“Its just another chamber Professor.” Carmen said proud of the fact she had won the battle of the sexes between her and Greg. Sure he was a football player but she was the captain of her gymnastic team as a junior and in as good of shape as anyone at the college. More of a surprise was she was allowed to advance into the danger of the dark tunnel because of the secret.
“Man the rope while I go and investigate what Carmen found and if its safe everyone can join us.”
“Yes sir Professor.”
Crawling out of the dark small opening of the tunnel into the cavern, he embraced Carmen spinning and gently crushing her perfect muscular soft body to the cool cavern wall kissing her passionately out of sight of the flickering lights protruding from the passageway. However, it was frowned on for professors to be romantically involved with students he couldnt help himself. He wasnt a dirty old fart chasing after young women, far from it he wasnt quite six and a half older than Carmen and he had plans of marrying her if she would have him. Since his class was required in the field she was studying, they had agreed to keep their relationship secretive until she had passed the curriculum, and on the night of her completion of his course, he was going to propose to her. He even bought the engagement ring already in hopes the love of his life would be his but he knew it was just about a give me because his touch still made her tremble.
Theirs wasnt a whirlwind relationship either because they had been secretly seeing each other for well over a year since they had met online. They were unbeknownst to each other until their agreed meeting at the local coffee shop. That is when they recognized each other immediately from their brief passing encounters on the campus and after seeing each other, they decided to continue their budding romance after such a great on line experience with each other. After a year they still were excited at the sound of the others voice and touch, they were to this day the very best of friends and lovers longing to be in each others arms and company at the end of each day!
“What does it look like in there, boss,” George asked shining the beam of his flashlight into the dark passageway.
Smiling at her private tutor and boyfriend Mike triumphantly, happy with him for trusting her to venture into the unknown darkness of the cave. Pushing him backwards slightly she tore her athletic and flexible body from his grasp saying to him teasingly, “You better say something or they might come investigating beforeyou have a moment to calm down.”
“We will finish this discussion later,” he said grabbing her once more just briefly around her waist and giving her one last quick kiss on the lips.
“Whatever you say Professor, am I being punished?”
“No Miss Carmen you are going to be rewarded for such an excellent job of succeeding well beyondthe call of duty!”
“I like the sounds of that baby but we still have to be careful, so you better answer.”
“It appears to be safe but give me another minute,” Mike said peering around the cavern with his heavy-duty Q-BEAM flashlight. It wasnt much in size but what it lacked in size was the mixture of illuminated brilliant colors of the different stones and jewels that embedded the damp walls. They were after all the first ones to stumble into this cavern. It was just dumb luck that big Greg was slinging a rock, slash boulder, and it knocked a chunk out of the wall revealing the small opening and after clearing the debris out of the way, he made the gut wrenching responsibility of who to send in first since he was the only qualified climber he had to stay behind. Greg was the strongest amongst the group, and he too had to lag behind to man the rope, and even though the fear of endangering Carmen was in his mind he realized she was the only one with the athletic ability to proceed into the darkness of the entranceway safely.
Concentrating on the task at hand while cooling down from his loving embrace with Carmen. He knew from first-hand experience the glitter that littered the walls was nothing more than keep sakes nothing of real value but there was a dug out notch, which appeared to be manmade into the far wall of the circular cavern about eight or nine feet long and a foot wide. As he started towards it there appeared to be an object laying on the ledge of the hollowed out hole and sensing no danger he told Carmen to call for the others.
“Hey guys come on in I think we have found something,” she yelled thru the dark passageway.
“Could it possibly be?”
“Could it possibly be what baby, oops sorry? Could it be what Mike?”
“I was talking out loud to myself Miss Ball. This stick or staff placed in a hand dug crevice in a cave on a mountain in the land of Egypt reminded me of a story from my youth?”
“What story might that be Professor Grant,” Arthur Payne asked, the undisputed class geek down to the Buddy Holly glasses.
“First I need to run some test to confirm the age of the staff before coming to any conclusions Mr. Payne. Until then my conclusion is nothing more than pure conjecture.”
“What kinds of test boss,” George asked.
“Finally after three quarters of the semester gone you want to show interest now Mr. Benson?”
“Like yea man, its finally starting to get interesting.”
“Well Im glad I caught your attention at long last and since I have it I suggest we claim our new prize and skedaddle out of here before the local tribe of marauders try and confiscate our new possession.
“Carmen andladies first,” Greg said.
