Tom Thumb

    Staring into a deep well Tom stood sucking thoughtfully at his thumb.  He pondered how far it was to the bottom, he wondered if there was a bottom.  If there was in fact a bottom, were there things living down there? fishes?  Mole men?  Tom very badly wanted there to be something special about the old well so he would have a good story to tell his friend Stephen on Monday at school.

    Tom decided the well needed further investigation so off he wandered home in search of supplies.  he removed his thumb from his mouth since he knew his mother didn't approve and would be quite cross with him if she saw.  As he opened the door his mother greeted him from the kitchen where she was preparing the evening's supper.  Tom shouted a "Hullo!" and explained he was just popping in, but would be back for dinner. From his room Tom filled his backpack with objects from all corners, odds and ends from here and there until he was satisfied that he was prepared for anything and then he set out again for the well.

   Tom was a very adventurous and enterprising ten-year-old, but his mother really had no idea.  She assumed her son had an over-active imagination and he liked to play outside when he wasn't drawing fantastical maps in his room.  On the one hand these things were perfectly true, but it was also perfectly true that Tom had accomplished more in terms of exploration than some adults had twice and three times his age.

  As Tom re-approached the well he extracted a few of the items from his backpack.  these items included a length of durable rope, a pair of gloves with grips and light with an attached headband.  Firtst Tom secured the rope to the well's foundation using a Sailor's knot.  then he slipped the headband light over his forehead and clicked it on.  And finally the gloves were slipped on and the backpack was slipped on for later.

 Grabbing the rope with both gloved hands Tom climbed over the well's ledge and began to rappel himself into the depths.  Down, down, down, he went slowly illuminating the well with his light.  Tom expected to find water soon, yet the water never came.  Tom paused to ponder, with gloved thumb in mouth, how much further the well would go; the rope was running out of slack.

  Tom cast his light straight down and found the bottom to be quite close, he dropped from the rope.  He found himself not in a simple chamber, but in the beginning of a labyrinth. Tunnels spread out in 5 directions, each seemed to go for a fairly decent distance without end.  Tom looked at his watch to find it was nearing supper time, he would have to come back to explore the maze.