Chapter 3
She was actually wearing just a simple yellow baggy short sleeved t-s.h.i.+rt with a loose faded blue jean and a long sleeve sweater to cover her exposed arms. Very aunty looking. Can't expect much on grooming from an aunty who just finished cooking simple lunch prior to fetching her kid. The additional long sleeve sweater was added to prevent her arm from getting an unsavory tan from the harsh tropical afternoon sun.
Right now, she has four bags full of foodstuff at different expiration time, two extra empty shopping bags made from cloth, 1 handbag, shoulder length, and 1 purse. She placed them neatly at the side of the cave wall.
She set a buzzing alarm to notify her after exactly two hours and placed it in her other pocket.
It's time to observe the future dwelling properly for any potential hazardous conditions!
She made one clean sweep inside the cave. It turned out to be deeper than she imagined.
After about 500 meters in, she finally stopped and did not dare to go deeper. It was because, as the cave got deeper, it got narrower and at the 500-meter mark she needed to bend down to proceed. The tunnel had reduced to just the size of a full-grown man in a bent position. The interior of the cave looked like a funnel with a mysterious end.
[This won't do, there's no way this aunty will go inside that suspicious looking tunnel. I watch too much horror movie that even I know that curiosity kills the cat okay.]
Hana shrugged her shoulders.
[Anyway, I'm also too scared to proceed with just the flash light from the smartphone. Whatever.]
She looked around and started
[Oh my. This is too laborious... worse than vacuuming the whole house three times...]
She stopped to catch a breath after clumsily finis.h.i.+ng the deed and to admire her achievement.
This is an F.
[d.a.m.n..d.a.m.nit... With a slight push, a snake can slither through. Of course, bigger animals will fare much better. Aiyoo..looks so 'cincai' one!!(1)]
She checked her smartphone. It's nearly two hours already, but she still didn't do squat!
She sat down and think hard for a long time.
[Hmm...lets just packed the stones with some soil on top!]
Hana grinned with satisfaction from her idea.
But then she deflated.
[Err.. Too tired already.. Lets put it off for later lah. At least its blocked a bit now. Hihi.. (2)]
[Aiyahh (3)..why this aunty so fickle one (4)!]
She then looked up and flashed her smartphone upwards simultaneously to check the ceiling of the cave. It was far high up that she cannot see the wall!
She noticed a faint sound of whistling wind coming through from the top. It seemed that there's some ventilation up there. This means she won't be poisoned from carbon monoxide when she makes a fire inside the cave later. This is a great news!
Some stalagmites and stalact.i.tes can be seen hanging on the walls and on the floor of the cave besides several boulders.
[There's no bats right? They're so 'geli'(5)..eww..]
The entrance of the cave was so small. It was now blocked by boulders of varying sizes. There was a narrow gap at the side of the cave. It was about 3 feet in width and 4 feet in height, just like a window at the level of the chest. Hana needed to bend a little to look through the hole.
She wondered in her mind, was it manmade or natural? It'll be very dangerous if this cave opening was manmade.
She carefully wriggled herself out through the hole while chanting, "Don't collapse on me... don't collapse on me... I don't want to die like inside Final Destination..please.."
When she finally stepped out of the cave, she brush off the dust from her sweater and proceeded to look around. Is this finally the time for this aunty to show her skill?
Author's Note:
(1) cincai =roughly done without perfection
(2) hihi = laughing sound
(3) aiyahh =something like a sighing sound all Malaysians used. it has several varieties; aiyoo, aiya, mehhh
(4)...one = no meaning. Malaysians always add 'one' at the end of the sentence. Google "manglish" to hear the nuance
(5) geli = disgusted or squeamish