The B Girls

Skinny Dipping In The Dark





The ceiling rose abruptly to what seemed cathedral height after the Wes Craven horror show of the crack. In reality the ceiling rose to ten feet above the floor.

Lucy scrambled to her feet, gulping in huge draughts of air, and giving her whole body a shivering shake like a dog waking from a nap.

"I've already scouted ahead," Mae said. "The next part looks pretty easy. We have to climb down over there." She pointed to the far right corner. "I don't think we'll have to use the ropes. Lot's of easy holds."

Jane went off to check out the next hole in the floor and Mae turned her attention back to Lucy. "Why don't you sit down, catch your breath and have some water," she suggested.

Lucy found a convenient rock and sat down to pull herself back together. The good new was she hadn't completely lost it. The bad news was she had no idea what was still waiting in this awful place.

Jane came back before she could conjure up much of a mental horror show.

"What about that next hole?" she asked.

"You're right," Jane said. "We probably don't need the gear but I'm going to rig a rope anyway to be safe." She unclipped her pack from the rope, unclipped the rope from Lucy's harness and started to coil it back up.

"By all means let's be safe," Lucy said. At this point she didn't think anything about this adventure was safe but pretending to believe seemed the best course of action. At least it was better than imagining her way into another panic attack.

Jane rigged a rope and each of them in turn clipped on and made the climb down a corkscrew passage. It was a fairly easy climb with foot and handholds in easy reach all the way down but it was nice to know the rope was there in case any of them did something stupid.

Lucy stepped down into the next room and unclipped from the rope trying not to think about the fact that the two climbs had taken them some fifty feet deeper under the mountain. Another fifty feet must translate into many tons of additional rock and dirt overhead.

This room was about half the size of the one at the bottom of the first shaft. Lucy could only hope the exit wasn't similar. Most of the floor was covered by a spreading pool of water fed by a small underground stream flowing from the far side of the room.

Lucy hadn't thought much about the small water puddles they'd slogged through earlier, but now she couldn't help wondering where the water came from and what happened down here when it rained. Afternoon thunderstorms were a frequent occurrence this time of year.

Better not to think about it. Why add another layer to the fear?

"Is it deep?" Mae asked.

Jane was standing at the edge of the pool staring down into the perfectly clear water. "I don't think so. But I don't see a way around it and we're going to get our feet wet."

"Maybe we should think about going back and getting more supplies, warmer clothes," Mae said. "How long have we been down here?"

"Only about an hour and a half," Jane said. "It's barely noon."

Only an hour and a half, she says. It was an eternity to Lucy, but, "We don't have the luxury of going back and starting again. Not to mention, there's no way I'm ever coming back down here once I'm out. If I ever get out. Now I know why you can fit all the serious cavers in the U.S. into a high school football stadium."

"Well how much further do we have to go?" Mae asked.

Lucy took the map out and studied it. She wasn't sure why she bothered, she already had it memorized and that whole "not to scale" thing was more than true. "If Paul Morris drew this map according to time instead of distance we're about a third of the way through."

"Another three hours?" Mae said. "And then we have to get out. Another four hours. Even if we don't have any problems it'll be dark by the time we get back to the van."

"We don't have a choice," Jane said. "We have to have the Declaration tonight when Belle's kidnapper calls."

"Fine. I'm just glad we packed those extra protein bars and water bottles."

Jane started to edge around the pool.

Lucy could see they would indeed have to get wet but if they were careful it looked like they'd only have to cross through a small section on the left edge of the pool. Still, they'd have wet feet at the very least, more if the pool was deeper than it looked.

Lucy didn't think getting wet was a good idea. She was back to thinking about the hypothermia again. "Wait," she said.

Jane turned back to her with a questioning look.

"I think we should strip down, keep everything dry and then get dressed on the other side. Being down here for another seven or eight hours in wet boots or more . . ."

"Might kill us," Jane finished.

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. I'm afraid I'm pretty ignorant about how easy or hard it is to freeze to death but we know it's somewhere around sixty degrees in here and if we're wet we might have trouble."

"Makes sense," Mae said. "Being cold for a few minutes instead of being wet and cold for hours."

Jane moved away from the edge of the pool and started to strip off her clothes and stuff them in her pack. Mae and Lucy did the same.

"Skinny dipping in a cave," Jane said. "This is definitely one for my list of things I never dreamed I'd do in my lifetime."

