Team efforts and seed ideas

After the first two braves shimmied through Chalk Cave’s teensy rock mouth opening, we sent in three more pairs of well-equipped students each succeeding hour. I had mixed feelings about bringing communications into the cavern, as caves are well known for being hallowed sanctuaries from the powerful bombardment of our communication spectrum. However, since our tech students had invented this novel antenna, which they had spiked into the soil above Chalk Cave’s elongated passageways, this would be a good means for us to test and fine-tune their new underground radio transmission system.

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Meanwhile, Amy and I climbed back up the ridge and over the dually van to discuss what to do about its flat tire. I was hesitant to hoist it up on a jack, since it was bulging with the extra weight of heavy silver; when Amy observed that since it was only one of four rear tires, we could still operate the pantechnicon by shredding the rest of the ruined tire clean off. Seeing no better tool than the spear point, which first caused the flat, we used it to slice the remaining rubber remnants away. Next, I shot a Polaroid of the spear points’ black mirror face, and posted it to my adventurous Max Rudolph facebook page. Then we used the same weapon to burrow a hole in the hard earth to return the artifact where it belonged; hopefully burying it deep enough so nobody else would experience a flat tire there for another five hundred years.

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The afternoon was turning late, when we received communication that the first group had discovered the Salinger & mysterious map parchments Lana and I had hid in the lava tube last year - and they would soon be returning with it. They also reported that the strange luminous humming was continuous throughout the cave depths and they couldn’t pinpoint the exact source from where it stemmed. As Amy and I waited along with the remaining schoolchildren, we studied the vast landing where our community’s wise elders had rallied together as a cohesive team and slated the new airport to be. Here we marveled over some of its pros and cons. Then we popped the question to the children, what they thought if we were to work out a unique deal with the authorities, whereby our class could have a supporting role with the new airport. “What do you mean, like a de-icing / car wash for airplanes or something? – quizzed one of the kids.

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What the children didn’t know was, since last year after coming into possession of the enlightening maps that our crew was about to extract from the cave, I had worked out a legal claim over the forty untaken acres. Standing under the ancient wooden arch gave a better perspective, as from the light there; we could see that the lava terrain of our new land clearly held a darker color then the surrounding sun-parched earth did. I remembered hearing that during the Borah earthquake of ‘83 that there were some heavy rumblings in the Picabo Desert and wondered if the earth here at the time had expanded unnoticed with a small lava flow, thus giving birth to this uncharted land. Later on, an INL seismologist confirmed this to be true and right now beautiful Amy’s star struck eyes practically popped out when I formerly announced that this land ripe for claiming next to the new airport would soon be ours and the silver safely tucked away would fund whatever positive foundation we wanted to construct upon it…

About the author:

Twice when Jim Banholzer has taken Polaroid’s of indigenous artifacts, unusually colored swirls, not noticed before, have inexplicably appeared in the background. He lives in an old dynamite shack, where he feels fairly safe from the over bombardment of outer communication influences. Not turning the TV on much, except for baseball or the Discovery Channel, helps this mood. At this stage in his life, he feels like his man-cave is a good energy spot, somewhat conducive to productive writing.