With the mercenaries within sight and the Jeeps, still two miles away Mike pondered their possibilities. Circling the edge of the lake was no good because the lack of cover would leave them exposed and he was not sure whether the trained guerillas would shoot first and ask questions later so escaping that way was far too risky. Swimming the lake was impractical to, due to the soldiers once again and the lake though small was still two wide for the group to swim across in time to escape. Upon coming to a strange decision, it would undoubtedly answer the earlier question of what the staff was. If he was, correct about the origin of the old wooden staff with the old unknown dialect imprinted on it then it should provide their escape route from the militias who were hot on their trail in pursuit.
“Its now or never,” he shouted. “Everybody line up behind me!”Standing at the edge of the of the lake firmly grasping the staff with both hands he raised it above his head and with one swift straight thrust he stabbed the bottom of the staff into the brackish still water of the small lake. Standing there not knowing what to expect he stared at the ripples from the disturbance of the staff spread out across the still surface of the quaint lake wondering if maybe he was to have spoken a word of some kind of ancient dialect to cause the miraculous act that he was hoping for. Still in thought, he came to the sobering realization this wasnt apparently their means of escape and as his panicked mind started to deduce their options once again.
Standing there lost in thought they were frightened and startled, by a loud, thunderous, mysterious splash occurring directly across from them on the opposite bank of the lake as the first ripple from the intrusion of the staff touched the shoreline! The ten foot wide splash shot straight upward to the height of at least forty or fifty foot high and as it descended back into the edge of the lake the water split from the far side of the ancient basin to the edge they inhabited. Stacking the waters from the mysterious gap on top of the surface water of the lake to the height of five foot and as Mike studied the way the water was stacked up it reminded him of the hedge bushes that walledhis grandfathers driveway from his childhood. Looking across the muddy, littered, root and stump infested bottom of the lakebed he yelled for everyone to follow him!
Stumbling and climbing over, around, and through the soggy littered lakebed, they couldnt hear each other over the loud roar and rumbling of the standing water of the mystic trench until reaching the far bank of the small eloquent lake. Upon reaching the shoreline, Mike stepped off to the side and held out the staff for everyone to use as a rope to help themselves ascend the slippery bank leading to safety. As the last student cleared the lake running to the trees for the cover of safety, he grasped the staff once more raising it above his head screaming to the soldiers, which were in the magical trench and about to the middle of the lake. “Hope you can swim,” as he struck the bottom of the lake with the ancient staff. Immediately the water collapsed upon itself again refilling the magical gorge with the dark and muddied water, engulfing the struggling soldiers.
“Are your suspicions confirmed now hon or do you need more proof,” Carmen asked touching the back of his arm strong arm, fighting the urge to ensnare herself into his muscular torso.
“You okay,” he asked looking deep into her beautiful brown eyes. “We are fine at the moment but the those soldiers arent going to give up this easy and at best we gained some time to make it back to the Jeeps before they overtake us again,” Carmen said watching the bobbing heads of their pursuers break the surface of the lake heading back to where they emtered from.
“You„re right so we better get everybody back on the move. You know what?”
“What,” she asked knowing exactly what he was going to say to her in turn starting her heart to pounding, aching to hear him say the words but unsure because she didnt want him to get into trouble.
“I love you and I need you to promise me if by chance I have to do something drastic to save you and the class you will do whatever I ask.”
“We will cross that bridge when we get to it, now lets get going,” she stated knowing she would not or could not leave him! Her place was beside him through thick or thin. Turning her back to him to avoid the argument she said, “Come on Mike.”
“Everybody ready because the miracle we witnessed did nothing more than buy us some time.” Mike stated.
“Well leave as soon as you kiss Carmen! We know you have been secretly dating and we think you both make a cute couple so dont worry your secret is safe with us. We see how concerned you are for each other so get it over with and kiss heralready so we can make our get away,” Ann said.
“Hell we are even jealous in times like these,” Joyce exclaimed.
“Well Im glad we dont have to hide my feelings anymore,” Carmen said lifting her limber and beautiful body to her tiptoes kissing him gently on the lips as he slightly bent over to a backgrounds of oohs and ahs.
“Okay thats enough already children lets get on the move. Follow me,” Mike said taking the lead towards the Jeeps.
“How long have you known about us,” Carmen quizzed the other girls on the class expedition.
“We suspected it the first day of class,” Joyce answered.
“The very first day, are you serious?”
“It wasnt that hard girl. You know one woman knows when another woman is in love and seeing the both of you stealing glances at each other made it easy to figure out. It was apparent in your eyes so we knew for sure by the end of the first week,” Angie remarked.
“We have kept it a secret until we saw you and Mike at the edge of the lake. We knew by the way he looked at you that you were longing for his embrace so we told the guys in the class what we knew and told them to keep it secret or else,” Ann said.
“Oh Lord God you know they will tell everybody when they get back to campus and then Mike will get fired,” Carmen said wishing their secret was still intact.
