as he begged forgiveness for straying so far from grace. Pushing himself up, wheezing for air, his eyes flew open wide when lightning flashed, exposing a small cave. Then a huge burst of water came pouring off the cliff and he scrambled quickly towards the opening.

The mouth of the cave was a jagged oval shape and just big enough for him to squeeze through. He tried to stare through the pitch black darkness into the cave when a bright flash of lightening exposed the large figure of a man, standing no more than ten feet away.

It startled him and with every lightening flash, he looked him over. The man was primitive looking, middle-aged, average height, bony with long, matted hair and bushy eyebrows, wearing filthy ragged clothes.

At that point, Dave knew that if he left the cave, he would surely be swept down the mountain, but trapped in a cave with a wild man seemed even worse.

However, with every flash of lightening, he could see that the man was equally apprehensive of him. Heart pounding from the shock, Dave swallowed hard and asked, "Who are you?"

The man took a step back as if getting ready run deeper into the cave and Dave shouted, "Wait! I'm not going to hurt you."

The man paused, and his voice trembled nervously when he said, "Paul."

Stepping forward, Dave was about to extend his hand when the man shouted, "No!" and backed away.

He stopped, and as lightning flashed across the man's frightened expression Dave said, "It's okay, Buddy. I'm Dave. I was camping when the storm forced me into this cave. I mean you no harm."

They stared at each other for several minutes as the storm seemed to be letting up, but the flooding waters still rushed down the side of the mountain. Dave leaned against the cave wall and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Paul stared silently at him for the longest time. Dave was about to ask again when he said, "Me house."

At first Dave thought he was a foreigner speaking broken English. "How long have you lived here?"

There was no response.

"Is anyone here with you?"

"... No."

"How did you get here?"

No response.

"Don't you have friends- family?"

The question was again followed by silence as soft lightning flashed intermittently into the cave. After another long pause he said, "Long time, see Mama- Daddy."

"What happened to them?"

No response.

"Have you lived here alone for very long?"

"... Kid."

"Kid? What do you . . . you mean . . . surely you're not saying you've lived here all your life!"

Paul stared blankly then gave a slow nod.

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Travel experiences: Hiking adventures?
We want to hear your view. Write now!