Ready, Set, Go-T!

Mom and Dad just shook their heads, and little twin brothers Canyon and Cactus snickered at her when she said she ran into magnificently beautiful crystals in a monstrously dark cave over yonder, feeling what she said was danger threatening her family and her. She shivered as she explained it, saying they better leave before they’re too late. Dad waved all superstitious stuff—as he called it—away, while Mom just said, “You’re overthinking it, honey. We’re living in a peaceful environment, not a dangerous one!”           

Cave Girl had escaped to her favorite spot—right outside a drippy, moist cave somewhere underneath everything going on up on top of the main cliff. She was cross-legged, staring at her dirty toes, tan shoulders sagging.                    

Go-T, her best friend, galloped towards her. He cocked his head.  

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She gave him an annoyed sideways look. But he bleated for her to cheer up. And continued.

“What comes down always must go up!”

“My family doesn’t believe me.” She recounted their reactions after telling them she ventured into a crystal cave. “But they need to—another sort of doom is rising against us right now! Besides, they’re my family. I need to save them.”

Go-T nudged her with his hard horns. “Come on, Cave. You got to accept that not everyone is going to believe you." He hopped in front of Cave Girl and leaned forward, looking her right in her eyes.

When this encouragement didn’t pay off, Go-T scrunched his face in annoyance. “Why such a long face? You always get this way when someone disagrees with you!”

She played with her toes. “What do you do?”

“You know! I think of what I can do to prove myself.” As he started a story about going to bullying lengths to get Canyon’s wooly sock out of another goat’s mouth, Cave Girl laughed.

“You should be a ram—not a goat!”  

He stopped mid-sentence, insulted. “Why?”

“Because you would usually ramble about such things. Get it?” She rolled over, kicking her feet as peals of laughter came from her mouth. Go-T just watched, eyes half-closed until Cave Girl stood up and walked into the cave.

“So, what’s new in here? Got any shiny or sparkly necklaces?” He trotted over to a huge rock opposite her bed and butted his head. “Maybe you can paint me some vibrant rocks and string them through to give me a nice one—once I break this huge thing into pieces!”

Cave Girl turned around, telling him he wasn’t going to succeed, no matter how hard he hit it. “Besides, you’re not a ram. Especially a battering ram! What do you need a necklace for?”

Go-T shook his head—either from a splitting headache or Cave Girl’s sarcasm—and saw her collapse onto the bearskin comforter. He joined, laying down. While he bleated that they should go on an adventure and bring back the best necklace ever, Cave Girl stretched, thinking.  

“You think I should actually prove myself this time?”

“How many times have you tried?”

Cave Girl sat up and looked at him. “Who asks that?”

Go-T just laughed. “Don’t be stubborn. Just go tell them!”       

Cave Girl put an arm around his small neck and petted in between his semi-large horns. He closed his eyes and smiled, putting his grey beardy chin on her knee. Cave Girl stopped and jumped off.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Go-T had woken up, and hurled himself off.

“Whoa!” 

Cave Girl tried in vain to steady herself, but the whole cave’s shaking and vibrating sent her bottom to the cold, wet floor. Go-T bleated something about an earthquake, but Cave Girl didn’t hear him. After the earth stood still, Cave Girl and Go-T dashed out to see what had caused such excitement.   

“What is that?” Go-T stared curiously down at a huge hammer and something like a pointy spinning thing. “I’ll take it out—”

Cave Girl laughed, picking Go-T up and setting him somewhere else. “You can’t do that—it’ll crush you!”

“And you will do what exactly?” Go-T raised his eyebrows and closed his eyes, waiting for an answer. When none came, he snorted and stomped off. “I’m going down here to find out what’s going on. You stay up here if you wish.” He started running towards a very steep hill, but Cave Girl dashed off, catching up with him.

“Why, join the party!” Go-T spread a wide smile onto his furry grey and black face.

Cave Girl jabbed a thumb backward. “You sure about this? It was attacking our cliff!”

