Betsy tends to find trouble, or maybe it just finds her. The following is an excerpt from Bad Break in Belize. Betsy, Lucas, and Gaga have ventured into the rainforest to find Betsy’s father. Sometimes, it is the most practical matter that can cause problems.
Chapter Twelve
A Slippery Slope
Fed, drenched with bug spray, and with the Jeep roof open once again, the group set out, moving ever westward. The road was no longer a dirt trail but a muddy, slippery slide. Gaga had slowed the Jeep to a crawl, and Betsy became increasingly anxious. She had another problem she wanted to deal with, but she didn’t say anything, as they had just gotten started again. Eventually, the situation became extreme, and she blurted out, “Gaga, I gotta pee.”
Lucas leaned between the front seats. “Me, too.” Gaga sighed, again, and stopped the Jeep.
“Okay, but let’s make this fast. It’s already afternoon, and I do not want to be out here in the jungle after dark.”
The nine-year-olds jumped down and headed to opposite sides of the road. Betsy’s excursion was uneventful until she stood up and was fixing her shorts when she realized she had gotten turned around. “Gaga!” No answer. “Lucas! Hey, where are you guys?” Still no answer. “Okay, pick a direction and go ten paces. If that doesn’t work, turn around and go twenty.”
As she counted off her steps, she heard splashing water. “Seven. Eight. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!” She hadn’t seen the new stream of water running downhill, and on that ninth step, the mud slid out from under her foot, and she found herself moving down a muddy chute. “HELP!” The slope was no more than twenty feet long, and she slowed as she reached the bottom, but not enough. Right in front of her was a sinkhole. At least fifteen feet across. As her feet went over the edge, followed by her legs, she made a desperate grab for a bush at the edge of the pit. She stopped with her legs and half her torso hanging over the abyss.
“Holy moly! That was close.” The rushing water sounded louder, and she glanced into the sinkhole. There was a drop of about eight feet, with a pool of water being fed by several small waterfalls. “Okay, I can do this. I got to get out of here.” She paused to steady herself before pulling herself up on the bush. “Stop!” Her slight movement had dislodged mud from the base of the bush. “Release some tension. Find another handhold.” Her rock-climbing training started to kick in, and thoughts raced through her brain, looking for a solution. But no matter what she tried, the bush was determined to release itself from the terrain. Its last root slipped out of the mud, and Betsy found herself falling. “Relax. Relax. RELAX!”
Her head broke through the surface of the pool, and Betsy took a deep breath. She performed a quick physical evaluation, looking for damage, but all her limbs and joints seemed to be in working order. Treading water, she looked around for even the smallest route of escape but found nothing. “Okay, let’s assess the situation. I’m at the bottom of a hill, in a pit full of water. Nobody knows where I am, and they might not even know I am missing. Well, all in all, being able to fly might have been a better superpower in this situation, but I’m going to have to work with what I have.” She listened for any sign of animals, not for their words but for their sounds. She heard no howling, growling, or caws. “No wait, there’s something. Where is that coming from? Just listen.” And then she heard it again, from above. The soft, familiar mewling of a jaguar cub. She looked up and saw the little girl cub peering over the edge. “I need help. Go get Lucas and Gaga. Bring the rope.”
The cub blinked and turned away. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.”