Crisscross Moon - 21. Chapter 21

21.

It seemed optimistic, but we did. Lots of streams. Or maybe we found one stream with lots of branches. Lots of little branches. We started with the streams near the cave and worked out from there. I didn't use a map though I'd brought a handful of them to reassure Cory.

There are places in the park - in the national forest - where you can walk for several hours without seeing water, and people are warned to keep their bottles full. But we weren't in those areas. If I'd taken one of my maps and drawn a circle a mile around the entrance to my family cave, inside would have been parts of at least 6 streams. And we walked well outside that mile.

"Is this the same stream or a different one?" Cory asked, more than several times.

"This is a new one," I'd sometimes say, showing him on one of the maps. "This goes back to that large stream we saw maybe an hour ago." Other times I'd say, "I'm pretty sure this is the same stream. It just disappeared for a while."

"Where did it disappear?"

"You know... where we lost it."

"Where? Specifically? Can you show me on the map?" Sometimes, when I did, he'd say, "Can we go back there? There might've been something important..."

"If it was, I would've told you."

Still, several times, we went back - so Cory could see how the streams simply trickled off or dried up. I told him they probably went underground at those points. "But they might not continue from there. They may feed a well. And if you measured the size of the stream, it might only be as round as your arm. Maybe smaller. No one could swim in it."

"So it really would take magic... to make a stream suddenly bigger?"

"Not completely... it depends on the time of year. Spring run-off... or melting snow... or a sudden rain and flash flood... Any of those could make a stream larger."

"How often does that happen?"

"Enough to catch tourists by surprise."

He seemed to be thinking. "There's just no time of year in the story... It's never mentioned... And I've never really thought about this area having seasons... It's not like St. Paul..."

"There are seasons here... especially the higher you go in the mountains. That's how water freezes and cracks rocks."

"Is that why water still runs in the caves?"

"Who knows? Water goes wherever it wants."

"So if there was a small stream that only flowed occasionally... and it suddenly flooded... it could lift someone up to where she could swim out of a cave..."

I nodded. "That could happen..."

He shook his head. "I just realized we've never been looking up... at least, I haven't. I've always looked down at the cave walls... from eye level to the ground... looking for an opening. I never thought to look above us."

"We can go back." I offered, and he seemed interested. But he said, "Let's finish looking at streams first."

"I don't think we're going to find anything we missed," I assured him. "At least, not in my family cave. For one thing, as I've said, it's already been pretty well explored. For another, if there were something that was secret... that was partially hidden... that information would've been passed down..."

I'm not sure he wanted to hear that, and there was something else I needed to say. "Also, I told you my family cave's pretty much above ground. It would take a huge flood to fill it. And if that flood was big enough to let one person swim, it might drown everyone else."

Cory seemed to consider. "I hadn't thought about that."

I nodded. And he nodded. Then we went on looking at streams. But there finally came a point where - just as in looking for openings in the cave wall - Cory realized we weren't finding anything new.

"The problem is," he said, "there are lots of streams. And you've been terrific at finding them and showing them to me... But they don't seem to go close enough to your family cave... or to any of the caves... So I can't see how they'd all go together."

I couldn't help him on that.

"Though I've learned a lot," he went on. "And we've hiked a lot... And I think it's time for some tuna and peaches."

So we sat by one of the streams and washed our hands and faces. Cory kind of unbuttoned his shirt but didn't take it off. He mainly seemed to be thinking.

"This isn't terrible," he said at one point. He pointed at our uninteresting lunch, but I don't think it's what he'd been focused on. He probably just needed a break.

"Except for all the sugar," I mentioned. "And the salt in the fish."

"If it's natural, it can't hurt us."

"I'm not sure these are even real fish."

Still, we finished them. And we packed away our trash, so it didn't attract bears. Then Cory studied one of my maps.

"Are there any nearby caves that have water in them?" he asked.

I had to think. "I know a couple... but they're not really streams... one mainly drips. The other has more of a pool... though it's closer to a puddle... it's not very deep. And that water doesn't flow. It mainly makes the floor slick."

"You're sure the water doesn't flow?"

"Yeah... 'cause the cave has kind of a smell. Not so much stagnant as of things rotting."

"Leaves?"

"No... it's too far inside... Small dead things."

"Sounds interesting."

He was joking, and I laughed. "It's nature."

Cory was quiet. "I need to see those caves," he decided. "Or something like them. If we're not gonna find a stream that goes into a cave... or one passing by... at least let me see what a cave with water looks like."

"It's not like the movies," I warned. "Those always have beautiful waterfalls and plenty of natural light. These caves are more like dark holes.. And the main way you find the water is when it drips down your neck."

"It always comes from above?"

"Unless you slip, and you're lying in it."

"But it has to come from somewhere..."

"I don't know... sometimes, it just sort of appears... Like magic."

Cory laughed at that. "But the wrong kind."

(continued)