Chapter 41
“Isaiah, come on. We gotta hurry, if we’re gonna get to the cave before dark.”
“I’m tired, Caleb.” Isaiah’s short legs had tried mightily to keep up with his brother, but as the journey had lengthened, he had fallen farther and farther behind.
“Well, I’m tired too, but I’m not being a baby about it like you are.”
“Why’d we hafta leave?” Isaiah whined. “I liked it there. We had lots to eat, and even if we had to take a bath every day, they was good to us.”
“I told you. I heard Uncle K talking. They’re planning on sending us away to some school.”
“You sure, Caleb?”
“’Course I’m sure. He and Miz Hope were laughing about it. Said a pre-school would be the best step for us. Miz Hope said she enjoyed teaching us, but Uncle K said it was too much for her. Then they laughed some more when Miz Hope told him how you’d hid that nest of mice in our room. I told you that was dumb,” he said with all the scorn an older brother could voice.
“Well, they was babies. Didn’t even have their eyes open. And they was like us, no mama.”
“Yeah, well you could have heard Hope scream clear out to the barn when she reached under your bed for your shoe and found them.”
“Uncle K wasn’t mad. He thought it was funny.”
“No, he didn’t, ‘cause I heard him tell Miz Hope we had too much unsupervised time on our hands.”
Both boys held up their hands and inspected them.
“I don’t see no time, Caleb.”
“Me neither. But that’s when Uncle K, uh Uncle Kade,” he made himself abandon the loving name they’d given Kade for one that was best for a man that had betrayed them, “said we’d,” and his voice lowered, imitating Kade’s, “benefit from a pre-school.”
“What else did they say?”
“Don’t know. I was gonna sneeze, so I had to get away quick before they knew I was listening. I did hear Uncle Kade say he’d look into sending us there tomorrow.”
A tear trickled down Isaiah’s baby cheeks. “Wished I’d never seen those darn mice.”
“Don’t start crying, Isaiah. You got to quit being such a baby.”
“I’m scared though. What are we gonna do for food?”
“Got some in this sack,” and he patted the bulging plastic bag gripped in his fist.
“How long will that last, Caleb?”
“Don’t know. We’ll have to be careful not to eat much.”
“But I like to eat. I like feeling full. Even Miz Hope’s cooking is better’n nothing. We hardly had anything before we came to live with Uncle K.”
“Me, too. But just remember, he’s not really our uncle. We only have each other. We’re brothers.”
“We have Jesse,” Isaiah said in a small voice.
“I don’t know, Isaiah. Jesse’s hardly around. He’s always busy helping Mr. Mark. He got really mad when he found out about the mice. Said we was gonna ruin everything.”
“Yeah.” Isaiah trudged up the hill and took Caleb’s hand.
“Is it very far to the cave?”
“Don’t know for sure. Uncle Kade showed it to me when we was out riding. I was helping him look for stray cows. I don’t think it’s much farther. I remember seeing that black stump there.”
“How come it’s so black?”
Caleb puffed out his chest, filled with important knowledge. “’Cause it was hit by lightning. Burned down to just that stump.”
“You’re smart, Caleb.”
“Yep.” He wasn’t about to share he’d had to ask Kade the same question.
The silence of the tall pines closed around them as they followed what was no more than a deer trail through the brush. Branches snapped as the boy’s fought their way through the thick undergrowth. Their faces bore the marks of their struggles. Welts and scratches covered bare arms. The slap of a branch no longer brought forth cries of pain.
“Caleb,” Isaiah called, “I’m thirsty.”
“I am, too. Put a pebble in your mouth and suck on it. That’s what the Indians used to do.”
“Huh?” Isaiah mumbled and dug out a small dirt encrusted pebble with the toe of his sneaker. He popped it in his mouth.
“Aack, pooh, ick,” he spewed out the rock, dirt dribbling down his chin. “Tastes terrible, Caleb.”
Caleb marched back to him and wiped the little boy’s face with the sleeve of his shirt, smearing the dirt even more.
“You’re so dumb. And a baby to boot.” He glared at Isiah.
Isaiah’s big eyes filled with tears.
“You wipe the dirt off first. Don’t you know anything?”
Filled with self-righteous indignation, Caleb resumed their march. A short distance later, just when he was beginning to doubt himself, he saw the cave nestled in the side of the mountain.
With a voice filled with relief, he shouted, “There it is. Right where I knew it would be. Do you see it, Isaiah?”
“No.” Came the sullen reply.
“See that skinny pine tree?”
“Yeah.”
“Follow it with your eyes to its top. Then look to the side. At the mountain.” Caleb waited impatiently, arm flung out, finger pointing. “See it?”
