Winning Spelunking Story!

THE DRAGON’S EYE

by George Paul Tulipana IV, Grade 6

edited by Audra M. Tulipana, Grade 10

“Come on guys, there’s nothin’ here.”

The leader of the spelunker team said to all the team. Their mission was to find the rarest type of crystal is the world, a ruby known as The Dragon’s Eye. All of the team followed the leader out of the cave yet again having searched fruitlessly all day long. As they left something at the very back of the cave glowed ever so slightly, causing the walls to reflect the blood red hue. The spelunking team wasn’t certain if The Dragon’s Eye was a reality, or simply a myth. It was said that it was the gem of an ancient civilization and therefore their most guarded possession. All their research had led them to this simple cave in the woods, the owners of this property didn’t know that the spelunking team was even there, because it was a top secret government project.

After the team of spelunkers had left two short figures popped out of the bushes at the cave’s mouth. The two small boys glanced at each other and ran into the cave. The older of the two boys flicked on a small headlamp and led the way. These two boys were the local troublemakers, well-meaning lads that always found the strangest ways to get themselves into mischief. Their names were Joshua Northman and David McKeen, and these two boys were interested in this cave and wondered at its contents. As they journeyed through the dark cavern they walked across a small bridge made of rock that had formed over a subterranean stream.

They came upon a small hollowed out area and were staring at some luminescent rocks imbedded in the ceiling. As Joshua looked at these bluish greenish lights he saw a low toned, blood red light, completely different from the lights on the ceiling. He glanced about and saw that the light was issuing from what seemed too be just a crack in the wall. Joshua and David looked at each other in silence, then David said in a wary tone. “Do you want to know what it is?”

Joshua shook his head a little.“Uhh, I dunno, we don’t know if its radioactive material, or something.”

“Don’t be silly I’ll bet I know what it is”

“Really? What?”

David leaned closer to Joshua’s face and whispered in a low tone, “You remember all those stories my Mom read us? About a giant ruby buried away from the light because it was so valuable?”

Joshua nodded silently. Joshua continued. “I think it’s that ruby. They called it The Dragon’s Eye.”

“No!”Gasped Joshua.

David nodded vigorously, “Yes! So shall we check it out?”

“Umm…oh…all right let’s just look.”

They went to the crack in the wall and tried to squeeze through, but to no avail. No matter what they tried they could not open it; until Joshua found what looked like a stalagmite sicking out of the wall. He knew that stalagmites didn’t grow sideways, so he took hold of it and pulled on it. The rock suddenly moved like a lever, and the wall began to tremble and pull itself apart. Once the crack had widened it revealed a chamber filled with jewels, gold coins, bars of silver, and crowns encrusted with jewels. In the center of this horde of treasure, placed on a pillar that rose only four feet above the mounds of wealth lay The Dragon’s Eye. The two boys just stared for a moment, then David smiled and said, “Josh we’re rich!” They walked across the treasure to the giant blood red crystal. David reached out and picked up the valuable crystal and handed it to Joshua saying, “You should take it hame and hide it under your bed, because I don’t have anywhere in my room that my brothers don’t mess around in.” Then he added. “We should close this thing up after we get a couple of gems and coins, we might want to come back here.”

They gathered up a few pocketfuls of valuables then pushed the lever up closing off the secret room.

They both ran home in opposite directions. Joshua hid the gem under his bed as David had told him to and went to the bathroom to wash his hands before dinner. He accidentally left his bedroom door open and his baby brother Tony walked into the room. He was crawling across the floor pushing his toy truck and caught sight of the gem. He reached down and picked it up. Joshua, upon his entry nearly yelled at the sight of his baby brother holding the most valuable crystal in the world. Shutting the door quickly, he spoke to him in a low tone saying, “Tony, buddy, don’t tell Mommy ok bud? Ok?”

“Otay!” Exclaimed the baby Tony who was only 18 moths old.

He ran out of the room after Joshua had opened the door and ran straight up to his mother yelling, “Mama! Mama!”

“Yes precious?”

The baby continued, “Buddy a pity buddy a pity!”

“What is that my baby? Does Joshua have a pretty thing?”

“Yes, yes, buddy a pity!”

 “Alright Tony, I’ll have a look at it, but I have to go and get the mail first.”

“NONONOOO!!!”

Shouted the baby pulling on his mothers skirt and yelling ‘no’ over and over.

“Ok I’ll go look at it now then.” Said Mrs. Northman walking towards Joshua’s room. She opened the door and once she did she saw Joshua holding The Dragon’s Eye. She said to Joshua in a shocked tone, “Where did you get that Joshua?”

Joshua looked up at his mom then sighed, “I might have or might not have got cave exploring…”

“Joshua!” His mother exclaimed “You know how I feel about that!”

“With my friend…” Joshua continued haltingly.

“Do you mean DAVID?”

“Uhhm yes.”

“Well we are going to bring that to the authorities this instant. We can’t keep something like this, it’s too valuable!”

“Yes ma’am.” So they did and the next morning on the newspaper there was this headline

Two lone boys discover The Dragon’s Eye! the marvelous gem is now where it belongs!

That is the tale of two boys who discovered something valuable and put it in its rightful place. I hope you enjoyed it.

THE END