Moby-Dick or The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, first published in 1851. It is considered to be one of the Great American Novels and a treasure of world literature.
Four good geo-friends Ahab, Elijah, Flask and Ishmael got together for a day of geocaching. Flask's 12 year old son who had recently started caching as Pippin joined them. Flask was preparing a breakfast of bacon and eggs for everyone to get a good start on the day. All of them were curious about a new puzzle cache named Moby-Dick. Everyone got involved in a discussion about possible ways to solve the puzzle, including Flask who forgot about the breakfast cooking on the stove.
Pippin noticed smoke coming from the stove, ran over and grabbed the frying pan and pulled it from the stove. It was a bit too heavy for him and very, very hot. He began swaying back and forth with the hot pan. Flask cried out “Oh, oh, child, way you shake that thing, gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting” and grabbed the pan from Pippin. But it was too late. Pippin had burned his fingers. Ahab shouted “You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin'” and thrust the boy’s hand into the sink and turned on the cold water.
Pippin was very grateful for Ahab’s quick action and after a couple of minutes the pain was gone and he tried to tell Ahab that he was OK now and to thank him. But Ahab didn't hear him so he repeated “I said it's alright. You know it's alright - I guess it's all in my heart”.
Relieved that Pippin was OK, the group returned to the task of solving the puzzle while Flask started a new batch of nine eggs. This time breakfast was cooked without incident and all five of them continued their discussion as they ate. Two hours time went by and they concluded that they weren’t going to solve this and would need help. If only Flask’s sister were here – she was great at solving puzzles.
Elijah motioned for everyone to be quiet and said “I hear the horses' thunder down in the valley below”. Flask ran to the window and exclaimed “I think I see my sister coming, riding many a mile”. They were all relieved when Starbuck rode up and tied her horse outside.
Everyone greeted her when she entered and asked how she was. Starbuck replied “I've been working from seven to eleven every night, it kinda makes my life a drag.”
Ishmael explained to Starbuck how they had been struggling for two hours trying to solve the puzzle. Starbuck just grinned and said “I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way”.
The group was excited to hear this news and all five of them asked Starbuck to show them the way to the cache. Tired as she was, she readily agreed. She couldn’t resist the challenge.
Starbuck led the group to a wooded area where they began a hike down a trail. It was a long hike and they eventually got tired and decided to stop awhile. Pippin being the youngest didn't want to rest and began to fidget in the dirt. Flask explained “Now and then you've got to take time to pause. When you're down on the ground, don't be messin' around”.
Ismael speculated that this could be a very difficult hide and wished that his friend Tom was here. “Ain't a thing that you can hide from Tom. There ain't nothing that you can hide from Tom” he said. Ahab guessed that it might be up a tree and cried “Well I ain't no monkey. I can't climb no tree”. Hearing all this Elijah began to despair and said this quest was “To chase a feather in the wind”. Pippin couldn’t understand this metaphor and shrugged “Uh oh, I’m drawing a blank”.
Seeing that the group was getting discouraged, Starbuck jumped up and exclaimed, “Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream. Let me take you there. Let me take you there”. She charged down the path and the group followed quickly, their spirits lifted again.
It wasn’t long until Starbuck indicated they were at ground zero. After a short search of no more than seven minutes, Pippin announced that he had found the cache! Just then a light rain began to fall, so they signed the log quickly and made their way back to Flask’s home.
It was now late afternoon and the rain had let up and the sun was trying to break through the clouds. But night was near. What would they do now?
Elijah had the answer, “Singing in the sunshine, laughing in the rain. Hitting on the moonshine, rocking in the grain. Sitting round singing songs 'til the night turns into day”.
And that’s just what they did.
