John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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T e Curse of allgua LURRAUNE G ARZUN A THE MORNING drums were echolng and re echorng throuahout the Jungle when we arrrved at Mansuba and l for one was w1ll1ng to sleep awa the heated day and walt unt1l late afternoon to unpack our luggage lt had been a long and hard Journey half by boat the other by foot and l was really exhausted Tod needed httle or no persuasron and oon the swelterrng mornrng found us sleeprng easrly each rn our shack When the sun frnally went down 1t was as rf the Jungle had stepped out of the sunllght 1nto the cool shade for a brref spell of rellef l rose and went to the bamboo bl1nds to look out upon the Jungle wh ch was to be my source of rnsprratron l was almost amazed at my self come to th1nk of 1t Here was l the renowned sculptor Mark Elltott Jauntmg here to Afrrca 1n hopes of drscovertng somethrng completely new and excrtmg as a subJect for my work Not wakmg Tod l took one of the natrves w1th me to do a l1ttle explormg Oddly enough l found myself unconscrously berng drawn toward the old temple rum that Shrmoa our gurde had pomted out to us on our way to our vlllage We were some 50 yards from the temple when my gulde made mottons and sounds that lndrcated qulte clearly that he ntended to go no furtner I-le wartea for me there as l went on ahead The temple was comparatlvely small on the out srde But the 1nter1or showed plarnly the broken rows of starrs wnere the floor had apparently fallen through l stepped down onto the wld st starr way managed through what was once an archway and found myself rn a large underground room Stone slabs wrth anclent scrolls were l1ned up agamst the walls and drrectly rn the center of the room stood a masslve altar the krnd used rn sacr1f1c1al ceremomes Placed on thls was a Whrte plaque whlch at once startled me for on rt was carved the face of one of the most str1k1ng women l had ever seen l was held for a moment by the 1ntr1gu1ng mystery about the eyes They seemed to speak but rndeed they were sllent l knew wrthout hes1tat1on that thrs was to be the subJect for my greatest work and as l reached out for 1t l remembered somethtng that Sh1moa had mentroned about thrs temple He sard that 1t was burlt as a shnne to Malrgua l-hgh Prrestess of the Agumas many long and forgotten years ago but that there was a lastma curse put on the temple and on anyone possessrng anythrng from 1t Reahzrng the absurdrty of the s1tuat1on l proceeded to grasp the 1vory lmage reasonrng wtth myself that after all l was Just borrowrng 1t for a whrle and then ld return 1t When l aaarn reached the outsrde l found tne natlve st1ll waltmg for me but when he saw l had carrted somethmg out of the temple l had qurte a t1me of rt trytng to f llow hrm back for he ran as lg Satan hrmself was at hrs heels 24 . .. V f f , . 1 1 1 . , 0 , , . 1 1 1 1 . . ' . , , 1 - 1 . . 1 1 , . 1 ., . I , .1 1 - 4 1 - ' 'Q '- . V 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 . L V - 1 1 - 1 1 1 J . 1 1 1 1 , , . . . , . . i , 1 1 l O , . 5,

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looked at his face again, and an empty hollowed-out sensation came into my stomach. Tremors chilled me. l found myself staring completely through him, The next sight of him came as he appeared on the forecastle, legs astride to offset the roll of the craft He seemed to be doing nothing but watching the darkened sea l felt he was waiting for something Then he strode to the tar rail His was the picturesque rocking gait of some moss grown pirate The horizon worried him He couldnt stop peering into the water to see if anything charged col or It was almost dark Then he be gan to sniff in the raw night air This meant one thing He expected a storm Fear clutched at me for an instant But the transparent figure in front of me was too curious a spectacle and rry fear soon gave way to inquisitive ness Then quite unexpectedly he passed his hands cross his features in a helpless and forlorn gesture A look of remorse and pain sickened him The little figure quaked Color left im Then the old ocean began to heave and bulge from way down deep w thin its trembling depths And in the dark ness l could still tell that the storm was near Even l could tell it The sea changed color slowly from a deep blue green to the black of polished ebony The wind stopped The ship topped High above the clouds bn lowed, they hung dark and ominous. Then they stopped and hung. Every- thing waited. And as if according to some deadly schedule the black breakers suddenly churned into milky heads, the wind rose to an awesome