Stone and Sand

I  meet a girl who lives in a remote rural setting by  an  antique
pathway bordered by forest and marked with boulders on the margin. 
She is poor with no job,  fearful someday she may lose her home to
developers.  I give her some advice,  suggesting she does not ever
move the ancient stones. We are in a tunnel which gets smaller and
smaller as we progress.  All the while I am giving her tips how to
procede in the event of various obstacles.  The walls and  ceiling
are  earth,  stable  for the time being by  ambient  moisture  and
pressure. As we advance however the structure loosens, grains flow
free  and  we must push through a curtain of falling sand  to  get
ahead.  In  one unbearably claustrophobic moment  we  are  totally
immobolized  by a mass of minute particles that fill  every  void.
Putting into practice an old strategy I know about we claw our way
through  to an opening up ahead into a vaulted chamber  of  arched
stone.  Passing through I brush the wall and find the  surface  is
porous crumbling to the touch into dust and a sticky filament fine
as spiders web.

2/13/10 Jay NY