When the large man with the cudgel said that last line, “Or maybe you won’t be nowhere at all,” something snapped in Roger’s head. He launched himself at his tormentor and knocked him to the ground. Wrenching the weapon from the fallen man he proceeded to pummel him to head and body until the victim was curled up in a fetal posture trying to protect his head.
“Not so funny now, is it, Jethro Bodine. If you don’t want your head splattered over this ground you better start telling me how I can get the hell out of this Twilight Zone episode.” With the attack suspended, the man on the ground looked up in terror and said, “Mistah, you’ve got me mixed up with someone else. My name ain’t Jethro. I’m Josiah Whateley. Your troubles are caused by the Great Old Ones and their control of the door to the abyss.” With this Josiah squinted and tried to look knowing. So, Roger started wailing on him again saying, “Yeah well whatever your name is you better start thinking of a way out of here before I run out of new places to hit you on the head.”
The wounded wizard begged mercy and promised to help Roger find his escape route. With Whateley hobbling along, holding the side of his head with his left hand, Roger followed closely along as they descended the mount. All around them the woods were alive with batrachian trills and croaks and the howls of unspecified creatures. But Roger paid no heed. He just nudged Josiah in the back with the club if the pace slowed too much.
When they reached the foot of the hillside Roger asked which way was the road and Whateley said, “It’s not a road. There’s a cave that runs through Round Mountain. Nobody who went in evah came back out. But the story runs that it leads to the Great Old Ones’ doors. If you go theah, you might find a way home. But I won’t come with yah. You can kill me but all I’ll do is show you the entrance to the cave.”
Roger looked with confusion and nervousness at the clearly frightened man and said, “Show me the way, now!” After about a half hour of walking in the bog they came to a crack in the hill that exhaled a faint phosphorescent green mist. Whateley pointed to the crack but would not approach the opening. As Roger sized up the tight opening Whateley ran off at surprising speed and was gone before Roger could respond.
The mist coming from the opening was sickly sweet and made Roger light-headed. He feared that it might be toxic or at least an asphyxiant and was paralyzed by indecision. But when the noises around him began to grow louder and more menacing, he took a deep breath and entered the cave. For the first fifty feet it was barely wide enough for him to slip his body sideways through the crack. But then it began to widen until he could barely touch both walls with his arms extended straight out. The phosphorescence was almost useless to see by so he crawled along a foot at a time. But then he laughed nervously and remembered he had his flashlight in his pocket. So, with a nervous smile on his face, he switched on the light and headed into the lair of the Great Old Ones.
Foolish, Brave or Mad…pick two!
Let’s go with all three.