Recovery? Have you been ill, perchance? Hopefully not with the virus!
Recovery We took about quarter of an hour to rest up at the top of the cave, mostly because we knew that we'd just been through a lot of exercise, and partly because we could see that Jimmy wasn't really used to that amount of effort and claustrophobia. He got his colour back gradually and became more talkative, and when he started laughing and making jokes again we stood up and made our way outside. Much like the other cave this one was well-concealed from the outside, though much higher up the mountain. I kicked around a little in the scrub brush in front of the cave, and checked the trees nearby. Ben watched me with mild curiosity for a moment, then started looking out for where the balloon had crashed. Jimmy watched me with more care. "What are you looking for?" he asked at last, scratching his head with both hands. "More gold?" "Animal tracks," I said. "There were a lot of bones in there. Either they've been put there to scare off anyone who finds it, or there's something living in there that eats other animals." "Or was living there," added Ben. "It didn't smell like an animal lair to me." "True enough," I said. "But there's still a mystery there, and we've got more than enough of them already. If I can sort one out early, I will." "Did you find anything then?" Jimmy started pulling the scrub aside with his hands, and knelt down to see the ground better. "The ground's pretty hard here." "Ayup," I said, and let myself sigh a little. "I don't think there's much to find." "Well I've found the balloon," said Ben, pointing. "That cliff over there, it's all stacked up at the base of it. I'd say it hit it and then slid down." "Margaret's Rise," said Jimmy, squinting. "Didn't I tell you that already?" "Sounds like a brothel to me," said Ben. "Think I would have remembered that." "You don't remember to get dressed every morning," I retorted. "Remember that time in Hope? You came down to breakfast with just your drawers and a vest on and had the whole of the hotel staring at you." "They liked what they saw," said Ben casually. "It's not like it was my fault: that slip of a woman, Rose or Rachel or something like that, ran off with my pants and my shirt." Ben might have been right as he did manage to fill the rest of his evenings in Hope quite easily, but I ignored that. "And the pawn-slip for your gun-belt," I said. "Hah, oh yes! We caught up with her at the cemetery and she tried to shoot me with my own gun!" "Which you'd not bothered to clean for a week, so all that happened was it backfired and broke her fingers." Jimmy started giggling. "She fell into that open grave," said Ben. "That was unlucky." "She broke her leg doing that," I said. "And then when you decided to turn the other cheek and be a good samaritan we hauled her out, took her to the local doctor and it turned out she was the local doctor." Jimmy was now sat on the ground holding his sides as he laughed. Tears streamed down his face. "So who set her leg?" he managed between bouts of laughter. "Her four-year old daughter," said Ben. "She gave her instructions on what to do. It... sort of... worked." "We're not allowed back into Hope, mind you," I added. "At least, not into any Hope where the doctor limps and has to have an assistant for anything you need two hands for."
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Recovery? Have you been ill, perchance? Hopefully not with the virus!
Recovery
We took about quarter of an hour to rest up at the top of the cave, mostly because we knew that we'd just been through a lot of exercise, and partly because we could see that Jimmy wasn't really used to that amount of effort and claustrophobia. He got his colour back gradually and became more talkative, and when he started laughing and making jokes again we stood up and made our way outside.
Much like the other cave this one was well-concealed from the outside, though much higher up the mountain. I kicked around a little in the scrub brush in front of the cave, and checked the trees nearby. Ben watched me with mild curiosity for a moment, then started looking out for where the balloon had crashed. Jimmy watched me with more care.
"What are you looking for?" he asked at last, scratching his head with both hands. "More gold?"
"Animal tracks," I said. "There were a lot of bones in there. Either they've been put there to scare off anyone who finds it, or there's something living in there that eats other animals."
"Or was living there," added Ben. "It didn't smell like an animal lair to me."
"True enough," I said. "But there's still a mystery there, and we've got more than enough of them already. If I can sort one out early, I will."
"Did you find anything then?" Jimmy started pulling the scrub aside with his hands, and knelt down to see the ground better. "The ground's pretty hard here."
"Ayup," I said, and let myself sigh a little. "I don't think there's much to find."
"Well I've found the balloon," said Ben, pointing. "That cliff over there, it's all stacked up at the base of it. I'd say it hit it and then slid down."
"Margaret's Rise," said Jimmy, squinting. "Didn't I tell you that already?"
"Sounds like a brothel to me," said Ben. "Think I would have remembered that."
"You don't remember to get dressed every morning," I retorted. "Remember that time in Hope? You came down to breakfast with just your drawers and a vest on and had the whole of the hotel staring at you."
"They liked what they saw," said Ben casually. "It's not like it was my fault: that slip of a woman, Rose or Rachel or something like that, ran off with my pants and my shirt."
Ben might have been right as he did manage to fill the rest of his evenings in Hope quite easily, but I ignored that. "And the pawn-slip for your gun-belt," I said.
"Hah, oh yes! We caught up with her at the cemetery and she tried to shoot me with my own gun!"
"Which you'd not bothered to clean for a week, so all that happened was it backfired and broke her fingers."
Jimmy started giggling.
"She fell into that open grave," said Ben. "That was unlucky."
"She broke her leg doing that," I said. "And then when you decided to turn the other cheek and be a good samaritan we hauled her out, took her to the local doctor and it turned out she was the local doctor."
Jimmy was now sat on the ground holding his sides as he laughed. Tears streamed down his face.
"So who set her leg?" he managed between bouts of laughter.
"Her four-year old daughter," said Ben. "She gave her instructions on what to do. It... sort of... worked."
"We're not allowed back into Hope, mind you," I added. "At least, not into any Hope where the doctor limps and has to have an assistant for anything you need two hands for."
Greg - nah, just thinking the boys needed a bit of a breather after their climb :)
Oh jeez, these two and their stories. Clearly the best part of writing them, I suspect.
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