Pap and Barney

Carol A. Lunsford
2003

©2003 Carol A. Lunsford

All rights reserved. No portion of this story may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission from
the publisher.

This story is a work of fiction and is a product of the
author’s imagination. This was created as the author’s
eintoryafoTralal TallesTcaolenstceostn. tReseta.dRfeoardefnojroeynmjoenymt, ehnutmor,
and possibly a glimpse of imagination.

Published by Carol’s Works
Fayetteville, Georgia

Second edition

Website address: www.carolsworks.com

the memory of my mother, Georgia Lee Pace who
created stories all children enjoyed, and with thankfulness
to the memory of my father, Boyd, for his ingenuity in creating
masterpieces from everyday objects—and to my husband, Tom
and my son, Andy, for accepting me in all my “quirkiness” and
loving me anyway.



Characters
Pap: Archeologist, geologist, rock hound, gem
collector, zoologist and farmer. Jack of all trades.

Barney: Pap’s pet mole--a giant mole which lived on a
remote mountainside somewhere in Tennessee.

My great-grandfather told me this story. He said
he heard it from his great-grandfather, who heard it
from his great-grandfather, who said his father did the
deed himself. I’ve been studying my genealogy lately,
searching for facts about my ancestors, therefore it’s my
belief this story is factual. After all, those grandfathers
long ago used to tell this story to all the little ones. It
must be true. They told a story about “Pap”.

Pap was an explorer by description, and an
archeologist by design. Listen to what he had to tell.

Your grandfather was a grown man when all of
this took place. He was a big help on the farm. He
worked the fields and I scouted the countryside for
artifacts and gemstones.

1

One day while walking over the hillside I saw
the tip of a rock jutting about a foot above ground.
Around the base of the rock were piles of soil as if
someone tried to unearth the rock and take it with
them. I knew if someone wanted to go to that much
trouble for a rock, it must be precious indeed.

I tried to prize it out of the ground, but it would
not budge. Realizing it must be several inches into the
ground I knew could not dig it out with my pick or
even pull it out using the mule and ropes. The only
way to get it out would to be to tunnel around and
underneath, but I had no equipment with me.

Scanning the surrounding area I saw humps and ridges
along the ground. Being a farmer I realized these were
mole tunnels.

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“ Ah Ha,” I thought, “The mole tunnels will be
a big help”.

I went home and loaded the pack mule with
long planks of wood, each about four inches wide.
Returning to the rock tip, I began pounding the planks
of wood into the mole tunnels. I did this for weeks.

Whenever a rock or stone was in the way I’d toss it
over my shoulder or throw it to the side. Each day I
determined the direction the mole was taking and
would come behind blocking the escape routes with
planks of wood. I forced the issue above ground and
that mole worked underground.

Pap told me Barney was a giant mole and his claws
could dig through two miles of subterranean earth
daily. A giant mole is around five feet tall when lying

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on its belly. When it stretches to full height, it’s almost
ten feet tall. Barney’s tunnels were almost six inches
taller to allow for stretching and wiggle room.

When Barney reached a tree root he dug around
it. Sometimes the roots were small enough for him to
dig underneath. Barney’s tunnels began to resemble a
roller coaster ride. Sometime they curved to the outside
to immediately plunge downward only to curve to the
inside before making an uphill climb.

It seems like Barney and I worked together for
months on end. Barney’s tunnels must have gotten
deeper and wider. The planks of wood created new
waterways for rainwater runoff.

Finally I reached the rock tip with his planks of
wood. The continuous pounding caused vibrations

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around the base of the rock and Barney’s burrowing
underneath took away its support. The rock fell with
such force through the layers of Barney’s tunnels that
when it reached the solid ground deep inside the earth
it disintegrated upon impact, creating a crater where it
landed.

The digging had made a hole straight into the
bowels of the earth. Things got worse when a
thunderstorm fell on the mountain above. The force of
the flash flood rushing downhill seeped into the top
layers of Barney’s tunnels and headed straight for the
rock’s hole. When the water reached the edge where
the tunnels had been sliced into; it fell down the hole
into the crater below forming a lake.

I could not leave a hole in the ground for
anyone to fall into. So I built a cover, much like a cover

5

for a well and piled dirt on top. I think that Barney
while trying to escape the flooding tunnels sped away
from the scent of water, digging uphill to get out of the
way. He miscalculated when he rounded a large stone
and opened a doorway to the outside world. He
pierced the side of a bluff above the Tennessee River.

Pap, explorer, archeologist, and zoologist continued his
wandering around the countryside.

One day as I was strolling along the riverside I
glanced up to see a cave on the bluff. The governor
asked me to lead an expedition to explore this cave.

While climbing the mountain side we came
across piles of rocks clustered into grouping that looked
like a city. A city formed from rocks. This Rock City
was our first surprise.

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Once inside the cave we discovered twisting,
turning tunnels ending at a lake inside the earth with a
waterfall cascading into it. These falls were beautiful.
The water fell straight down into the lake. I was the
first one to see the falls, so I named them after your
grandma. That’s why they’re called Ruby Falls

Moles still keep a lookout on that mountain. When the
wind is just right you can hear the sound of planks
being pounded into the ground. If the night is calm you
can sometimes hear rocks thumping upon the ground.

Scientists presented many reasons as to the history of
Lookout Mountain, Rock City, and Ruby Falls. My
family knows the truth. Pap told us how they came to
be. He was there.

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