“Dont look so worried girl. I actually believe they will keep their word but to make sure we told them if they breathed one word of it to any one, we would tell every girl on campus how sorry and lowdown they were. After that they could kiss any chance of sexual exploits goodbye and they would remain virgins for the rest of their collegiate career,” Angie exclaimed giving Ann a high five!
“Baby girl we also told them it wouldnt matter which one of them did it they would all suffer the consequences if your Mike lost his job over this,” Joyce said.
“You are just plain olemean girlfriends.” Carmen said giggling.
“You know it honey but seriously I really dont think we had to be so rough on them because they seemed sincerely happy for you,” Ann said.
“We are happy for you too and you know what girl we all agreed after the first week that Mike truly loves you,” Angie stated.
“I know he does because when we are together, the only one hears or sees is me. Whenever we go out he respectfully turns women down that hit on him and I have never caught him with a wandering eye. He makes me feel so special to the point that once a week never the same day he buys a rose for me. Each one a different color and to top that off he will buy a bouquet of different floral arrangements for no reason and on special occasions and sometimes he places them in places to surprise me and other times he has them delivered. To make you even more jealous of me he signs the cards with poetry, some from poets and some from his heart,” she said happy she could finally, at long last, tell her friends about the man she truly loved.
“He sounds perfect,” Joyce replied.
“He is to me! He is the man I want to marry and to have my babies with but he hasnt asked to marry him yet. I know he wants to but I believe he is waiting for me to graduate. I sure hope not though because that is still over a year away!”
“Why cant I find a guy like that,” Angie asked.
“Probably because you sleep with them by the end of the third date, didnt your grandmother teach you anything?They arent going to buy the cow if they can get the milk for free girlfriend, you have to make them wine and dine you before letting them even get to first base,” Ann answered.
“By the third date I cant help myself Im so hot and bothered,” Angie squealed.
“Ladies if it aint to o much of an inconvenience for you we do require your assistance for just a moment for an assessment of our situation.” Mike asked teasing them happy to see Carmen finally relaxed.
“What seems to be the problem that you big strong men cant handle by yourselves,” Ann answered teasing them back.“Only this little step off here, which isnt quite as bad as it appears to be,” Mike said looking over the edge of the twenty or so foot gorge dug out by the swift moving river at the bottom og the cliff.“The cliff is made up of mostly clay and when I was growing up, there was a cliff similar to this one at our swim hole on the river that was twice asat least twice as high as this one. Now the guys are going to go first and show you what to do but if you think you cant do it we will make a human ladderfor you to climb down.”
“If you big strong men can do it Im sure us little ole women can do it,”Ann replied looking over the edge cautiously.
“Alright then, everybody put their gloves on and Mark youre the first
one to go so be sure to jump out far enough to land on the loose gravel and
slide down the hill on your butt and feet using your hands for balance. Okay
ready set go,” he said watching Mark stop at the bottom of the cliff safely. “Arthur you are next… Well I see every one of you have this figured
out,” he remarked indifferently watching his students disappear one by one
over the edge of the looming cliff.
“Heres a kiss for good luck baby Ill see you at the bottom,” Carmen
said kissing him before dropping to the bottom cliff.
“Well if you cant beat em join em,” Mike stated aloud jumping further
out than the rest of them and running to the bottom of the incline stopping a
good ten-foot further from the cliff than the rest of them.
“Always a show off in the bunch,” Mark said causing them to burst out
into laughter, which was short lived as they all instinctively dropped down to
the ground because of the rat-a-tat-a-tat of an AK 47 machine gun echoing
off the canyon walls somewhere behind them.
“Anybody hit,” Mike, asked crawling back to Carmen to hold her. “We seem to be ok,” Roger replied.
“Angie I know this is stressful but we need to be quite while I find their
location. Greg hold and reassure her for minute, baby stay here for a few
minutes so I can back off from the cliff,” Mike said.
“My place is beside you,” Carmen stated firmly.
“Baby you promised me you would do what I asked,” he pleaded. “What I said was, we would cross that bridge when we came to it and
we are crossing this bridge side by side,” she replied grasping his hand in
hers firmly before looking him straight in the eyes.
“I see I would be wasting time arguing with you over this so keep your
beautiful head down as much as possible. You look to the left and if you
spot anything drop down immediately. Okay are you ready? We slowly rise
on the count of three. I love you, one, two, andthree,” he said squeezing
her hand to reassure her.
“I love you too and if we live through this we are going to have a good
long discussion on where our relationship is heading,” she whispered back
carefully gazing into every nook and cranny in her line of sight while slowly
rising upward.
“Alright everyone they are still about two thousand yards or so away.
They must have heard our laughter and fired aimlessly into the air hoping
we would give away our position. They should be on top of us in twenty
minutes or so. We know the staff works on still waters now its time to test it
on the waters of a raging river,” Mike said.
