Sweet dreams

Both men sat across the darkening room from a small pile of embers that had been their fire. It was to avoid the extra heat as much as possible. David had caught a couple birds while he was outside but refused to say how hard it had been. They tasted great. Both of these spitted creatures had been colorful and it was a lot of work to remove the feathers for the little meat on them. Thankfully there was plenty of fruit and, with this being their third night on the trail, it wasn't having as much effect as it had.

Among the topics discussed was the ability to have running water at the top of the hill. They theorized about the possibilities -- everything from a reservoir on the roof to the builders having figured out how sap climbs in a tree and using that to bring water up from below.

After a while their conversation turned to stories of funny things that had happened back home. A chipmunk in a mutual friend's house always seemed to be one step ahead of the exterminators. Practices and games of a t-ball team that Mark helped coach were filled with capers as the little stars tried their best to make sense of the rules.

The sounds of the jungle outside began to change, which signaled the arrival of nighttime. David had stood both walkingsticks in the dirt outside as a sign to anybody who might be in the area that the temple was in use. It was a custom among the mountain men that had lived in the hills he grew up around.

They took turns cleaning up and used a gourd from outside as a stop for the tub.

With the hiking that Mark did while David was enjoying his siesta, he was definitely the more tired. The warm humidity had sapped his strength, and it wasn't long before he laid down on a blanket with his backpack for a pillow. It wasn't extravagant but it was light, and, apart from the insects, worked well. Thankfully he didn't snore.

David listened to the noises around him for a while before stretching out for sleep himself. There were insects in the temple but the stranger -- and more worrisome -- sounds came from outside.

That night their dreams were sweet. In one of those David dreamed that they were standing in the very room in which they were sleeping. It was tinted blue by a luminous water that filled the circular hole like a pool. He felt an irresistible tug toward it.

It wasn't the sort of dream where you cannot control your own muscles, but was instead one of those where you know you have to do something. You may not know why, but you must.

David looked over at Mark, who was already at the side of the pool with his backpack on. He strapped his own on and joined his friend at the rocky rim. Together they stepped in and immediately sank below the water only to move on to another dream.

In the morning, surprisingly, David woke up first. He yawned and stretched. As his eyes moved up to the sky above he thought how beautiful it was just before he realized that he should have been seeing a rock ceiling. "Uh... Mark?"