"I don't think we need to get completely naked," Mae said she stuffed a sock in her boot. "Bra and panties should do it."

"You sure know how to suck the fun out of things," Jane said.

Mae shot her a look. "Get naked if you want. I certainly don't care. I just don't think it's necessary."

"I bet you were one of those girls who kept a towel wrapped around you at all times in the locker room."

"So? What's wrong with being modest?"

Jane snorted. "Nothing if you're a nun."

Lucy scowled at the two of them. "Ladies, now is not the time for arguing."

"We're not arguing. We're sparring," Jane said.

"And now you're arguing with me," Lucy said. She stuffed her jeans into her pack. "Let's go."

Jane shouldered her pack and took the lead with a lot of muttered "ouches" she edged around to the spot where the pool met the wall.

Lucy couldn't blame Jane for muttering, her feet weren't exactly happy to be tiptoeing over tiny pebbles and gritty, uneven rock without protection either.

"Here goes," Jane said and dipped a toe in the water. "Yow! That's cold."

"Just get it over with," Mae said from behind Lucy. "It's easier if you just plunge right in."

Jane took a deep breath and stepped into the pool. "There's a little pull," she said. "But it's not too bad."

"All that water is going somewhere," Lucy said. "There must be a hole in the bottom somewhere."

"I hope it's not big enough to suck one of us in," Mae said.

Jane continued to move through the water, steadying herself on the wall as she went. "Don't worry it isn't as strong as a good Gulf tide around your ankles. And I don't think it's going to get much deeper."

She made it across the eight feet or so of the pool, the water never rising above mid-calf.

When she stepped up on the other side, Lucy went next. She hadn't been kidding about the cold. The water was icy on her bare skin. Goosebumps rose over her entire body and she shivered her way across very glad she would have dry clothes and boots on the other side. Well, except for the still-damp seat of her coveralls.

Lucy slogged her way across and out. Mae followed behind and had a few shockingly graphic words for the cold water.

They used bandanas from their packs to dry off the best they could and hurried to get their clothes back on.

Dressed and relatively dry, Lucy looked around for the next passage in caving hell. This time it was easy to spot in the smooth wall of the room. She groaned. "I can't believe we went through all that and we're going to get wet any way."

Their path deeper into the cave was the passage carved by the water coming into the room and it was small, only about four feet by four feet. Lucy refused to consider the possibility it would shrink because the combination of water and confinement would surely send her over the edge.

"Let's see how bad it's going to be," Jane said.

Lucy followed Jane to the hole in the wall, dragging her feet and wishing they were back at the cabin drinking wine and celebrating victory. And if wishes were horses . . .

Bending down to look in the passage, Lucy prayed it wasn't going to be bad. It wasn't.

The water feeding the pool didn't cover the entire floor of the passage. It was a narrow ribbon snaking across the floor and appeared only two or three inches deep. If they were careful, they could stay dry.

The passage itself didn't get any smaller as far as Lucy could see--as far as the light reached--and it might have even gotten slightly larger.

"I'll go first this time," Lucy said.

"Lead on MacDuff," Jane said.

Mae gave Lucy a quizzical look. "Are you sure?"

Lucy nodded. "This section doesn't look so bad." She stooped and waddled into the passage. At least it was a little wider than the crack of doom.

After a five minute waddle with Jane and Mae following behind her, the ceiling disappeared above Lucy's head. The passage turned into a vertical shaft. Water cascaded down one side, more of a runnel than a waterfall, but she had another brief thought about rain. She tilted her head back to see how high they were going to have to climb. It looked to be about fifteen feet of another fairly easy climb.

Jane and Mae crowded in next to Lucy and added their lights to hers.

"You still have enough rope?" Lucy asked.

Jane nodded and her light bobbed along. "Sure. I'll go up first and tie off a line for you and Mae."

Lucy started to protest that she didn't need a line but she was feeling a little shaky despite the brave face she put on for her cohorts. "Good plan. I think I'll just sit down for a couple of minutes until you're ready."

Jane stepped up to the dry side of the shaft, stepped up on a rock protruding from the wall and reached up for a handhold.

Mae took Lucy's place at the bottom of the opening. "Be careful."

"Piece of cake," Jane said as she pulled up and started searching with her toe for the next foothold.

Thirty seconds later a rock clattered down toward Mae's upturned face and her world went black.

"Oh shit!" Lucy saw Mae go down a split second before Jane landed on top of her with a sickening crunch.