"Why does it have to be so cold?" asked Brian peeking out the door of the mine tunnel.
"Well, what do you expect? It's December," said Breann sitting on her cot further in the tunnel and combing her strawberry blond hair.
"So? We're in the desert, isn't it supposed to be hot?" asked Brian. His hair was shorter than his twin sister's hair, but it was beginning to grow out of control. It was sticking up in clumps in some places and laying down backwards in others. He pulled on a dirty beanie cap.
"True, but look on the bright side, it'll be Christmas in a few days," said Breann. The children had tried to keep track of the days by marking them off on a calendar they had. They were pretty sure that it was the twentieth of December.
Morgan sat up. He had been laying on his cot, but the idea of Christmas excited him. His hair was as messy as his brother's, but unlike Bri and Bre, as he called them, his hair was a dirty-blond color.
"Yeah, but what good does that do us? No one even knows we're out here!" said Brian.
"So? At least it's Christmas," said Breann beginning to comb her hair.
"Why can't Christmas be in July? Then it would be warm," suggested Brian.
"No, it would still be December and you'd just have to wait longer for Christmas," said Breann refuting Brian's logic.
"Okay, then let's forget about Christmas and just leave it in December and make it July now," said Brian.
"It doesn't work that way," said Breann.
"What good is Christmas if we don't get any presents and if we're not getting any presents why should we have to be cold all the time?" asked Brian.
"You're crazy," said Breann.
"No, I'm cold," said Brian as if he were correcting his sister.
"It's still Christmas and Christmas is a special time of year," said Breann with a smile.
Morgan laid back down feeling slightly disappointed.
"Well that doesn't do me any good right now. I have to go out and use the outhouse and it's probably fifteen degrees out there!" said Brian smiling sarcastically to mock his sister.
"Too bad for you," said Breann.
Brian made a run for the outhouse which was about fifty feet from the mouth of the mine tunnel the kids lived in. He made it back to the tunnel in less than three minutes. The first thing he did was crawl into his sleeping bag and complain about the cold.
"Yeah and we're out of water. Someone's going to have to walk up to the springs to get some more," said Breann.
"I say we all should have to go so we can get more water that way," said Brian.
"What about Morgan? Last time he went up there he slipped on the ice and hurt himself," said Breann.
Brian looked straight at the roof of the dimly lit tunnel. After a few moments of silence he said, "Too bad there aren't any hot springs around here."
"Have you looked at the map?" asked Breann.
"No. I don't really know how to read that thing," said Brian.
"Well, it has a mark for where we are," said Breann.
Intrigued by the possibilities, Brian got up, found the map, and took it and unrolled it on the table beside the one little candle that provided light for the tunnel. He studied it for a few moments.
"We're at the Independence Day Mine," said Breann.
"Yeah, so?" asked Brian scanning the map.
"And the springs are called Norma Mae Springs," said Breann.
Brian measured something on the map with his fingers and then said, "And there's some more springs about this far from where we are on the map." Brian held up his hand with his first finger and thumb spread out about two inches apart. "Only thing is they don't have a name," he added.
Breann went over to the table and looked at the map with Brian. Morgan joined them a moment later.
"I think that's about a mile away," concluded Breann after studying the map scale.
"And it's the same direction from here as the springs we always go to only further," said Brian.
"That means it's over the mountain," said Breann.
"I'm going!" said Brian. Since it had become cold the kids didn't get out as much. They stayed in the tunnel most of the time except to use the outhouse or to get water. They played outside for a few minutes on clear days, but for the last week it had been especially cold and so they mostly just stayed in the tunnel where it stayed in the fifties even when it was well below freezing outside. As long as they stayed bundled up in the tunnel, they could stay warm.
"I don't think we should," said Breann.
"Who said anything about we? You can stay with Morgan," said Brian.
"That's not fair!" protested Breann.
"Well, I always get stuck getting water for you and Morgan. How come that's fair and this isn't?" asked Brian.
"That's different," said Breann.
"Well how about if I get some water on my way back?" asked Brian.
"I wanna come too," said Morgan.
"No, you'd just get hurt," said Brian.
"No I wouldn't," said Morgan.
"Yes you would," said Breann realizing that Brian was going to go alone since he would never agree to stay and watch Morgan and she would never just abandon Morgan like that.
Brian took off his jacket and put on a couple of long sleeved shirts. He also put on another pair of sweat pants over the sweat pants he was wearing. "It's going to be cold out there," said Brian picturing himself as a brave explorer as he pulled his jacket back on. He grabbed three water jugs on his way out the door.
"Be careful," said Breann. Then she added, "Don't take too long."
"Don't worry, I will," said Brian only half joking.
"Bye Bri," said Morgan as the door shut.
After a brief period of silence, Morgan asked, "Do you think it could be July if you changed the calendar?"
"No, it doesn't work that way," explained Breann wishing that it did.
