‘I am height challenged,’ the short and rumpled man said softly to the raven of grey feathers who stood upon the slope.

The raven cocked its head and blinked.

The tunnel behind this man had been long and winding. There had been white sticks with pink ribbons to show his way. The compass in his pocket had stayed true and this was the slope he had meant to arrive on.

‘Do they know of this.’ The raven spoke quite clearly, for a raven.

‘No,’ said the man. He stood up and wiped off the dust from his knees. ‘Some of us are not fond of crawling in the dark. Myself, I found it interesting and enjoyed the discoveries. But that particular way…’ and here he turned back to look at the barely visible exit. ‘That is a way known only to a few.’

‘Tried and true indeed. Understanding something, and experiencing it are extremely important, don’t you think?’ The raven began to bounce up and down on his long and spindly legs. ‘How would they go?’

A distant rumble was heard. The thunder of shod hooves and a bridge that had been risen by the earth itself was what they had traversed under. The way had been safe, even if not well known.

‘Frankly,’ replied the little man. ‘Some areas would not accommodate them. It is highly likely some would get stuck.’

Where is this coming from, where has it been. Now what is it doing?

The whispers did not understand.

‘To feel such a weight over one’s head can be disconcerting for some, especially when the tunnel is long and hardly heard of anymore. Not even a large and hairy man would know of this one.’

‘He wouldn’t?’ The raven cocked his head to the other side. ‘Why not?’

‘He’s never been there.’

‘Where do we find this tunnel?’ asked another being. His voice was light, like a warm wind, but his glinty little eyes were calculating.

‘You can’t find it. You have to know it’s there.’

This makes no sense , this makes no sense. The whispers did not understand.

It is a trifling thing for someone to remember. It has been experienced in other places by other people, but this one was known only to a few. The entire experience of this darkness was had by only two. When a dolphin is not a dolphin, and a light grows dim, perhaps the adventure has been even more exciting.

‘Could you get back there, if you needed to?’ The raven was excited.

‘Not without help. It is difficult to find. People will think I speak of something else, but I do not.’ The man parked his little rump upon the tumbled pebbles. ‘I think I have mixed it up just enough to make it undiscoverable.’ He picked a piece of straw out of his hair. It shone like gold in the early morning sunlight. He turned to the being with the light voice and glinting eyes. ‘This was before your time,’ he said. ‘Coffee?’

What the others did not know, was that the man did not refer to pages, or books or even pay, this morning. What he did refer to, was memories, and pastimes, and the enjoyment of a hot beverage.

One hundred years is a long time.