Failed Prospects.P3
Randall ‘Randy’ Tarsh [Paleontology professor], Martin ‘Marty’ Robbins [Archaeology professor], Hugh Johnson [Geology student], Barbara Malters [investigative Journalist], Charlie Stutz [student of Photography]
1:30pm, Friday, Oct 19th: The
“fish and chip” lunch Mary Penman promised was a failure. “How can the fish be
bad? We just saw the boys with the string barely an hour ago.” Barbara consoled
Mary, “That’s OK. I’ll help you make PBJs. Something simple. We’ll figure out
what is causing the spoilage.” As they sat around eating, Barbara told them
about her library research, “Sica Hollow is an old Indian burial ground to the north.
Sacred land supposedly haunted. I understand the town deputy is Lakota. I can
go ask him more details.” Hugh offered to tag along, “I can describe the food
spoilage at Ma’s Store. Get his help on that.” Professor Tarsh sent them on
their way, “Yes. See what he has to say about Indian curses. Maybe someone on Baker’s
team robbed a grave site.”
Charlie excused himself to go to his upstairs room (but
really to check into Dr. Baker’s room). He found Rebecca (18yo room maid) just
locking up his room as she carried a feather duster and cleaning supplies.
[failed Charm/Persuade] Rebecca wasn’t willing to open Baker’s room, “Mr.
Penman says you need to respect others’ privacy. You think he has something in
there causing harm? You mean like those funny bones on his nightstand and that
cold rock? I guess I could ask Mr. Penman for permission.” Charlie followed her
downstairs, arriving just in time to see the professors following Jonathan into
the back rooms. He joined in.
While Charlie was upstairs, Randy and Marty told Mary about
their concerns, “We think Baker brought something back that is causing the problems.
[Randy: Persuade- regular, Psychology- regular] Jonathan overhead and joined
the conversation. [Persuade- regular] Marty explained, “Something is causing
the spoilage. If we don’t find out what, your hotel and this town might be
quarantined. Is that how you want West Haven to be put on the map?!” While
Jonathan went to the reception desk to get the keys, Randy noticed Mary fidgeting,
“Is there something you want to tell us?” Silence.
Jonathan led the trio (Randy, Marty, Charlie) into the
storage room, “Those crates over there.” Marty hefted his own crowbar as he
cautioned, “Stand back, they may be contaminated.” Jonathan backed up and covered
his nose with his snotty handkerchief. Randy did the same, “Can’t be too
careful. Professor Robbins, you might want to wear gloves too.”
One crate included labeled bones and a rough drawing of a Coelurosaur dinosaur with labeling to match the collection of bones. In another box, they found what looked like the bones of a massive horned toad: at least 16 inches long and possibly at least 10 pounds!
But it was the box
of hay with over a dozen stones they found most intriguing. Everyone
immediately recognized the shape, “That looks like a giant turd! Almost as
large as one of Hugh’s dumps.” Laughter aside, Professor Robbins pulled one out
and realized it had etchings on one end. [Archaeology] “That can’t be! Man didn’t
appear till 2-6 million years ago. The Jurassic period was 65+ million years
ago. Maybe the local Indians etched the stones.” He tossed it to Randy to
inspect. Randy keyed on the image of something blowing… as if a gust of wind. “Air
born contagion.” And that’s when he realized the stone was getting colder and
colder the longer he held it. Charlie spoke up, “Rebecca says Baker has another etched stone in his room.”
Marty dug into the box and found 2 more etched stones. But
also realized even those coprolites without etchings were cold, “We should
gather all of them and remove them.” As he emptied the box, he found a wooden statue
of a strange figure. [Anthropology] “Just like I thought, the wood not
petrified; thus, surely this belongs to the native Indians that once occupied
Sica Hollow.”
Meanwhile, Barbara and Hugh found
Deputy Kangee Smith at the sheriff’s desk. The deputy looked up, “Damn, those
Penman boys weren’t exaggerating when they said a big white-man was staying in
town. No wonder you scared the crap out of them as you held their cane poles.” [Persuade]
Barbara spoke up, “It was all just a misunderstanding. Hugh is a prankster.”
Hugh added, “I was about to tell them what fine fishing gear they had when they
just up and ran away. I left the poles in the hotel lobby.” Kangee relaxed, “Well,
now that that matter is settled, what can I do for you folks?”
Barbara asked, “What can you tell
us about Sica Hollow?” Kangee explained, “In the Lakota Indian language, Sica
means ‘bad.’ My ancestors once tried to settle there but found it infested with
spirits of their dead. That is why the rivers bleed. Their voices live in the trees
to give warning to trespassers. Sica Hollow has a
reputation for being haunted. Numerous disappearances have occurred over the
half-century. My Lakota tribe and town residents avoid it. You should too, just
like I told Dr. Baker. Stubborn fool. Came in last week to complain to the
sheriff how Indians rode down to warn him away from the area. Claimed they
threw rocks at him and his team. But Sheriff rightly reasoned it was just local
boys with nothing better to do. We’ve got prankster too, Ms. Malters.”
Hugh and Barbara entered the hotel lobby (finding Mary at
the reception desk) just as the others returned from the back storage area.
Randy tossed one of the stone turds to Hugh, “Check this out.” [Spot/Psychology]
Hugh couldn’t help but notice Mary just as surprised and focused on the stone.
Barbara heard her gasp as if she recognized the thing and actually felt guilty
about something. Hugh pressed the matter, handing Mary the stone, “Seen one of
these before?” Barbara used a sweeter tone, “You can tell us.” Mary broke down
in tears to admit, “I didn’t mean any harm. I only took three. Rebecca told me
about the one in Baker’s room. It’s coldness. I thought it would be better than
ice in my icebox freezer in the kitchen.” Hugh was back in no time with the one
from her icebox, “Where are the other two?” Jonathan stood dumbfounded and
ashamed, “Mary, how could you?! That was private property.”
