This week the Terribleminds challenge was to take two words from the given lists &, using them as the title, write a story from that title. Last time this challenge came up I wrote a pretty fun western (fun to write at least). As always with the list challenges I randomly generated a few combinations; Dead Boy's Curse, Scarlett Gunslingers, Amaranthine Promise, Junkie's Breakfast. All of which had great potential but none of them were really speaking to me.
I saw the potential combo of Unlucky Beetle and the idea of Don suffering from bad luck was too entertaining to pass up. Also I've been wanting to experiment with adding magic to the 'Baugmann & Baugmann' universe, so I used this as an excuse. If anyone isn't familiar with the past stories/adventures for Don & John You Should Start Here
I'm going to try to not make every Friday story about these two, but since I'm tentatively using them as the basis of my first novel, expect to see more of them in the future.
B & B – The Unlucky Beetle
“Have you
filed a report yet?” John asked the
museum curator.
“Yes, the
officers have already cleared the scene.”
The man shook his head, “I thought to call you because…”
Don tuned
them out, knowing John would get any pertinent info. Looking around the remains of the exhibit it
was hard to tell what had been damaged during the burglary.
‘Rather
than what Michael’s tromped over.’ Don thought, nudging some broken glass with
his shoe.
The display
case had held an entire collection of antique jewelry, apparently notable
because no one had been able to nail down exactly where it had come from. Now all that was left were shards of glass
and crumpled ID placards.
Don noticed a gleam of light
coming from the far corner of the display.
Reaching out he picked up a small golden beetle, about the size of his
thumb.
‘Why leave
this behind if they took everything else?’ He wondered. ‘They couldn’t have missed it, the case was
picked clean.’
Holding it
up to the light Don tried to get a closer look but hissed when the figurine cut
his finger.
John looked
over as the beetle hit the floor. “You
ok?”
“Damn thing
bit me.” Don said, scratching at his hand.
“It
couldn’t have bitten you it’s…” John trailed
off, staring at Don’s hand.
They both
stared as Don’s scratching revealed a black tattoo of the beetle forming on his
skin.
Don's curse filled the office as
he leapt from his seat.
John looked up from the
couch. "What's wrong?"
"My damn mug broke,” Don
said, shaking spilled coffee from his hands, “that's what’s wrong."
John turned back to his books, "It's
just a mug Don."
"I don't care about the stupid
mug, I care about the hot coffee all over my pants." Don said.
"I warned you something
like this might happen." John said.
Don scratched at the beetle mark
on the back of his hand. "Tell me you've found a way to fix it?"
Shaking his head John said,
"Nothing so far."
"You're the one with magic,
can't you just wizard this away?"
Don waved an imaginary wand.
John shook his head, "You
know it doesn't work that way. Besides,
I'm an empath. I need time and resources
for spells outside my range."
"So spell this damn thing
off my hand." Don held out the
beetle mark.
"I don't think I could.” John sighed.
“We need to get the brooch back to the collection to get rid of the
curse."
Don huffed and grabbed a smoke
from his pocket.
"Please don't smoke in
here." John said reflexively.
"Oh for-“ Don threw his
hands up. “I'm going for a walk!"
He stormed out of the office
slamming the door hard enough that the glass cracked.
"God damn it." John
heard Don mutter.
As Don stomped down the hall John
heard a crash and a thud followed by a terse "God damn it!"
An hour later Don staggered back
into the office holding his hand out looking ready to cut it off.
“Get. It.
Off.” He ground out.
John took
in his partner’s appearance; coat torn, tie missing and pants stained with more
than just coffee. Carefully clearing his
throat he spoke.
“I might
have an idea.” He said. “But you’re not going to like it.”
“At this
point,” Don said, flopping down at his desk. “I don’t care.”
“Well,”
John pointed at an open page, “I think we can track the magic causing your bad
luck back to the source.”
Don glared
at the mark, “The beetle is still at the museum.”
“That’s
just it,” John’s eyes lit up the way they always did when he explained magical
theory. “The beetle isn’t the
source. The curse is designed to punish
anyone who removed that item from the collection. It was probably left behind because the
original thieves didn’t want to take the risk.”
Don rolled
his eyes, “I’m going to assume there’s a point here?”
“The
collection is the source of the magic, Don.” John said.
“So you
want to use the curse that’s on my hand-“
“To track
the rest of the collection. Exactly.”
“What’s the
catch?”
“There’s
a…” John hesitated. “There’s a strong chance that this will make your bad luck
worse.”
“Exactly
how much worse?” Don asked.
“Your curse
will feed off my tracking spell, and the closer we get to the collection the
stronger my spell will become.” John
explained.
“The worse
my luck will get.” Don finished.
As Don sat
considering their options, a sharp creak came from his chair before one of the
legs gave out and dumped him on the floor.
“Ok.” His
voice floated out from under his desk. “Let’s do it.”
