Chapter 6

There was nothing special about the summer, except they did spend as much time camping as possible as a sop to Elsie. So much camping time was now missed during the school year because of sports and social events that the rest of the family felt that they owed Elsie as much time in the field as possible.

It was notable that whoever was with Billy on their hikes did tend to take more chances that they should simply because Billy and Genie were there to perform miraculous rescues if they were ever needed. This was the one time that they did have an unusual event. The whole family was on a trip to the Mississippi River to explore the caves along its bank in Missouri. By the way, most people don't know it, but the state of Missouri has more recorded caves than any other state, and more are being found every year.

Anyway, they had chosen a park with several caves, all of them extensive and not fully explored. This was just the thing for Billy's adventurous family to investigate, especially since they had their own "life-saver" right there with them. They had planned to spend two weeks in the various caves along or near the river, so they were well equipped to spend the full time with their own provisions. Billy, being the strongest, was volunteered to carry the largest pack, which consisted of the MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) they planned to eat while they were hiking. Each person was also carrying a light bedroll and one change of clothes in case what they were wearing got wet. Of course, they had lanterns and the other things that casual spelunkers always took into a cave.

You see, they did not plan to stay on the marked trails, but to do some exploring on their own. Genie assured Billy that they would not get lost because Genie always knew exactly where he was and the path that had been followed to get there. Billy and the rest of the family had absolute trust in Genie, so they didn't worry about being able to get back to their original camp.

That was why the first time they saw a sign "DO NOT ENTER! THIS PASSAGE HAS NO BEEN ADEQUATELY EXPLORED!" they immediately decided to see where that passage led. It happened to be Jim's turn to lead and Billy's turn for drag, but that was purely coincidence. Jim was a firm believer in Genie's abilities, so he led off with a confident step.

They traveled a couple of hundred yards and came to a split in the tunnel. The question, now, was whether to go right or left. Jim flipped a coin and turned left. He'd gone another 30 yards or so when he did something very foolish. He was stepping over a small ridge blocking the way when he turned to speak to Elsie, who was close behind him. Thus, Jim did not see that he was stepping off a cliff face. They were all linked together by a rope, so, when Jim fell, he dragged Elsie right behind him, and that pulled Ann down, too.

As soon as he felt himself start to slide, Billy commanded "HOOKS!" Genie responded by making Billy's body bristle with sharp hooks all over. Had the hooks been straight, Billy would have looked more like a porcupine than any thing else, but the ground did not lend itself to being grasped by these hooks. Therefore, the forward motion did not stop, but it was significantly slowed.

By the time Jim hit the bottom of the crevasse, he was traveling slowly enough that he was not hurt, other than a nearly shattered dignity. Elsie and Ann were not injured at all, because their landing was cushioned by the one who had fallen before her.

Billy went over the ledge just like the rest of his family, but Genie quickly changed his body form into something resembling a parachute. Billy not only landed gently, but he also missed hitting the pile of bodies that had proceeded him over the cliff edge.

There were now two aggravations that had to be dealt with. Jim had landed in a stream of icy water and needed to change clothes quickly before he was overcome with hypothermia. The other annoyance was that they had broken their lights when they fell, so that they were now stuck in absolute darkness. Well, the first problem could be easily fixed if they could fix the second problem.

Light was provided when Billy commanded "GLOWWORM!" Glowworm was another of those Saturday morning TV superheroes, and his shtick was the fact that he could emit a strong light radiation. He was sort of a walking CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp). Suddenly, there was enough light for everybody to see their predicament. Jim, with the help of Elsie and Ann, quickly got his clothes changed, so his specific problem was solved, but the next question was how were they going to return back up that cliff?

Billy and Genie had no doubt that they could solve that problem with only a minimum amount of thought, but the real question was: did they want to go back the way that they had come? The crevasse they were in was about 10 feet wide, so they were not pressed for space to move around. There was a source of water, so they would not go thirsty, and they had their MREs, so they would not get too hungry for a few days. It was cool, but not overly cold, and they had their bedrolls, so they could sleep in reasonable comfort. The upshot was that they decided to explore where they were right now, and decide later on their escape.

They decided to go downstream for no particular reason—that just struck everybody as the way to go. They might even walk out of the cave if they stuck to their program. They did change the order of march. Billy led the way, still in his Glowworm persona, and the rest bunched up close behind him. That way, they had enough light to see where they were going, and Billy resolved to himself not to fall down into another crevasse.

They marched for several miles and were struck by the beauty of the crevasse walls as Billy's pure white light reflected from them. There were many colors reflected back as they passed veins of various minerals embedded in the walls, and they wondered if there was anything that would be worth mining. However, the effect was so beautiful that they realized that it would be desecration to disturb what nature was showing to them.

Eventually, they began to tire, so they decided to stop for the rest they needed. Billy's watch had survived the fall, and it showed that evening had arrived. Thus, they decided to stop for the day and eat only a small portion of their rations. They agreed to walk for one more day, and then turn around if they had not found an exit. They needed to allow for enough food to carry them back to their starting point and to give them time to escape back up that cliff by whatever means Billy and Genie came up with.

Bedrolls were combined so that the two couples could form what they called the first chapter of the Missouri Mile Low Club. Well, the next morning they admitted that the sex had been pretty much plain vanilla, but vanilla was a very nice flavor when consumed under the right circumstances. At least, they could make as much noise as they wished without worrying about who would be disturbed by the noise.

They ate sparingly of their MREs and cleaned up their campsite before continuing the journey. They marched along the crevasse for a little over three hours before coming to the end of it. The roof lowered rapidly, and they were now walking through a standard cave again. They stopped after another hour and ate lunch. The scenery was a bit disappointing because it was no longer as spectacular as it had been, but it was still beautiful and interesting.

Around 90 minutes after they had cleaned up and resumed their march, they came to a pile of rotted canvas bags. The bags were not so interesting as what the bags had once contained. They found piles of gold coins and bars. Most of the coins were Eagles ($10) and Double Eagles ($20). There were also gold bars marked as $100 and $500. What the Shit!?! From the dates on the coins, this treasure had to date from sometime in the late 1860s or early 1870s. It looked like a huge robbery had taken place around 1875 and the loot had been stored here for safekeeping. Jim guessed that the thieves had been river pirates, but there was no way to know for sure.