Go-T shook his head. “What if we come back with that awesome crystal necklace from that mysterious crystal cave? You never know—it might blind those guys scared!” 

Cave Girl told him his head was harder than those crystals. If he gets any ideas, they’ll crystalize into dangerous ones. But Go-T just agreed nonchalantly. He looked right at her. “You said there were crystals in that place? Wow! What gems do we find around here besides brown and red rocks that turn an ugly orange once the sunrise and sunset hits them?”

“Uh…none.” Cave Girl protested. “Besides, why you want a necklace so badly?”

But Go-T butted Cave Girl from behind, and she, yelling at him, fell bottom-first onto something flat, big and sending her down this very steep hill. The goat joined, hooking his hoofs onto Cave Girl’s shoulders. Once the hill slanted even more, a wide-eyed Go-T grabbed one of Cave Girl’s long dark-haired braids. Cave Girl steered their saucer, dodging a small boulder Go-T ordered her to avoid. She told him to let go. He didn’t, telling her he was not going to fall off. 

When Cave Girl and Go-T slowed to a stop before some rocks, she jumped off and looked up, wide-eyed, at a gaping mouth of a cave right in front of them. “Go, this is the crystal cave I went into before.”

But as they surged forward, Go-T went on and on about the scary rocks and the fact that Cave Girl nearly hit one. “Man, those were some boulders! Could we be a little more careful next time—”        

“Go-T, I’m going to stuff a rock in your mouth if you don’t hush. Besides, those crystals could protect us!”

The inky black place made the hairs on Cave Girl’s arms and neck stand straight up. The stalactites’ drips were the only other echoing sound besides Go-T’s ramblings, fortunately distracting her. Some centipedes skittered around. Go-T strived to close his mouth, but it was very hard—he kept whispering about the stalactites and centipedes. Cave Girl told him to quit it. He stalked away, taking another path, jerking a hoof back every time it touched water, blaming it for dirtying his precious foot.   

“Ew!” He glared at the puddle, trotting proudly around it and then prancing around each one, returning to Cave Girl’s side. “I’m not going to get dirty.” Then he grinned. “You have some kind of light with you, so you can warn me about the puddles, right?”

“Just don’t walk in them.”

“But,” Go-T panicked, “they’re wet and gross and yucky—”

“Yes—it’s a cave! You need to pay attention. This cave has thousands of crystals.”

Go-T continued hopping away from puddles and bleating in frustration if he got wet. Commenting on the size of “those things that hang down from above,” Go-T looked up to Cave Girl, who told him they were stalactites.

He walked over to her. “Let’s be friends again.”

Cave Girl let out an exasperated sigh. “Go-T—you should really get yourself a herd of goats.”

He laughed. “I should?”

“Yeah—you talk too much!”

“All I’ve ever wanted was a mate.” He nudged her. “Another goat to love.”    

Cave Girl grabbed some things and then started striking one against the other.          

“Whoa, whoa.” Go-T was instantly captivated. “What are you doing there, Cave?”

Cave Girl told him as sparks flew and then fire appeared that she was trying to light a torch. “See?”

She waved it around above his horns, Go-T watching in amazement. “Now that we can see, let’s find those crystals and solve this mystery!” 

Go-T told her that he saw something sparkle in the distance. He pointed with a hoof, but since it was so dark, Cave Girl told him to just tell her. He agreed. They headed over to the sparkling thing and, lo and behold, gleaming beauties showed off their bright whiteness. Go-T’s eyes widened, and he grinned greedily as the sparkling rocks glistened in his eyes. “I’ll head-butt these guys out!”

Not a minute later, Go-T started freaking out. “What—what is that thing?”

Cave Girl tried calming him down, but when she let the torch’s light illuminate the scene, a small critter started chastising Go-T. Cave Girl, however, studied it—it was like an inchworm, though much bigger. Its cute little black eyes and lime green glowing body made Cave Girl smile in adoration. She crouched, reveling in its beauty. A glowing worm beat a fiery torch any day!   

