream... and you can see why people would call it magic... And if you could fit through the passage, any one of them could... And it's not so long that the kids couldn't manage... And kids are like dogs... they can be taught to swim almost from birth. And somehow, they were taught to hold their breath..."

"You really believe this?"

"We have the proof..."

He looked again at the shard. He'd been almost polishing it with his fingers.

"We have this..." he admitted. "...and the cave... and the stream.... And maybe... somewhere..." he shined his light towards the back of the cave, "maybe there's a blocked off opening that leads to your family cave... Or we could be standing near it..."

He shined his beam around again.

"Maybe a wall collapsed..." he said. "...or a tunnel caved in... Like you told me, just because we can't find something doesn't mean it didn't exist... And maybe if we came back with stronger lights... or with people who really know what they're doing... Maybe one of them could pick up a rock... a chip of a piece that means nothing to us... And one of them could say, 'You see this scratch? Well, it matches a scratch in a chip of a fragment of a rock on the other side of this wall... And that's proof that they were once the same cave...'"

"You're tired," I told Cory.

"Very," he admitted. "But I think you're right. My ancestors didn't kill the cliff dwellers. The handsome warrior's free."

Again, he shined his light on everything it could reach.

"And as much as I ever believed the legend," he went on. "As much as I believed there was a warrior... and a princess... and a hidden cave... I think they all connected here... In this cave... Once..."

He hesitated.

"And maybe we got some of this wrong... Maybe we got a lot of it wrong... But I've never thought it was just a fairy tale."

"No," I said.

"You believe me, don't you?"

"Yes."

And he laughed. And I laughed with him. And we almost forgot to worry about the bears. But that really didn't matter, because once we were back in their cave, it seemed they'd gone on their morning dumpster run. And my rifle was right where I left it.

"How'd you know that?" Cory asked when I picked it up.

"Because it made sense."

And soon we were both happy to see natural light. And to be out of wetsuits and back in our comfortable clothes. Except Cory left off his shirt.

"God, that feels great," he said. "I swear I'm never putting that thing on till I get back to San Francisco."

"Come off it..."

"No... You know what you said about always staying slightly afraid of caves? Well, I hate the dark and the cold... And I'd be happy never to see a cave again."

I smiled. "Are you more afraid of caves than nightmares?"

"I told you... I never had nightmares about the cliff dwellers... Only dream adventures..."

I waited. "You know, there's something I've been thinking about," I began. "Something I haven't mentioned... If there really was a handsome warrior... and if you're his descendant... then what does that make me?"

Cory grinned. "I"ve been thinking about that all weekend..."

"My connection wouldn't be as direct... Though as you said, you have plenty of Norwegian in the mix..."

"It still wouldn't be impossible..."

"That would make us distant cousins."

"Very distant." He smiled. "Even that would be great."

And he just looked at me.

"It could all be coincidence," I said.

"I don't believe that... You have one story... handed down about the cave. I have another... about the same place... But the pieces fit."

"Then where did the cliff dwellers go?"

He shrugged. "That's not my problem. That's someone else's legend, and it's not my job to figure it out. I mean, people are still trying to work out what happened to the Mayans... and the Aztecs... and the Incas... and I'd be interested to know... But my problem ended when I found out the handsome warrior wasn't responsible for the cliff dwellers' deaths."

And he grinned. And I swear, he was almost dancing. Right out on the road. And we were laughing. And somewhere in there, I kissed him. He didn't do anything for a moment. Then he said, "I thought I was supposed to do that - as the thankful guest."

I smiled. "Not in the warrior princess version."

He stared at me.

"Well, you said we probably got some things wrong..."

He shrugged.

"And maybe you have the story backwards..."

He needed to think about that.

"What's this have to do with the handsome warrior?" he asked.

"It may make him a bit too sure of himself..."

"So he's not handsome?"

"I never denied that..."

"Not a warrior?"

"Maybe just a well-meaning guy..."

Cory seemed to try that one out.

"The Well-Meaning Guy and the Princess?"

"Warrior Princess," I corrected. "In my case, Warrior Prince."

"The Well-Meaning Guy and the Warrior Prince?"

"Yeah."

And he seemed to think about that. And as he grinned, I could still see the 8-year-old Minnesota farm boy.

(End of book)