Dell's Journey

Chapter 30: The Room Is Quite Vast

 The bread and cheeses were wrapped up again in rustic

looking brown paper, and fresh candles were put inside the

lanterns. Some gulps of water were taken. The packs were

shouldered and both fellows picked up a light and held it

aloft. They glanced at each other, shrugged, and moved off

in opposite directions.

"Just shout out if you find something," said Dell.

"Yep."

As has been stressed, each lantern's range of light

was only about a dozen feet. The best thing to do, as Dell

saw it, was to creep along at a cautious pace. After a few

minutes of this activity, the immensity of the room they

had entered began to dawn on him, along with other

thoughts. Like how much space there was to hide vermin

beneath the stones –ones with gnawing little teeth or

vicious pincers. He took a deep and silent breath. At

least the pulse of the hot flame inside panes of glass and

metal was a small comfort.

Dell remembered the Monster and turned around to

glance at his progress. He gasped to see Monster's lantern

now only a tiny spark of yellow and red. And there was

only the minuscule orb of firelight, showing up the

silhouette of Monster's craning arm (now just a hair's

breadth) and the slow shuffle of his feet.

It was quiet. Except for the crunch of his feet

against the dusty earth and the ruffling noise of his pack

as it stretched its leather straps, the only other sound

was the steady drip of water collecting slowly at a gutter

like formation which appeared to run the whole perimeter of

the room. The feeling it created was one of a lush jungle

or balmy greenhouse full of condensation and steamy vapors.

And it was warm. Dell was surprisingly comfortable, as

though the climate was carefully monitored and adjusted by

some great thermostat. The place was so unexpectedly cozy

as to create a sense of intrusion on Dell's part.

He moved on. It had been twenty minutes or so since

he and Monster split up. Now as he watched, the other

light began to grow steadily larger. In a little while

Monster had returned with a strange look on his face.

"Well, what did you see? Anything?" questioned Dell.

"Not much," answered the Monster, breathing hard from

his exertion, "except this."

He stretched out his hand toward Dell, who moved his

lantern closer as Monster's closed fist opened. His eyes

widened in disbelief. In Monster's leathery grasp was an

array of delicate flowers, freshly picked and colored in

pink and yellow and bright orange.

"That's weird," said Dell, a little stupidly.

"Yes. That's what I thought."

"There's no sun down here," stated Dell.

"True."

"Flowers, well, plants of any kind need sunlight to

grow, to complete the process of photosynthesis," explained

Dell, successfully scoring three obvious points in a row.

"Right."

"So..."

"I don't know. There they were, up at the very top

and growing downward, like sleeping bats. I picked them

from what looked like a whole field of them, or rather,

more like a garden."

Dell laughed nervously.

"I don't know about this, Monster. This is pretty

weird. I mean, why are there flowers defying the laws of

nature here in a giant cave, thousands of feet in the

earth?"

Monster only stared blankly at him in return.