“I digged a hole to China!” Dylan announced with a smile.

“Dug”, said Ethan automatically. He was a year older, in third grade, with better grammar. He caught Dylan’s frown and recovered: “That sounds cool! Can I see?”

“Sure!” Dylan ran into the house, and returned with a flashlight and binoculars.

“Have fun, boys! Nice to meet you, Ethan,” Dylan’s mom said. She didn’t seem concerned about her son’s project.

Ethan remembered trying to dig an underground fort in the woods behind his old house. Three boys with shovels found a few inches of easy soil, then a thicket of tree roots and rocks. They’d spent the rest of the afternoon on their bikes.

Dylan’s house bordered on state forest. He took Ethan well beyond the property line, across a tiny stream and up to a cliff of layered gray rock. There was an opening tall enough to crouch into.

“You didn’t dig this cave,” Ethan said.

“No, I digged inside!” Dylan turned on the flashlight and pointed it in. The cave went pretty far back and widened a bit as they got inside. The passage turned and they were out of sight of the opening.

“This is really cool,” Ethan admitted.

“Here it is.” Dylan shone the light on a flat gray stone the size of a refrigerator door, almost blocking the passage. “I think it’s Chinese.”

Ethan didn’t think so. He’d seen Chinese writing, in comic books his friend brought from Taiwan. The marks carved into the rock looked a lot more primitive. Like bird tracks or tree branches.

“Here’s where I digged.” Dylan pointed to a small gap at the left, barely wide enough to squeeze through. A breeze at their backs was blowing into the gap. “Let’s go.”

They shimmied through and the cave continued, forcing them to crawl for a little while. Then it opened into a wide meadow overlooking a valley.

“It’s China!” Dylan said. Ethan didn’t think so. However, it didn’t look like Bolton, Connecticut either. Tall blue-green grass swayed in the wind, as did giant ferns instead of trees. Giant green flowers seemed to move on their own. A few four-legged animals grazed in groups.

It was a lot warmer here.

Dylan peered through the binoculars. “Way over there is a bunch of Chinese people.”

Ethan borrowed the binocs, focused on the group standing under a fern.

Dylan had apparently never seen a Chinese person in his life. These people weren’t Chinese. On closer look, they weren’t even people.

One of them turned his way and pointed, giving Ethan a good look at its face.

“Uh, we gotta go.”

“Why?”

“One of them saw us. See? They’re all coming this way.” Ethan ran back to the cave. Hopefully Dylan was right behind.

—

“The sun’s down, and the kids aren’t back yet,” Dylan’s mom said. “I think we should go look.”

“I’ll go,” his dad said. “Thought I’d need a jacket, but probably won’t. It’s really warm out tonight.”