Word: sidle

 

sidle

\ SAHYD-l \  , verb;

1. to move sideways or obliquely.

2. to edge along furtively.

noun:

1. a sidling movement.

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The midday sun beat down hard on the two hikers as they sidled along the narrow rock ledge, one moving slowly but calmly, the other moved even slower and clung to any handhold possible with a white knuckle grip.  The rapidly moving river below them roared menacingly, as if it was just waiting for one of them to fall into it.   

               “Why are we doing this again?”  Said the hiker in the rear over the sound of the river.

               “I told you, because it’s there.”  Said the other, equally loud.

               “That’s not a reason, and you know it.”

               “Sure it is.  You know, it’s an adventure.”

               “My idea of adventure is going to the mall and getting something I didn’t plan on.  This is what I call crazy and suicidal.”

               “Oh come on, Deb, live a little.” The first hiker said, trying to stifle a laugh at his companion’s expense.

               “Frank, I swear, if I fall and die, I’m going to kill you!”  Deb shouted.

               “It’s fine.  Even if you fall, we’re not high enough for you to get hurt, and there are plenty of things in the water to grab onto to keep you from getting too far away.” 

               Deb didn’t answer, preferring to shoot Frank an icy glare that was completely lost on him, as he was looking where he was going, and not at her.  When she saw that her look went unnoticed, she went back to clinging to the rock.  She moved her hand only when she was sure she saw a stable handhold within reach, and then she moved with lighting speed to get it.  Frank moved with much more surety, taking hold of the nearest outcropping of rock, and trusting it not to break, allowing him to progress much quicker than she did.   He even had to stop and wait for her to catch up a few times. 

               “Come on Frank, I know there’s a reason for this.  You never do anything crazy without reason.”  She said eventually.

               “You’re right, I do have a reason.  But you’ll have to wait to find out what.”

               “Oh come on!  You owe it to me for dragging me out here in the first place.”

               “No I don’t.  Don’t worry, you’ll like it, I promise.”

               “Uh huh.  Can you at least tell me if it’ll take much longer?”

               “It will, but we won’t be on this ledge the entire time if that helps.”

               “A bit, yes.”  Deb said.  It was a bit of a comfort, but since she didn’t know how long they would be up there, it wasn’t much of one.  She kept quite though, since she didn’t know how much he was willing to divulge, and didn’t want to waste her time asking things that wouldn’t get a proper answer.

               After another half hour of inching their way along the narrow ledge, they finally came to a notch in the rock big enough for the two of them to sit on.  Deb collapsed, panting and grateful for the stable ground.  Frank sat with his legs dangling over the edge while he waited for her to recover.

               “So, where to next?”  She asked.

               “Down that way.”  He said.  He pointed into the notch. When she looked, she saw that it led into a cave.  Where it went, she didn’t really want to know.  All she knew was that it was small and narrow, which meant more crawling along sideways. 

               “This had better be good.”  She said. 

               Once both of them were on their feet, Frank led the way into the mouth of the cave.  Deb had been right.  It was a very tight fit.  She had to press up against the cold, damp wall of the cave just to avoid the other.  She was a little grateful that they were out of the sun, and that she wasn’t in any danger of falling to her death, but she still wasn’t too happy about their current trek.  The fact that they seemed to be going up didn’t make it any better either. 

               “So, there’s no poisonous spiders of scorpions in here, are there?”  She asked nervously.

               “Probably not.  But if you feel something crawling on you, hold real still and let me know.” He said.  She couldn’t tell if he was joking, but was desperately hoping he was.  She slowed down a bit, just to be on the safe side.

               The two made their way through the tunnel slowly because of the awkward way they needed to move.  Because of this, it took them the better part of two hours to get through it.  By the time Deb saw light up ahead, she was so miserable she was about ready to collapse right there and not move an inch.  But, Frank excitedly spurred her on.

               She followed him out of the tunnel and found herself on a wide outcropping of rock.  She blinked a few times when the light hit her eyes, but they soon adjusted.  When she looked around though, she immediately understood hen Frank had taken her there.

               All around them, the mountains rose up majestically.  The red, yellow and orange rock weaving patterns in the air like they came from a painters brush.  The sound of the river below them echoed among the great mountains.  She looked down a bit and saw the arches and pillars that the river had carved out over the eons, like some ancient sculptor.  Far off in the distance, she could see a wide field of various shades of green that came from the fields and forests that bordered the mountain range.  The sky was clear blue, with only a few wispy clouds the mar its mirror like surface.  Just on the horizon, she could even see a few smatterings of reds, golds, and oranges that came from the late afternoon sun that had only just started to set, but still with several hours of good light left in it.  The screech of a bird came to her ears, and she looked for the source, soon finding a large eagle soaring overhead.  The large bird landed on a nearby pillar of stone and rested there.  Deb couldn’t tell if it was sitting on some eggs or not though.

               “So, glad you came now?”  Frank asked.

               “Ok, yeah, it is pretty neat.”  Deb said.

               “Just wait though, it gets better?”

               “How?”

               “Wait till you see the sunset once it really kicks in.”  He sat down, folding his legs under him to make himself as comfortable as possible.

               “Er, sunset?  But that’s still a few hours away, isn’t it?”

               “Oh sure.”

               “And after that, it’ll be dark.”

               “Yup.”

               “So does that mean what I think it means?”

               “Sure does.  It’s too bad that we won’t be able to see the sun rise from here though, isn’t it?”

               Deb groaned in frustration as she slumped down on the rock.  This was going to be a long night.

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Everyone should be a little adventurous sometimes, even if it's only once in a lifetime.  There's some things that you just can't see on a screen after all.