“No.” Isaiah ground out, blinking hard, willing the dreaded tears not to fall.
Huffing mightily, Caleb strode back to his brother and none-too-gently put both hands on his head, turning it in the direction of the cave.
“I see it now, Caleb. I see it. Wow! It’s a big one.”
“Big enough to make a home for us.” Caleb hoped the words were true. He’d only seen the cave from a distance. He had no idea how far back it went.
Then in no more than a whisper, a small voice asked, “What if there’s a bear in it? Bears use caves for their homes, too.”
Darn Isaiah for voicing something Caleb hadn’t even thought about. Now what?
“Huh, Caleb?”
“Hush. I’m thinking.”
“It would eat us.” If possible, the whisper was even quieter, adding to the stillness of the formidable pines. The trees joined branches as they moved closer, circling them with a dark presence.
“Caleb?” Isaiah’s eyes were wide as he looked into the woods. “I’m scared.”
“Me, too.” Caleb wanted to shout. Actually, what he really wanted to do was to grab Isaiah’s hand, run like the hounds of hell were nipping at their heels, and be back to the safety of the Circle K.
“We got to climb up there and see if the cave’s empty.” Caleb’s voice shook.
“Nuh, uh. I’m not. I don’t want any bear eating me.”
Caleb took a deep breath. “I’ll do it. You wait here.” He stood staring at the cave, hoping Isaiah would relent and join him.
With slow resignation, he started the climb to the face of the cave. A few feet from the opening, he flattened himself, dug his elbows into the hillside, and like a snake, belly-crawled closer. His heart pounded in his head, each beat getting louder. Pebbles and sharp edges of rocks dug into his arms and hands, and scraped his belly. The pain didn’t register, so intent was he on trying to peer into the dark recesses of the cave.
Closer he crawled. Then daring to raise his head higher, he took one quick, terrifying look before dropping back to the ground. He saw nothing. Braver now, he snapped his head up and squinted at the dreadful hole. This time he was able to combat the fear, and not daring to breathe, peered even longer.
Something moved.
His face kissed the ground. There was a bear. A big bear was at the entrance to the cave. Caleb’s blood turned to ice and air was unable to force its way into his lungs. Minutes passed. His ears ached from listening, fearful he’d hear the bear lumbering down the mountain toward him. If he stayed where he was, the bear would smell them. It was up to him as the older brother to do something. With eyes as big as saucers, he inched his head upward, praying his legs would move at his command.
Again, he saw nothing. The bear was gone. How could it move that fast? Had it crawled inside the cave? Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same movement. There, against the side of the cave. It was the bear. Caleb blinked, clearing his eyes. He blinked again.
Air whooshed out of him as realization rushed in. What he thought was a bear was only a dark bush, waving against the side of the cave. There was no bear. Weak with relief, he quickly turned his head, hoping Isaiah hadn’t witnessed his cowardly actions.
“See anything, Caleb?”
“’Course not,” he stammered, shakily getting to his feet. “I’m going closer, so be quiet.” With a swagger, he picked his way to the entrance and poised there, ready to flee down the mountainside should he be wrong and find the cave was occupied. It wasn’t. But it was a lot shallower than it looked from the trail. There would barely be room for him and Isaiah to stretch out. Even then, their feet would dangle out the opening. Disappointment filled him.
“Come on up, Isaiah. It’s not big enough to hold any ole bear. Hardly big enough for you and me.”
Noisily, Isaiah made his way up the mountain, rolling pebbles and small rocks behind him. Panting, he stood at Caleb’s side.
“Rats. It’s a baby cave.” Disgust in every word. Then he looked at Caleb as if blaming him for the cave’s inadequacies.
“Now what, Caleb? We can’t live here.”
“It’ll do for tonight. We’ll go scouting the area tomorrow. Maybe we’ll even start building us a cabin and use this cave until it’s built.”
“You know how to build a cabin?”
“Nah. Can’t be that hard.” He dropped the sack on the floor of the cave and sat down beside it. Pulling it open, he reached inside and pulled out the hastily wrapped food.
“Might as well eat it all tonight. I’m powerfully hungry from all that walking. You?”
“Yeah,” Isaiah answered, peering into the sack. “Empty. Is that all you brought?”
“I took all I could without anyone becoming suspicious. Tomorrow we’ll find berries and maybe catch fish.”
“I’m thirsty,” Isaiah whined.
“Suck on that orange.”
“Are you afraid? It’s getting darker.”
“No,” Caleb lied. “Here,” he shoved the empty sack at Isiah. “Put this under your head for a pillow. We’re safe here. I’ll take the first watch. Tomorrow, we’ll start on the cabin.”
“Yeah,” Isaiah said sleepily. “Right after we pick us some berries and catch us some fish.”