Precious Gems

2

"Let's just both go our own way in the cave, that way we can cover more territory in a shorter amount of time. We can meet back at base camp by 5pm.  That should be enough time for me to set up the camp tents and test lab while you cook and head down there to the stream for our water."  Jay waved down the steep hill.  The stream is about 200 yards away.

Jay might be pretty to look at, but the instant his mouth opens... ugh!  I placed my hands on my hips, "Chauvinistic much?"

"Nope.  Unless you want to chance food poisoning.  Then we can trade roles."

I shudder at the thought.  "Sounds like I'll be doing the cooking."

"Great."  He smiled a cocksure smile.  "Now, I like to watch my fat and sugar intake.  I can't have this marvelous physique going to shit just because I'm traveling."  Jay waved his hand over hip washboard abs that were poking out through his grey almost second skin shirt.  "So, if you can keep to cooking without additional sauces, that would be great."

I bit my lower lip to hold in my retort and nodded.  Taking in a deep cleansing breath, "Do you want right or left?"  I pointed at the fork just inside the cave entrance.

"I'll take right."  He quickly stated and moved forward without a backwards glance in my direction.

I giggled under my breath, speaking quietly to myself in amusement, "I guess someone can't go left.  I'll have to remember to stay on his left."  I remember from watching reruns of Seinfeld on Netflix that many men have a hard time initiating anything sexual if the recipient is on the wrong side.  I giggled again, humoring myself.

I climbed over large boulders, and ducked under stalactites before entering the first 'room' in the cave.  I wonder how many 'rooms' this cave system has in all?  I better get to work.

I opened up my messenger bag and pulled out a small pick and hammer so I can chisel out some test samples of different soils and rocks.  If I'm lucky, I'll even find some geodes.  They form by the filling of vesicles (gas bubbles) in volcanic to sub-volcanic rocks by minerals deposited from hydrothermal fluids.  And if our chemists are correct, those crystals hold the key to the super fuel we are trying to develop.  Finding the right chemical makeup of crystals could solidify my career and future fortune. 

I adjusted my headlamp to a brighter beam of concentrated light so I can do my part to leave no trace.  I love this world we live in and feel every living and nonliving thing has a purpose in the circle of life.  To some, dirt and rocks as non essential to our circle of life.  But I feel differently.  Imagine if everyone of the 5 million visitors of the Grand Canyon each year all took home a rock as a souvenir.  It would be picked barren in no time.  I feel my destiny in life is to be a steward over this Earth.  And to preserve it most precious gems and natural treasures.

"SANG!"  Jay's voice echoed through the cavern.  "SANG!"

I rolled my eyes and called out, "Coming."

"It's about time!  God damn woman!  Get your head out of the fûcking clouds!  We have work to do before we lose the sunlight."  He gestured toward the quickly descending sun on the horizon.

My mouth opened in shock.  I took a hasty glance at my watch.  6:35pm!  How did I get so caught up in my work that I lost all sense of time?  I purposefully collected our two collapsible buckets and some climbing rope then dashed down the hill.  My feet slipped a few times on the moist grass.  Each time, I slid on the grass on my butt like a little kids slide at the park.  Never more than ten feet.  But the grass stains on my derrière will be impossible to hide my clumsiness.

Once I reached the stream, I popped the buckets open, tied each one to my rope, then dropped them into the water.  After they filled up, I braced the rope across the back of my shoulders to displace the weight and began my treacherous climb back uphill.  Two football fields in length may not be much, but ten steps uphill followed by one to two feet slipping back down the slope made my adrenaline course brought my veins like a NASCAR driver on their last ten laps of a neck and neck race.