As the school bus rocked, swayed and bumped its way down the long gravel road on the way to Barlow Taylor’s house. He sat looking out the dusty window wondering what he was going to do all summer.
In one way he was glad school was out and in another way he already felt like it was going to be a long and boring summer. Barlow thought to himself I need some adventure. About that time the bus came to a squeaky stop along side of Barlow’s house. As he climbed his way down from the bus Bell and May made there way over to greet him. Bell and May where Barlow’s dogs. Hurry up Barlow called out to his little brother James. Barlow was twelve and James was seven. The boys also had an older brother Dakota Taylor, he was eighteen and way to cool to ride the bus. Dakota drove his 76 ford truck to school everyday. Dakota was going to be working through the summer and the boys parents both worked so the younger two boys would have to stay home alone. Barlow had a cell phone and all the necessary numbers that he might need in case of an emergency. The boys dad Dell got home around 3:00pm most days and their mom Jules was home around 4:30pm most days. Dakota would be going to work around 2:00pm most days but he would not be working everyday. Barlow and James weren’t afraid to stay home by themselves even though they lived out so far from town with no neighbors. Their house was situated about fifteen to twenty minutes away from the nearest small town. Cartwright was the name of the town and it consisted of a Dollar store, Dairy Queen, one Gas station and a hand full of mom and pop shops on downtown Main street oh and bar. Nothing in town for kids to do except a small skate park. However if it rained even the slightest bit it held water. In the middle of a Texas summer there wasn’t much rain and that was just as bad because it sat right smack dab in the center of the park with the sun beaming right on it. Some days Dakota would take his younger brothers and they would all go to skate but about thirty minutes was about all they could take. So most of the time they just sat around the house watching T.V. and playing video games. However Barlow was really wanting to have some kind of adventure this summer. Even if it was just going down to one of the ponds and fishing it would be better than just sitting in the house all summer. Actually that’s how the strangest summer of Barlow, Dakota and James Taylor began.
Barlow said lets go do something! Dakota didn’t have to work that day so he replied “What the heck you want to do Barlow?” “Were the heck you want to go” “There ain’t crap out here to do.” “Heck I don’t know but any things better than sitting here staring at each others ugly faces” Barlow retorted. “ Lets go fishing If we get to hot we can splash off in the pond.” Dakota agreed. James didn’t really care what they did he just loved hanging out with his bros. So they hunted up their tackle boxes and fishing poles and got ready to head out to Rods pond. Rod was the guy that owned the land where the pond was. Rod had given the family permission to fish the pond anytime. Dakota said “We should all grab a couple of waters to take with us” It was about 97 degrees outside that day. Dakota grabbed two bottled waters that left three Barlow and James were arguing over who got two and who got one. Barlow told James I will share one with you but you have to sit in the middle.
That was fine with James. Dakota was saying “You guys hurry up if you want to fishing”
The Taylor boys all made their way out to Dakotas truck and loaded their rod and reels tackle etc. It was hot in the cab of the old Ford even with the windows down. Now the road they had to take to Rods pond was long, bumpy and all rutted out. It wasn’t maintained by the county or anyone else as far as that go’s. The boys called it Rods road since it was Rods pond. It wasn’t the easiest road to drive on. Add a few mud holes and you could very easily be stuck in the middle of nowhere.
If a good rain came you wouldn’t make it down the road with out a four wheel drive. Although Dakota sometimes thought he had a 4x4 he didn’t. This day the road was dry from the heat so he could make it to Rods pond with no difficulty.
Once they got to the pond the grass was somewhat higher than the last time they had been down there, about even with James’ head.
By now attitudes where developing from being hot and just being brothers. Dakota was snapping at Barlow “Dude why did you put your pole on top of mine?” “Now they are all tangled up dang it” Barlow said “I put mine in first you put yours on top of mine” James was glad his pole wasn’t tangled up but he didn’t even have a lure on his yet.
He didn’t really know how to tie a lure but he wasn’t even about to ask Barlow or Dakota to help him. He didn’t want to be called baby or anything, So he just did the best he could with the one lure his dad had gave him the last time they went fishing.
Down on Rods pond was an old aluminum john boat. It didn’t have a motor it only had one ore that got the job done with a little muscle.
