The Great Escape

“Go on Johnny, you go first, you’re the biggest.” said Dave, pushing his brother towards the tunnel entrance.

“Hang on a minute, stop shoving,” replied Johnny, “I’m not sure we should go down there. It doesn’t look wide enough to me.”

“Rubbish, we can squeeze through there easy, and anyway, the other passages are too small.   Even the way that we came in seems to be blocked off now.  That’s the only way out.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right” said Johnny, thoughtfully “and we been in here ages haven’t we?  I suppose if we don’t get out soon, Mum will start worrying.”

“Too right, and then Dad would send out the search parties, and they’ll dig their way in here and pull us out.  Just think how embarrassing that would be.  It’ll be loads better if we can get out of here on our own.”

Johnny edged himself towards the opening with some trepidation.  It was a lot smaller and darker than he would have liked, and part of him thought it might be a very good idea to stay put and wait for rescue. But Dave was right, it would be totally embarrassing, if not terminally uncool, to end up being hauled out of here by a rescue team.  So, he put on a brave face for his little brother, gave him a friendly elbow in the ribs, and prepared to lead the way out. 

It had been great when they had first found their little hideaway.  It was warm and cosy and they’d played there for ages without realising the time.  Eventually, they began getting hungry and realised that it was actually a bit cramped in their little den.  It had been a bit of a shock to discover that the way they had come in was now blocked, but this other tunnel seemed to lead to the outside world.

Johnny now lay on his back, with his head in the tunnel “OK” he said “I’ll go first, but if I get stuck, I’ll start kicking my legs and then you’ll have to push from behind.”