The Tunnel

I grew up in the best neighborhood in the world!  I loved it there!  I was never bored and always managed to find an adventure or two.  One of my favorite things to do was to play in the creek.  It wasn't a very big creek, but it was visited by many.  I remember venturing either upstream or down, looking for treasures, creatures or just all around fun!  I loved the little water spiders that kept me company on my many adventures.

My mom didn't really like that there was a tunnel at the end of the creek where teenagers hung out.  She didn't want me to go down there and knowing me and my quest for adventure, she has to make me feel like I COULDN"T go down there.  :)  She told me that there were holes in the tunnel and that if you fell into one, it was very deep and probably went straight to hell.  

I guess that I should probably tell you that my mom was raised in a boarding school by nuns.  The reference to hell sounds cruel, but it was a big part of my upbringing.  

I am sure that my mom meant to keep me safe, but this time, the danger of falling into a pit straight to hell wasn't going to work.  :)  My friend and I decided that we were going to see what this forbidden tunnel was all about.  It was a very exciting adventure!  We waded in the water, stepping on stones and listening to the calm trickling of the stream as we moved toward our destination.  

As we entered the tunnel, we noticed that there were many spray painted words and pictures.  We stood staring at the entrance in awe.  I lived in a suburb, so grafiti wasn't even a part of my vocabulary.  The tunnel was very ominous looking, dark and forbidden.  My friend and I eased in, walking slowly and checking under our feet for especially deep looking water.  Not far in, we saw a dark black hole of water...

The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I swear I thought I felt a breeze that hadn't been there before.  Our pace slowed a bit the further we got in.  Our steps were more careful.  When we were almost to the middle of the tunnel, we saw the scariest painting we had ever seen.  It was the head of the devil, staring at us, daring us to go further...  

My friend and I were NOT playing around with that!  We turned and ran all the way home!  We did finally make it to the other side of the tunnel eventually, but it took many many trips down that dark corridor before we finally had the nerve.  :)