The bank was higher on the left side now, and it was rocky, not clay. The stonewas bone dry and shone ghostly white in the moonlight, except for one place,under a low outcropping, where the rock was glistening wet. When Paulie gotcloser he could see that there was water flowing thinly over the face of therock. But how could that be, since all the rock above the overhang was dry? Onlywhen he stooped down did he realize that there wasn't just shadow under thatoutcropping of stone, there was a cave, and the water flowed out of it. When thestream was high, the cave entrance must be completely under water; and the restof the time it would be invisible unless you were right down under the overhang,looking up. Yet it was large enough for a person to slither in.
A person or an animal. A bear? Not hibernation season. A skunk? A porcupine?Maybe. So what? Paulie imagined coming home with spines in his face or smellinglike a skunk and all he could think was: They'd have to take me away from here.To the doctor to get the spines out or back home to get the smell of me awayfrom the others. They'd have to ride with him in the car all the way down themountain, smelling him the whole way.
He ducked low, almost getting his face into the water, and soaking his shortsand the front of his T-shirt. He was right, you could get into the cave, and itwas easier than it looked at first, the cave was bigger inside than it seemedfrom the size of the opening. The spring inside it had been eating away at therock for a long time. And if there was an animal in here, it kept quiet. Didn'tmove, didn't smell. It was dark, and after a while when Paulie's eyes got used