Marty walked to the diner to retrieve the etched stone given to Nina Clearwater while Hugh returned to his favorite store to confront Ma, “We found the source of your food spoilage. Where’s your icebox?” [He didn’t even notice the door bell had been removed.] Meanwhile, Professor Tarsh and the students climbed the stairs to Baker’s room first. Jonathan let them in.
The map pinned to the wall was obvious, “Not enough detail to be able to exactly follow. But at least we have directions and timelines.”
As Charlie gathered the
etched turd and stuck it in the pillowcase, Randy studied the fossil bones on
the nightstand. [A Seth Skorkowski GM ploy: I baited Jon causing him to rethink
his character action when I asked ‘Do you pick them up?’] Randy hesitated (maybe
these the cursed items) before picking them up, “More Coelurasaur bones.
Lightweight as birdlike hollow. Wait a minute… these should be heavier from
fossilization! I need to put them under a microscope, but I’d guess these are
barely hundreds of years old, if that! Not human; nor the remains of a buried Indian
from sacred grounds.”
As Barbara sat at the desk to take journalistic notes, she
happened to open the drawer and found a crumbled letter. “Dr. Baker composed a
letter to the Penman’s accusing Matthew of throwing stones at his team. Looks
like he changed his mind as it is incomplete. Wait a minute. Matthew already admitted
throwing the stones with Tucker’s prodding, but that was at site two. This
letter implies more stone thrown at site 3. Maybe it was Tucker doing his own
prankster work.”
3pm: They regrouped at the hotel,
putting all 7 etched turds in Marty’s hefty backpack (along with other stones
without the etchings). Professor Tarsh was ready to get on the road, “Load up
the truck with these stones, our gear, and supplies.” But Professor Robbins
pointed out, “It’s going to take time to gather and load everything. It will be
dark by the time we can leave. I suggest Hugh and I load the truck while the
rest of you try to study these items. Maybe check in with Dr. Weiss to see how
his food inspection is going. Have a nice dinner and sleep before we get on the
road.” Barbara’s comments about “Surely someone from Baker’s team will arrive
tomorrow” were ignored.
Doctor’s Office: Nurse Sarah led the
trio (Randy, Barbara, Charlie) into the back where Dr. Weiss was hunched over a
microscope. “Ah, the calvary has arrived. I asked the huge Hugh to send help.
Maybe you can find what I can’t. I’ve checked most of the spoiled food items.
Advanced bacterial and mold grown even on the items I pulled from Ma’s icebox
freezer. So, (light, heat, humidity) can be ruled out as the source.” Randy
stepped forward with one of the coprolites, “Recognize this from Ma’s freezer?
We think this the cause.” Randy borrowed the doctor’s hand-held magnifying
glass to inspect it. Nothing obvious, he chipped a few pieces off, giving one
shard to Charlie, “Use some of the doctor’s chemicals to analyze it.”
Meanwhile, he placed his shard under the microscope. “I’m seeing what looks
like fossilized minerals. A few white flakes.” Finally, he pulled out his own
digging trowel to crack open the stone.
Barbara gasped when even she recognized the white chicklets,
“Are those human teeth?!” Professor Tarsh was equally shocked, “My God! Man
wasn’t around during the age of Jurassic dinosaurs! And these teeth aren’t even
fossilized!! As if, as if, no, it can’t be. Crocodiles and the Sturgeon fish
are said to be living offspring of dinosaurs. Could Baker have stumbled upon another
prehistoric offspring? Cursed I said.” Barbara agreed, “Maybe we can break the
curse if we put them back where they came from.”
Dinner: They all rejoined at the hotel where
Professor Robbins wasn’t happy with their news, “What do you mean you broke
open one of the coprolites? I don’t care you found human teeth, nor that we
have more. And NO, you can’t break open another to confirm more teeth!” Nor was
he happy with the bland meal, “We need to get those stones out of town. Load
them on the truck and park them out by the creek till we need to leave in the
morning.” Despite the disappointing meal, Randy called Mary in the kitchen to
thank her, “Hopefully, once we get these stones out of town, everything will
return to normal. Speaking of… we plan to go hunt for Dr. Baker’s team
tomorrow. If they do arrive tomorrow, will you let them know about us. Meanwhile,
I have a favor to ask. Do you think Matthew could join us to show us the way to
their first two dig sites? I’m hoping we can convince Deputy Smith to come
along also. He could bring Matthew home once they show us the way.”
Later that evening, Barbara knocked on each of their doors, “I brought a little snack from Hungry Jack’s Diner. They actually had good food. So, there must be a limited radius effect from those stones. Hopefully the food supplies from the General Store will also be fresher.” When she knocked on Professor Tarsh’s door, he thanked her and added, “Plan to be up and ready to go by 9am.” She corrected, “Professor Robbins told everyone else to be ready by 0630.”
When she knocked on Hugh's door, she found a glass of water on his nightstand. He explained, "I tried to hang with Professor Tarsh last night, but that man drinks like a fish. Hungover and bad dreams... did I tell you about it? I chased a dinosaur that looked like me, till I ran into Dr. Baker in some caves."
Most of them (Hugh, Barbara, Randy) had a good night’s sleep. Especially surprising for Hugh: so long in body his feet dangled off the end of the bed and thus them exposed to the cool night air. As for Charlie and Marty: they had a fitful night of haunting dreams:
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TO BE CONTINUED: https://wjr5oakley.blogspot.com/2023/04/failed-prospectsp4.html
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