Inflatable Kayak Blog

(Candace Clayton is an author who’s written novels, poetry and other short stories. She was kind enough to write this fictional adventure series specifically for the Inflatable Kayak Blog about ‘The Traveling Man’, a kayaker who tells us tales about his youthful adventures with his buddies on the rivers where he grew up. We hope you’re enjoying it!)

When last we met The Traveling Man and his fellow traveler, John, they had discovered the remains of an old canoe in a cave, deep in the swamps of Louisiana. Suddenly, sights, smells, and sounds they could not believe surrounded them. Let’s rejoin our adventurous duo and see how they get themselves out of their current situation.

John and I just stood there with our mouths hanging open. This sure was an unexpected development. I mean, who would think to find themselves in a cave full of ghosts? Not that I even believed in ghosts before then. Had to do some serious rethinking on my part to even wrap my mind around what was happening.

I closed my eyes, thinking that when I opened them those ghosts would be gone. But no sir, those ghosts were still there, dancing round that fire. John had turned whiter than those there beings, so I knew he saw the same things I did.

“We gotta get outta here.” John spoke in the tiniest whisper. I could hardly hear the feller.

“How you planning on us doing that? We got no light and no idea where we even are. What we gotta be doing, is figuring out why these ghosties are here.”

“Pfft, I aint aiming to talk to em.” John looked at me like I had lost my marbles.

“Nobody said nothing about talking to em. I don’t think they even know we are here.”

“Well, then how do you plan us to figure out why they are here, iffen we don’t talk to em?”

“I don’t rightly know, just yet. I am thinking on it.”

“Well, think faster, those ghosts are giving me the willies.”

All the while John and I had been talking it over, these ghosts had continued their dancing and chanting. They had paid us no never mind until that moment. All of a sudden, one of them looked right at us. Ever so slowly, he crooked his finger as if he was calling us over there. Scared us so bad, I pert near wet my pants and John’s jaw hit the cave floor again.

“John, I believe he is wanting us to go over there.”

“I ain’t going anywhere near there.” John squeaked like a rusty old harmonica. He was so terrified he could barely talk.

The Indian specter kept staring at us and signaling we should join him. I started walking forward, but John grabbed my arm.

“What are you doing? Are you nuts?”

“Nope, I am aiming to find out what he wants.”

“Well, it’s your funeral.”

With those last words of support and friendly concern, John let go my arm. I walked toward those dancing ghosts, but not quickly. No sir, I was taking my time. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard it was almost as loud as those drums and pounding feet. The mist was swirling wetly around my feet and I hoped I wouldn’t step on another gator. If I did, I was someone’s dinner for sure. From within the darkness, I felt a hand grab my arm and I let out a holler.

“It’s me, man. Don’t freak out.”

I turned to see John’s face right next to mine.

“Thought you weren’t going with me.”

“Shoot, with everything we been through together? You think Imma let some old ghosties do you in?”

“Well, I’m mighty glad you changed your mind.”

John and I continued towards the frightening images. As we got closer, they all started turning towards us. One by one, those ghosts stopped their dancing and turned till they were all standing there next to the pieces of canoe ruins and staring straight at us…

Come back next month and read more of The Traveling Man’s ghostly adventure.

The author, Candace Clayton, lives in Granbury, Texas with her Husband and family, spending as much time in the outdoors as she can.

(New Chapters of “The Traveling Man” series are published on a monthly basis here in the Inflatable Kayak Blog. Check back soon for another chapter or set your computer to receive our RSS feed and you’ll be informed automatically when the next part of the story will be posted.)