Yellowstone National Park - Part 2

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One fine day, Kootie and Koobert were sailing across the afternoon sky at Yellowstone National Park, and urgently looking for a nice soft place to land. Not that flying was their preferred mode of travel, or even that they had intended to be flying in this area, but it was just another part of the adventure they were having.

I suppose Koobert would have liked flying more if he were better at making soft landings. The simple fact was that his adventures with Kootie often resulted in flying at some point, and he resolved that if he was to become good at nothing else, he really wanted to master the graceful landing. Meanwhile, his attention was somewhat divided between planning his descent and appreciating the majestic view that he was sailing past.

Kootie had almost as much practice at flying as Koobert, but sometimes she wished she could do it in an airplane, or at least with some wings, or at the very least, on purpose.

“See that hole in the ground over there?” called Koobert to his older sister. “That looks about as soft as anything”.

Kootie had to agree. The ground did look pretty hard, and there didn’t seem to be many options - especially since their sailing trajectory had taken a decidedly downward trend, and would have looked to anyone watching much more like falling then sailing. Kootie and Koobert clasped hands, and began to twist in midair to angle toward the hole.

“Maybe it’s a cool cave that we can explore,” observed Kootie hopefully.

A small number of tourists gathered around the hole were busy talking to each other and taking pictures of cute little squirrels. No one noticed when Kootie and Koobert scored a bullseye, right in the hole, disappearing from sight. It was one of their better landings.

The air was warm and moist in the comforting, dimly lit chamber where Kootie and Koobert finally came to a stop. The walls glistened with tiny rainbows of reflected light from the opening, now some distance above. Kootie was the first to hop to her foot and begin to inspect the chamber walls.

“Oooo, it’s very pretty,” exclaimed Kootie, becoming quite lost in the crystalline beauty before her. God is indeed an artist, she thought, as she lightly brushed the surface with her hands, causing shimmers of color to dance at the edge of the floor where she stood.

Koobert had experienced a slightly less desirable landing - only a few feet away, but also up to his knee in soggy, slimy mud. It was soft, but not nearly so warm and cozy as the air, which seemed to be flowing from deeper in the cave, to an escape through the opening above. He hopped out of the mud, and began to peel great handfuls of the muck from his leg. It felt squishy, and kinda fun.

“Here Kootie, try some of THIS on your leg,” Koobert said, as he playfully tossed a handful of mud right on his sisters back. As the mud oozed down to Kootie’s leg and foot, Koobert giggled, “Now we BOTH need a shower to be Koobie-clean!”.

Remarkably, Kootie giggled too, and replied, “Oh Koobie, where are we s’posed to find hot water down here in the dark?”

As if God was just waiting for Kootie to ask, there was suddenly a torrent of steaming water exploding from the floor of the little chamber. Up, up, up went Koobert in the billows of steam and moisture. Up, too, was Kootie, propelled back through the hole by the jets of water.

The crowd of people had gotten somewhat larger, and was applauding wildly as Kootie and Koobert blasted up out of the hole in a shower of vapor. “There she blows!” someone yelled, and the applause increased.

Kootie grinned, and said to Koobert (who was sailing through the twilight just ahead of her) “we get a bath AND a blow-dry!”

Koobert returned her smile, and said, “Let’s find a different soft place to land”. Laughing out loud, they traced a gentle rainbow against the setting sun.