We saw dust particles floating in the air. Our headlights illuminated dirt and more dust at the bottom. It was hard to tell at first what the stuff a foot below us was. Couple of dead bugs, thick, spongy cobwebs, some really old sand. Plain old dirt and filth.
Suzy lifted her head, turned her headlight off and whispered "I'll go on the lookout, you two try to make sense of it". She turned away from us and took a soft hop, telescoped a little, turning her ears like radar dishes. She took a couple more hops and telescoped again, finally sitting down on her rear and listened.
Looking at Molly, I asked "... any gut feelings about what's down there?"
"Nope, but I think it's all very dry, that's good. I don't like the awful visibility, all those cobwebs creep me out though" said Molly.
I wonder if we can get a dig started and make us a little tunnel.
I stretched out, laid flat on my belleh and crawled as close as I could to the opening, trying to reach the dirt bottom with my paw. No joy. I needed to get closer, but if I did I'd spill into the hole. I crawled back away from it and sat up.
Covering my head light with my paw I looked at Molly and motioned her to come over to my side. "Molly, I need you to hold my rear paws so I don't go into the hole".
"Are you sure? Let's get Suzy and tie a rope around your belleh or something. That way we can pull you up."
"No, there's no need for that, I'm sure I can reach the bottom, just need an inch or two"
"Ok, sprawl." said Molly.
So I did and inched forward a little, then a little more, finally hanging over the edge and almost touching the bottom.
"Molly, a little more"
She let me slide just a bit further.
Edge of the floor pressed against my ribs announcing I would have very little time exploring like this. My front paws gently touched the ancient, soft dirt. It smelled like... well, like dry, old dirt. I looked around as much as I could, turning my head in that position. Light from my lamp got snarled in those cumulocobwebs.
Well, without jumping all in there was no way to explore much and I wasn't ready for that. Maybe I could just scrape some of that dirt, run my paw through it and see what turns up. More dirt? Concrete? Metal? Wood?
If we have a concrete slab there, our adventuring would be cut very short. There would be no digging under the blueberry bushes, no wild raspberries or napping int he sun, no binkies in the wild grass, no fireflies in the evenings. Is that dark enough for you?
I run my paw through it again, harder this time, getting to the harder, more impacted dirt. How deep is ...
- Thank you Renee!
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