Greg felt like a boy again by the time he arrived home. He got there in plenty of time for supper and to practice their Hebrew lessons with the family as they'd planned, but as often happened during the school days in his youth when some grand adventure awaited him after school hours, he found it difficult to concentrate on his flashcards very well during supper.
Later that evening while Susan was cleaning up the kitchen and the children were watching TV, Greg made phone calls to people he hadn't talked to in quite a while to arrange for favors and took time out to run a mysterious errand outside the house before returning and announcing to Susan and the children that after services on Saturday morning, he would be spending the afternoon unexpectedly with Neil, his step-son by his second wife.
"Is that alright?" Greg asked. "Or will you need the car?"
"Jessie and Zack's games are in the morning, so that should be okay if you can drop us off at the park before you go and pick us up after. But I will need the car on Sunday to take Zackary to the airport. Remember, he'll be at Michael's this coming week."
"When does he get back?" Greg wondered.
"Next Friday. He didn't want to miss his games next Saturday, and also there's our dinner with Richard and Marion that evening he wanted to be here for," Susan told him. "But that means I'll be away at suppertime on Friday evening."
Greg nodded. "It can't be helped, Susan. I'm sure the Lord will understand."
"Probably," Susan agreed. "So what are you doing with Neil?" Susan asked curiously looking surprised.
"Going on an adventure," Greg answered honestly. "The opportunity arose through a friend of mine and I thought of Neil immediately. Zackary is still too young for what my friend has in mind. Neil is precisely the right age, plus it is the sort of activity he enjoys. I've spent very little time with him since our return, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to correct that."
"I don't know what you're doing, but I'm glad you found a way to involve him," Susan told him.
"Will you be okay on your own with the children?" Greg asked anxiously.
"We'll be fine. The park where they are playing is the one near the YMCA where we went for swimming lessons last fall. We can have lunch at the café near there afterwards. You can join us there after services, if you like and give us a ride home before you go?" Susan suggested.
"I was planning to attend the early service then meet Neil somewhere afterwards," Greg told her. "But we could swing by to give you a ride. Who knows, you might even get there before you do."
"You just may," Susan agreed, though privately she didn't think so.
c
Saturday came and Greg spent the early hours as he intended, attending services and getting ready to meet his stepson before going by the café to give Susan and the children a ride home. He and Neil made small talk until they left the farmhouse, then Greg described what he had in mind to his step-son as they drove up into the hills.
"Sure, I can do that," Neil agreed. "The last trip I made to do any spelunking was last summer, but this sounds fun. Do you have any idea how big it is?"
"None. It is a wild cave, I believe they call it," Greg told him. "Have you brought your equipment?"
"I have, though you'll probably want to install something better if you're going to keep going in there," Neil cautioned.
"We will, just as soon as we understand what exactly we are dealing with," Greg told him.
Together after lunch, they drove to the property near the entrance to the excavator's tunnel and parked in the newly flattened area created by the tailings. Two cars were already there.
"Hello!" Greg called.
"Hello Greg! I hope you don't mind, but I couldn't wait to show Lee what we've found," Brian said as he and their Asian friend emerged from the tunnel.
"No, I don't mind," Greg assured him. "Brian, I'd like you to meet Neil, my step-son from my second marriage. Neil, this is Brian Stevenson, my architect, and his friend Lee Sato who does landscape architecture. One of Neil's interests is spelunking so I thought he could help. "
"Nice to meet you," Neil said as he shook each man's hand, looking curiously at the landscape architect. "Excuse me for asking, but why is a landscape architect interested in a cave?"
"Normally I wouldn't be, but this came up as we discussed how to treat the land in relationship to the house your step-father is building. My curiosity got the better of me when they discovered it," Lee explained. "It's not every day you get involved in designing landscaping for someone's house and end up with a cave."
"No, I suppose not," Neil said with a bemused expression on his face as he studied his step-father.
"What is it?" Greg asked curiously.
"When did you get to be so interesting?" he asked. "You never did anything like this when you were married to Mom."
"True," Greg agreed. "Susan seems to bring it out in me," he said with a shrug. "You want to help me unload?" he asked the group at large.
"Sure, what are we unloading?" Brian asked.
"I brought a generator, gas to fill it, several long extension cords, three strings of white Christmas lights, and three high-powered outdoor flood lights," Greg explained. "I thought it would help if we could see what we are exploring."
