Tuesday, March 17th 1998 6:15pm

Change minus One Hour

Aztec, New Mexico

Eric went through the supplies again just to make sure he had everything. He had the nails and the hammer, the wood was waiting on the porch with the cooler, and some blankets. The previous summer he had found a nice little cave in the hills behind his parent's house and had been developing it into a secret spot for a while. The first time he had seen it was completely by accident. He was exploring the area the night after a storm like he always did and found that a tree had been split by the lightning. He had heard this last night and thought for a moment it was a gunshot. As he came closer to examine the split tree he thought it had burnt the ground as well, it had turned out to be an opening in the rock below. After a slight descent he dropped for about seven feet to the ground below and found himself in a cave which was the space between two large rocks. From what he could see it had all started from the water the dripped down one side of the cave.

In the weeks that followed the discovery he made an exit tunnel big enough for him to crawl through with wooden supports, he had rigged a tarp to keep out most of the rain and weather, he took apart a bookcase and carried it in pieces to the cave to reassemble it and fill it with his books, and managed to spend most of the time he had out of the house. It wasn't that he hated the house, it was just that he hated being alone in the house, which was always the case.

His efforts would not have been so successful if his parents would have been home or the fact that they like their neighbors used an empty and condemned lot to dump unwanted items like refrigerators and furniture. This year he had successfully setup chairs and a table, today he was going to setup a place for a cooler and he was going to go construct a bed.

He took the long path to his cave, not wanting to leave a trail. He knew he was being paranoid but he did not want his brother to follow him or find his cave. His older brother was easier to put up with now that he had sports to distract him. This was his brother's senior year in high school, next year he was going to start high school as a freshman and shortly after he would turn fifteen. Part of him hoped that like his brother he would find something to distract him once he moved on, but now he was dedicated to his cave.

The opening he had made was big enough for him to crawl through and drag something behind, he had tried to make it bigger but had almost sealed the entrance. That was when he decided not to push it and when he started using wooden supports. He setup everything in a pile, keeping the blankets off the ground as much as possible. As he crawled out he decided that he should probably think about blocking off the entrance in case he did leave a trail. He emerged from the hole carefully, making sure not to hit the wooden support just beyond the entrance. After dusting himself off he began to look around for a suitable rock or something that would work to cover the entrance. It was partially hidden by a shrub, but Eric had accidentally worn it down through his various entrances and exits. He kept an eye out for anything that would do as he walked back to his house. There did not appear to be anything that would work, he guess he would try to cover it with a tarp and dirt to make it fit in. He was so lost in thought that he did not see the person standing on his porch.

"Hello," a voice said.

Eric jumped and looked at the person wide-eyed. As his heart thudded wildly in his chest his brain connected the person to a memory, she was a girl he went to school with. In fact she was in his English class.

"You scared me, Danielle." He said blushing.

"Sorry," she said with a shy smile.

"What are you doing here?" He looked over her shoulder to his driveway but did not see a car or a bicycle that she could have arrived in. He was pretty good at hearing cars.

"I'm at Stacy's tonight," she motioned over her shoulder, flipping her ponytail as she turned. "She mentioned that you lived around here and I was wondering if you wanted to join us for a movie?"

Now it was Eric's turn to blush. "Yeah, I would like that."

Her smile broadened and she began to walk towards her friend's house. Eric walked beside her in a nervous silence. He did not have much experience with girls, which did not really need to be said considering he spent a lot of his free time making a cave livable.

"So," he searched for something to say. "Stacy doesn't mind that you invited me?"

"No, not really," Danielle's smile shifted just slightly. "She is the only person your age in a three mile radius and neither of you have cars, but you aren't friends. That is weird."

"We kind of were friends when we were younger but we just aren't now." He shook his head not really wanting to think about it. "Her parents don't mind you inviting me over?"

"They are in Montana for the weekend with her little brother." She flushed slightly.

"Oh," Eric smiled as well.

Danielle opened the door and allowed him to enter first. He looked around at the living room, noticing things really had not changed in the years since he had been in the house. Stacy sat on the couch with a bag of popcorn in her lap, she did not look to excited to see him.

"Hi," Eric did not exactly feel overjoyed to be with Stacy either. "Thanks for inviting me over."

"Danielle invited you," she turned on the TV and let the movie play.