The Proverbial War

The makeshift torch was so about to go out!

This had been a bad idea. As if in echo to my thoughts I heard Colt grimly mutter, "Not my best notion."

Wow, a man that could admit when he was wrong!

That was cool. I hadn't expected such humility of a man like Colt. Actually when it came down to it I didn't really know much about the man other than my preconceived ideas of him which he had mostly proven wrong.

The torch sputtered and went out leaving us standing in the pitch dark of the cave tunnel. I wasn't big on small dark places, but I stayed quiet.

Colt sighed loudly and then resignedly said, "Go on say it."

"Say what?"

"That I'm an idiot for going down this rabbit trail!"

"I don't think you're an idiot."

"You don't?" He asked sounding genuinely surprised.

"You had a good theory."

"But I've marooned us in the dark underbelly of who knows where! I bet we've come almost half a mile or more! Can you imagine what it's going to be like to feel our way back out the way we came?"

I grimaced at the prospect of that, but I still felt that he wasn't being all that fair to himself.

"Well, be that as it may, we're still alive and I haven't been eaten yet by some dinosaur or caught and raped by pirates, all of which could have happened by now on the surface. While our situation isn't the greatest it is still manageable and I think you had a good idea and I think we should go on instead of turning back."

There was a moment of silence that stretched out for a long time then and I was beginning to wonder if I'd said too much.

Colt's voice was different sounding than his usual hard-edged tone, "You have that much confidence in me to continue risking your life by following me?"

There was a clear answer to that in my head.

"I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for you Colt, several times over to be exact. I'd be a fool not to have confidence in you. Besides what's there not to be confident about you? You've more than held your own in this survival game, while I feel like I'm in over my head waiting for the elevator to stop its freefall."

There was another long silence before Colt's voice broke it, "All right, we'll go on then."

He moved forward and I quickly grasped the back of his shirt not wanting to become separated from him in the dark. He tapped away with the torch stick as he felt the way out forward gingerly. A thought occurred to me then and I gave voice to it.