"Good thinking," Lee told him. "I couldn't see anything in there."
"It was even less distinct than before without the flares," Brian shared.
"Which is the reason for the lights," Greg said. "Let's set the generator up near the entrance then intersperse the extension cords and the Christmas lights to illuminate the tunnel."
The four of them worked together to get the generator in place and started, then began connecting the extension cords. At the end of each, they attached another cord and a string of the Christmas lights as provided by the splitter. As before, roughly two hundred feet in, the sides of the tunnel fell away and that's where Greg set up the first actual light, shining towards the end of the tunnel and out into the cave.
"That is better," Brian commented as he looked back through the tunnel at the string of tiny lights lying along one wall.
Brian, it turned out, had brought a high powered flashlight with him. He turned it back to the black empty space in front of them and began shining the light around, illuminating the inside of the cave. His intent was to show Neil what they were dealing with, but it allowed all of them to get a better look at it for the first time.
"It looks like if this tunnel had been angled a bit more to the right, it would have opened on top of that natural bridge," Neil commented pointing his own light towards a thick wall of lava that separated the cave to the west of where they stood into an upper and lower section.
"It does look that way, doesn't it," Brian agreed. "Is there any way we can get to it from here to explore that upper part?"
Neil looked around for foot holds or places to attach a rope.
"Not easily," he told them. "Personally, I'd go down first, get some rappelling lines and a ladder in place, then think about going up."
"How do we do that?" Greg asked.
"With lines and pitons," Neil answered and he began to search through his pack for a climber's hammer and a small bag full of pitons and rings which he attached to his belt.
The other men watched as Neil secured two of the pitons to the wall of the cave on the north side of the ledge where the tunnel ended. He attached himself to them with a line and rings, then began to lower himself along the ledge to a surface hidden from the top, but not all that far below where he attached a few more. He ran his line through those as well, before descending again, looking for the next probable place to create a hand or foot hold.
"Brian, shine your light down this way, will you?" Neil called from somewhere down below.
Brian shone his light in the direction of the voice.
"A little to your left," Neil directed, then "that's better. Thanks."
"No problem," Brian assured him.
Greg shone his light at the line on the wall which was moving again, showing that Neil was repelling down. It stopped, followed by the sound of the hammer driving yet another couple pitons into the rock where Neil was creating a relatively easy climbing path down from the top. They all watched the rope and listened as the sound echoed around the cave as Neil worked. Thirty minutes later, he appeared again from beneath the ledge and rejoined them.
"Greg, do you have one of those outside lights we can place at the bottom?" Neil asked.
"I do. The limiting factor may well be the length of the extension cord," Greg cautioned.
"How long is the one you have?" Neil asked.
"I have two one-hundred foot lengths left," Greg said.
"One of those should take it almost to the bottom," Neil said. "Connect that end," he said pointing to the connection near Greg's feet," then hand it to me," he said.
Greg did as he said, handing the coil of electrical cord to his step-son who once again disappeared over the edge, this time attaching the cord at each piton using the rings he'd installed earlier. When he returned a second time, Greg handed him a pack containing the light which he flung onto his back and headed down once again. A short time later, light appeared from someplace beneath them, illuminating the bottom of the cave.
"It's not nearly as deep as I feared," Brian commented.
"No, I think it might be just right," Lee remarked.
"Just right for what?" Greg wondered.
But Lee didn't immediately answer.
"Neil, are you ready for one of us to come down?" Lee called.
"Not yet. I want to put a secondary set of pitons in for your line, so you're not connected to the extension cord," Neil cautioned and they began to hear the sound of pitons being hammered into rock again.
When Neil appeared up on the ledge a third time, he was ready. He fastened a rope to Lee's waist, attached him to an anchor line, and then directed where he should place his hands for the first section of the descent. Neil descended after him directing him through each phase of the descent until he was standing at the bottom and could see the others at the top. Neil repeated the process two more times and shortly they were all standing at the bottom of the cave.
"Now what?" Neil asked.
"We go east, as far as possible," Lee said confidently.
Greg looked in the direction they knew to be east and found that the chamber they were in ended not too far away.
"Where do you hope to go Lee?" Greg asked curiously.