Dakota was pretty good at rowing. He had also made a home made anchor out of a paint can filled with rocks. If you could muscle your way out to the center of the pond the homemade anchor would hold you in place fairly good. James and Barlow got into the john boat and Dakota got in last and used the ore to push off the bank and stared rowing toward the deep end of the pond. After about fifteen minutes of rowing they through in their anchor and began to fish finally.
The boys could really feel the heat out in the boat, no shade, no sunscreen and they forgot to get the waters from the truck.
All at once something big hit the bottom of the boat. Hard enough to make it rock in the water. “Holy crap what the heck was that” Dakota said. Then BOOM! It hit again. Barlow wanted to get out of the boat and out of the pond. James was starting to cry a little. It scared the poop out of that boy. After all he was only seven. Barlow and Dakota where really freaked out. The boys had been fishing at Rods pond a bunch of times and never had anything like this happen. Dakota was rowing as fast as he could to make it back to the shore. As they where trying to make it back to the shore and all the boys where focused on the bank of the pond a huge, loud splash sounded from behind them large enough to send ripples to every edge of the pond. By this time Barlow and Dakota where on the verge of crying too. They probably would have if they weren’t so close to the bank. Thank god they had the wind at their backs that day. When the finally made it back the where as white as ghost. They imeditly headed for the waters they brought that where hot by now.
Dakota could only say “What the crap?” James had stopped crying. He said “Maybe it was an alligator”
Barlow disagreed “It was a giant turtle” Dakota said “What the crap?”
Dakota called his dad Dell and told him what had just happened, Dell wasn’t convinced that the events had really played out as Dakota was saying they did. Dell was super busy at work and said that they would talk about it when he got home. By the time that Dell got home the story he was thinking was surely embellished on but went along with it as much as he could even though he was thinking they let their imaginations got the best of them. He played like he believed it even though he really didn’t.
Dakota, Barlow, and James asked if they could take Dells tent, Colman lantern, and his spot light out to Rods pond and spend the night.
Dell didn’t care as long as they had their cell phones and if they built a fire to make sure it was at least twenty feet away from their tent.
Dell showed Dakota how to start the Colman lantern even though he said he knew how. Dell was just like that he didn’t want to drive all the way down to Rods pond to light a freaking lantern.
By this time Jules was home she thought it was a bad idea for them to stay down there all night. Dell said “Oh hell let them be boys”
Jules always trusted Dells judgment. Jules was a great mom and wife.
The boys got everything loaded Jules sending them with food drinks and snacks. Jules told the boys if you need us no matter what time it is you call us don’t hesitate even if its just because James wants to come home. “Ok you got it” She enforced.
Ok, ok the boys replied. Dell stepped outside and watched Dakotas taillights disappear in to the dusk sky. Dell was thinking “I should go scare the crap out of those boys.
When Dakota got him and the boys back to Rods pond, what a difference! It was really dark. James said “Lets just go home”
Nevertheless Dakota and Barlow wanted to stay. Dakota insisted that once they lit the lantern, built a fire, and got the tent up everything would be fine. James reluctantly agreed. Especially since mama packed a small Ziploc bag of hotdogs and a large Ziploc bag of marshmallows a campfire was sounding pretty good considering the fear he was experiencing. They all were experiencing the fear but the elder two would never admit it. Dakota said “When we get all this crap set up lets use dads spotlight and shine it on the pond and if we see anything”
The boys where intrigued. Dakota got the lantern lit first try.
“See look at that how awesome I am!” The other boys were not impressed but, at least there was light now. The boys worked like a well oiled platoon. They all split up and went on stick and twig detail. Next they worked together like they weren’t even brothers to build and light the fire. There’s nothing like lighting a fire. Dakota was in charge of the lighter but Barlow and James knew it was his place and didn’t even ask or think of wanting to be the one to hold the lighter. Barlow and James were more than happy to throw stuff in and dig in Dakotas truck for paper. Dakota shouted out orders like a platoon sergeant and his men acted on his orders. “Now that’s brotherly love”
After awhile the area that they had clamed felt like theirs,
It had some kind of comfort to it, almost an at home comfort.
They had all but completely forgot about the spotlight, large
Bumps and the huge splash they had heard earlier that day.
After the Taylor boys roasted marshmallows and got still,
Dakota Whispered “Lets get the spot light out” The younger boys where excited. Dakota grimaced at how tangled the ten foot cord was.
