A friend's story

When I was a junior in High School a group of us went to Peppersauce Caves. They were little known then. They were less travelled then.

There was another guy and four girls. We brought kite string, flashlights, food and water. As we approached the caves we saw two pot bellied, bearded, scruffy fellows in overalls. We nodded and mumbled and went into the cave. A little was in we tied off the kite string and proceeded with our spelunking.

After 45 minutes or so a weird thing happened. I noticed our line was moving. I said it out loud and everybody froze. The flashlight focused on the line, verifying it was true. It was. The other guy said, "Give me the knife," and the girls screamed. "Let's head back."

I led the way, the guy with the knife behind me and then the girls. Shouldn't the guy with the knife be out front? What am I a pin cushion? But that is the way it was.

As we came out of a narrow passage into a small cavern, by chance I cast my light around and one of those Backwoods Appalachian look-alikes was just sitting there, staring at us.

"Were you pulling on our string?"
"Yup."
"Why?"
"There's too much kite string in here."
"Oh. Well we were just leaving." We picked up our string as we went.

I remember fewer times when I've ever been so scared.