I didn't have to postpone my weekend with my parents because Penny could hardly refuse a request of Cody. The boy was so impatient that the last thing he did when he went to sleep in the evening and the first thing when he got up in the morning was to ask how many times he had to sleep before we finally went into the caves. So Penny had left early today without further ado and called Moose on the phone. There was nothing going on anyway and because Cody really wanted me to go with them, she gave me half the day off and took me with her.
We drove to the train station outside Pontypandy and transferred to the train driven by an old man to go up the mountain. Except for the mission in my first week, I hadn't been up here yet and nature began to recover surprisingly quickly. Everywhere there were glimpses of green flashing through the burnt area.
Moose was already waiting for us, warmly hugging Penny as a greeting and leaving no doubt about how happy he was to see her again, which had apparently been a while ago. He gave us helmets and belts just in case and even had something suitable for Cody - but why was I surprised? He was the manager of an activity center. It probably had to be designed for all age groups.
"Don't worry, Moose. I have my old equipment with me too, so nothing can go wrong," Penny reassured Moose and pointed to her backpack, which still had a rope hanging on it, after he gave us a little safety instruction.
"I'm sure I don't have to worry about you. Then I'll carry on. I'm expecting a few tourists who want some climbing lessons. See you later then!" he replied with a grin and waved to us before turning away and up to a few hikers that came up the mountain path through the forest. Hiking had never been something I had much interest in, but not far from us there was a large sign pointing to the Seven Wonders of Pontypandy. Maybe I should try to take a look at that? It sounded interesting.
"So, then come with me and turn on your helmet lights. You always have to pay attention to the path in front of you and we stay close together," Penny then pulled me out of my thoughts and I grabbed to my helmet, just like she and Cody to turn on the lamp.
"Roger that, Penny!" I replied to her, while Cody shouted, "Roger that, Mom!" and we grinned at each other as she rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless.
Cody was amazed at the darkness, the cold and the constant dripping noise somewhere in the cave and shared this with his mother, who each time gave him a short explanation and reassured him while I tried the myself to get used to the surroundings. The helmet lights gave us just enough light to illuminate the path ahead, which was quite uneven. I wasn't used to the darkness and confinement either, but I quickly got over it, while Penny remained calm and gave me more security than she probably realized. She moved forward so determinedly that I was sure that with her we wouldn't get lost in here.
"The others told me last Sunday that you were with them in the caves and that you almost drowned because of Norman's greed for gold," I then tried to start a conversation, when Cody fell silent for a minute and looked around in amazement, and I hoped I didn't bring up any unpleasant memories.
"We would only have drowned if the tide had actually caught us and washed us into a deeper passage. It could have just as easily taken us up to the cave exit, where the other children were waiting while the area was full," she explained to me calmly and I wondered if she had been as cool back then when she was in the middle of the situation."It's nice that you've made friends here. Friends are important, especially when you move somewhere new ", she then suddenly changed the subject, but I could see that she was still smiling. Was it just small talk or was she also a newcomer back then and speaking from experience? "What are the children doing today? I only hear it from their mothers' stories and I don't see them very often, but the children even less. I actually think I've only met Sarah once, but that's probably been 5 years. Please say hello to them all the next time you see them," she said thoughtfully.
"They're fine, I think," I started and hesitated for a moment, but then decided to say it out loud. I had no one else to talk to about it except Susen and she was too busy with James that I wanted to ask her for a little of her time. I just wished her happiness. Besides, Penny had known Norman since she was little. "Norman and Sarah are together, but I'm not entirely comfortable with this Norman," I added hesitantly and Penny gave me an astonished look as she walked next to me because of the corridor here was a little wider. Cody was just curiously walking ahead, but was only a step ahead of us, which was certainly within reason.
"Why not?" Penny asked me now, but somehow didn't seem very surprised by my statement.
"Because he makes it pretty clear every time I even talk to Sarah that he doesn't like it, and on the other hand he seems to be interested in another girl himself."
"I'm sorry for Sarah, but it wouldn't surprise me with Norman. He's always been very fickle. One day he was on fire with magic, the next he was back playing the superhero in holey underpants. He always have had the craziest ideas and completely threw himself into it without thinking about the consequences," Penny explained to me and I looked up and listened. Every boy had silly ideas, but Norman seemed to top them all. "At least it was never boring in Pontypandy," she remarked with a smile.