After cursing it in his own way under his breath ten minutes later he had it plugged into the old fords cigarette lighter and it was incredibly bright but only where he pointed it. The boys all sat in their sleeping bags close to the tent by this time the fire was burning considerably lower than before. Dakota clicked the switch that turned on the incredibly bright light. He slowly scanned the pond in hopes to see something, the glowing eyes of a turtle or a splash of some pond animal retreating into the water to escape the intense light. “Nothing” Dakota thought. He wasn’t going to let that discourage him. Dakota jumped and pointed the beam over into the woods and shouted softly “What was that!” Barlow and James snapped to attention. Their heart beats quickened. “What?” Barlow mumbled. Dakotas voice sounded nervous “Over there did you hear that” Dakota was acting scared but laughing his butt off inside. James sat frozen in fear. Barlow knew Dakota was just trying to scare them and told James “Its nothing he is just messing with us.” Dakota stoked the fire and the three brothers talked into the night about all sorts of things that they wanted to do or things they wish they had and of course razzed each other about girls. They where all getting sleepy however it was a little spooky way out on Rods land that late at night. The boys all crawled into the big dome tint that they borrowed from their dad and tried to go to sleep. Actually they all acted like they where asleep but none of them could really fall asleep. This was going to be an all niter. They laid there listing to the crickets, grasshoppers, frogs and an occasional small splash in the pond although the knew that the splashes where only small bass or frogs jumping from the banks. All at once the heard a really strange sound like nothing the had ever heard. The boys all in unison sat straight up.
“What is that?” Dakota exclaimed. “I don’t know” Barlow replied in a timid voice. “Lets just go home” James cried. The sound was a type of humming like something electrical. As the Taylor boys departed from the tent the whole pond was glowing red. None of the boys spoke a word as a small orb basketball sized lifted out of the water and floated right above the surface. It was beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.
The red orb raced to the side of the pond where the three stood.
It stopped swiftly right before it slammed into them and hovered.
The Taylor boys seemed to be in some kind of trance.
The mysterious orb had taken control of the part of their brain that they needed the most right now. Barlow, Dakota and James where completely paralyzed. The red orb started to grow from basketball
sized to beach ball sized. At first the boys thought that it was
just because it had gotten closer. Then it began to grow more.
Until it reached a size that it was a tad taller than the boys.
The now huge orb moved even closer than before it was now moving directly through them until they where actually inside the orb that now emitted a different and more comfortable light that was more of a soft white light that was even kind of soothing. The three where also still paralyzed. As fast as the orb arrived all of the boys were lifted off of the ground and now they also hovered. The orb slowly started moving them over the water. Now the red glow of the pond area was a peaceful white. The kind of white that reminded you of a childhood Christmas.
James in his tiny voice asked with doubt. ”Is this a dream” Dakota and Barlow shivered as they both realized that it was not a dream.
However none of the boys where all that scared. It was as if they had been hypnotized to keep them calm. The orb made its way to the middle of the pond and stopped. Slowly the orb began to make its decent into the murky water of Rods fishing hole. Once the orb was completely submerged the three Taylor boys realized that the soft light was inside the orb. Outside the orb all the boys could see was the swirling brown mud until they got to the bottom of the old fishpond. There was a large table rock at the bottom that began to slide to one side to reveal more light coming from a tunnel underneath. Once the tunnel was completely visible the orb continued downward into the strange passageway.
The table rock closed back over the entrance and the orb made its way trough the twisting and winding channel for some time. James suddenly said “Look at that” They where reaching a brighter light up ahead.
The orb slowed even more and entered a large cave. It stopped about two inches from the floor of the mammoth cavern. The inside was brightly lit but there was no source for the light. The orb vanished and the boys feet made contact with the ground of the cave it wasn’t even wet. Dakota wondered how this could be and so did Barlow but there where bigger questions that need answered right now.
The huge cave was filled with all sorts of curious items.
