At the end of the twentieth century China emerged as one of the major forerunners in manufacturing and export. It was cheap and naturally many businesses from all over the world began to consider the country for goods of their own.
Manly spurred my the expensive rise in union demands American companies were some of the first to send representatives from their own corporations as test men and woman. They had qualifications to meet set forth by their company and by assessing the corporations to the requirements saw fit or not to continue on with deals to secure further partnerships.
Naturally all of these representative saw this as a vacation time to kick back and relax when they were not in the office negotiating. Some even went to the extra expense to bring their families along for the enjoyment.
One of these families being the newly established Essures. Keenan, Carla, and Daniel the youngest being only one at the time.
It was the end of their trip and the vacation was over. The parent had finished packing that morning for the long trip back to Beijing. It was much farther to travel than any of the three wanted to travel, but the airfare was much cheaper out of the large city rather than any of the smaller ones.
But traffic along the way had taken a turn for the worse. It seemed as though all the other companies in the world had gotten the hint about China's exporting at that moment and few hundreds of representatives in that day. Couples with the slow moving cattle drawn cart of the country folk and it was a massive traffic jam.
In and effort to cut time and not miss their flight the two older Essures scowered the landscape for a shortcut. One had been found by Keenan on the map in his hands. A small outlet from the main road that may not even be paved. It was narrow, but offered a complete cut around one of the major bends in the roadway system.
They had taken it and how twenty miles in they began to regret it.
"Honey!", Keenan hollered to his wife in the drivers seat, "Honey!"
His wife turned to him red face and angry. The road had been bumpy most of the way through tossing them all thorough the car.
"What!"
"Slow down your tearing the car apart."
Carla didn't want to slow down she wanted to get out of there, but the car was beginning to show sign of dilapidation if it hadn't before.
"I can slow down Keenan the car's about to get stuck in the mud."
It was true. For the last few miles water had begun to soak the ground though there was not a cloud in the sky. Keenan had assumed that a spring must be coming up from the ground somewhere and was washing down the roadway.
Keenan stopped in his thoughts as a smell so foul wafted into the rest of the car. It was an unmistakable smell that burnt his nose until he began to cover it with his hand.
"Oh lord honey Danny needs a change", Keenan began, "we have to pull over."
Carla motioned with her hand to indicate the narrow road ahead.
"I can't really do that Keenan. There not a lot of room."
"Well we need to find somewhere. The diapers are in the trunk, remember?"
Carla scoffed at her husband.
Keenan turn back to the young boy in the car seat only to see the infant giggling at him in a mocking tone.
'You little booger you', Keenan thought.
Turning back to face the front Keenan unfolded the map in his hands to check for any place to rest.
Keenan looked back up at the map in his hands searching for a place to pull the car. He scanned for marking and after only two minutes saw what he had been looking for.
A tiny arrow with a small sign with letters in the maps poor broken English. They read "Jusenkyo Here There Be".
"Carla look out on the left there. There's a small little turnoff somewhere."
Both the elder Ensures searched the side of the road with their eyes. Dense underbrush lined the side of the road obscuring most of the view as the car barreled down the lane. The smell from the back was growing even more foul as it sat even longer underneath the young toddler who still was giggling in the backseat.
Finally after a few moments the Carla looked up ahead to see a small clearing in the forest surrounding them.
"Keenan. Kennan. Look at that up there."
She used her finger to point out the small patch to where her husband could see. It was a welcome site for the smelly vehicle travelers.
Only a few minutes later the clearing was just coming up to them. Carla looked out fro her driver side window to take a better look. The car true there was an offshoot ahead, but that map had not said if it was large enough to fit their small car.
To her surprise the entrance was than big enough to fit their car. In fact it continued on past into the side of the woods more than a few yards it seemed.
It was then that Keenan took notice of the expanding space next to them.
"That's bigger than the map says."
His wife nodded her head to signal she agreed. Gradually she pulled the car down off of the road and into the gap.
Both were amazed to see, when they pulled off, a large area of land completely deserted by the trees. The ground glimmered and it was covered in various pools for miles it seemed.
Carla and Keenan were so entrapped by the beauty of the sight that for a moment they completely forgot about their bundle of joy and his problems in the back.
Then the smell returned to Carla's nose and her concentration returned.
"Keenan grab the diaper out of the back", she ordered.
Keenan to snapped out of his funk to obey.
Taking the key around tot the other side of the car Keenan popped the trunk while his wife struggled to unstrap the young boy from the back of the car seat. No sooner had she propped Daniel on the front of the car did Keenan have the diaper ready with the wipes still in his hand.
"We need water for the wipes", he commented under his breath.
Carla titled her head back in realization.
"Crap. Do we have and water?"
"No. Not in the car."
Keenan rubbed his chin.
"We could get some from the spring over there", he motioned with his finger to the pristine clear pools out in front of them.
His wife scoffed at the idea. No pool of water was clean enough for her child.
"Keenan those thing are probably filled with bacteria and all sorts of crap like that."
Keenan I don't have abetter idea do you? And do you ant to keep smelling that all the way back to Beijing?"
Carla's face scrunched up in disgust. She hated that smell more than anything.
Begrudgingly she muttered, "Fine, but we're finding the cleanest one."
Keenan nodded.
Carla picked Daniel u[p of the front of the car and they set off.
The pools that had once been so clear and nice looking afar now, up close, seemed to be full of murky infestations. Mud and slime filtered through the bottoms of the springs making them all undesirable for Carla as water for her son.
'I thought spring water was supposed to be the best', she thought.
Finally Keenan looked out above a small ways.
"Look!", he pointed, "Look over there! You think that one is good?"question
The pool in question was indeed clear. It puddled up from a massive limestone boulder that lay on top of it cleaning the water.
"It'll do", said Carla still not completely satisfied about using natural water to clean her child.
Keenan leaned down next to the pool and proceeded to wet the wipes. Carla stood next to him young Daniel asleep in her arms.
Carla was only thinking of the smell that permeated from the young boy rear and into her nostrils. In doing so she had begun to neglect where she was stepping. For years the small current of water below had been withering away the underside of the dirt next to the pool. The ground had become thin and worn barely fit to carry its own self much less that of a human female with her young.
Thus it gave way sending both to the icy cold waters below.
The water was surprisingly deep and Carla could not gain her footing. Daniel himself was now wide awake and crying with all effort.
Keenan immediately reached down in the aid of his wife who quickly handed Daniel up to him in place of herself.
Keenan took Daniel back up on dry land placing him down to the earth checking for trauma. Carla pulled herself back out of the pool and onto the land rushing over to see for herself if Daniel was okay.
Keenan had almost pulled all the clothes of the toddler to place him in a dry set as soon as they got back to the car. Lastly he removed the underwear making both parents gasp.
There little boy was not a little boy any longer.