The Tunnel Under 172

“So,” Caleb commented to his younger brother as he stood up and looked around. “How much trouble are we going to be in if mom finds out we've wandered this far away from the house?” 

Scott looked around and shrugged. “I don't know. Do you think she's wondering where we are yet?”

“I don't know,” Caleb responded with little to no concern. “I'm not too worried about it.”

The boys had been playing in the back yard. They had wondered out of the back yard towards the driveway. There wasn't a whole lot of draw for the boys in the driveway itself, but there was a bridge where the farm creek flowed underneath the driveway that always seemed to call to the boys. The water had created a small pool at the end if the culvert. The boys liked to drop rocks and pebbles into the pool and listen to the sound reverberated through the culvert. After a few minutes of that, they got board and tried something else. They dropped twigs and leaves on one side of the driveway and ran over to the other side to watch them reappear in the water. The items swirled in the pool for a while before continuing down the brook.

The boys, encouraged but the traveling of the small vessels, decided to pick something a little bigger and see how that traveled. They found a bigger stick about a foot long and dropped it into the water. As expected, it flowed through the culvert and bobbed in the pool for a few seconds before moving on. Caleb and Scott watched it bob through the water until they lost sight of it. They ran down to the end of the driveway and turned right onto a flat grassy path that was used as a field access. The creek flowed along side the field access and was well withing eyesight of the boys. They followed their stick until it reached a large pool. The pool flowed slowly into a four foot diameter culvert that disappeared into a large bank that was topped with State Route 172. 

The boys' stick was caught in the rotating current caused by the creek flowing into the pool. The boys stood on the exposed upper arc of the concrete culvert and watched the stick bob in it's aquatic holding pattern. 

“How deep do you think that water is?” Scott inquired of his older brother.

“I don't know,” Caleb responded. “Let's take our boots off and find out.”

The boys sat down on the grass and tugged their rubber barn boots from their feet. They pulled their socks off and shoved them into their boots before rolling up their pant legs. They walked carefully down the grassy bank to the creek ans gingerly stepped into the water. The water deepened with every step until they were standing in the center of the pool up to their knees. The muddy bottom of the pool clouded the water as they walked. Minnows disappeared into unseen crevices, delighting the boys with the speed of their retreat. The coolness of the creek gave the boys goosebumps as they suppressed giggles. Together, the boys stood at the end of the culvert and peered into the tunnel. 

“What do you think is on the other side?” Scott asked.

“I don't know,” Caleb responded with a shrug. “Why don't we check it out?” 

Caleb bent over slightly and stepped into the mouth of the culvert and walked a few feet. He waited for his younger brother to step in behind him. He nodded his approval and continued into the darkness. The bottom of the culvert was curved in an opposite arch from the top. The boys noticed that the ceiling of the culvert got lower as they walked. The ceiling wasn't actually the surface of the tunnel that was changing. The culvert sagged towards the middle of the tunnel creating a cavity that had filled with sandy sediment over the years. This caused the floor to flatten and raise at a steady rate as the bys made their way to the middle of the tunnel.

The boys stooped over more and more until Scott finally gave up.

“I can't bend over any more, Caleb,” he grunted to his leader. “I'm going back.”

“Okay, wuss,” Caleb responded with a good-natured grin. “I'll let you know what I find on the other side.”

Scott just shook his head as he turned around and made his way back to the pool. He wished he had the guts to stick it out and get to the other side, but his gut was actually part of the problem. His protruding paunch made it difficult to breath when he bent over for an extended period of time. He enjoyed the relief of standing up and breathing deeply as he stepped back into the creek. His relief was short lived as his exaggerated inhale was cut short by...

“Scott David Henning! What in the world do you think you are doing and where on earth is your brother?!?”

Scott spun around so fast that he lost his footing and fell on his rump into the shallow pool. He just sat there with wide eyes as he stared up into the furious and terrified face of his mother. She was perched on the end of the culvert with one hand on her hip. The other hand was pointing right at the middle of his forehead, just in case he should somehow get the mistaken impression that she wasn't actually addressing him.

“That was not a rhetorical question, young man!” she exclaimed.

“W-w-w-which question?” Scott stuttered as he pushed himself to his feet and crawled up onto the grassy bank.

“Where is Caleb?” She repeated herself through clenched teeth.

“He went through the tunnel,” Scott replied as he tried desperately to break his mother's gaze.

“Caleb!!” Christa screamed at the top of her lungs. “Caleb! Answer me!”

“I'm coming! I'm coming!” her firstborn replied from and unseen location.

Scott stood dripping on the grassy access road as he watched his mother's right foot impatiently tap the ground. He didn't know if he should be watching the pool for his brother or if Caleb was going to return by some other route. It didn't matter. He couldn't watch anything other than his mother's impatient foot. After a few really long seconds, he heard a rustling noise coming from above him. He looked up to see his older brother climbing over the guard rail that separated the busy stated road from the steep bank that allowed it to bridge the small valley. Apparently, Caleb was unwilling to allow himself to be caught playing in the creek again. Getting caught crossing a State Route 172 somehow seemed like the better option.

“What are you doing up there?!” Christa forcefully inquired of the eleven-year-old.

“The tunnel went all the way through to the other side of the road,” Caleb explained as he jumped and slid his way to the bottom of the hill.

“Why didn't you come back through the tunnel?” she asked with exasperation thick in her voice.

“Um...” Caleb stuttered as he searched his mind for the best answer. “I don't know?”

Christa just stuck her left arm straight out towards the family van that was parked on the gravel driveway and commanded, “March!”

The boys obliged without argument, picking up their boots as they walked. They reached the van and reach for the large sliding door.

“Oh no you don't,” their mother interrupted them. “I'm not going to have you sopping wet children in my van. You walked down here. You can walk back. And you better walk fast.”

The boys turned towards the house and they walked. Fast. All the way to the house without saying a word. They both wanted to know if the other thought they were going to get a spanking as a result of their afternoon activities. However, in their young minds, it seemed that giving voice to a fear actually increased the chances of that fear becoming a reality. They erred on the side of caution and made their trip in silence. Almost.

"So," Scott ventured. "What was on the other side?"