Andy somehow managed to talk his dad into allowing him to skip school on Wednesday. Tuesday had been a hot day in early October and the cooler at school wasn't working properly. The handyman who fixed things for the school said that he wouldn't have a new pump for the cooler until Thursday. Andy told his father about how hot and miserable it had been in class on Tuesday and his father agreed that skipping one day of school wouldn't be that terrible of a thing to do, as long as it didn't become a habit. Having achieved his first goal of getting his father's permission to skip school, Andy asked his dad for a second favor. "Can you give me and Jeff a ride out to Soda Springs?"
His dad smiled at the idea of playing hookie and spending the day swimming at the springs, and then said, "Yeah, as long as you're taking the day off, you might as well have some fun." Since Soda Springs was very remote and a two mile walk from the closest road, Andy's dad didn't figure there was much chance of any school officials finding out what the two boys were up to.
So, Jeff, who had no problem at all talking his mom into allowing him to take a day off from school, spent the night at Andy's house so that they could catch a ride with Andy's father early Wednesday morning. Andy's father worked at a mine about ten miles out of town and the trail to Soda Springs met the road at a point about six miles from the mine. The truck that Andy's father drove was built in the mid-1940's and although it was a two-wheel drive truck, it had large tires and a powerful engine. The truck was only twelve years old, but it looked much older due to all the rough useage that Andy's father put it through. The boys sat on the bench seat in the cab next to Andy's father. He told them to met him at the road right when the sun went behind the mountains when he pulled over to let them out. Then he added, "Don't let the hermit getcha!"
"Very funny," said Andy.
"What's that about the hermit?" asked Jeff just after Andy's dad pulled away from the side of the road.
"Oh, it's some old stupid story about some guy who lives near the springs," said Andy.
"What does he do?" asked Jeff as they slowly took a few steps away from the road.
"Nothing, he just supposedly lives near the springs, but I doubt it's true," said Andy.
"That's it? He just lives by the springs?" asked Jeff thinking that this wasn't much of a story.
"Oh, yeah, I left out the part about how he kills people and eats them when he runs out of rabbits and small birds to eat," said Andy throwing his BB gun over his shoulder.
"That's stupid!" said Jeff thinking that Andy was just adding elaborations to the story to make it sound more scarey than it really was.
"It's just some dumb story, so who cares?" said Andy showing slight annoyance at Jeff's interest in the story.
The boys took off down the trail. Each carried a BB gun and Jeff took the first turn carrying the canvas knapsack. Andy wore just overalls, a hat, socks, and shoes. Jeff had on a pair of shorts, shoes and socks, and an unbuttoned shirt. It was unbuttoned because all the buttons had fallen off. Jeff didn't try to get his mom to fix the shirt since he liked it without the buttons. Both boys wore floppy, broad-rimmed fishing hats to keep the sun off their heads. The trail was rocky and not very steep at first, but about a quarter of a mile from the road it started climbing a hill.
Andy took the first shot with his BB gun. He shot at a rusty old can that was about twenty feet from the trail. Later the boys stopped when they found an unbroken bottle. They set it up on a rock and shot at it from a distance of about thirty feet. At that distance the BB's just bounced off the glass and so after a few dozen shots, they moved in closer so they could break the bottle. Both boys were good shots and they seldom missed their target.
It took the boys over an hour to walk the two miles to Soda Springs. They were in no hurry since they had the entire day to play in the water, catch frogs, and explore around the canyon. Soda Springs was actually a series of springs spread out in a canyon. The first and last springs were about three-quarters of a mile apart with several other springs and interconnecting streams between them. Most of the canyon was overgrown with willows and reeds, but there were trails weaving through the growth and several good swimming areas which were free of vegetation. At the first spring there were a couple of fruit trees, some berry plants, and some grape vines that some old miner had planted several decades earlier.
The springs were quite an anomaly for two reasons. First, they were entirely surrounded by miles and miles of arid desert. There were stories of early explorers in the area actually dying within a mile or two of the springs. There was no indication of the existence of the springs until one got to the edge of the canyon which contained them and actually looked down on the trees, shrubs, and reeds sustained by the water from the springs. The water from the springs never made it more than one hundred hards from the lowest of the springs. The second thing that made Soda Springs unique, and the reason they were called Soda Springs, was the way little bubbles came up from the sand in the pools around the springs. There were over two dozen active spots where bubbles perculated up and popped on the surface of the water.
Andy and Jeff decided to make a little bridge across a narrow stream which flowed between a couple of pools when they first got to the springs. They just piled rocks in the water until they had created a little dam structure. There was enough space between the rocks to allow the water to pass through, but they made it wide enough that they could walk across it without getting their feet wet. The stream was only about five feet wide at this location and so they could have just as easily jumped across the stream, but the bridge building project appealed to them nonetheless.
"Whatcha wanta do now?" asked Jeff after they had finished building the bridge.
