Thought I'd try something new. I'm attempting to self-edit. Hope I caught all the errors. Enjoy.
*****
It was what they did to relax, they've been doing it for decades, hiking through the desert mountains outside of Las Vegas where they'd lived almost as long as they'd been married. Now in their middle sixties, considering retirement, Carl and Dolores Newman, married almost forty years found joy in the simplest things. Unlike many couples their age, they kept themselves in good shape, by hiking and playing sports like tennis and soccer. Although their active lifestyle allowed them to looked to be in their forties, there was only so much you could do to stave off the ravages of old age, and both were beginning to feel their age.
They'd been exploring for hours, one of their favorite caves. And it was during their rest period, as they drank and nibbled on granola bars they heard the distinct sound of wood breaking and the two found themselves falling through an old sealed off mine shaft. Fortunately, the fall wasn't long and they avoided sharp rocks as they tumbled about forty feet below. Unfortunately, they both were knocked unconscious. Hours later, Carl began to stir. He couldn't see anything in the dark, but he remembered he'd been holding his FlashlightZ BEACON. Although it was a little pricy, it was the best flashlight on the market, ultra-bright rechargeable LED. He felt along the cave floor, it couldn't have gotten too far. He heard Dolores cough and switch on her flashlight, just as Carl found his and turned it on.
"Dee, are you alright?" He asked as he too coughed from the dusty cavern they found themselves in.
"Yeah, babe. I think we are extremely lucky, this could have been a lot worst." She shined her beam up the sloop they tumbled down. It wouldn't be easy, but she seemed sure they could climb out.
"I knew they mined these mountains for silver, but I didn't think it was this close to Las Vegas," Carl said and he dusted himself off then hugged his wife of thirty-seven years. "Are you sure you are okay," he asked as he shined his LED light on her. "Oh, you might want to put that back," he laughed as her right breast had removed itself from her top.
She giggled, "I knew I felt a draft. Are you sure, I could take the other one out to keep its company." Dee joked as she stuffed her large tit back in her shirt and loose-fitting bra. Dee was gifted in that department, she worked hard to maintain her physic but nature had taken its toll. Her once firm breasts were still very impressive, but she needed the support of a good bra.
"Well," Carl said as he looked around the small cavern they'd fallen into, "We may as well start climbing out of this. Do you want to lead or follow?"
Feeling mischievous, Dee knew that if she led her husband would be looking at her ass as they climbed. Her jeans were pretty tight and she could have a little fun at his expense. Thinking better of it, perhaps she should follow, Carl's strength might be needed to move a heavy rock or to pull her up.
"You better lead, hon," she admitted. You're stronger and we're not sure what lays ahead." They both shined their lights up the shaft. Fortunately for them the shaft was angled at something close to a forty-five-degree angle, depending on how loose the dirt was, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to climb out.
"Okay, makes sense to me," Carl agreed. Just as he was about to strap his light to his forehead so that his hands would be for climbing, something to his left caught his eye. It was a dim light. Being a geologist and having being as at home in a cave as in his house, Carl knew that he needed to investigate the source of the light. "Just a minute, hon. I need to check this out."
Seeing the dim light, too Dee agreed but warned that it would getting dark out and she really wanted to get out of this shaft and into a hot bath.
Reaching the wall of the cavern, Carl removed the small pickaxe he carried on his belt for just such an occasion. It didn't take but a few swings to loosen what appeared to be a gem about the size of Carl's hand. "This is strange," Carl said. "It looks like a Lightning Ridge Black Opal, but that's impossible."
Dee wasn't interested, so when she saw Carl had the stone, she whined about leaving and Carl popped the stone into his pocket for examination later. The climb out of the shaft wasn't as bad as it first appeared and they were soon out, dirty but out. A short hike and they were in their Jeep Cherokee headed home.
It was dark when they arrived at their Summerlin home, the view of the Las Vegas valley and "the Strip" visible in the distance. Being a tenured geologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Dolores a partner at successful Las Vegas law firm meant they could afford to splurge on their home. Nights like this one the view was amazing. While Dee soaked in a hot bubble bath, Carl took the stone to his office to examine it closer. It was indeed a black opal, the most precious of all the gems, and at least fifty times rarer than diamonds. This one was found in the mines of Lightning Ridge, a small town in New South Wales, Australia. "What was it doing here in an abandoned Nevada silver mine?" This gem appeared to have storm clouds frozen within in it, with blue lighting coming from it. It was spectacular and quite rare indeed.
As Carl continued to gaze into the stone, the frozen storm appeared to move, slowly. Carl seemed to lose track of time as Dee entered the room wrapped in a terry cloth robe and a towel around her head.
"Carl, didn't you hear me calling you?" she said annoyingly. He didn't answer. She shook him, breaking the effect, the gem was having on him. Then she noticed the jewel in his hand.
"Oh, is that it. It's lovely," Dee said as she put her hand on Carl's shoulder and peered down at the gem.
