Lost in the Straw

for the Honeybee

 

Tiffany glanced at her watch. It had almost been an hour since they had entered the Straw Maze. It had been dark when they came in, but then the straw bales had been clearly visible. It had been fairly easy to identify the dead ends. Now it was impossible to see down the corridors of straw. Dave had been smart and bought a glow stick and Kirsten had her phone out, two comforting blobs of light ahead of her. Neither she nor Sarah had thought to bring any light. Kirsten had gone through the maze the week before and Tiffany hoped she remembered the way out.

“How much longer is this going to take?” she called to the front of the group. “Who knows?”

“Not much longer.”

“Forever! We’re never getting out.”

Tiffany sighed. She probably shouldn’t have asked. “I think we need a strategy, aren’t you supposed to pick one direction and always turn that way? Just wondering isn’t working.”

Kirsten’s cell phone suddenly stopped, “Aha! I remember this. We have to go through the tunnels.”

Tunnels? Tiffany watched as the light dropped and then disappeared. The glow stick followed it. Not wanting to be left behind, Tiffany quickly scrambled after her friends. She was finally close enough to see the dark hole in the straw – there really was a tunnel. Crouching down she crawled in, relieved to be able to see the light again.

“Wow, this is cool,” said Sarah, just ahead of Tiffany.

“It kinda is,” agreed Tiffany. The straw was squishy beneath their feet and the dusty smell of straw was all around them. All the bodies where blocking the light and making it hard to see. She hoped she didn’t bump into anything. She put out her hand and grabbed onto Sarah’s jacket. Sarah cried out.

“It’s just me!” Tiffany reassured her. “I’m trying not to get lost.”

“There’s a short drop up here,” called Kirsten.

There was a pause as each person carefully slid down the drop. After a turn, they were suddenly back out in the open.

“So where’s the exit?” asked Dave.

“Um,” said Kirsten shining her light around. “It’s close.”

Tiffany turned her head up to the stars. Away from the city lights, she could see thousands of them. They were spread across the sky like spilled glitter. She’d been trying to look at them all night, but everyone had kept moving. “Look there’s the big dipper,” she pointed.

No one answered. Jerked back to earth, she realized that her friends had left. “Hey! Sarah! Kirsten! Dave!” she yelled. “Don’t leave me!”

There were three openings in the hay. Which one had they gone down? Without thinking she darted down the one her left. “Kirsten?” she called. Still no answer. She kept moving. She had to find them. In the dark, she nearly collided with another group. Finally, she dug out her own cell phone. Its light wasn’t as bright as Kirsten’s, but at least it was something. Wandering through the maze alone was a little creepy. There wasn’t anyone to talk to, and no one to hold on to. She had no idea where she was. She almost didn’t notice the streamers hanging down in front of her. She bit back a yelp when they suddenly brushed against her face. Looking up, she saw they were tied to a wooden beam stretched across the tops of the hay bales.

“Dead end back there,” reported a small family coming out.

“Are you sure?” asked Tiffany continuing in. Kirsten had said something about streamers at the end of the maze. She wandered in a circle, passing more streamers before coming to the same conclusion. It was just a bunch of dead ends.

Groaning she glared at the straw, as if she would be able to see through it. Being lost with her friends had been fun. Being lost by herself was not. She had to get out of here! But how? Her own advice finally came back to her. Choose a direction and stick to it. I will go right. Turning to the right, she plunged into the maze. At first she passed corridors and dead ends that seemed familiar. Swallowing her frustration she kept going. She ignored other people who told her about dead ends. Most of the time they were right, but she was going to stick to her strategy. Slowly, she ended up in places that she didn’t recognize. Encouraged, she began smiling. This wasn’t so bad. She passed another set of streamers, but these ones were new. She had to backtrack through them, but seeing something new made her too happy to care. She made more right turns, and noticed that she could hear the generator outside the maze. She had to be close to the exit.

Her steps quickened. Soon after that, she saw light down one of the corridors. People passed her, “Dead end that way.” She didn’t listen. Where was all that light coming from if it was a dead end? It was a long corridor, with lots of twists. But suddenly she stumbled out of the maze. A loud whoop greeted her from a crowd that was milling around at the exit. A wide grin spread across her face. She had done it! Scanning the crowd, she looked for her friends. Where they still in the maze? After a few minutes she walked over to the concessions stand and bought some hot chocolate. A while later her friends finally got out of the maze and found her, sitting on a hay bale, looking up at the stars.