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JUAN FRANCISCO BLANCO
Viviana to tell him to squeeze it. To no one’s amazement, when
the little monkey squeezed the stone, it exploded into crumbled
chips that flew all over around the fire pit. “Strange...very
strange,” Tital said in a low voice.
Ronú then said to the group, “Another strange thing there is
this ring. I was walking to the latrine and found it half buried in
the dirt. Here, try it on, Tital. Your hands are bigger than mine,
and it might fit on your finger.”
Tital held it up to the firelight, looking at it intently. “It looks
like gold, with some symbols that are also on that staff, etched in
a circle around the carved cabochon stone. Interesting...very
interesting. They must be related in some way. The stone in the
ring looks like an Indian Bloodstone. That’s my Mayan good luck
stone. I was poking around on the Internet, and found that out.”
He then slipped it on his right ring finger and it fit perfectly, but
as he slipped it on it glowed slightly.
“It fits you, so you keep it,” Ronú told him.
“But you found it...” Tital protested.
“Yes, I know, but it made me feel...I don’t know, maybe the
word I’m looking for is...uncomfortable. You wear it, and see
how it makes you feel,” Ronú told him.
Just then, there was an unexpected deep guttural howl which
sounded like it came from around the area of the beach.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRGHHH!”
“That does NOT sound good.” Viviana said, as Moka came
over and hugged her leg in fear. “Don’t worry Moka, we’ll
protect you.”
“I think I will stay up and stand guard for a while,” Tital said,
carefully picking up the carved wooden staff. This time, however,