The Well

The bottom of the old well seemed impossibly far away, but there was no way I was giving up now. Fate had to be smiling upon me. Not to mention Alice's palpable excitement.

As I continued precariously repelling down, the rope's groans proceeded to tug at my resolve. The images of disaster flashed between the all too lucid moments of the reality in that musty place. Death felt as though it was all around me.

I could not relent. I had to see this through. I had covered three continents to come to this very moment. From the depths of The Black Forest, through the crowded streets of Hanoi, I had come so far. I needed to finish what I started. I needed to deliver for Alice. We would never get this kind of chance again. The expense was going to be worth it! I was going to parlay this windfall into a real fortune!

The air became more viscous as I descended - my doubts strengthening in the dank air. The swelling doubt was a familiar feeling. I felt my chest begin to tighten as the knot slowly expanded its grasp from out of my gut.

"You're committed at this point. You cannot turn back now." Speaking it aloud helps me to plunge another 15 feet into the void. Rationality was typically my tool of choice for dismissing fear.

The problem with rationality is that it always leaves room for an argument with myself. "Is it worth my life? What would Alice think if I didn't make it?"

As I dangled between the surface world and the bottom of the well, I could feel myself being driven onward. The prize was within my grasp. After all, death is only a remote possibility. A possibility we live with every day to some extent or another.

As I made my way further down the shaft, the void began to hint at a form. Glistening like crude oil, a sludge of water and grime began to take shape in my eyes. My heart sank. A fire would have been more welcoming. Compared to the stagnant waters that were materializing below me, it would have been a less cruel fate.

Every indication I had suggested the well had been long dry. This was imperative if I even had a remote shot at success. Was I really that foolish not to verify the facts of the case? Why did I do this to myself? The treasured journal would be ruined if submerged in this hateful muck!

All the expense to get to this point. A $20,000 windfall wasted!

For a brief moment, in the pit of my self-loathing and frustration, I sensed encouragement. I felt the gentle and optimistic voice of my sweet Alice, "You don't know that for sure. Maybe it isn't as bad as you think?"

She's right. I was so quick to jump to sorrow and surrender, I had not given thought to the brighter side.

What if the notebook is ruined? I will have lost a blessed windfall. Gambled away on what felt like a sure thing.

I decided to stop speculating. Action is the only way forward. I dropped another few feet down, embracing what fate had dealt me. My boots squished in the shallow, reflective mud at the bottom of the well.

Hope burst within me as I realized there was very little water. I quickly dropped to my knees, feeling around, grasping frantically. Maybe it isn't ruined. Perhaps this wasn't all for nothing.

Seconds became minutes as I clawed through the unending dark mud. Minutes began stacking up by the dozen. There was no notebook in this well. The climb back was so much more challenging with the weight of defeat.

A lot of darkness surrounded me in that well. The light from the surface could hardly penetrate the gloom. The years after I came out of the well were the longest of my life.

Alice was so supportive. Even though the $20,000 from her antique find was lost. For a while after the well incident, I believed that we would have been better off putting that piece in the house.

It was not until now that I finally put it all together. The very notion is what has led me to write down these aged thoughts in this little black notebook. While the notebook wasn't there, we did find a great treasure.

Despite what I believed as I lowered myself into that awful old well years ago, there never was a notebook detailing the location of hidden jewels and precious metals. For Alice and I, the adventure leading to the bottom of the well wrote one of our lives' most exciting chapters. We met people from all over the world and learned about their cultures. We saw beautiful sites around the globe.

More than that, we grew even closer together after the well. Through pain and defeat, our bond strengthened. The experiences we forged were worth more gold we could have ever found.