The Salt Cave Abyss
I was approaching what I knew to be, what I'd been told to expect, was the most awe-inspiring natural geologic formation in the world. Even more spectacular than the Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, anything like that. It was the Great Salt Cave Abyss, a yawning, jagged gash deep into the earth, stretching down and down and down, and on and on, as far as the eye could see. I was really looking forward to it, and couldn't help but feel a dread.
Ahead of me was a shoddy plywood wall. Maybe 20 feet high, it ran about 60 feet from side to side. Folks were peering around the sides, through the poorly sealed seams, and even below it in some spots where the ground was uneven. Who would block the view of the abyss, if that's what this was? And how was a screen of this size blockign the view of a hole that was miles and miles in size?
I sidled up on the right, and it was a sort of cave, an outcropping/cliff rising to my right in a gentle arc, up and over the partition. I just stepped around it, and looked to my left to see the abyss. No abyss at all. It was just a smallish cave with salt crystals everywhere. I felt like I was standing inside a geode. It was impressive, sure, but no great abyss, not even close. The space was small and close, and humid as well, with a strong saline smell--duh. It was a geologic oddity, a natural wonder, sure, but nothing on a grand scale.
Then I heard the disturbance outside and turned and ran up the stairs of the building that had sprung up behind me, where the large partition/wall had been. I ran up to the open window, looking out over a greenish meadow, the grass short and well-maintained. A crowd was coming towad what appeared to be the town frontage, as I leaned out and peered left and right.
It was a military unit, and apparently was my military unit. I couldn't remember if I was a cadet, or a soldier, and what my unit would be doing out there, walking toward where I was, in apparent anger. Why wasn't I with them?
I ducked inside the room, stepping back into the relative darknes inside so I could still watch and yet not be seen. Then the room started to shake, and just like in tha climactic scenes of No Name City sinking into the mud in Paint Your Wagon, the entire room started to sink down, until the window sill was even with the ground. They were either going to march right on in, or I was going to go out. Well, I wasn't one to await the inevitable, or dodge my duty, so out I stepped, into what I was not sure.
Ahead of me was a shoddy plywood wall. Maybe 20 feet high, it ran about 60 feet from side to side. Folks were peering around the sides, through the poorly sealed seams, and even below it in some spots where the ground was uneven. Who would block the view of the abyss, if that's what this was? And how was a screen of this size blockign the view of a hole that was miles and miles in size?
I sidled up on the right, and it was a sort of cave, an outcropping/cliff rising to my right in a gentle arc, up and over the partition. I just stepped around it, and looked to my left to see the abyss. No abyss at all. It was just a smallish cave with salt crystals everywhere. I felt like I was standing inside a geode. It was impressive, sure, but no great abyss, not even close. The space was small and close, and humid as well, with a strong saline smell--duh. It was a geologic oddity, a natural wonder, sure, but nothing on a grand scale.
Then I heard the disturbance outside and turned and ran up the stairs of the building that had sprung up behind me, where the large partition/wall had been. I ran up to the open window, looking out over a greenish meadow, the grass short and well-maintained. A crowd was coming towad what appeared to be the town frontage, as I leaned out and peered left and right.
It was a military unit, and apparently was my military unit. I couldn't remember if I was a cadet, or a soldier, and what my unit would be doing out there, walking toward where I was, in apparent anger. Why wasn't I with them?
I ducked inside the room, stepping back into the relative darknes inside so I could still watch and yet not be seen. Then the room started to shake, and just like in tha climactic scenes of No Name City sinking into the mud in Paint Your Wagon, the entire room started to sink down, until the window sill was even with the ground. They were either going to march right on in, or I was going to go out. Well, I wasn't one to await the inevitable, or dodge my duty, so out I stepped, into what I was not sure.
posted by Scrumpox at 8:51 AM
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