"It sounds like Norman has been keeping you pretty busy," I said, perhaps trying to get more out of her. She didn't seem to have a problem with reminiscing, at least not in this topic, and maybe she would say one or two things that could be important for further investigations.
"It would be unfair to say it was just Norman. Everyone in town played their part. Even the tourists. But let's just say that it's not without reason that Norman has an entry in the book of world records for the most rescues."
"Really? How many does he have?" That really surprised me. Norman didn't seem like that anymore today.
"Oh, I think there were 756 at the time, but I don't know how many more were added after I left," she replied, shrugging her shoulders but still smiling and my jaw dropped open. How could one boy cause so many incidents by himself? But that wasn't the most important thing, because here was an opportunity that I had to seize.
"Why did you leave?" I asked her as coolly as possible. I certainly wouldn't mention that I already knew a lot thanks to Sarah's parents and Sarah herself.
"I was offered the job in Tonypridd. It made sense to me." That shrug of the shoulders again, but the smile had disappeared and was replaced by more of a thoughtful expression.
"Have you ever regretted it?" I asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible. I hoped it worked because she didn't give me any indication that she suspected something or was confused about it.
"No," she said immediately, but I heard her voice tremble. Penny might not lie, or at least she didn't like to lie, but if she did, she certainly didn't do it well.
"Mum, will you tell us about your adventure with Dad and Cousin James and Cousin Sarah?" Cody asked his Mum, who must have been bored by our conversation, and she smiled at him again.
"It was in the mine shafts that we had to go into after the entrance was buried and the caves were in danger of being filled with water thanks to a heavy storm," she then began the story and told it to us as we delved deeper into the cave. She interrupted her story every now and then to explain to us what a stalactite or a stalagmite was, what the rock of the mountain was made of, showed us quartz veins and we even discovered a small gold vein in the weak light of our helmet lamps.
The cave itself was exciting, but hearing the story of what she had experienced with Mr. Jones and the children in the old mine shafts was even more captivating. She had saved his life back then, after he had actually wanted to rush to her rescue - and in principle she had saved him not only once when the bridge gave way under him, but also by leading them all out of there . Had Mr. Jones already had to save her? It seemed so unbelievable to me that these two perfect firefighters needed rescue themselves, but apparently accidents happened to experienced people like them too.
"Wow, what is that? Mum, something is glittering again!" Cody suddenly shouted excitedly and ran in the direction he had just pointed. He had also shown himself the same way at the quartz and gold veins, but we only discovered them when we were standing in front of them. Now he had apparently discovered something further away.
"Cody, no!" Penny's startled exclamation made me jump, even as she ran after the boy. I immediately followed them as Penny grabbed Cody under his arms and pulled him close. She breathed a sigh of relief when I came to a stop next to her and could see a crevice in the rock directly in front of us in the light of our helmet lamps, which even made me gulp because I hadn't been able to see it before - and especially because our lamps weren't enough to see to the bottom. Only the stone that we had set rolling and falling into the crack showed us after seemingly endless seconds that it also had a bottom somewhere down.
"Wow, buddy. That could have gone wrong," I turned to Cody, relieved that everything had gone well, when Penny let go of him and made him take a step back.
"You can't just start running in a cave. Our visibility is very limited thanks to the little light from our helmet lamps. You quickly missed a crack in the ground, like this one," his mother warned him in a stern tone and Cody hung his head.
"I'm sorry, Mum," he murmured ruefully and Penny ran a gentle hand down the back of his neck.
"It's okay, luckily nothing happened," she said with a smile and scratched his neck, which always made him laugh, as I had noticed so often. Until a creak and crack made us sit up and take notice. "What is..." Penny began thoughtfully, but she broke off to listen into the cave. Surely she wanted to find out where the noise was coming from.
"What's that?" I heard Cody say, when out of the corner of my eye I saw Penny take a step to the side and then disappear with a surprised moan. Instinctively, I pushed Cody away a little with one hand while I tried to reach for Penny with the other, but I couldn't catch her.
"Mum!" Cody immediately shouted in fear as he realized what was happening here. I immediately grabbed him and held him at a distance while I tried to peer into the crevice.
