79 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
79 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
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### ### ####### ##########
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hoe issue #124
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>> "short story (code number ORANGE)" <<
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by -> murmur
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"dave, it's sort of dark in here. are you sure we should go on
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any farther?"
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"good lord, sarah, we're in a CAVE. did you think we were visiting
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the lighting fixture section of Menards or something? we're SPELUNKING.
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that's what SPELUNKERS do. now come on."
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sarah hadn't really wanted to go with dave this particular day. she
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was having sort of a bad hair day for one, and for two, well, caves were
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kind of dank and dark and dingy and sarah didn't really like things to be
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dank and dark and dingy. she was thirsty for a capuccino too. why had she
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let him talk her into this?
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"sarah, what the hell are you doing? you're not going to trip over
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any armadillos in here. this isn't a man-eating cave, for crying out loud.
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now come on!"
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dave wasn't entirely sure why he'd invited sarah to come with. but
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one way or the other he thought the trip might do her some good. she had
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settled into a 90s yuppie way of things with her capuccinos, etc., and dave
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thought a nice day of spelunking might be good for her. he had never
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dreamed she'd act so terrified of rocks though.
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"dave, is that a snake? DAVE, THERE'S A SNAKE! KILL IT!"
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"sarah, that's the FLOOR. familar with the concept of FLOOR?
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perhaps that rare anomalie known as the GROUND? the BOTTOM of the CAVE?
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there's no snake there. stop acting so ridiculous. you're supposed to be
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having fun, not carrying on like an infant freshly run out of apples and
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chicken."
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"now how am i supposed to have fun when i can't see more than four
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feet in front of me and i don't know what's in this cave and i'm thirsty and
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i look like i just got out of a sandstorm and i.."
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"hey, sarah? SHUT UP. okay? now you better ENJOY YOURSELF before
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i get REALLY PISSED OFF."
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sarah had better things to do than go hiking in a big old slab of
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rock or whatever a cave was. she could be at the salon or at the mall or
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better yet she could be out with some of the girls doing whatever. and she
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had real concerns, too. after all, it was thursday, and it was getting
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later in the afternoon, and ER would be on later.
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"dave, when are we going to turn back? i mean, we're kind of deep
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in this here cavern or whatever."
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"you want to turn back now? we've hardly gotten anywhere!"
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"i don't want to be back late.."
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"for ER. i know. bloody doctor shows."
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dave checked his watch. it was almost 5 and it would take them
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about a half hour to get back to the truck from where they were and another
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half hour to drive home and another half hour to eat and she probably had
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another stop to make that would take another half hour and then it would be
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almost 7 and if she got back after 7 and didn't have all 2 hours to prep for
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her stupid show she'd probably go ballistic on him so
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"alright, i guess we have gone pretty far after all. let's head
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back. and i'm sorry i snapped at you. but for the love of mogel, sarah,
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you've really got to get OUT more and away from all of the pomp and
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circumstance that you've become accustomed to."
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"yeah, you tell me that all the time. oh well, i guess this little
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spelunk bit wasn't so bad after all. i'm sorry i've made this such a
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difficult thing for you to enjoy."
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"oh, that's not the case at all. don't think of it that way. i'm
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really glad you came. now let's get headed back."
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he kissed her on the cheek and even in the dim light eminating from
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their heavy-duty flashlights by their knees he could see her face turn a
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rosier hue. he hated ER and he disliked most of her friends. but he loved
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her.
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she really didn't like the whole cave thing that much. but that was
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okay, really. she spent the day with him. that's all that really mattered.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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* (c) HoE publications. HoE #124 -- written by murmur -- 6/11/97 *
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