Given his age and athletic build, I wondered if I could keep up with my guide. But I needn’t have worried about this because he would constantly look back to see how I was doing, and if I did fall behind he waited for me, always smiling with encouragement.
There was still no sign of the huge black cat. Given Gabe’s assurance that there was nothing to fear from it, however, I wasn’t worried. He exuded confidence.
“Let’s rest here,” Gabe said, sitting down on a boulder.
“Thank you, “ I said. “I think I might be twice your age or more. I appreciate the break.”
“Here,” said Gabe, reaching into his backpack. He offered me a bottle of water. I was surprised that it was ice cold.
“Is that one of those insulated bags?” I asked.
He gave me an odd look. “Insulated? What do you mean?”
I raised the bottle to him. “This water is nice and cold. I figured you probably had an insulated bag there to keep it chilled.”
Gabe shook his head. “No, no, there’s nothing special about my backpack.”
I nodded, although I couldn’t figure out why the water might be cold enough to have just been retrieved from a refrigerator.
“Here,” Gabe said again. He took a bottle and tilted it, indicating that he wanted to shake something out into my hand.
Reaching out to him, I was handed a small white pill.
“What is it?” I asked.
Gabe smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s good for you. I’ve hiked this mountain for many years, and when I find people suffering, I give them this pill. It will help you to stabilize your mood.”
For some reason, I trusted him completely. I took the pill with some of the cold water. The effect, at least in dream time, was swift. Simply finding Gabe has boosted my mood a bit, and the pill elevated my mood and relaxed me considerably.
“How do you feel now?” my guide and physician asked.
“I feel ten times better than I did when you found me at the bottom,” I said. “You coming to my aid, you assuring me that the cat will do us no harm, you giving me this medicine – all of it has helped to cheer me up.”
Gabe nodded and smiled. “That’s good, Lanning. That’s why I work on this mountain. It’s my job to help lost souls like you get back to the top and live in the sunlight.”
I thanked him.
“Oh,” said Gabe, “and speaking of sunshine – which you and I will reach together – do you see that cave over there?” He pointed.
Looking in the direction indicated, I saw, off in the distance, a dark impression, round in shape, sitting on the mountain like a coat button.
“Yes, I see it, Gabe. You say it’s a cave?”
“Yes, there are many on the mountain. They can provide shelter from the elements should the weather turn nasty, or should you find the need for shelter for any reason.”
“That’s good to know,” I said. “Are they deep?”
Gabe nodded. “Some of them are shallow, but yes, some go back a long way in. As far as I know, none of them present any kind of danger, but be careful if you do need to enter one. You never know what you might find.”
“Okay,” I said, confident that Gabe knew what he was talking about.
Just then I heard the growl of the big cat. “There it is,” I said. “Are you sure it’s going to be okay for us to meet it?”
“Never fear,” said Gabe. “I’ll be happy to introduce you to him.”
Lanning Lee 