"I'm hot, let's go swimming," said Andy. Although it was only nine thirty in the morning, it was already over eighty-five degrees. It was going to be a very hot day, especially for October.
"Yeah, me too," said Jeff, who also felt hot after all the work involved in building the bridge.
There was a sudden sound in the reeds and both boys quickly turned their heads in the direction of the sound.
"What was that?" asked Jeff.
"The hermit," said Andy with a smile.
"No, I'm serious. What do you think it was?" asked Jeff.
"Probably just a rabbit or a rat or some other wild animal like that," said Andy pulling off a shoe.
The boys threw off their clothes and swam in their boxers. There was no one else around and it was extremely unlikely that they would see another person at the springs on any given day and so the chances of someone showing up and seeing them in their boxers was almost zero.
"Let's see who can find the biggest frog!" said Andy as he stepped into the water.
"We always do that. Let's see who can hold their breath under the water the longest," said Jeff, leaning down to put his hands into the water.
"We always do that too!" said Andy.
"Well, think of a good contest or something," said Jeff.
"How about rafts, let's see if we can make a really nifty raft," suggested Andy.
So, the boys gathered twigs, grass, pieces of aquatic plants, and anything else in or around the water that they thought they could fashion into a raft.
"It should be strong enough to carry a small rock," said Jeff after they'd gathered a few items.
"Okay, pick out a rock," said Andy.
The boys deposited their building materials on their newly built bridge. They positioned themselves on opposite sides of the bridge and worked while either standing or sitting in the water. After about an hour and many poor raft designs, they finally had a raft which actually worked. They stuck a rock about the size of a chicken's egg in the raft and floated it in the water. They pushed it around and manuevered it in various ways until they got tired of playing with the raft, at which point they went on shore and got their BB guns and shot at the raft until it fell apart and the rock sank.
The boys sat in the sand to dry off after this.
"People say that your dad has the hots for my mom," said Jeff.
"I doubt it," said Andy.
Andy's mother had died several years ago. Jeff's father had run off and left Jeff's mother before Jeff had even been born. Andy lived alone with his father and Jeff lived alone with his mother. In a small town where most of the adults were married, it seemed only natural to many people that Andy's father should marry Jeff's mother. Afterall, they both had eleven-year-old boys and they both happened to be thirty-seven years of age.
"It would be neat if they got married," said Jeff.
"Yeah, but I don't think my dad likes your mom," said Andy.
"I know my mom would marry your dad if he asked," said Jeff.
"But I don't think my dad's going to ask," said Andy.
"Why not?" asked Jeff.
"I don't think he likes her," said Andy.
"Why not?" asked Jeff.
Actually Andy and his father had talked about Jeff's mother before. Andy's dad made it very clear to Andy that he had no interest in Jeff's mother. Andy's father even listed a whole bunch of reasons why he found Jeff's mother unattractive. Andy couldn't think of a diplomatic way of explaining this to Jeff and so he changed the subject.
"I think we should explore around the canyon," said Andy. Although it was hot, Andy thought an hour or so of exploring would be fun since they could just come back when they were hot and tired from exploring and swim some more.
"Where do you want to go?" asked Jeff realizing that Andy had just dodged his last question.
"I don't know," said Andy as he started pulling on his overalls.
"How about we walk up the canyon and look around," said Jeff, standing up and grabbing his shirt and shaking the sand off it.
So the boys got dressed and then walked up the canyon. They took their BB guns with them, but they left the knapsack behind. They worked their way along a narrow trail which wound through the willows and over rocks and through thickets of reeds. They had to duck under low branches and push reeds out of the way, but the trail was easy to follow. After about five hundred yards, Jeff pointed up a side canyon and said, "Let's go up there."
Andy inspected the canyon and said, "Yeah, there might be something to look at up there."
So, the boys jumped over the stream, climbed some rocks, and made their way through a few willow branches. They were soon out of the heavily vegetated main canyon and into the relatively barren side canyon. After they had walked about two hundred yards they came to a big pile of rocks. There were lots of overhangs and cavities between the boulders. They climbed around through the rocks and eventually climbed through the pile to the top of all the boulders. Sitting on top of all the rocks, Andy looked up the side canyon they were in and saw something that looked like a small tailings pile. "What's that?" he asked as he pointed at what appeared to be a small mound of mine debri stacked up next to the wall of the side canyon.
"Let's go see," said Jeff and the boys got up and walked another seventy yards to the pile. When they were about fifteen yards from the pile they could see that there was, indeed, a small mine tunnel going into the side of the side canyon right above the tailings pile. The boys inspected the entrance to the tunnel and then walked about twenty feet into the tunnel and paused to wait for their eyes to adjust to the dim light in the tunnel. The air temperature in the mine was considerably lower than outside the mine. Andy had some matches, but he only wanted to use them if they found something interesting. The boys had to lean over slightly since the top of the tunnel was only about four and a half feet above the tunnel floor.
"I hope there ain't any bats," said Jeff.