"Penny!" I called out to her and heard nothing more than a short gasp. But I saw her helmet lamp shining a few meters below us. The gap seemed really damn narrow. She couldn't seem to even turn in it. "Penny, is everything okay?" I called to her again as I dug into the side leg pocket of my cargo pants for a flashlight I had packed. Now it was at least of use to me enough that I could use it to illuminate the gap more and recognize Penny.
"Yeah, everything's okay. I just seem to have twisted my ankle. I'm coming up," she called to me and I saw her put her hands on the rock wall, obviously trying to climb it up. But she didn't get far until she slid back down a few centimeters with a curt "Ah!", clearly showing more pain than just terror.
"Mum!" Cody immediately called out worriedly and I raised my arm to put my hand on his chest so he stayed back, but didn't take my eyes off Penny.
"It's okay, Cody," Penny called out quickly so that her son wouldn't panic. "I'll try something different," she then stated and saw how she tried to brace herself against the two rock walls with her arms and legs bent - and had to give it up too. Then she tried pressing her back against the rock wall to stabilize herself and repeatedly pulling herself up using just her arms. She actually got a little higher until she slipped again. Damn!"I can't climb with my foot. I'll throw you a rope, Niall. Then you can use it to help me climb," she then shouted up to me and laboriously pulled off her backpack.
"Roger that, Penny!" I called out to her and carefully lowered myself to my knees so that I could at least be able to accommodate her, even if I didn't dare lean over the crevice for fear of slipping or something else to dislodge more stones that could hurt Penny down there. She tried to throw the rope up to me several times, but each time it was about a meter missing. She didn't have enough space in the crack to reach far enough to apply more force and throw higher. "You're stuck too deep. There's not much left to do. What if you tie a stone to it?" I called to her. Maybe if the end of the rope was heavier it would fly higher? But that also quickly turned out to be a futile attempt and when I heard after the third attempt that the stone had not landed on the rock but rather audibly on her helmet, I decided it was better to stop. "That won't work either. Maybe I should carry the rope next time?!" I had no idea why I said that, but at least it made Penny laugh quietly for a moment.
"If you then slip into a crevice, it won't be of any use to us too," she remarked shortly. "But I'll keep in mind that everyone gets a backpack with safety equipment next time." She was silent for a second and I saw that she was winding the rope back up. "You see, Cody, we have a great idea for your birthday present," she then stated and I suspected that she just wanted to have a conversation to relax the situation. I looked up at Cody, who was standing diagonally behind me.
"Hmm, yeah, I think that would be pretty cool," he simply replied, still unsettled and worried about the whole situation that his mother in particular was currently in.
"What now? No more Mario Kart?" she said in surprise and I saw Cody grin. "That was easy," Penny said in surprise, while Cody chuckled quietly and gave me a conspiratorial look. Penny's plan seemed to be working - if she had planned to calm her boy down in this way.
"What do we do now? Should I go out and call for help? I don't have reception in here," I said in confusion after looking at my cell phone, especially since one of the most important rules for rescuing casualties was buzzing through my head: Never leave an injured person alone and Cody was neither in the condition to leave him alone with his mother nor of the age where he could safely find his way out of the cave to call for help - even I didn't really trust myself to make it as often as we turned around some corners.
"I doubt that you will find your way back as many times as we have turned and I also have the map with me down here," Penny then said my thoughts out loud. "No, there is a too big risk that you will get lost. We'll have to wait until Moose realizes we're not back yet."
"That could take hours!" I realized in shock.
"Two at most. He knows that because of the low temperatures I've never stayed in the caves with children for more than an hour and a half and we've already been in here for almost an hour." I breathed a sigh of relief that Penny was so well known here.
"Don't you get cold down there? There's water running down to you," Cody said worriedly again and I looked over the ground until my helmet lamp actually showed me a thin trickle of water flowing over the ground into the crack. Damned!
"It's okay, Cody. I'll thinking warm thoughts and the water is seeping into a crevice down here somewhere. There's supposed to be an underground river somewhere beneath us," Penny answered him immediately. "Shall I tell you a few more stories from the cave? We had to free Mandy Flood from this very crevice," she began to talk and I sat down on the hard floor while I pulled Cody towards me and sat him on my lap so that we could listen to her together or ask questions - I just didn't necessarily have to encounter the bats she told us from. I didn't agree with Norman's opinion back then, but I could understand his dislike a little.
To be continued...