We had lunch with the Williams family since they would be coming with us into the caves. I figured this would be a good time to know a little more about them. The dad’s name is William Williams, as was his dad and grandfather, so he kept the tradition and named his son William too, but they call him Billy and he is 10 years old. Their daughter’s name is Candace, but they call her Candy. She’s 12, and a nice well behaved girl. Billy on the other hand is, well, overly energetic. He has promised to be extra good, but I’m not sure what that means because from what we have seen, oh my! William is a carpenter and they live in Wisconsin, USA. His wife, Vera, is a teacher.

They have taken 6 months off work to do some traveling. William asked us if we would mind taking the kids through the caves, Vera just couldn’t do it and he didn’t want to leave her alone. We accepted the challenge, I mean, we said sure, not a problem. At least I hope there’s no problems. We were given a map of the caves and hard hats to wear, sometimes rocks have fallen, though no one has ever been hit. I had little helmets for the cats and I put on their backpacks. I took my backpack along too. We went to the small cave first, but the sign at the entrance said “Big Cave Entrance”. Maybe someone changed the signs as a joke?

Just before going inside I saw a flash of light on a hill next to us. Hmm, someone is watching us, that flash was the sun hitting the person’s binoculars. The cats were first, then me, then the kids with Lena at the back to keep an eye on them. The entrance was quite narrow, I had to take my backpack off after a bit. “This entrance is getting more narrow all the time,” said Lena, “it’s supposed to get wider.” I shone my flashlight further ahead. “It’s gets wider up ahead,” I told her. “Hey, maybe there’s a bunch of ghosts living in here!”, yelled Billy.

Muffin turned around and started heading back. “Muffin, where are you going?”, I asked. Meow,meow.= Going back to hotel, not want to meet bunch of ghosts. Bye,bye. “Muffin, come back here,” I said, “there are no ghosts, remember?” Meow.=Come back Muffin, I here to protect you. She comes back and walks beside Mr. Cat. “Do you really talk to the cats, and they understand you?”, asked Candy. “Yes,” said Lena, “they have a special way to talk with us so we can understand each other.” “Cool”, said both kids at the same time.

It did open up finally into a large room and the rock walls were definitely beautifully colored. The kids were truly excited by this. There was supposed to be another passage to an even larger room but we couldn’t find it. Guess this is the small cave. On to the next one which wasn’t much farther along on the trail. The entrance was a bit wider and shorter leading into another room, but the colors were not as nice here so we followed the next passage into a very large room with amazing colored rock walls. Billy found a hole in the wall and was about to put his hand in, but I stopped him. “Never put your hand in like that without checking the hole first,” I said and I pointed my flashlight in. “Nothing in there,” he said, rather disappointed.

Back out we went, but suddenly Billy yelled, “my knife!” and he went racing back inside. I ran after him, Candy stopped and waited, the cats stayed with her but Lena was already outside. Billy found his knife and we started back when suddenly we heard Candy scream. I ran out dragging Billy, but, too late. Lena lay on the ground. A rock had fallen down the side of the hill and hit her. I picked her up and looked at the next hill. It seems our ‘friend’ is gone now. But I have a feeling we are still being watched. Then a voice from inside the cave, “Leave the island now PI, you are not wanted here!” How could it come from inside? I carried Lena back to the hotel. “How big was the rock?”, asked Jimmy. “Not too big,” I said. How did he know? Perhaps a guess because we were in the cave? I took Lena to our room and laid her on the bed. The kids parents were nowhere around. Something strange is happening…

To Be Continued.

Pictures of Mr. Cat are supplied by his human, Nina.

Previous chapters of this story, and other stories, can be found on my home page under, “The Investigators, Inc.” and “20/20 Investigations, Inc.”

©2021 Steve McLeod.