Adventures Down a Culvert

In my hometown, the main gravel road was the only one that led us to the outside world and out of our sedate village. There was a culvert built of stone under the road beneath the gravel. This culvert allowed for drainage when flood waters roared down from the hill into the pools of low terrain.

After school was over, children dispersed in all directions but those who lived in the same village would accompany each other in several groups of two or three, chatting about the events of the school day. The remaining students would stay on duty at school to clean their own classroom and the toilets.

One day, after the cleaning work, several boys meandered along the road, chasing and chatting, as they walked back home. When we reached the culvert, someone stopped, walked to one side of the road, on the edge of the hole, to take a closer inspection of it. This huge drain was a fascination for us children. As all of the boys crowded around one side, a slight light could be sensed from the opposite side, but there still was an unfathomable darkness between the two openings.

Despite the dangers, a bold idea to crawl through the darkness of the culvert intrigued us once someone suggested it. The idea of crawling through the hole seemed like a good idea. Some of our fellow classmates were hesitant but could not bear to disappoint others who were already deep in excitement and anticipation when they had to enter the narrow hole. The secrets of the dark tunnel had an unlimited attraction for us.

Meanwhile, we clutched our messenger school bags tighter to our bodies. Then we set off, talking at once with excited curiosity. The first brave boy crawled into the hole. Others followed the him like a pack of dogs. It was not frightening at first when we entered. I was in the middle of the team.

After crawling for a few meters into the hole, it was completely dark for me because our bodies were crammed so tightly into a narrow space that even the faintest ray light could not get through, especially for the children in the middle. It seemed the culvert became a maw, not the same passage we had observed on the side of the road before we entered. It was close, dark and airless since I was in the middle part of the culvert.

Our imaginations convinced us that the jagged rocks lining the culvert were the sharp teeth of vampires that prepared to bite our necks, aimed towards everyone who try to slip. The children in the lead might avoid crashing by faint light. But the rest of us were the unlucky ones moving forward in darkness without any warning.

Several boys hit these sharp antennae-like rocks, screaming painfully including me. We promptly felt discouraged. Sharp stones brought us to a halt at intervals. I began to feel devastated. It seemed the terror had completely mastered me. I started to fidget, questioning aloud why I should keep on moving.

No formal reply came, only grumblings. It seemed to me that the culvert was a monster which had us in his bloody mouth. Our notion of a pleasant after-school activity had shattered in the hole.

Moving backwards, I hit somebody’s head, crawling forwards, somebody’s rear-end. We were all in a fix. It was much too late to quit. The better we moved through the tunnel, the sooner we would escape the dark.

Some weird and awful pictures appeared in my mind: the sudden collapse of the hole, torrents of water flushed through the drains in a freak flash flood, being mauled by frightened mouse, or attacked by snakes inhabiting in the crevices of the hole.

While stuck in the hole, we thought we might die in the close and airless culvert. What a bad scenario! Fortunately, at the place where we had been confined for a few minutes, the standstill broke into a slow, forward crawl.

The face of the first boy beamed at the first sight of light and he quickened his pace. The rest of us sped up with caution. The stirring light grew and grew after my friends in front left the end of the hole.

Taking a glance of the wild surroundings, everything was in its own place again. Breathless and shocked, the boys laid down wearily on the weeds. Again, we saw the serene and vast spread of the fields, the peaceful pools, the low houses far away, and soft clouds in the blue sky.

All these placid and divine things which gently dispelled our previous panic and terror. Plopping down for a while on the weeds opposite the dark hole, I scolded myself for being a part of such a spine-tingling deed.

I was numb with fear. Finally, after a while, my body and mind finally felt refreshed.

In the future, I would never risk such stupid behaviors without prior preparation.