"I see a shadow along that wall," Lee told him. "I want to see if that is simply a fold in the rock, or if the crack we saw above continues that way. I think it would be helpful to establish what the eastern end of this is."
"I agree," Brian said.
Greg shrugged. "Sure, why not," he said and they began to pick their way to the eastern wall to investigate the shadow Lee identified.
As it turned out, Lee was right. The shadow obscured the entrance to another narrow passageway, leading to a second cavern at a somewhat lower level with a high ceiling directly above them, located somewhat east, but mostly south of the cavern where they'd started their explorations. It was wider with a rocky ceiling, floor and three walls, but the fourth consisted of dirt, piled high, making the ceiling very low in that direction. In fact the floor had been largely filled in by what looked like surface soil at some time in the past.
"I wonder if there was a surface opening here at one time," Brian voiced aloud the thoughts all of them had on their mind.
"There may have been," Greg said as he shone his light around the intersection between the volcanic rock and the top soil, from the ceiling to the floor. There in front of them, just beneath the bottom edge of what looked like an ancient slide, a bit of heavy canvas was visible.
"What do you suppose?" Greg wondered.
He walked over to it and tugged slightly. A bit more of the canvas started to come loose and everyone shone their lights on it. As the dirt fell away it became clear the material they found was part of something bigger, mostly buried beneath the weight of the soil, with narrow poles broken in places, suggesting a frame.
"This looks like it may have been a tent," Lee remarked as they worked to free it.
"Do you think so?" Brian wondered.
"I think miners used tents like these in the last century. It is possible someone was camped here to get out of the rain when the slide happened," Lee proposed.
"You don't suppose anyone is buried in that?" Neil asked nervously.
"Not necessarily," Greg told him. "Whoever camped here may have had time to get out or may not have been here when it happened."
"Do we need to find out?" Brian wondered looking at Greg.
Greg shone his light around the rest of the cave, and discovered a shovel leaning up against one wall.
"Maybe," he said as he retrieved the shovel and began to dig.
The canvas was stiff and old, but it didn't take much digging to free it completely ... along with a miner's era coffee pot atop some charred wood suggesting a camp fire, a small canvas bag containing a few clothes, and a small wooden box slightly larger than a large shoebox which they suspected had been inside the tent, but nothing more.
"What's in the box?" Brian asked curiously as Greg opened it.
Inside they found what a small collection of personal effects: a shaving kit: including a mug with a stiff-haired brush in it, a straight-edged razor, a small mirror and some soap; a package of needles and some thread, a hand full of coins, a letter, and a small bound leather book, very similar to the sort Greg generally carried in his pocket. Curious about their find, he opened it to find blank pages towards the back, and hand written entries closer to the front. He thumbed to the front page but didn't immediately see anything identifying what the book was for though it did seem to contain a number of drawings as well as hand written notes.
"Could it be a journal of some sort?" Brian proposed as he looked over Greg's shoulder.
"Possibly, though I usually associate a journal with dated entries. These don't seem to be," Greg remarked. "These do look like someone's personal effects, but I don't think they're valuable as these things go."
"No, but they probably were to the person who owned them," Brian speculated.
"Actually, the shovel and the tent were probably the owner's greatest loss," Lee speculated. "I wonder if this is the reason for the tunnel down below. Perhaps the miner who lost them s trying to retrieve them."
"That would only be true only if we find this cavern extends in that direction and we find evidence that someone knew it did," Greg remarked.
"Should we find out?" Neil suggested reasonably.
"I agree that would be the next step," Greg said.
They retraced their steps back through the narrow passageway dividing the two caverns, walking back through the cavern where they entered the cave. From there the light at the bottom showed them a passage way extending beneath the thick layer of rock Neil identified earlier as a bridge. Following it, the little group of explorers continued west. From that point on, they found the cave to be much more tunnel-like than before, with walls jutting at odd angles, some almost forming ramps to a higher section of the tunnel while others went down leading to a lower level. They followed both, discovering that they went nowhere, ending in what looked like the farthest extension of the gap, but in several different directions. In the position of the lowest one, they found a coil of old rope and the remains of a candle, evidence that someone had indeed been there before.
"This would tend to support your theory, Lee," Brian remarked.
"Yes, it would," Greg said as they shone their lights over what they'd found. "Do we need to take a better look at the cavern with the slide?"