blast, then broke loose in blinding tearing gusts The dark ominous clouds suddenly belched fortn in thun aerous claps Rain poured downward l saw the ghost standing by the rail The foolish thing wore a satis fied triumphant grin Then a gust hurled me to the deck A long sigh sprung from out of the watery graveyard The waves kicked themselves into hideous mounta ns with white caps on them Each tme they shot us high into the heavens Each time they catapulted us into the deep valley they created While seek ing to cave in our sides and tear us to the four directions But somehow the stumbling wreck managed to stay from under the storm crazed sea But finally the elements seemed to tire of buffeting us and the waves crawled to their mysterious lair The winds sighed gratefully as if weary of their unpleasant task The clouds rolled and curled in their haven The sky lifted The sea slept Once more the tide rolls in Gulls wheel and pivot in the new fresh blue sky The sun beats down Driftwood decorates the white sand against a glar na background of yellow white dunes But no craft crowds the water s edge No white sailed vision dots the horizon The ghost has reclaimed his ship Vfftft E3 Y 74 ir.. .i mf A Q rr, NW Q ,t Sw 1' llhil . . A - I b A . . - ' ' 1 h' . ' y ug: agf . . 5 tg MA, ,- t T - Q .ni ' , '-:si I I V A ' ' -I . A . L - ' - s re'-1 ' T 'f'-ii-3,13 1,4 f- ,E , t . ' t f y - ' - fi-',llE' c TQ S 4 , I .,- . ' Q lx! L V V9 's11fH1'T 23 l H ,4.'fiT.g,'l!f,-L .-4' fu' -' TT I J M, 1

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I told no on f thfs eprsode not even Tod but then he was always away on one hunttng tr1o or another so that we saw very ltttle of eacn other for the weeks to follow I was well under way wlth my sculpturrng but ea h trme I N uld step back to eye It my ttrcrsm would al.-Jays be the same The fac al structure was there but there was that 1ntang1ble somethlng lacklng 1n the GXDISSSIOH that I couldnt qulte capture One mornlng after workrng laborrously I decrded to go fo a swlm 'o refresh myself There was an underaround sprrng not far off that formed a deep crystal pool qurte the rdeal spot for relaxatron When the noon hours lent way to the afternoon I found myself nearmg the old rulns agatn en route to the vtllage I was passrng by when suddenly I saw omeone comrng up the steps It was a grrl a young gtrl who d1d not lo k at all l1ke the rest of the natlves here Her halr wasnt black but a deep brown and her skln had a warm glow that seemed to radlate her youth There were famrhar llnes about her face but I knew I had never seen her before She sm led at me and after that I saw her on several occas1ons One day I was startled to look up and see her s1tt1ng before me as I was at work Her rnterest and fascmatton m my sculptur1ng added to my own enthuslasm to complete th1s protect as soon as posslble slon on her face and announced qutetly that I had to return the ancrent relrc rrght away for the gods were gettrng angry I told her that thls was utter nonsense that 1f the so called Gods had let me keep the lmage undts turbed untrl now they would surely let me keep lt Just a lrttle longer She looked terrrfred at my words and seerng my declston was not to be altered she snatched up the rmage and fled from the shack I 1mmed1ately ran after her calltng to her to Walt when I heard a rumbhng sound The very ground was heavlng and vlbratlng even the drums ceased thetr chantrng to lrsten Agarn I called to the gtrl but she kept runnlng frantlcally toward the old temple Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground Then I ftnally saw her descend the temple steps when agarn the loud rumbhng commenced An rnstant later the old temple was a crumbled smoklng heap I had Cfled out but my crles were downed by the d1n Dazedly I made my way back to the vrllage to ftnd 1t shaken up a httle My Mahgua' I stumbled lnto my shack and there was the lmage on the floor I saw 1t was strll rn one prece as I prcked rt up settmg 1t back on the stand When I looked at rt closely I couldnt belleve my eyes The face no longer had a hard l1ne about rt The mouth had a certaln half smrle that seemed to glve vorce to the eyes That was what had been lackmg Ironrcally the l1ps must have ch1pped when the head fel' to the floor thus ach1ev1ng what my hands could not Bewrldered confused I turned from the smllmg face her face And yet how could 1t be? I turned to 1t once more and the eyes seemed to speak but mdeed they were sllent 25 Q ft ' ' - V NJ' I I I cl ' ' o ', X cr ' ' . 1 , ' ' , . I , ' . A week later, while I was working she came in with a strange expres- , , I - I I I - . . - , - , . I . - . I , I ' V 1 I O