Brian made his way up to Norma Mae Spring as he did on an almost daily basis. A small stream flowed for several yards below the spring when it was warm. It was solid ice now. Brian enjoyed looking at the ice since the flow had formed interesting frozen patterns. The ice also made it difficult to get water since to access the spring meant treading on ice which was likely to crack under the weight of a human body. This wasn't dangerous, it was just annoying since it meant that a shoe would get soaked with freezing water. Brian left the jugs near the spring and then continued on up the canyon. Along the way he noticed steam rising from many of the bushes. It was cold, but the sun was warming the bushes enough to make steam.
After about forty-five minutes of hiking, Brian made it to the top of the canyon. He looked over the ridge and into the next canyon. It was deep and the way into it was steep. Then he noticed a little path worn into the ridge that climbed toward the traverse ridge which divided the canyon he was looking down from the next canyon to the east. Brian decided to follow this path. When it got to the dividing ridge, the path entered the canyon to the east. Brian followed it to the bottom of this canyon and continued following it to a clump of trees. In the middle of the group of trees he noticed more steam. As he entered the group of trees he found a small pond. He walked over to the pond, stuck his hand into the water.
"A hot spring!" he said in an amazed, but quiet, voice.
Back in the mine tunnel, Breann had got out the video camera and she made Morgan film her talking to the camera. She said, "I just want to make sure everyone realizes that Bri is living up to his other nickname as usual. He's off being McNaughty and I'm here being McNice." Breann, Brian, and Morgan's last name was McNaughton and Brian was called McNaughty and Breann had the nickname McNice. Breann continued to tell on Brian. "He's off trying to find a spring when he should just be getting water for us. He could get lost, or injured, or eaten by a mountain lion, or frozen to death. I told him not to go, but did he listen? Of course not!"
Breann took the camera and turned it toward Morgan. She asked, "What do you think about Brian?"
"He's a dork!" said Morgan realizing that when Brian got back and saw the video that he and his sister were making, that Brian would playfully beat him up and that they'd have a fun time wrestling around for a while.
"What do you think of the way he just left us here so he could go explore?" asked Breann.
"He shouldn't have left us," said Morgan.
"He could have just waited for warmer weather, but no he had to do it now," said Breann.
"Yeah, he's a big dummy!" said Morgan.
"I wish I had never told him to look at the map," said Breann.
"Yeah, you're a big dummy!" said Morgan.
"Hey, you're not supposed to say that about me," protested Breann.
Morgan laughed.
Brian inspected the hot spring carefully as he contemplated whether or not he should enter it. There were bubbles coming up in a few places and the steam was pretty thick at one end of the pool. After a careful inspection he took off his clothes, laying them carefully in a dry spot as close to the edge of the pool as he could find. He stripped completely naked since he didn't want to have any wet clothes and carefully entered the water. The water where he first stepped into the pool was a bit cool, but he soon moved into pleasantly warm water. He squated down in the water and moved forward until he was up to his neck in warm water. He sort of floated in the water testing the water with an arm extended in the direction in which he was moving to make sure that he avoided any water which was too hot or possibly too cold. After a while he found a comfortable spot with a rock he could sit on and where the water was nearly hot, but not too hot. He laid back and dipped the back of his head into the nice hot water.
Brian looked up at the sky and empty tree branches above him. He enjoyed the heat of the water. He felt like falling asleep, but it occurred to him that he might drown if he allowed himself to fall asleep and so he fluttered his arms around in the water and kicked his feet a little to keep himself active.
"I wish I could just stay here!" whispered Brian to himself.
Breann and Morgan kept themselves occuppied with the video camera back at the mine tunnel. Breann suggested that they do a Christmas skit and she had the idea that Morgan should play the role of Santa Claus.
"How am I supposed to do that?" asked Morgan.
"Well, you can use Brian's red windbreaker and there might be some more stuff in the boxes," said Breann.
They began looking through the boxes for things that they could use to help them create a Santa Claus costume.
"Here are some cotton balls," said Breann holding up a plastic bag full of cotton balls.
"Oh, yeah, we could make a beard with them," said Morgan with a smile.
"Yeah," said Breann and then she asked, "Can you help me with this box?"
Breann and Morgan lifted the current box of provisions off the top of the stack. Then they opened the next one. Most of the boxes contained a bunch of food, a few candles, and various odds and ends. Their captor had provided plenty of food for them and they were actually about three weeks behind schedule which meant that they hadn't made it to the box they were supposed to open in December yet.
"Hey, this one has some Christmas stuff in it!" said Morgan.
"Yeah, here's some Christmas candy," said Breann.
"Should we save some for Brian?" asked Morgan.
"No, he went on the hike without us and so we can eat the candy without him!" said Breann.
Morgan and Breann looked through the box more carefully. Each box was actually a metal container measuring two feet wide, three feet long, and three feet deep and so a lot of stuff could go into each one. As they moved stuff in the box around they came across some candy canes and a Santa Claus hat.
"Perfect!" said Breann.
Breann dressed Morgan up and told him what to do and say.