"We should," Brian remarked. "Lead the way, Neil."
"Okay," Neil agreed and the men followed single file until they were back in the cavern with the remains of the tent, intending to take a better look.
At Greg's suggestion, they did a bit more digging around the place they found the tent, wondering what more they might find. They did find an odd number of items supporting the idea someone was camped here at the time of the slide, but apparently no one was in the tent when it occurred. They dug a bit beyond it, but the dirt was soft enough that it tended to slide over the little bit they uncovered.
"This is quite odd," Greg remarked thoughtfully as they examined the things. "Obviously these things were buried in the slide, as you suggest, but aside from their historical interest, I don't think they currently have much value."
"I tend to agree," Brian said. "Except for what it tells us about the history of this hill. For these things to have been trapped here, the slide must have happened in the not too distant past. I don't suppose there is a date anywhere in that little book you found?"
"Or the letter?" Lee suggested.
Greg retrieved the items in question from the box and took a better look. "1874," he read from the postmark on the letter.
"That's more recent than I would have guessed from the artifacts here, but I'm no historian," Brian remarked.
Neil looked curiously at the items in the box. "I am. I love history. This does look consistent to me."
"Which dates this slide as somewhat after that," Greg said.
"About one hundred thirty years ago," Lee said as he studied the pattern formed by the old mudflow.
"I am wondering, since we have clear evidence of mudslides occurring here before, is it a concern in regards to the house?" Greg asked aloud.
"It may be," Brian commented. "Perhaps Mr. Craig will have an idea about this."
"He may," Greg agreed.
"Who is Mr. Craig?" Neil asked.
"The owner of the excavation company who bored out the tunnel we entered through," Greg explained as he replaced the letter and the book inside the box and set aside the things they had found aside. He placed them atop the rocky ledge near the place they found the shovel in the first place, a place he hoped would be beyond the reach of the old mudflow.
Neil arched a brow. "Then maybe he could simply bore through from the outside into here, instead of coming through the way we did."
"Possibly," Lee said. "This is interesting though."
"Very," Brian agreed. "This is all good information, something we definitely needed to know."
"This is quite a fascinating find. I'm glad you felt it was worthwhile," Greg remarked.
"It was for me," Brian assured him.
"I think it was for me too," Neil commented as they made their way back to the ropes and pitons again. "I think it might even be worth trying to get to the top of the bridge."
"Do you think you can do that?" Greg wondered aloud as one after another the four began to climb up to the ledge, leaving the ropes in place to use in future days.
"I think I can. I'm not sure I can find footholds big enough for the four of you, but it won't hurt to try," Neil told them.
"Go ahead if you'd like," Greg invited once everyone was at the top again.
Neil began to drive pitons into the wall of the cave west of the ledge, in the opposite direction from where they'd gone down to the bottom. These he put in place using a different approach. The first ones he placed as high up as he could reach, anchoring his rope to them, then swung out west to find a hand hold and placed another. Soon he had a series of pitons in place with his rope strung between them, roughly at the same level, creating a series of rope handholds along the steep wall, eventually reaching the top of the bridge where he was careful to create anchors for himself at the opposite end.
"This is surprisingly flat," he commented across the expanse.
"Does it go anywhere?" Brian asked.
Neil took a moment to shine his light into the walls they hadn't been able to illuminate from either the ledge or the bottom.
"It looks like it," he said. "The chambers are smaller here, but there is one off to the northwest, and I see another opposite where I'm standing on top of what to you is the south wall."
"Do you believe there is a way we can get over there?" Greg questioned.
"Let me put in a foot line as well, then you can try it," Neil said and he proceeded to drop to a lower level, and repeated the process of putting in pitons and attaching rings and lines to them on the way back.
"You know, I've gone through a lot of rope, considering we've hardly gone anywhere," he commented.
"I am happy to replace it," Greg assured him.
"Oh I know. It's not that, it's just that I expected it to go farther," Neil said as he used more rope to create a harness for Brian and connecting it to his anchor pitons before allowing him to try the rope footings and handholds necessary to gain the top of the rock bridge. Greg was next, followed by Lee.
"I think this might be your next location for a light Greg," Brian commented.
"Indeed, I think it might be," Greg agreed. "Neil, are you able to secure yourself safely enough to traverse the bridge to the other side?"
