Several days later, work at the cave was progressing. Star and Nicole had finished their preliminary sketches and were now painting detailed, full-color renditions of all the drawings.
The research team of Chantel, Gabby, and Nixie were spending every night trying to puzzle out the meaning of the strange symbols they’d come across and how they affected the meaning of the rest of the information in the drawings.
“It sounds like you’re really stuck until you figure out those unknown symbols,” Benji said, walking next to Chantel as they headed back to the caves for another night of study.
“The problem,” Chantel replied, “is that the drawings in the cave are trying to convey important information with a limited number of symbols. If a symbol is used, it must be important, which means that you can’t skip any of them and be sure you’re getting the right information.”
“Are you saying that one of those symbols could change the meaning of the preceding or following symbols from good to bad?” Benji asked.
“Exactly. With something this important, we need as close to perfect understanding as possible.”
“You’ve got a tough job,” Benji said. “I hope the three of you can figure it out.”
“We’ll probably have to ask my mother for help,” Chantel replied. “She has access to the libraries at the Teachers Village.”
“Would you mind if I climbed up to the cave with you to see these drawings for myself?” Benji asked. “You’ve been telling all about what you and your team have been doing every night, and you have me really curious.”
“Sure, it would be nice to share that with you.”
Gabby and Nixie were waiting for them when they got to the clearing at the base of the cliff.
“If you guys walk any slower,” Gabby chided them, “you’ll have to head out at sunset to get here by midnight.”
“Be nice, daughter of mine. Have a little respect for your elders,” Chantel replied.
“I hadn’t realized that you had aged so much these last few weeks,” Gabby laughed.
“Okay, you’re too sharp for me tonight,” Chantel replied, “Let’s just get up to the cave.”
Once they were in the main chamber, Chantel was trying not to laugh.
“I’m sorry, Benji, I should have warned you that the passageway has a low ceiling.”
“No problem, I noticed right away,” Benji said, rubbing the bump on his head.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the drawings, as soon as my eyes stop watering.”
“Oh, you poor baby, did you get a boo boo?” Chantel grinned.
“I beg your pardon,” he said indignantly, “big tough cats don’t get boo boos.”
“Okay, Toughy, come over here and I’ll show you the drawings.”
Chantel took Benji through the story told by the drawings, pointing out the sections they had high confidence in their understanding. They finally got to the symbols that had them stumped.
“This is where we ran into problems,” Chantel said, pointing to the unknown symbols.
Benji squatted down to get a closer look. “So you say these are cats planting a tree. What’s this symbol right before that?”
“That’s a representation of time,” Chantel said. “See the circle? That represents the present. There’s an arrow coming down from above ending at the circle, and there’s another arrow coming up from below also ending at the circle. That means they were planting the trees at the same time they made the drawings.”
“Remember back earlier in the drawings, there was the symbol with a circle with a long arrow pointing down to another circle with another long arrow pointing down? That’s the part of the legend describing the plague that recurs every two hundred years or so. There are other places in the drawing that suggest the two hundred years figure.”
“So, at the point where the cats were planting the tree, the plague and all the other excitement were over,” Benji asked.
“That’s right. Then immediately following that is the symbol of a large circle with the central dot and the seven dots around the edge.”
“So whatever that represents is also in their present, right?” he asked.
“Right again. Okay, let’s keep going.” Chantel continued. “The next symbol is a circle with a long arrow pointing up from the circle.”
“And that means the future, right?” Benji asked.
“Yes,” she said with a thoughtful expression.
“So this next symbol represents something in their future,” Benji said with a glimmer of an idea.
“What does that symbol of a circle with concentric circles inside remind you of?” he asked.
“That’s the problem, it doesn’t remind me of anything,” she said, a little perturbed.
“No, not in your book learning, what does it remind you of in the real world?” he persisted.
She thought about it and finally gave an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know, what do you think it is?”
Benji stood up and said, “Let me propose a story.”
Moving back along the wall, he pointed and said, “This talks about the plague, and this time symbol talks about it recurring in the past.”
He moved back to where they were and said, “At this point, the plague is over, and they plant a tree.”
“Then, in the future, the symbol with the concentric circles becomes relevant.”
“Okay, I can agree with all that,” Chantel said. “What does that tell you?”
“Have you ever cut down a tree?” Benji asked her.
“Well, that’s not really in my line of work.”
“When you plant a tree, as it grows, every year as it goes through the seasons, it adds a ring showing where it stopped growing in the winter and started growing again in the spring. It does this for its entire life.”
“Now, when you cut that tree down, you can see these yearly growth rings on the butt of the tree.”
Now, with interest, Chantel said, “You’re saying that symbol represents the growth rings of a tree?”
“Think about this,” Benji told her, “If they planted a tree at the time of the plague and we cut down that same tree today and we count the growth rings of that tree, we could tell how many years ago their plague ended.”
Chantel looked at him then down to the drawings, then she threw her arms around him.
“You’re a genius!” She said giving him a deep heartfelt kiss.
“Whatever you say,” he said a little shakily, when they came up for air.
A little more calmly she asked, “So what do you think this other symbol means.”
“If you want to go along with my story, if those cats planted a tree that they wanted to be found hundreds of years in the future, they would do something to make it stand out from all the other trees that would have grown up since then.”
“I would think that either they planted a main tree with seven trees planted in a circle around it, or those are seven stones surrounding the main tree.”
“Also, if you want there to be well-defined growth rings, you would plant the tree where there’s definite seasons. If it’s near here, that would mean up higher in the mountains at the edge of the valley.”
“When you come up with a story, you really make it real,” Chantel said with a smile. “I said there was depth to you.”
Turning, Chantel called to Gabby and Nixie. “Come on over here, Benji wants to tell you a story.”
Finally, Chantel told Benji, “I think you’ve shaken things up enough for one night. If you don’t head home, you won’t get enough sleep before you have to go to work on Cassy and Baxter’s cabin.”
“Yeah, it’s time to get some shuteye. I’ll see you back at the village.”
Waving goodbye to Gabby and Nixie, Benji made his way out of the cave.
He walked back along the forest path with a big smile, but he wasn’t thinking about sleep.