“Tell me, Michael. Does Maggie know you’re with me?”
“Oh, yes. She didn’t like it, but then she doesn’t like much anymore. I didn’t tell her about Clinton. I told her you were taking me to see Mary.”
“I see.” Sally Ann grinned in the darkness. A plan was taking form in her mind.
3
After sleeping three or four times, Michael was anxious to get under way. Sally Ann delayed their departure as long as she dared, then led him down a tunnel, far away from the Home Cavern where the children played. She remembered from long ago another cavern, much like the one Michael expected, and she took him there. It took them a long time. She doubled back down different tunnels, and frequently he would ask, “Didn’t we come this way?,” and she would laugh at him and call him foolish. She enjoyed the power she held over him. It was time he learned something.
Finally, they stopped just outside the cavern. Sally Ann talked to Michael in a low voice, as if the others could hear. “Michael. They’re not used to anybody else, you know. Clinton doesn’t even believe in you, so he won’t let the boys believe in you, either. Mary has been here a long time, and she’s not sure who to believe, so don’t expect a major welcome. This is their territory, you know, and you’re an intruder. They may even ignore you, or tell you to go away. But they’re flexible. They’ll get used to you.”
How well he knew what an intruder he was. She had made him feel very uncomfortable since the beginning of this damned journey, and he was now sorry he had ever agreed to come. He was totally at her mercy, and he didn’t like that at all. She seemed a little crazed. “I’ll be all right. Let’s go.”
They turned the corner and Sally Ann went dancing into the cavern. “Clinton! We’re home! Mary? Boys? Come see the surprise I’ve brought.” Silence reverberated in the huge room.
“There’s no one here, Sally.”
“Oh, they’re probably just busy. Or maybe they’re hiding. They’ll come back soon.”
They sat down to wait. Sally fidgeted, as her mind raced. They didn’t wait long. “Here they are, Michael.” She got up and ran to the back of the cavern. “Hello, Clint. And Mary. How are you? I told you I wouldn’t be gone long. Come say hello to your daddy.” Michael was silent at the entrance to the cavern.
“There’s nobody here, Sally.”
“Nonsense, Michael. Here they are, right here. Clint, Shake hands with your Dad. Mary, where are the boys? Oh, here they are. Hello, fellas. My, you’ve grown, just in the short time I’ve been away. Michael, meet little Jimmy and Jerry and this is Jonah. Aren’t they sweet?” She worked hard to keep up the chatter in the empty cavern.
“Sally, stop it!” His voice echoed in the silence.
“Why, Michael? What’s the matter?”
His breath stuck in his throat. She was insane. She talked such a good story that she had duped him into coming into this hellhole, and now he was stuck down here with a madwoman. He turned and darted down the tunnel.
“Michael, wait!” She could hardly suppress the giggles that seemed to have overtaken her. Whatever had gotten into her to do such a thing to him? She followed him out, her tennis shoes silent on the tunnel floor. “Michael,” she called out musically to him. “You’ll never make it out of here aloooone.” She heard his footsteps echoing in the distance. She skipped along gaily behind him. She would be sure he wouldn’t get lost. But a good scare never hurt anyone, either.
She was surprised at the way he circumvented her roundabout path. He seemed to know where he was going and didn’t get lost in the maze of tunnels and tributaries. He crawled through the smaller tunnels with amazing speed, and this gave her great amusement. All the way back she teased and tantalized him with bits and pieces of her thoughts. Always out of reach, her voice echoed around him. He remained steadfastly silent.
When he stopped to sleep, she would sneak around him and wake him with great peals of echoing laughter, eerie in the pressing darkness. The low curses he muttered to himself tickled her even more. What had gotten into her that she would act this way? No matter. He was close to the stairs now. They passed the well tunnel and she hollered ahead to him, “Michael. Cockroaches almost ate me in there while I was coming to you. Doesn’t that make you hungry, Michael? Have some slugs, Michael,” and her insane giggles echoed through the night.
When he’d had enough, he stopped short and hid quietly in a turn of the tunnel. When she skipped past him, he reached out and grabbed her. “Sally Ann. Am I on the right way out of here?” She laughed. “Tell me.” He shook her until she felt her eyes rattle in her head.
“Oh, Michael. Don’t be a spoilsport. Of course you’re on the right way. I wouldn’t let my little baby, the love of my life, get lost in these dark, dirty tunnels, now, would I?” He threw her to the side and continued on, weak from hunger, heartsick and tired. He entered Monster Cavern. She followed, making monster noises, taunting him, wearing him down.
“Come here, Sally Ann.” His voice was calm, quiet.
“No, You’ll hurt me. You’ll feed me to the monster.”
“Don’t be a petulant child. Come here. I want to talk to you.” He was sitting on a rock at the edge of the lake. She heard him pick up a handful of pebbles and start throwing them into the water. They landed with little plops. “Sally Ann, I want you to come back with me. They have places for people who need help readjusting to a new environment. I’ll pay for it, and you’ll like it there. There’s no reason for you to stay down here and . . .”
“And ROT?” She shouted in his ear, surprising him. He stood up quickly, and his foot slipped on the rock. Arms waving wildly, he couldn’t regain his balance, and he fell backward into the water. Sally Ann sobered immediately and went to his aid, but she heard splashing and slapping sounds in the water and the old fear once again took over her mind. She crouched on the path and whimpered.
“Sally Ann . . .” he gasped. “Oh, God! Sally, help me. Something’s caught my leg. Sally! Oh, please.” There was silence while he ducked under the water. He surfaced with a splash. “Sally!” One last scream, then he was gone. The surface of the water continued to agitate, and the waves lapped at her shoes as she stood in the middle of the path, horrified. Then all was silent.
“Michael?” she called out softly. Silence. “Michael, don’t play any games with me. Come out of there.” She backed up, toward the entrance to the cave. “Michael?” A little louder, a little braver. “Oh, God, Michael!” She turned and ran.
4
Clint didn’t need to be told what had happened. He read it in her face, in her body, as they felt each other in greeting. He knew that an era was dead, that he no longer needed to view the other world as a threat. It was over; she was his now, like Mary, like the boys. He felt her loss. It was, after all, what had sustained her all this time. She would get over it. She was a survivor. Like him.
The angry meanness that had consumed him soon after his mother had gone vanished with her return. He lay on his bed of moss, the only one awake, and contemplated his growing empire. Mary was pregnant again, but it wasn’t soon enough. He told her she had to have a girl.
He would build something here far superior to anything up there. He and his mother. She would help him.
She needed some time, he knew, to let the wound heal. Then they would go up there, together, and get what they needed. Two more girls should be enough. Young ones.