Grasping the staff once more, he stabbed it into the waters of the fast
flowing narrow river. Like before at the lake, nothing happened at first so he
wasnt surprised but after about two minutes he was feeling anxious inside
because the soldiers were only drawing nearer. Knowing that they had no
other choice but to cross the over the river, he would have to try to wade
across the river, if not here somewhere up or down stream. Stepping from
the bank expecting to feel the turbulent current waters combat against the
footing, he would so desperately try to acquire, he suddenly, instinctively
jumped backwards almost knocking George down who was directly behind
him.
“Did I see what I thought I saw baby?”
“I dont know baby did you see my foot standing on the water?” “Yes, but how?”
“Its the staff baby, its the staff of Moses, it has to be! No time to think
about it right now because they will be here any moment,” he said throwing
a hand full of gravel across the transparent bridge so they could see it. “Im the largest amongst us Professor so if it holds my weight it will be
safe for the rest of you to cross,” Greg said.
“Good thinking Greg,” Mike said as they all followed the linebacker
over the invisible drill, leaving him and Carmen last in line.
“You first baby, Im right behind you,” he said taking her by the hand
pushing her in front of him. About halfway across the tumultuous river the
many small splashes from the AK47 bullets struck the choppy water to their
left. Shoving her down to the translucent bridge, he attempted to cover her
body with his when by accident he touched the butt of the staff to the span,
which covered the rapid and deep river causing the bridge to disappear
instantly from underneath them, leaving them at the unforgiving mercy of
the small river!
“Mike help, me,” Carmen screamed as they were shoved violently
down river.
Breaking the surface of the vicious river, he heard Carmen yelling for
his help and trying to swim to her while still holding onto the greatest find in
the history of mankind quickly turned into an impossible task. Even knowing
this staff would prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the legitimacy there
was a God and the Bible was indeed a history lesson of the Jews and their
right to the Promised Land! Not even thinking twice about it, he released
his grip on the staff and reached out to grab the most important thing in his
life, Carmen. Wrapping his arm around her torso, he spun his body to take
the next boulder on but luckily, he received a glancing blow from the huge
rounded stone, which drove them into a felled over tree that was protruding
into the river giving them an escape from the torturous and swift water. Once clearing the water he half drug Carmen into the nearest small
canyon and after traveling a short way into their place of safety he looked
behind them and quietly asked. “Are you okay baby?”
“Im okay sugar maybe a bump or bruise but nothing serious thanks
to you,” she said tying her long wet auburn hair into a ponytail kissing her
hero passionately.
“What was that for,” He asked.
“For being my hero,” she said kissing him again.
“Its not that I dont love your kisses but we need to find the others
and leave this situation in our dust,” he said sticking his finger over her lips
to let her no to be quiet cause he heard a rustling sound at the top of the
ten foot cliff to their left.
“Professor is that you,” Greg asked.
“Greg we are over here.”
“Boy we are glad to see you two.”
“Is everybody alright?”
“Yep we are alright now lets gets you out of there. Everybody hold on
to my legs.” Big Greg said.
Back at the camp, that night they discussed their day and all of its turmoils over their supper of canned potato soup and cornbread with some fresh sliced tomatoes they bought in the nearby village and chasing it with warm tea to drink. Discussing what they should do about the find and loss of the biggest discovery of all time they agreed it was best if they kept what they knew to themselves. Without the proof and confirmation of the staff, they would be frauds in the scientific community, plain old quacks! Further discussions dismissed the idea of returning to the raging river besides being dangerous, as they had learnt that day while fleeing for their lives the odds of them finding the staff intact or even at all had to be astronomical.
After their decisions of keeping the staff and its secret to themselves they talked of the miracles they had witnessed and the effects they would bare, on their lives forever! They each agreed they would from the day of their return from the expedition back to the campus they each would attend a church of their choosing and follow the God they now knew truly existed!
Once they had finished supper and washed off the grit from the trying ordeal, they retired to their tents respectively to ponder upon the miracles before falling fast asleep. Mike and Carmen shared the same tent from that night forward and as they talked laying on their sleeping bags he decided the time was right for him to propose.
“I found something else today baby,” he said.
“Is it a historical find?”
“Well it is in a way, or at least in our future history,” he said rolling on
“That is what happened the day your grandfather proposed to me,” granny Carmen said to her seven grandchildren.
“That was so romantic,” Sandra the eldest of the grandchildren at ten said.
Granny Carmen agreed even after forty wonderful years of marriage. That day was much more than the day of their proposal, that was the day, which changed all of their lives. The thrilling and dangerous day that they happened upon the_________ Mystical Stick!!!