Prompt #296. Picture prompt: Picture of a cave: prnt. sc/tcq223

See if you can follow where my thought process went with this one lol


"The gutters are filling! Everyone out!"

The call nearly echoed, easily cutting through the midday bustle, and he hazarded a peek out of his cubby to find the others hurrying through the archway. What did full gutters have to do with anything?

"Come on, everyone! Bath time!"

Bath time?! He quickly shrank out of sight. No way! He hated bath time! Why would the Irregulars want to take a bath?!

"Take the street in front of the jeweler this time. And hurry!" Wiggins' voice grew louder, then the older boy appeared in the cubby's entrance. "You too, Alvin. I thought you'd be all over this."

"Uh uh." He curled further out of Wiggins' reach. "Don't need a bath."

"Sure you do. You were making mud pies in the park yesterday. You have to be getting itchy." The older boy held one hand out—an offer, not an attempt to force Alvin out of his cubby. "Come on. It's fun, and if we hurry, we might get to use that large hole on the next block."

Alvin merely shook his head again. The mud had dried to spots that itched badly enough to make him dig with his nails, but baths would never be fun. He would much rather have the courtyard to himself for a few minutes.

Something in Alvin's refusal made Wiggins frown. The hand retreated, then Wiggins crouched to better see into the shadowed hole.

"What do you think I mean by a bath?"

"What else could you mean?" Alvin shot back. "I'm the newest! By my turn, that water will be nasty, and you're not scrubbing me til I'm raw. Uh uh. Not doing it. Go away."

Wiggins' frown deepened. "We don't do it like that here," he promised. "A bath is when a storm runs the gutters full on a warm day. We use sand to get as clean as we can, then a bunch of us usually go spelunking at the canal."

Alvin's angry refusal died with a rush of confusion. "A bath in the gutter?"

"Yeah. The water's usually warm. Ish," he added with a shrug. "Lot warmer than the lake, anyway, and cleaner, too. The littles like to try to splash each other."

Alvin studied him for a long moment. That did sound like fun, if Wiggins was telling the truth.

Not that Alvin had seen the older boy lie yet, even when it would have kept him out of trouble with that gang. "Promise?"

"'Course." He edged further away from the hole to let Alvin reach the courtyard. "Come on. This storm won't last forever."

A moment's hesitation debated his options. If he stayed here, Wiggins would never force him, but he did not yet know what the Irregulars used in place of his mum's willow branch. The consequences later might hurt. If he agreed and Wiggins was lying, however…

He could always run away. He had done it before, after all. Why not again? The thought made his decision, and he cautiously followed Wiggins through their archway and into the storm. If he found anything resembling a tub with older kids helping the younger, he would run the other direction and not stop until the rain did.

"Alvin!"

The alley opened to a long stretch of road, but while he found nothing like what he knew for the word "bath," the yell provided his only warning before Edith's sudden stop sent a near tidal wave over Alvin's legs. She laughed and sprinted away.

"Gotcha!"

"You're not gonna chase her for that?"

Alvin looked between Wiggins and where the girl joined a group at the next corner. Normally, yes, he would return even better than she gave, but she played with the oldest boys except Wiggins. If this was a trap, he was safer over here.

"Sneak attack," he replied. "I'll get her later, when she doesn't expect it."

Wiggins let out a hearty laugh. "Alright, then. Does that mean you're coming with me?"

Only in the sense that he would end up in the same place. He trailed Wiggins' path down the street toward the large gutter hole Alvin had noticed the other day. The heavy rains filled it to overflowing, creating an ever-refreshing pool that two other boys already used. Wiggins made no effort to hide a grin of pure mischief before he lunged the last few steps.

"Cannonball!"

The hole did not go deep enough to let him truly jump in, but he still hit the water with a giant splash. Alvin watched in surprise when the other boys merely laughed and splashed him back. This was a bath?

Apparently so. Wiggins continued inviting Alvin into the water, but the older boy focused more on using wet grit to scrub dry grit from anywhere he could find. The layer of grime that Alvin had thought Wiggins' natural skin color soon washed down the gutter. It would be nice to be clean.

And the lessening rain meant the pool would only last for a few more minutes. He finally waded into the knee-deep puddle, a watchful eye ensuring the other boys left him alone even as he grabbed his own handful of sand. Mud had dried everywhere from between his toes to under his fingernails—and behind his ears, though he had no idea how he had managed that—and the next several minutes passed in scrubbing, splashing fun. That felt much better.

"Didja get rid of all the itchy spots?" Wiggins asked from behind him, shaking his head to spray water everywhere. "It'd be better if we had soap, but sand does well enough."

"I like sand more than soap," Alvin disagreed. "Works the same 'n doesn't go away, and that's a lot better'n how my mum made me wash. What'd you say you usually do next? Lunking?"

"Spelunking," Wiggins corrected. "At the canal. Some of the others are already there. You comin'?"

"Sure, why not?" Shaking his own head nearly made him stumble. "What's spelunking?"

A pause suggested heavy thought before Wiggins waved the question away. "Easier to show you. We do it on bath days cuz we're already wet and the canal's running high."

They zigzagged through the streets, most of the young ones puddle jumping in the drizzling rain, and laughter carried from the closest point on the canal well before Alvin came within sight. He sped up. What were they doing?

"Me next! Throw me! Throw me! Weeee!"

A loud spelunk cut the happy noise short. Alvin rounded the final corner to find most of the Irregulars lining the canal's banks. Some swam, some of the littles threw rocks—and giggled at the noise each one made—and the older ones teamed up to launch anyone they could into the water. That looked like fun!

"This is spelunking?"

"Sure is," Wiggins grinned. "We started it when some of the littles didn't want to wash. Curiosity made them wash that day, then spelunking became a tradition even after they decided they liked washing." He scanned Alvin. "I think you're small enough. Want to be a spelunker?"

Alvin looked between the Irregulars' leader and the group playing in the canal. Wiggins was only a few years older than him. "You can throw me?"

"It might only be once," he cautioned, "but I think so. Want to try?"

Alvin immediately nodded. Yes, he wanted to try! Wiggins explained how to rebound off one knee to use his hands as a boost, and when the first attempt failed, he called one of the others over to help.

They needed full gutters every day.


Did you make the connection? :D Hope you enjoyed! Feedback is always greatly appreciated.

Thanks to MHC1987 and Fireguardian22 for your reviews last chapter :)