"I can free walk across then put in an anchor on the other side to create a rope guide," Neil told him.
Greg was about to protest, but it wouldn't have done any good. The young man was already half way across with his pack of pitons and rope and was shortly putting another half dozen in before attaching a rope to them and coming back. He placed a mirrored set on the north side and tightened the rope between them. Next he moved the ring anchoring his step-father's harness to his safety line to the rope and instructed him to follow him across. Greg did as he said and found the crossing relatively simple and safe. Neil helped Brian and Lee to cross in the same manner, and soon they were all four exploring the smaller chambers on the south side.
"You know, what I can't figure out is where the second core pipe is Mr. Craig inserted on Wednesday," Brian commented as they looked around.
"The what?" Neil asked.
"A gray, three inch diameter PVC pipe the excavator put in when he drilled the initial two core holes. One we've located," Greg told him. "It can be seen from the entry ledge in the crack overhead, but the other seems to be missing."
"Are you sure it comes through here?" Neil asked.
"It must. It comes out on the other side of the hill," Brian told him.
Neil nodded then on a hunch looked alongside the bridge on the western side into the gap between it and the wall that extended to the ceiling of this large chamber.
"Here," he told them. "It missed the bridge, but goes through the space beside it. You can just barely see it from here."
The place Neil had gotten himself into in order to see the pipe looked precarious to say the least, but Brian insisted on taking a look so as to be able to inform Mr. Craig about where it was relative to what he needed when they met again the following week.
It took them the rest of the afternoon to finish exploring the chambers they could reach from the bridge, putting pitons in where Neil felt they were needed to ensure their safety. There were chambers that grew deeper again and ran north of the area they proposed to put the house, but all were small and it was decided that though interesting, they had no impact on their building project.
Once Greg, Brian and Lee were satisfied they'd seen what they needed to, they made their way back the way they'd come, leaving all the various lead lines in place and following the string of Christmas lights out to the generator again. Greg shut it off once they were in sight of the exit and everyone filed out into the evening air once more. It had grown far later than any of them expected and already it was growing dark outside.
"Would you like to join us for supper, Neil?" Greg invited his stepson.
"Are you sure it's okay?" Neil asked.
"Of course," Greg said. "You are family and I truly appreciate your help today."
"Okay," Neil said with a grin. "You know I never turn down a free meal if I can help it."
"I remember," Greg said with a smile.
Greg turned next to the two architects.
"Gentlemen, thank you for your company today. I hope you've gotten some of what you needed?"
"I think so," Brian told him. "I'll call you on Monday, Greg; but I think we now have what we needed to know."
And so they said their goodbyes and all three cars went on their way, with Neil joining his step-father back to the rental house where he lived with his new wife and family. They pulled up into the drive at the back of the house and both got out.
"Neil, before you go in, I wanted to caution you not to say anything to the family about the cave or the tunnel," Greg cautioned.
"Why?" Neil asked in surprise.
"Because, they don't know about it yet, and until Brian and Lee come up with a good way to treat it in regards to our building plans, I'd rather not say anything about it just yet."
"Oh, okay," Neil agreed looking amused. "Tell me Greg, did you keep secrets like this from Mom too?"
"Nothing of this nature," Greg assured him. "It's not so much that it's a secret, as that it's a surprise I'm preparing for Susan. Zackary knows about much of it, but not obviously about the cave we explored today."
Neil smiled and nodded. "Cool," he said. "Thanks Greg."
"You're welcome," Greg said and the two went in the back way.
c
"You're back!" Susan came to welcome Greg and his step-son.
"We're late for dinner, Papa!" Jessie chastised him as she followed Susan to greet him.
"I apologize," Greg told them sincerely. "We simply lost track of the time during our adventure."
"Was it fun?" Susan asked her husband while looking at Neil.
"It was actually," Neil said. "It's been a long time since I've gotten to do something like that with Greg."
"It is something your father did with you though, if I recall?" Greg commented.
"Yeah, Dad always was the adventure sort. I think it's why he and Mom never married. She was always so convinced he was going to fall and break his neck," Neil commented.
"What sort of adventures did he go on that caused your mother to worry like that?" Susan asked.
"He was a climber. He used to take me along on some of the easier climbs when I was young. Mom always had a fit though," Neil explained.
"Were you doing climbing today?" Susan wondered aloud.
