Short Story

Rough seas all night
rock falls from cliffs
the cave is rearranged
rocks     pebbles     shingle     sand.
A squeeze-through opening is new.

Our torches prick the gloom
Jake it is who finds it.
Wished it had been me,
but his beam picks it out,
reflects back two bright eyes.

We try both beams, but still the gloom
ignores them and their fading batteries.
Octopus          or giant spider
decomposing slightly
five legs          a wing
sabre toothed          a put-together beast
a composite of several          looks Egyptian     
vaguely          
a holiday memento sort of thing.

Something odd about it, though.
Neither can say what
but we both feel it.
want to run          but hold our ground.

Unthinkingly,
Jake goes to stroke the image          then so do I.

The eyes          stare steadily          and yellowly          ahead.

the rock on which it sits is split          was split          (but when?)
down to its base
the cleft          its facing walls
four finger widths apart
flow with foetal shapes          some fully formed
all coming from its flesh.

We're rich! says Jake      and famous.

Lascaux     Chauvet     Laas Gaa'l     The Cave of Swimmers

Nothing to top this          Stone Age Sci-Fi, this!

Wait 'till we tell...

Let's sit on it a bit (this from me)
Tomorrow we'll return
with all the gear          and cameras.


Another night of pounding seas
and we are back     our fading batteries replaced
that are not needed     daylight floods the cave
a shaft above     another fall of rock     and our way blocked.

Dismay     our chance of fame destroyed.

It's Jake again who spots it first
          
a jagged stone with a glass eye
and just a hint or two of paint
to indicate malevolent intent.

We take it home     they all discredit it
a natural crystal in the rock          an oxide stain
No one believes our tale.

That afternoon police arrived to seal the cave.
POLICE          KEEP OUT          their notice reads.