"Who cares about a few bats?" asked Andy.
"You do. I've seen you jump like you were scared," said Jeff.
"I was surprised and that's not the same thing as being scared. You're the one who's scared," said Andy.
They worked their way another ten feet deeper into the mine and noticed that the tunnel widened on both sides. Another fifteen feet and they realized that they had reached the end of the mine and that they were in the middle of a small room that was about fifteen feet wide. The boys strained their eyes to see what was in the room. They found an old pick and an old shovel near the middle of the room and a couple of pots and pans too. There was also plenty of evidence that rodents inhabited the tunnel.
"Hey, Andy, there's something over here," said Jeff pointing to a dark corner of the room.
Andy and Jeff cautiously approached the corner and Andy got out his matches and lit one.
"Oh my gosh!" said Jeff and Andy at almost the same time. They saw a human skeleton lying, partially propped up against a tunnel wall. Andy went through six matches as they inspected the remains. There was a belt buckle lying next to the remnants of a book and there was an old pencil and a knife to one side of the skeleton.
"I wonder if this is the hermit," said Andy.
"I bet it is. How long do you think he's been dead?" asked Jeff.
"Long enough for all his clothes to rot away," said Andy.
"What do you think he was reading?" asked Jeff.
Andy lit another match and held it close to the remnants of the book. The cover was badly tattered and there were no pages left at all. Lighting another match, he tried to make out a title on the rib of the book, but neither boy could see any letters at all.
"Maybe he wasn't reading," said Andy.
"Then what was he doing. It's a book!" said Jeff suggesting that the only thing that a person could do with a book was to read it.
"Maybe he was writing," said Andy as he motioned towards the pencil.
"You mean like a journal," said Jeff.
"Or a diary," said Andy.
"I wonder what he was writing about," said Jeff.
"Who knows? The paper's all rotted away," said Andy.
"Do you think he was the hermit?" asked Jeff who was entertaining the notion that maybe the skeleton was the remains of a famous writer.
"Probably," said Andy.
"Then why was he writing?" asked Jeff.
"Lots of people write just to get their thoughts down on paper," said Andy.
"Why?" asked Jeff.
"Why not?" asked Andy.
The boys poked around the room until Andy ran out of matches. They found badly decayed burlap sacks, some empty boxes, a pile of ore, what was left of a couple pairs of shoes, and various odds and ends strewn around the room. There was also plenty of evidence of rodent activity.
When the boys reemerged from the tunnel, they discussed what they should do about the skeleton.
"We could bury it," said Jeff picturing a little funeral scene in his mine.
"Or maybe we should tell the sheriff," said Andy.
"We could just keep it a secret," said Jeff.
"Yeah. He's been lying there for a long time and I don't think he needs to be disturbed," said Andy.
"But what if he has relatives?" asked Jeff.
"I don't think he has any relatives. He lived alone and so he should probably rest alone," said Andy.
"What if someone else finds him?" asked Jeff.
"Hmmm." Andy thought for a moment and then he said, "I doubt anyone's going to find him way up here, but you never know."
"Maybe we should go back in and bury the bones," suggested Jeff.
"That's probably a good idea," agreed Andy.
"But you've got to promise to tell no one else about it," said Jeff.
"Alright," said Andy.
The boys went back into the tunnel. They used the fragile pick and the partially rotted shovel to dig a shallow grave in the middle of the room at the end of the tunnel. Although they couldn't see very well, they remembered enough about where things were and were able to grope around to find what they were looking for. The boys moved the bones of the hermit into grave and placed his pencil and his diary in there with him. They were careful to get every single bone of the hermit's skeleton into the grave before they covered it up. With the hermit buried they retraced their route back to the first spring where they had left the knapsack.
"I'm glad we left him in his mine," said Andy eating a snack from the knapsack.
"Yeah, it was only the right thing to do," agreed Jeff also sharing a little something to eat.
After their snack, the boys jumped in the pool by the first spring. The cool water felt good in the afternoon heat. Also it felt good to clean off all the dust and dirt that had accumulated on them while digging the grave for the hermit. The boys swam some more and hunted for some frogs until late afternoon. Then they walked back down to the road and waited for Andy's father. While they were waiting they decided to have some fun with Andy's father on the way back to town.
"We saw the hermit," said Andy as he stepped into the cab of the truck.
"Oh yeah? Did you see him up close or far away?" asked Andy's father.
"Up close," said Jeff.
"What did he look like?" asked Andy's father.
"He was real skinny," said Andy.
"Even skinnier than you guys?" asked Andy's father poking Andy in the ribs.
"Yeah, he was definitely skinnier than us," said Jeff.
"If he were any skinnier than you guys then he'd be all skin and bones," said Andy's father.
"That's about half right," said Andy smiling at Jeff.
"So what was he up to?" asked Andy's father playing along with the goofy boys who he was sure were just pulling his leg.
"He was working on a book," said Andy.
"Yeah, he was writing a book," said Jeff.