The items where human items. All of the items had been neatly and meticulously arranged. There was thousands of bottles in one area,
Hundreds of sunglasses in another. There was a zillion fishing lures, fishing poles, ice chests, flashlights, animal bones, beaver traps, Enough fishing line balled up to reach the moon and back, “That wasn’t all” There where hundreds and hundreds of fishing bobbers, ores, tennis balls, lead waits, stacks and stacks of little Styrofoam boxes that night crawlers came in. And lots more and I mean lots more. Barlow said “Anything that had ever been lost in that pond was here” Dakota and James agreed. Now the boys still weren’t scared but they knew they had to find a way out of this cave and the way they got there was not an option. They all looked up at where they had entered the cave it was at least a hundred feet high. Dakota noticed that about fifty foot up was another small hole big enough to climb through if only they could get up there. Dakota had always been a good climber he volunteered to try to make his way to the hole. The walls of the cave where jagged and Dakota knew he could make it up there. “How are you guys going to get up here?” Barlow thought, “look for some rope!” James pointed, “There is a whole lot of rope over here.” The rope was already neatly wound. Dakota threw it over his shoulder and started over to the cave wall beneath the hole. “What the heck is this?” Dakota exclaimed “What is it?” asked Barlow and James. There was a ladder that completely blended with the wall “Camouflage ladder!” Dakota hollered out. Barlow and James ran over to see if Dakota had lost his mind. When the two younger boys got over to Dakota they could see the ladder. You actually had to be standing right in front of it to see it. Dakota started up the camouflage ladder first, next James began to climb. Barlow went last not to leave his little brother where he couldn’t see him. As Dakota reached the hole it was much larger that he had originally thought. “Wow!” Dakota said enthusiastically. Dakota was almost six foot tall and could stand in the tunnel. James and Barlow where right behind him also exclaiming their enthusiasm. The tunnel had some kind of clover growing all over the walls as far as you could see and that was far because the strange vegetation was glowing. The color of the glow reminded the boys of a green glow stick. Like the kind that all the kids would use at the Cartwright blackout pep rally or on Halloween. It was only on the walls and ceilings. the floor look like someone traveled it frequently. What was happening here thought James and also the older two. But no one said a word about any of it.
Barlow said “I guess the only way to go, is down this tunnel.” Dakota and James agreed with Barlow. James asked “But where does it go?”
Barlow bellowed “How the heck should we know James?” Barlow was not liking the situation they where in so he was being kind of short with his little brother. James just looked down the long illuminated cavern.
One foot in front of the other the boys started their way though the glowing clover. Dakota reached out and tore off a handful of the green glow. It Suddenly stopped glowing and turned to ash in the older boys hand. He stopped his brothers and said “Check this out!” he did it again. Barlow and James both thought it was a bad idea to mess with the clover. At the time they didn’t realize how right they were. They traveled through the tunnel for what seemed like an hour. “What the heck!” roared Barlow “Are we going in circles?” All of the boys agreed that it didn’t seem like they where going anywhere. Now looking back or forward was all the same. Just glowing clover. James mumbled “I think the green light is making me see things.” James screamed “I see little people on the clover!” Dakota and Barlow stopped to look. In fact their were little people here and there along the walls of the radiant cave. Dakota yelled out “Can you hear me? We need help please.”
Soon Barlow and James joined in on trying to communicate with the little people. They looked right at the boys and even looked like they were trying to talk. However the boys didn’t hear a sound. The little people looked just like normal people. Yet they wore bits and pieces of moss to cover their private parts. They also had tiny little snail shells for their shoes. Interaction was completely futile. Dakota in a bummed out voice acknowledged that they needed to keep moving. All of the sudden they heard a loud vibrating voice. “Who touched my harvest!” The boys saw nothing but the voice was deafening. All of the boys were really scared now. Dakota reached out and pulled his brothers to him.
“I said who touched my harvest!” The voice thundered again. The Taylor boys were frozen in terror. Swiftly something was moving down the long cavern towards the brothers three. James declared “it’s a dragon.” In a stammering voice. It was a serpent. It was a massive transparent snake emitting all sorts of colors. It was still shouting
“Who touched my harvest?” and moving closer and closer to the boys.
Dakota belted out “I did I’m sorry I didn’t know” The translucent snake was right in front of the brothers now. Its eyes were the same glowing green as the walls of the mysterious tunnel which the boys seemed to be trapped inside of but its body was like a rainbow of colors.
