Short Story: Rock Slide

Short Story: Rock Slide

This piece has not been edited by the ShortbreadStories team.

The early morning sky was reflecting pink and red over the ocean where the sun would eventually push itself up and climb over the horizon. It was soon to be another beautiful day in the tropical Caribbean paradise of Isla San Antonio, when suddenly; the tranquility was replaced by a deafening sound of rumbling and crashing. The morning stillness was shattered in the natural harbor where the sailboats swayed on their anchor lines. At 6:20 AM, the monkeys in the trees started howling and hundreds of tropical birds were screaming a wake-up call for the six sailboats. Thirty seconds later, a one meter wave was sent surging across the harbor as tons of; rock, soil, trees, a concrete walkway and a statue of the Virgin Mary came crashing down. The hungry sea devoured it instantly.

Half of the boats quickly pulled up their anchors and left fearing an aftershock. This rock slide had not been caused by an earthquake, but by the deadly slow action of erosion.

Jimmy and his wife Kerry were on deck doing yoga when Jimmy said, “look, it’s a landslide; part of the mountain just fell into the harbor!”

“Wow, that’s the trail where we go hiking every evening, are we going to be OK here? The other boats are leaving,” said a worried Kerry.

“Well, it appears to be over now, we’ll be fine here,” said Jimmy as he held his wife and reassured her. He trusted his judgment and his fortuitous luck, yet he always seemed to push the envelope of safety.

The local constable was eating breakfast when he heard the rumbling and knew instantly it was a rock slide. He rushed out of the café and ran to the town dock. He saw that the cliff had fallen, just as he knew it would. It was only a matter of time, as he had told the mayor on several occasions. His deputy soon came running up to the docks. The constable barked an order at him in rapid fire Spanish. “Go climb up the walkway and see if anyone is injured up there, I’ll take the boat.”

The deputy left on foot and ran all the way up the steps at the beginning of the walkway. The Constable got aboard the Police Boat and put the key in the ignition but it wouldn’t start, then he remembered to squeeze the primer ball on the fuel line. Soon, the outboard roared to life and the Constable untied the dock lines. He sped off to the area of the rock slide. Up above, the deputy was waving his handheld radio at the Constable. He called his deputy on the radio and asked, “What did you find up there?”

“Nothing sir, no sign of anybody here,” said the deputy. The Constable was relieved but he knew that there could be bodies under the rocks and trees, only time would tell. Then he saw an inflatable dinghy coming toward him from one of the boats at anchor.

“Hola,” said Jimmy in Spanish.

The Constable replied, “Hello” in English.

“Can I be of any help, is anyone injured?” asked Jimmy.

“No, nobody was up there, I think. Did you see it happen?” asked the Constable.

“I was on the deck of our boat when I heard it, I didn’t see anyone on the walkway, you mind if I help look around?” asked Jimmy.

“Si, don’t get too close, could be more rocks falling,” said the constable. Jimmy waved and steered the dinghy to the newly formed cliff as he thought, I was snorkeling with Kerry under that cliff just yesterday.

After awhile, Jimmy went back to his boat called “Fortunate One”. At 1:30 PM, Jimmy decided to get out the dive gear and see if he could find some lobsters around the new rocks in the harbor. He inspected his dive gear then tested his regulator and loaded up the dinghy. He asked Kerry to come along but she was busy with her computer. “Jimmy, please be careful, you shouldn’t dive alone,” she said.

“I will, and you know I am lucky,” he said smiling. He suited up for the hunt; he was on a mission, determined to get some lobsters to grill that night.

He took the dinghy across the harbor to where he saw new boulders and rocks; some sticking out of the water. He threw the small anchor over and put the outboard in reverse to set it in the sand. Then he put on his gloves; grabbed his mesh bag, inflated his buoyancy control vest and rolled backwards off the dinghy.

After a while, Jimmy spotted a big lobster crawling around the edge of a rock. He swam down to it and was surprised to see an opening between two boulders. He glided towards it, chasing the lobster.

Jimmy stared into a cavern that had opened during the rock slide, he carefully entered. It was dark but he had a small underwater light he used to look under rocks where the lobsters hide. He switched it on and saw that the cave became much larger. He went in farther looking for the fat lobster but he was quickly becoming more interested in the cave itself. As he swam in, he realized the bottom was rising as was the top, he was going up. His head broke the surface of the water, he shined his light into a large chamber and was surprised to see a beach with sand. There were stalagmites and jagged rocks and wooden crates stacked up on top of each other. He saw old timbers supporting the ceiling. This looks like an old mine that has been closed off for years, but Isla San Antonio was once inhabited by pirates and privateers, not by miners, he thought. He climbed out of the water and took off his mask. He could smell the mold and the rotten decaying wood in the stale air of the cavern; he was determined to see what was in the crates. The wood was so rotten that he opened the top crate with his gloved hand and used his dive knife to scrape away the wood. He was shocked at what he saw: jewelry, emeralds, silver and many gold bars. Jimmy was both stunned and elated; he took a jeweled necklace, stuffed it into his swim trunks pocket and loaded the mesh lobster bag with gold bars. He dragged the heavy bag into the water and inflated his vest to carry the gold. Suddenly, the rumbling started again, Jimmy felt it more than heard it, the cave was collapsing. Intense fear gripped him but the thought of never seeing Kerry again propelled him into motion, he kicked his fins as hard as he could toward the submerged opening but found it closed off with rocks. He began searching the wall of debris to try to find a way out. A tree had fallen over part of the opening, he started cutting the smaller branches with his knife, and finally he got his hand through and was able to enlarge the hole. He was using up his air fast, he had to get through but the hole was small. He took off the tank and vest keeping the mouthpiece in his mouth, and squeezed himself through feet first, cutting his arm on a sawed off branch. Then he tried to pull his tank through by the regulator hose, it was stuck. The bag of gold bars was tied to the vest and wedged into the tree. Jimmy pulled hard but the hose parted just as another tree tumbled down onto him smashing into his knee. He kicked himself free and surfaced quickly. Despite the pain of his injuries, he climbed into the dinghy and sped back to the “Fortunate One”.

When he arrived, he could barely speak. Kerry was visibly shaken as well and looking at him curiously.

“You’re bleeding; I’ll get the medical kit. What the hell happened?”

“Another rock slide, Kerry, I almost died under there, but I thought of you and fought my way out of a collapsed cave,” he told her.

“I told you to be careful, what cave, where?

“I found an old cave full of gold bars and pirates’ loot but I had to leave it behind.”

“Your good luck is running out mister, you could’ve been killed,” she said.

Then he pulled the necklace out and gave it to her, she gasped.

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed.

She started to clean and bandage his wounds when suddenly, the rumble was back again and the rest of the slope fell into the sea creating a new steep cliff face.

Jimmy dismissed the thought of going back to get the gold. He figured that maybe he had pushed his luck too many times, he’d never forget the fear he’d felt in that cave. As he steered “Fortunate One” out of the harbor, his arm was hurting and his knee ached. “Kerry, you’re right, my luck is running thin, its time I made some changes in my life.” Kerry came up through the companionway grinning, wearing the diamond and emerald necklace; it then dawned on him that he was truly the Fortunate One.