"This year we have a big problem! Santa Claus is way too skinny to spread Christmas cheer!" said Breann as Morgan filmed her.
Breann then took the camera and turned it at Morgan. He stood wearing the red jacket, a makeshift white beard made out of cotton balls, and the Santa Hat. He held a candy cane and said, "Merry Christmas!" a few times. The red jacket was held tight against Morgan's body by a black belt.
"To solve this problem we are going to have to fatten Santa up some!" said Breann taking a turn in front of the camera.
Next Morgan was shown sitting in front of a table with a bunch of food in front of him. He looked a bit overwhelmed by all the food and said, "You expect me to eat all that?"
"Yep! It's the only way to solve your weight problem!" said Breann appearing before the camera for a moment.
Morgan was shown stuffing his mouth with food. This wasn't too hard on him since he hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Morgan paused and looked up.
"Keep eating!" said Breann appearing on screen momentarily.
"More?" asked Morgan in amazement. He was again shown shoving food into his mouth. This time he faked most of the eating by stuffing small rocks into his mouth. On camera the rocks looked enough like chocolates to fool the viewer.
"Yes, Santa, if you want to regain your ability to spread holiday cheer, you'll have to eat even more!" said Breann in another quick appearance in the video.
"Alright, I'll do my best," said Morgan laboring to stuff more food into his mouth. After a few more bites Morgan stood up and this time he was very plump. Breann had wrapped a sleeping bag around Morgan and put the jacket on over it while pausing the camera.
"Hooray! I'm fat again," said Morgan.
Brian felt like he could soak forever. He dreaded getting out of the water. As he contemplated his exit plan, he noticed something move behind a bush and then he saw a deer approaching the edge of the pool.
"Hmmm," he said to himself. Brian submerged himself to his nose and lay motionless in the pool. The deer moved up to the edge of the pool and took a sip of the water. Brian inched toward the deer pretending that he was an aligator waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The deer seemed skiddish. It looked around as if it sensed danger, but it didn't notice Brian. Every time the deer looked behind it, Brian drifted forward slightly. Eventually, Brian worked himself to within three feet of the deer. The water was less than two feet deep and Brian was scrunched up with his legs under him. Sensing that the moment was right, Brian lunged toward the deer. The deer immediately bolted backwards. Brian screamed and jumped towards the deer, following it a few steps as it frantically ran to escape what it perceived to be a great danger. Brian laughed and then he looked around self-consciously and covered his privates as if there might be someone out there in the middle of nowhere spying on him or something. He waded back into the cover of the hot spring and dunked his head.
As soon as he had dunked his head, Brian realized that he had made a mistake, but he was so thoroughly and completely warmed by his soak in the hot springs that he realized that it probably didn't really matter. Nevertheless, he waited about fifteen minutes for his hair to dry some before beginning to work himself out of the water. He wisked the water off his arms first and then his chest. He walked to the edge of the pool and wiped as much of the water off his legs as he could. Then he put on his shirts first so as to allow plenty of time for this legs to dry. Brian was still warm when he finished dressing and although he was slightly damp, he knew that he'd stay warm as he began hiking back to the tunnel.
As Brian finished dressing, he noticed something scrawled on a boulder. It looked like someone had left their initials and the date on the rock. He barely recognized the letters "J" and "M," but the date was clear. It read, "July 1833" as plain as could be.
"I'll call this place July Hot Springs," said Brian.
It took Brian a bit more than an hour to hike back to Norma Mae Springs. It took him another ten minutes to fill the water jugs and walk down to the tunnel.
"What took you so long?" asked Breann. It had been nearly four hours since he had left and her and Morgan were beginning to worry about him.
"Why'd you think something happened to me?" asked Brian.
"Well you were gone an awful long time!" said Breann.
"Yeah, we thought you got eaten by a mountain lion or something," said Morgan.
"Nah, but I did scare a deer really good," said Brian.
"Really?" asked Breann.
Brian told her about the hot springs and how he had scared the deer. "I wish I had taken the video camera with me." Then he thought about this a bit and said, "But it would have had to have been water proof, so I guess it doesn't really matter."
"Oh, yeah, we made a video of a Christmas skit while you were gone," said Breann.
"Yeah, starring me as Santa Claus," said Morgan. He still had on the Santa hat.
"Where did you get that?" asked Brian referring to the Santa hat.
"It was in the next box," said Breann.
Breann and Morgan showed Brian the videos they had made. Brian laughed. He took off his beanie while watching a video. Breann noticed his hair.
"Wow! Your hair! It's clean and neat," said Breann.
"Yeah, I took a bath at July Hot Springs," said Brian.
"Oh, yeah?" asked Breann hopefully.
"I can't wait until I get to go," said Morgan.
"The way things are going around here, it won't be warm enough for us to go until July," said Breann.
"Is that a long time?" asked Morgan.
"Afraid so," said Breann.
"Yep, 'fraid so," agreed Brian.