the laughing skull part 5

[Noeyes1]

ok this was 16 pages so the rest is in a file attached, part of an ongoing attempt at a tickling novel for all to enjoy


The laughing skull
Part 5

The heat was more then anything Mary had been prepared for. She kept remembering the words of Mark Twain, the coldest winter he had ever experienced was the summer he spent in San Francisco. Mary now began to understand what he was talking about. The damp heat of the jungle wrapped around her like a hot blanket. There was nothing she could do to relieve herself from its grip.

She fidgeted in the stifling heat of the shipping office. She fanned herself continuously. The fan was her first purchase here in Mexico. An old woman had been hawking them on the dock upon her arrival. She seemed to be all too curious about this new arrival. She insisted on Mary picking a fan, when she looked them over one jumped out at her. Its body was a light tanned wood almost the same colour as her blonde hair. It however had feathers on the outer edge that alternated from fluffy soft white ones to banded stiffer feathers. It caressed her skin almost magically and seemed to banish at least some of the heat from around her.

When Mary reached into her coin purse to pay for it the old woman refused to hear it and became more and insistent that the young woman would need it and refused to accept any payment. Then she slipped away into the crowd and almost seemed to vanish. Mary did however instantly love the fan. Several symbols were carved into the smooth wooden surface, they were unknown to her yet somehow familiar. The feathers were wonderful they felt so wonderful on the exposed skin of her neck as she fanned herself. Mary drifted off into a wonderful daydream as the crates and equipment were off loaded from the ship and loaded aboard the two new ford trucks they had brought with them from the US.

 

[Noeyes1]

part 6

The Laughing Skull
The First Victims

Sandy was excited by being selected as a grad student assistant to her professor it was not a great paying summer job but it would pay down a few bills and she would get to travel to Mexico with the professor while he continued his research. The temple complex they were heading for was remote and had only been worked on some 50 to 80 years before and there were some disturbing rumours about why that dig had failed.

The story changed every time it was told but one simple fact always came up the Iverson expedition had all but vanished in the jungle leaving only a terrified teenaged girl behind. No trace of any of them had ever turned up and the locals would not go near the place. They had to be forced to go there the first time and nearly kept there at gun point. Now the professor had to find someone who knew the area and was greedy enough, crazy enough, or brave enough to lead him to this forgotten temple complex.


Many had gone into that part of the jungle thinking that treasure was sure to be theirs and the few who stumbled back out of the jungle never went back into it, they would never talk about what happened some even had to be committed to a local asylum afterwards for their own protection and the protection of those around them. Even the local Mayan and catholic priests considered the place cursed and they never agreed on anything. Yet rumour's persisted of treasure and strange powers gifted to those who wanted them and were willing to pay the price.