Each scale of the massive serpent gave off a new color no two where the same. It wrapped itself around them and stared straight into Dakotas eyes. In a very subtle hissing voice it asked the oldest boy
“Did you touch my harvesssssst?” Dakota repeated “I’m sorry I didn’t know!” The serpent replied “Do you like touching thingsssssss that aren’t yourssssssss?” “No No I don’t please don’t hurt us!” Dakota begged. About the same time that he said that, he realized that his arm could pass right through the giant serpent. Dakota called out “He’s not holding us just walk!” All three boys walked right through the magnificent serpent. “SSSSStop!” the ghostly snake shouted. “Do you want my help to leave the under ground world of Terraely?” Dakota responded to this in a very distinct voice of anger “No we will find our own way out!” “Assssss you Pleassssssse” The serpent agreed. “Don’t touch my harvesssst or interfere with my farmerssssss.” “Don’t worry” Barlow retorted. Dakota and James said nothing. The Taylor boys kept moving through the winding tunnel with the serpent always close behind making sure the boys didn’t touch the clover. The boys acted like he wasn’t even there. James said “Look up there two tunnels!” Once they reached the split the serpent asked “Decsssside which way to go boyssssssss?” Barlow announced “We should go right.” Dakota asked “Why how do you know that’s the right way to go” Barlow answered “Right is right…..Right?” Dakota and James thought this made no since. However none of it did. So they made their way into the right tunnel or was it, the clear serpent made his way into the left tunnel. The boys all noticed that the glow of the clover was getting weaker and weaker by the second. The tunnel was starting to grow dark. The brothers had walked to far to turn back now. Dakota inspected the walls for the tiny spelunkers they were also gone. They were in almost complete darkness. When they looked back from where they had come all the green glow was gone. The tunnel seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. Not that they could really see anything but their voices had more and more of an echo the further they went. The boys all had their hands stretched out in front of them not wanting to run into anything.
Dakota did run into something, then James ran into Dakota and Barlow into James. “What the heck?” Barlow groaned. “I don’t know” Dakota answered. I think it’s a door! All three boys pushed on the door it seemed really large and heavy. They managed to push hard enough to get it to crack open ever so slightly.
“Light!” James shouted. Once the brothers walked in through the cracked open door the felt very strange. It was a room like a bedroom with a bed, dresser, nightstand and a fireplace with a fire burning.
The strange thing was it was huge. Just the bed alone was larger then their house. Barlow said out loud “Is every thing in this room really big or are we really small?” Dakota in an aggravated voice said “I don’t know Barlow, I don’t even know if all this is really happening or if I’m just dreaming.” Barlow said “I don’t think your dreaming.” There was another enormous door on the other side of the room but it was quite far. The room was so big it looked like it could take them at least twenty minutes to cross it to reach the other side where the massive door was.
The boys decided to keep moving and started their journey across the gigantic room. James saw a pencil laying just under the edge of the bed it was the size of a telephone pole. James was a little bit scared but tried not to show his fear. Once they where about half way through the room suddenly the door they where trying to reach slowly started opening!
Dakota told his brothers to jump into the rug on the floor. It was a carpet type rug and it towered over their heads. They ran into the rug but it was a tight fit to get in between the fibers of the rug. The floor shook as what ever was coming into the room from their footsteps.
The brothers could not see what or who had just closed the door as they came into the room and they where all a little more than afraid to poke their heads out to see. Dakota, Barlow and James on the count of three all popped their wee little heads out of the jungle rug to take a peek.
James said “It’s a giant!” Barlow responded with “An old rickety giant.” Dakota said “He might be old but he could crush us like an ant!”
He was right the old giant was so incredibly huge he could easily have inhaled all three boys at once and probably not even noticed. “We have to get to that door” Barlow pointed out. Dakota responded with a typical teenager “Duh!” James wanted to know how. “We will wait for him to fall asleep then head for the door!” Dakota said quietly.
The boys knew when he fell asleep his snore was so loud that it almost hurt their tiny ears. All three slowly slipped out of the rug. James said “I sure am glad to be out of there I’m hot!” The other boys where too but didn’t say so, they just followed the edge of the giants rug toward the massive wooden door. The giant elder coughed and suddenly put his big stinky feet on the floor. That in turn shook the whole room. James whispered “I think he saw us…”
The voice of the old man shook like an old mans voice does. The giant voice said “Don’t be afraid little people I wouldn’t ever hurt anyone or anything ever.” He continued to inquire how they came to be in his room. But in a very nice way. He couldn’t hear the boys as they all shouted there experience to him in unison. The Taylor boys didn’t know if he couldn’t hear them because of being old or because they where so small. For some odd reason they seemed to trust the elderly giant. This is why they crawled, climbed and jumped into his mammoth hand Dakota thought to himself “His hand is the size of a football field” Now James was thinking “Am I dreaming?”
By Dallas-Taylor Stanfield Copyright 2011
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