“Nooooo!” It warned, shaking its head. Cave Girl started reconsidering her torch. “Don’t take those crystals. There are others you can use. Come on—I enjoy leading people to their destined possession!”

But Cave Girl stood her ground, reluctant to continue.

As Go-T bleated on and on about this impending doom, the glowworm nodded. Then it smiled up at Cave Girl. “Well, doesn’t look like you’ll need that!” And it started crawling away from them, beckoning them eagerly. “Come on. It’s not that scary! We’re going on a crazy adventure. You do like venturing, don’t you?”

Cave Girl gulped, her hand shaking as she forced herself to drop the torch into a puddle. Go-T assured her he would talk to her. She stared at him, and then pursed her lips, clenching and unclenching her fists. “I don’t know, Go. How do we know rocks won’t fall on us? Besides, what’d you tell the glowworm?”

“Hey!” Go-T pounded a hoof. “Who’s the one living in a cave, huh? Sounds to me like you were born ready.”

Cave Girl blinked back tears of fear and swallowed. “I got lost in a cave once. Getting trapped is worse—I was lucky one of my brother’s saber-tooth tigers came along. Then, one time, rocks started falling, and I was rescued days later.” She shuddered. “I don’t want rocks to fall on me!” She looked backward. “Hope that earth-shaking thing back there doesn’t shake this cave, too.”

He shook his head and then laughed. “You’re Cave Girl for bleating out loud! You wanted to go in here—why are you afraid now?”

Cave Girl gave a weak laugh, admitting Go-T was distracting her, and she had had the torch. Go-T asked whether the glowworm even knew Cave Girl and he were still behind him. “He’s off in his own little world—”

“Thinking we’re still right behind him.”

Go-T looked up at her. He danced, excitement coursing through his body like ants swarming out of an anthill. "Let's go!"

“Well,” Cave Girl inhaled, “Glowworm’s not going to wait for us.”

“Right beside you!”

“Thanks, Go.”

She sensed him smiling warmly at her, and stepped forward. They soon caught up with the glowworm, who was still crawling along, talking cheerfully to himself. Soon, he lit up, brighter and brighter until Cave Girl and Go-T were staring right at a carved-out door.     

“What’s behind there?” Cave Girl asked, startling the glowworm. Go-T ran up to the door and butted it. He shook his head and turned to the glowworm, puzzled it didn't move.  

Cheeks hot with embarrassment, Cave Girl strove to relieve the situation. “Uh...thanks for being our light around here, buddy. Never thought a goat and his mistress would need another animal to guide the way.”     

Go-T rolled his eyes, but Cave Girl pretended she didn’t see.

“Sure!” The glowworm bobbed its head and then smiled eagerly. “Anything to help around here. Oh—” he looked right at the door. “About this. It’s not actually a door. It’s the cave’s map.”

A map. Cave Girl scrunched her eyebrows at it and walked up, studying the pathways, holes and stopping points. “Does anyone else come down here?” She looked at the glowworm.

“Oh,” the glowworm bobbed his head vigorously, “plenty of people! Oh my, about a thousand. They see those crystals back there—”

“Why can’t we just take the crystals?” Go-T let out a little sly laugh. “It’s not like we’re stealing or anything.”    

“They belong here.” The glowworm sighed like it was already tired of Go-T. “The holes are spots where greedy people have died failing to get out of this cave in their pursuit of the crystals. They are to just be admired.” Then he grinned. “Good thing I’m your guide!”   

“And, might I ask, who are you?”

“I’m the guardian of this cave.”

“Guardian.” Go-T threw his head up and bleated. “A little guy like you?”   

“Go!” Cave Girl scolded him, but he just tilted his head.

“What?”

“It’s also good that I’ve memorized the map, because I can lead you to the real crystals.”    

“Any explanation on the cave’s danger?” Cave Girl switched subjects. 