Greg regarded his wife thoughtfully before answering.
"I suppose you could say that. Neil helped Brian and I explore a section of our property which isn't easily accessible," Greg said carefully.
"Does this have something to do with the stability problem you mentioned?" Susan asked.
"It does," Greg said agreeably.
"I suppose that was part of an old mudslide we found," Neil commented cautiously following Greg's lead.
"It is. I believe he intends to have the excavator do some test cuts to evaluate the potential for further problems in that same area," Greg told her.
"You know, since we are building in a place like that, I'm really glad you're being so cautious," Susan told them. "Neil, thank you for helping, I know Greg does appreciate it."
"You're welcome," Neil said self-consciously.
"Well, supper is ready, and even though the sun is already down, I suppose we could still say our prayers," Susan said. "Come wash up and I'll call Zackary to the table."
"Hi Zack," Neil said tentatively when the other boy appeared at the table.
"Hi," Zackary said. "Were you doing stuff with Greg?"
"I was today. He tells me you're playing baseball this year. How's your team?"
"Pretty good. We haven't had any games yet, just practices so far," Zackary said.
"Didn't you play today?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, but it wasn't a league game. It was just a practice game so it doesn't count," Zackary explained and they spent much of supper time following their evening prayers talking about the sporting events of the day.
Greg watched in fascination as his two step-sons from two different wives talked, sharing their passion for the game Greg could remember Neil playing himself not so long ago.
After supper, Susan made up a bed for Neil on the sofa in the front room so he could spend the night, allowing them all ample time for visiting. She even took him home again on Sunday while on her way to drop Zackary off at the airport, something Greg never dreamed might happen in his wildest imaginings.
c
Greg couldn't believe it when he woke up on Monday morning following such and eventful weekend. He looked at the calendar only to discover it was already the last full week in February. Jessie was home from school all week on her Winter Break, Zackary was in Seattle, the first of March was a week from Friday, and in Greg's mind they were far behind schedule in getting their new home built. He himself had studio work two days that week, but he hoped Brian and Lee would be able to make better progress now than they had before, and he called Brian early that morning to ask if that might be possible.
"Hi Greg, I am glad you called," Brian told him. "I need Mr. Craig to make two more test drills for me this week, provided you're agreeable and he's available. We need to know the depth and stability of the mudslide in the eastern chamber, and the thickness of the walls in the southern most upper chamber," Brian said. "Provided neither of those samples suggests problems with the placement of the footings we have in our design, I think we're ready for the grading plans for the house."
"That is good news," Greg commented. "Have you decided what to do about the garage?"
"I think the subterranean approach is best. The placement of the natural bridge is perfect to provide an access route to your house, but that's another thing we'll need Mr. Craig's input on. I think we need another day of his crew's time then we'll be done," Brian said.
"Please make the arrangements, Brian," Greg told him. "I can't be on site this week, but if you are able to proceed without me, please do."
"I can. When do you think you'll have time to talk to me about your idea for the office?" Brian asked.
"Do we need that design before we apply for building permits and put the project out to bid?"
"Not necessarily," Brian told him. "We can go forward with what we have and add that later if you wish."
"Please finish what you have. I will try to make arrangements for next Monday to come meet with you about the office, but the design for the idea I have will be relatively simple. I don't expect it will present much of a challenge for you," Greg said.
And so, work on the house design proceeded that week without him, though Brian did check in with him late on Friday to let him know the test drills happened as planned and he now had the details they needed to complete their plans. Both he and Lee were present and they felt confident they could finalize their design by the following Monday.
"That is good news," Greg told him that Friday afternoon. "I look forward to seeing them."
"I look forward to showing them to you. Have a good weekend, Greg," Brian told him.
"I intend to," Greg said as he hung up the phone, just as Susan was getting ready to go.
"You intend to what?" Susan asked curiously as she prepared to leave to go get Zack.
"I intend to have a good weekend," Greg said honestly. "I'm truly looking forward to our visit with Richard and Marion tomorrow evening. It's been a while since we've seen them."
"I am too," Susan assured him as she kissed him on the cheek and reminded him she was leaving for the airport.
"Don't worry, Susan. I can see to Jessie and myself for dinner," Greg promised and he watched as Susan hurried back downstairs, and he heard the door close behind her as she left the house.
c