M. Banner - Desolation

“Sally, Darla, Steve, your IT skills will come in handy as I know we will need help with all the computers. Bill, we will need the skills you have developed in your business over the years. Lisa, someone who is as organized as you, and your years of being on management teams for companies, will be put to good use. Miguel and Maria, and of course your daughter, and everyone else here, there is a place for you, if you would like.”

They all struggled with this because they suspected not everyone would go and that meant they would not all be together.

“Darla, I think it’s time that I show you what we’ve been working on all these days and evenings. Come on,” Steve said to everyone. “You can all come, because this will affect your decision.” He led Darla by the hand and walked the group out the back and to the canyon.

“Wow, Herb, this place is amazing,” said Lisa, holding her husband’s hand and looking up at the ridge.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Herb chortled.

They were quiet, except for their collective “oohs” and “ahhs,” until they reached the mouth of the cave and stopped as Herb played tour guide. “The best I can figure, this cave was naturally created, but then made much better by an Indian tribe a thousand or so years ago. It actually connects to caves below ground that go for hundreds of miles, maybe even as far as Carlsbad Caverns.”

He ushered them through the cave opening. It was a dark tunnel that appeared to be lit from the other side. When they emerged on the other side, they were in a giant, cigar-shaped, atrium-like area, surrounded by natural red cliff walls, with a walkway spiraling up around the outside all the way to the top, maybe one hundred feet above.

“God made the structure, but the Indians carved this amazing corkscrew walkway up and around the whole place. They also carved each of these individual caves out, amazingly with hand tools. It must have taken years to complete. Each one of these holes,” he said as he led them up the walkway and past the first hole, directing their attention to it, “is a carved-out two-room structure. It’s not big by our Before Event standards, but more than comfy for two people.”

Herb stopped in front of the second of the cave holes. “I figured if the sun continues to be as strong as it is, we can’t stay in our normal houses outside. It will be just too strong. So, I thought it best to start the process of moving into the caves.” He nodded to Steve, who picked up where he left off.

“So, what we have been working on, Darla”—Steve stepped in front of the opening and held out his hand for her—“is our home.”

She grabbed his hand, curious and excited, and followed him through the opening, recently enlarged to accommodate their taller, more modern frames. The room opened up to be about ten feet high and equally wide. Darla was mesmerized, taking it all in. This was a living and dining area, with a couch, two chairs, and a table. In a carved niche rested a photograph they had taken of themselves at the lake when they first met, or rather met again—Steve must have been carrying it with him the whole time. It was in a wood frame that looked hand-made with care.

“Oh my God, I love this. Did you carve the frame?” She asked holding it up to him, and then handing it to Bill and Lisa, who had joined them.

Steve just shrugged his shoulders and grinned, overjoyed at her reaction.

She clapped in delight as she turned and led them into the next passageway, where a plastic privacy curtain blocked entry. She pushed it aside and then stepped into their bedroom. Natural light came through a window carved out of the stone, evidently from the other end of the cliffs. The room held a small bed, perfect for the two of them, and on the other side was a baby crib, made of hand-carved tree branches, with a swaddling blanket folded neatly inside.

Steve stepped in just as she looked back, her face a picture of peaceful happiness. “Do you know how much I love you?” She hugged him. “You’ve made me so happy.”

“All right, let your father and mother see their baby girl’s love nest—”

“Dad,” Darla admonished him with a short punch to the chest.

“This is a fine place to raise a son.” Lisa smiled at her daughter and new son-in-law.

“So, Darla told you?” Steve asked.

“No, a woman just knows,” Lisa answered. “You did a fine job, Son. Hope you don’t mind?”

“No… ah, Mom, I don’t mind,” Steve responded, his voice quaking a bit.

“Come on, out,” Herb called from the walkway, barely audible with all the rock separating them. “Let me show you where we get our water.”

By the time they got back to the walkway, Herb was already walking down the way they had come. Darla and Steve followed from the back, their arms wrapped around each other’s backs, Darla’s belly leading the way.

Herb turned into another tunnel entrance at the ground level, near where they had come in, and disappeared. They all tentatively followed him into the darkness. Their eyes attempted to adjust to the only light they came upon, a single torch on a wall. Herb grabbed another, touched it to the lit one, and handed it to Bill and Lisa. This was repeated until seven lit torches cut through the darkness. Torches held aloft, Herb led them through a winding series of tunnels, each going down at a fairly steep angle.

Only a few steps into the first descent it became cooler, and the air was heavy with moisture. Several of them wrapped their free arms around their chests to stay warm. When they reached what looked like the end of this passageway, they could see a small entrance to another dark void. Herb placed his torch in the wall, in an obvious bracket. Sally watched her brother-in-law place his in another bracket on the wall and she placed hers into yet another. The others followed suit. When each bracket held a torch, the room was quite well lit. In the middle of the floor was a wooden pulley with a hand crank and rope rolled up around a two-foot spool. At the end of the rope was a bucket resting on its side, beside what looked like a round wooden door in the floor. In the distance was the muffled roar of running water.

“This is where our water comes from.” Herb lifted the wooden door and the sound cascaded out and around the room. It filled their senses with the aroma of a mountain spring. Herb had to shout now, competing with the water’s booming voice. “This was also here long before I bought the place. The crank and bucket are probably a hundred years old, although I’ve added some new parts. But the hole above the water you hear has been here for at least a thousand years, probably a lot more. This aquifer runs this loud year round.”

Max wondered how many years their water would last before it dried up, unless of course Cicada found an answer. He kept this thought to himself. “How deep are we, would you guess?”

“I’m guessing about one hundred fifty feet. The stream is another twenty feet down.”

They continued on their tour marveling at what had been built so long ago, yet remained so functional today. Their show-and-tell also provided a perfect detour—it would be one of many—from the decision each of them faced, but none wanted to make.

Days turned to weeks and then a little over a month, when all decided to wait for the new births before rendering their final decisions. Max decided not to press, figuring they’d waited this long to get here, a little longer wouldn’t hurt anyone. Darla and Olivia had their babies within two days of each other. Darla, as expected, “popped” first, and two nights later Olivia had her baby girl, albeit prematurely. Both babies were healthy and so were their mothers. It was a joyous time for everyone, to see new life in a land that for the past year had only shown them death.