Story: Jenny and Carlos Get Out of the Rain

Chapter Three: A Strange Lunch in the Cave

The flashlight had gone out, and the children were lost again in the pitch black of the cave. Somebody sniffled in the dark.

"Carlos, caves are dangerous, I think," whispered Jenny, rubbing her nose on her sleeve. "We could be lost in here and nobody would ever know where to look for us. Thank heavens we brought our lunch."

Carlos agreed. He thought about the dark and the moldy tunnel they had crawled through. He remembered slipping on damp loose rocks, and the stream. He thought of the slippery mud all over his boots.

Calm down kids, squeaked Bat. You just have to follow instructions. I'll get you out.

"Yes, but you are used to the dark. We're scared and both of us are cold and wet." Jenny sniffed again, and rubbed her nose on her sleeve. She shivered.

Then a new thought hit her. "Carlos! We've got sweaters in our backpacks. Oh, I'm going to put mine on right now."

The two friends took off their packs and pulled out their warm, wooly sweaters. They put the sweaters on under their jackets. They felt better right away.

The Bat squeaked, Let's go. I want to get out in time for supper, too.

Bat swooped down from a rock overhead. Kneel down, he squeaked. He warned that they were about to crawl through another tunnel, and this tunnel followed the same stream where Jenny had scared the fish. Bat told Carlos to switch off the flashlight and carry it in his backpack, even though it didn't work anymore.

Don't leave it lying around. Battery chemicals can get in the water and hurt the fish.

"Oh—that's pollution," Carlos said. "We learned about that in science camp." As he placed the flashlight in his pack, his fingers touched the peanut butter sandwich he had brought along for lunch. His stomach growled hungrily.

"I sure hope we can get out of this tunnel and stop for lunch pretty soon," he told Bat.

Bat tried to encourage them. Try to stay on the side of the tunnel so you don't get wet. I'm sorry it's hard, but this is really the shortest way out, kids.

Splash! Splash! The children got wet anyway. They stumbled through the stream tunnel. Now and then they stopped to rest. They grabbed each others' hands for a few minutes. Carlos was surprised to find out that he really did feel scared. He tried to think about hot chocolate instead. Even thinking about it made him feel better.

Hey, let's keep moving. This is hard on me, too. Normally I sleep all day. With all this extra flying, I'm getting tired. I'll have to catch a million extra bugs when I go out to feed tonight.

"You wouldn't leave us here and go out to catch bugs, would you, Bat?" Jenny worried.

Don't worry, I'll get you out of here in good time for us to have supper. But I'm hungry like you. I'm running low on energy, too. I have to make it to the cave entrance soon.

We can all rest soon though. I was thinking you could eat your lunch at the Bateteria room. You could meet my family, and just about all the cave animals eat there. How 'bout it?

Jenny groaned. "What's that? A bat lunch room? Oh, I'd rather die."

"Shush, Jenny. Be polite," said Carlos. Carlos asked the bat, "Will we get there soon? If it's just a few minutes, we could wait."

It's just around the corner, said Bat. In fact we're out of the tunnel now. I'm going to hang myself up on the ceiling and rest for a bit.

Bat told Carlos to get his lunch and the flashlight out of his backpack.

Let's try something. Shake the flashlight, said Bat.

Carlos did. To his great surprise, the light flickered and came back on.

The Bat explained. I saw that happen with the cave explorers once. Now walk quietly and whisper.

Look up now, with the flashlight. See all the bats?

When the children looked up, they were amazed to see hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bats. Instead of flying around, they were hanging upside down from the ceiling, holding on by their tiny feet.

We're under the bat colony. This is where the mom bats and the bat pups live. See the pups, hanging onto the moms? I grew up there. Don't shine the light directly on the ceiling. Everybody's still sleeping until sunset.

Carlos and Jenny peered at the mass of bats above them. It was hard to figure out just which bats looked like their Bat and his little sister. Hundreds of mother bats and bat pups hung from the stone ceiling. Most were asleep. Or maybe it was thousands, Carlos thought. It certainly sounded like millions of squeaks and chirps overhead as bats stirred in their sleep and made little murmuring noises. When Carlos looked closely he could see the babies nestled against their mothers' breasts.

Look down now, said the bat. You can see a million troglobites eating here.

A foul smell filled the room.

"Bat, what's that awful smell?" asked Carlos.

Bat ignored the question. He was used to the smell. Put your hats back on, he warned.They pulled their hats, still wet from the rain, out of their jacket pockets.

They soon understood why Bat had warned about hats. Carlos heard the steady Ping! Ping! of something falling on their hats.

Carlos shone the light on Jenny's hat.

"Jenny, uh . . . There's bug and bat droppings falling on your hat. And mine too! It's lice and mites and things. Don't take your hat off, for heaven's sakes!"

"Bat droppings? Ugh, how awful!"

Bat was insulted. Oh no. We're very proud of our guano pile. He pointed to a huge mound of grey bat droppings under the bat colony. Valuable stuff. Sometimes part of the guano dissolves and forms rocks. And we feed the troglobites with it. Without bat guano, there would be no food to eat in here. All the crickets and salamanders and such would starve.

The children were not impressed. "The odor. It smells moldy and awful," Carlos said.

Well, lean over and see how many animals are eating the guano. They're not so fussy, Bat replied. A whole bunch of them—especially the little white springtails that hop all over the ground—eat the guano. And then there are the ones that eat the springtails - like the crickets and the beetles. Up top, there are the spiders that eat all the other guys. It's quite a system.

The children obeyed—careful to keep their hats on their heads. They leaned over and looked at the guano. The flashlight showed hundreds—perhaps millions— of bugs crawling about. Pale white millipedes zipped across the pile. Pale wispy crickets with long, graceful feelers jumped about, along with long-legged daddy longlegs. Tiny springtails hid in the cracks.

Some of the bugs eat the guano, and other bugs eat those bugs. Without us bats making guano, they'd all starve to death. We eat bugs out there, and turn it into food for the troglobites in here.

"Why can't they eat plants?" Carlos asked.

Do you see any plants here? asked Bat. And what do plants need?

Then Carlos remembered. Plants need light to grow, of course! How silly to forget a thing like that.

Jenny and Carlos found a flat rock outside the bat guano area. They sat down to eat their sandwiches. They were used to the guano smell now, and they tried to ignore all the bugs around them. Inside their packs were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, celery sticks, an apple, and a container of juice. In spite of the smell of the guano, they were very hungry and gobbled up their simple lunches.

"Look, Carlos. Look, Bat," Jenny said quietly. "The troglobites are coming here for lunch." She pointed the flashlight. On a spot near their rock, bread crumbs and celery leaves had fallen on the ground. Crickets and other bugs were busy carrying the crumbs away.

You guys are kind of like bats, noted Bat. You're bringing food for cave critters. Just be sure you don't leave garbage behind.

The children put their paper bags and containers back into their backpacks. They took a last look at the bats hanging from the ceiling, and followed the bat out of the Bateteria into a dark, damp passage.

I wish your noses were as good as troglobite noses, squeaked Bat. You could find your way out of the cave. Lots of these animals smell their own trails to find their way around in the dark.

Carlos imagined crawling around, smelling his own muddy footsteps. No thank you. He decided he'd rather put up with bossy Bat.