“Oh—danger.” The glowworm chuckled. “There’s no real danger. You’re just paranoid—you’ve obviously been in this cave before.” He nodded towards a crevice in the wall. “Let’s just knock some rocks down, and--voila!--we're through.” He looked back. “Everyone with me?”

“Um…” Cave Girl speculated. “Well—”

“Let’s go!” Go-T scampered over to the crevice and banged it with his head. Ramming it again and again, he grunted that he was making progress and then cried that he created a huge hole. Cave Girl, on the other hand, walked stiffly and tentatively over to the fallen rocks, climbing them slowly, wondering how the glowworm was going to keep up. But once Go-T jumped the big pile, the glowworm surprised them both by climbing pretty fast over the rocks. As they ventured further into the cave, it reminded her not to fear.

Cave Girl didn’t want to be mean, but she was starting to get a little antsy with this guardian. It was now explaining the cave’s rocks and stalactites—extremely helpful to their need to know how to protect themselves and, more importantly, her family—against the danger. Cave Girl was now turning around, carrying back a teeth-gritting, words-restraining angry goat.

“So,” it started, stopping them, “The danger—”

“Wow!” Go-T’s jaw dropped. “Look at all those crystals!”

Cave Girl let Go-T down, and all three stood before vast clusters of ruby, sapphire, gold, cerulean, Ophir, magenta and blood-red crystals sticking out of the earth. They sparkled with such beauty. Cave Girl inhaled with awe. “Can you believe this, Go? Which ones will go great strung above my cave bed?”    

Go-T didn’t answer. Cave Girl looked down at him, and then rolled her eyes. He was gawking at each one, trying to decide which ones, he bragged, would look nice for his coveted necklace. The glowworm advised some. Cave Girl stepped right out, choosing some dagger-sharp blue ones for herself.

“Maybe when I have my own family, we’ll look awesome in those!”

“In your dreams.”  

Go-T complained about this. Cave Girl turned to the glowworm.

“It becomes frustrating when all I do is warn desperate people not to use dynamite in their greedy search for more crystals.”

She widened her eyes, and Go-T and she looked right at each other. “I hope those men back there haven’t already made a cave out of our cliff!” 

“Huh?”        

“Someone’s gotta stop them from killing my family!”

The glowworm assured her. “The cave’s magical aura gives everyone a sense of danger so they’d know to respect it. These crystals, thanks to the protective aura, are safely kept here for people to take and use as they wish—thus, no need for greed. But,” the glowworm exhaled, “because everyone goes wild with greed, they can never just take them—they need to look for more up ahead until they go crazy with—”

“Greed.” Cave Girl and Go-T replied in unison, looking at each other.

“Yeah. It’s sad.” The glowworm continued, and then lamented its life.

Cave Girl nodded indifferently and then laughed when she saw Go-T grabbing a lot of really small crystals with his teeth. He spat them out to tell her to carry these and then snatched more only to struggle, as he had one too many in his mouth. After Cave Girl lent Go-T a hand by taking his many crystals, she quickly left with him, neglecting to even thank the glowworm for its tour.

That night, after storing their crystals in her cave for later use, she said, “You know, I guess there’s no danger after all. Just a cave, you know?” 

Go-T smiled up at her.

“That glowworm would sure make a great second necklace!”  

“Yeah—a really sad one. It’s only happy when it’s a tour guide. And that’s probably very rare.” 

Go-T sighed. “Yeah.”       

“Let’s cheer it up with another trip back tomorrow—with apologies from us both!” Go-T hopped up onto Cave Girl’s bed after she sat on it. He stretched and yawned, laying down. 

“I always wanted a nice shiny necklace.”

“Well, the glowworm’s not for sale. That’d be greedy.”     

Go-T closed his eyes, mumbling about his crystal necklace instead. As he fell asleep, Cave Girl petted the animal. “Show off your lovely crystal necklace to your mate all you want. In your dreams.”