THE CAVE tells the story of Samuel Tobin Carter, a twenty-year-old US Air Force C-130 crewmember who is shot down while on a classified mission over Laos in 1966. A Tennessee native with long experience and curiosity about caves, Carter knows that Laos is a "karst region," an area characterized by limestone at the surface and honeycombed with caves. Immediately after his shoot-down, he sets out to find a cave in which to hide. Carter not only finds the cave, he finds more the means by which to wage his own personal war against the North Vietnamese, particularly the antiaircraft gunners who had shot him down. The authors borrows from his own experiences as an enlisted C-130 aircrew member during the Vietnam War and the many happy hours he spent later in his life exploring the vast underground world of northeastern Kentucky.

This book is a composite of poems written by a young romantic teenage boy and by a longtime senior citizen--both of which just happens to be me. Also included in the content are several short stories, some of which are in poetic form. Enjoy.

D. L. Dugan was a prospector, Spanish American war hero, and a successful businessman. He was also miser, who cut his own hair and stuffed his shoes with cardboard. He had his hoard of gold bars melted down and molded into a ball so heavy, no thief could make off with it. His hobo grandnephew, who resides in a junkyard with three other bums, later inherits the ball, but assumes it's worthless. The four hilarious bunglers dream of riches, but spend the bulk of their time relaxing in the shade, and though they have little, they are always willing to share with their wayfaring brothers.