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She turned away frole

She had no destination; she would let her feet carry her where they chose She found herself walking beneath thick foliage roughly parallel with the beach, perhaps two hundred yards inland All of this had been explored, of course Deas dripping frole canopy with a warround becaes At times she was forced to crawl on her hands and knees At the top of a ridge she saw, below her, a gentle depression, guarded on three sides by rock walls roped with vines Jeweled beads of water trickled down the face of the farthest wall, collecting at the base in a pool She carefully descended So about this place felt new and undiscovered; it possessed a feeling of sanctuary Crouched by the pool, she filled her cupped hands and drank The water was clean and tasted like stone

She rose and surveyed her surroundings So she was meant to find

As she scanned the rocky perimeter, her eyes fell upon a zone of shadoithin the dense vegetation Shecurtained by vines She drew them aside Here was a likely place--indeed, an ideal place--in which to conceal her journal She reached down into the pocket of her dress; yes, a box of matches, one of the last She scraped a match on the striker and extended it into the cave’s e, more like the rooertips She extinguished it with a flick of her wrist, struck a second, and followed its light inside

At once Pim became aware that she had entered not merely a natural formation but soe bed, and two chairs, all fashioned froether with vines Other objects, similarly primitive in their manufacture, littered the floor: siether, plates and cups of unfired clay She lit another match and approached the bed Shadows stretched before her, revealing a human form beneath the brittle blanket She drew it aside The body, what persisted of it--dried bones the color of wood, a whorl of hair--lay curled on its side, its arainst its chest Whether male or female, Pim could not discern Carved into the wall beside the bed were a series of marks, small slashes cut into the stone Pim counted thirty-two Did they represent days? Months? Years? The bed was unnecessarily large for one person; there were two chairs, not one Sorave of the cave’s other inhabitant

Pim stepped outside That she was meant to conceal her journal in this place was apparent; the cave was a repository of the past Still, she longed to know more Who were these people? Where had they coe of the pool, she could feel the presence of these silenced lives She made her way around the walls Gradually, as if a veil had lifted froed Shards of pottery A wooden spoon A circle of stones where a fire had once been laid On the far side of the pool, she ca lurked behind it--a curved shape, bulging froround

It was a boat--lass hull, about twenty feet long, was settled deeply into the soil Vines entwined it, rendering it nearly invisible; a thick duff of organicfro into the jungle floor? Years, decades, evenfor clues It yielded nothing until she reached the stern Affixed to the transoetation, was a wooden plaque--faded, brittle, riven with rot Spectral letters were etched into its surface She crouched and pulled the vines aside

For a time she did not move, so profound was her astonishment How could it be so? But as therose within her She re them to shore when all seemed lost Destiny was too small a word; there was a force at work that ran far deeper, a thread woven into the fabric of all things WhenShe had no intentions; she was acting by instinct At the edge of the pool she knelt once more There, in the water’s placid surface, she beheld the ih this, she kneould change Time would have its way, as it did for everyone Her babies would grow; she, and all the people she loved, would recede, beco at all It was a sad thought, but it also e: It was , so that history could begin again That’s what the words on the plaque had told her