Deep Down (Sam Stone Book 1) Read Free Page A

mildly panicky feeling of being underground, where, to her logical writer’s mind, it made absolutely no sense for any intelligent human to be willing to venture.
     
     

Chapter Three
    Jenny allowed herself to be distracted from her internal feelings of anxiety by viewing the plethora of interesting exhibits in the museum.  In the museum’s caverns, clustered into exhibits, were original costumes worn by famous actors in several major motion pictures, several original sketches of famous cartoon characters, historical artifacts, such as incredibly old newspapers and old film reels, and a diverse collection of mining equipment and information.  There was even an exhibit containing an incredibly old bacteria that had been unearthed in the mine and then resuscitated.
    She and Stone meandered through the museum, hand in hand, until it was time to join the others in the dining cavern for the performance.  They easily found their groups’ table in the dining cavern, situated in a choice spot near the entrance, and joined them there, just in time for the beginning of the dinner theater.
    It was early December, so the evening’s theater performance was comprised of an oddly mixed Santa murder mystery. Purposefully focusing on the performance of the actor and actress took her mind off of the encroaching feeling of claustrophobia, brought on both by the thought of being under 640 feet of solid earth and compressed salt and by the worsening symptoms of asthma instigated by the dusty, strangely scented air. Jenny was pleasantly surprised to notice how much time had passed when the first act of the hilarious performance was finished and the museum’s events announcer announced a brief intermission, to be followed immediately by a catered buffet-style dinner.
    Lively conversation broke out amongst the scattered tables surrounding them, and the large cavern grew loud with laughter and animated talk.
    Stone rose easily from his seat, and gestured to the exit, “Do you want to go see the gift shop?”
    Jenny nodded gratefully and got to her feet, happy to stretch her legs, knowing that the movement would help with her lingering feelings of claustrophobia.   Silently congratulating herself for facing her fears and managing to pull off mostly normal behavior for the first half of the evening, Jenny followed Stone out from under the remarkably high nine-foot ‘ceiling’ of the dining cavern, past a brightly lit Christmas tree made entirely of twinkling lights which made the walls and ceiling glitter even more as the tiny lights reflected back from the millions of salt crystals embedded within them.  Under other circumstances, Jenny would have found the display positively captivating, but her lingering feelings of anxiety about the strange quality of the air and the knowledge of just exactly how deep underground they all had travelled were like tiny niggling worms of worry in her thoughts, eating away at small enjoyments.
    “So, how do you like it so far?” Stone asked as they walked, hand-in-hand, out of the exit near their table to the small gift shop just adjacent to the dining cavern.  
    “It’s…” Jenny paused, not wanting to dampen his enjoyment of the evening by telling him how she really felt.  “…interesting.”
    Stone’s deep laugh echoed off of the curved salt walls.  “You hate it!”
    “Well, no, I don’t hate it,” Jenny mumbled quietly, still trying to be nice.
    “Yes, you do, I can see it on your face.  You’re not enjoying yourself very much at all, although I did catch you laughing at the hairy guy in the tights during the dinner theater performance,” Stone said as they wandered into the gift shop.
    Jenny chuckled at the reminder.  That part of the performance had been absolutely hilarious.  In her mind’s eye, she could still picture the thin, excessively hairy man, dressed in a pink full-body leotard and tutu, capering about the room pretending to be the Sugarplum fairy.
    “He was very