Chapter 4: Second Timothy: in the Cave, One

As much as he wished to keep Wendy safe, David could not fit in the entrance tunnel.

No amount of scrabbling in the tunnel floor added any more height or breadth to the shaft. David was 'locked' out. The place was just too small.

Spelunking is not a safe single person sport. There should always be a partner. Finding someone as tiny as herself was a problem.

Tiny guys always had 'big attitudes, ' tiny girls detested the dirt. There were many claustrophobes.

Over the years, Wendy charted the huge central cavern. In the course of events, she found 11 other passageways. Always they ended in a small crawlway. Rather than chance exploring each one she limited herself to marking, measuring and charting.

As an indication of the size of the cavern, Wendy set up a tripod mounted World War Two Japanese aviation 120 millimeter camera with an open shutter. Making her way counterclockwise as close to the outer cavern wall as debris from ancient ceiling collapses would allow, every fifteen minutes Wendy would set off a Meggaflash PF330 screw-in flashbulb in a camera attached reflector. The flash directly opposite the access tunnel was a pinprick of light. At the rate of four flashes per hour the 22 illuminations took five and a half hours to complete. The resulting photograph looked a little weird; 22 Wendys' taking 22 pictures. Each of the 22 flashes resulted in 22 individual photographs taken with Wendy's pre war 35 mm Zeiss. Considering the heat from the bulbs and how long it took for them to cool, the 15 minutes between shots was barely enough.

It was the 22 individual pictures that allowed Wendy to discover the additional 11 side caves. She also discovered some very old markings that told her she was NOT the first human in the cavern. /// with the slant in the return direction, a candle black arrow on a passage ceiling, even a maze of very old and rotten fibers left from some kind of string.

Wendy was caving before the mid '60's Elitist "cavers" decided that spelunkers were 'amateurs'. Exploring underground became a question of how much money you had to spend and whether or not you had the very latest doodad. A Tom Sawyer run through a cave had become major expeditions with support vehicles and sufficient gear to last for weeks.

Marking a way out was frowned on as 'defacing' nature. Unable to find the way out, hundreds died. Thousands more had to be rescued by the 'professionals.' She had found the first entrance in 1954 after a minor quake caused a major rockslide. Wendy was 12 with all the curiosity of life. "Oh Yes, Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone."

The money gave Wendy and David the advantage. The proceeds from the gold and cut gemstones could have produced a pair of indolent monsters. Instead its existence created a pair of driven kids, eager to succeed, humble enough to be pleased but wise enough to resist bullshit.

The nice thing about the money was garage sales, yard sales, and Church Bazaars. All manner of things from pre war Germany were beginning to appear. Wendy and David bought. The '57 Suburban could be seen early Saturdays, David driving, Wendy directing, newspaper and Shell City map on her lap. Wendy was interested in 'film, ' and snipers. David retaliated with an interest in military officers watches and reconnaissance cameras, aviation cameras.

"Ooo! David? This one has several Leica and Zeiss cameras and, Oh My ... an Army Type 99 Ultra Small Aerial Camera (GSK-99), with cases of film ... oh, on the same street there's military bring-backs. Cases of 8x57 ammo ... and a Mauser Sniper ... let's!"