Wordzzle 80 - The alligator people

This is my contribution to this week's Wordzzle. Wordzzle is a game in which each week word lists, used to create stories, are given on the blog Views from Raven's Nest. Participating users post their stories on their own blogs.

This is my entry number 24, for Wordzzle week 80.


Ten Word Challenge:

Charitable,
alligator,
tribute,
drunk,
slave,
preparation,
carrots,
mountainside,
propeller,
lark

He looked at his meal of alligator and carrots, and wondered again about the recipe. He normally wasn't a slave to such things, or for cooking in general, but he had felt a special affinity for this cookbook. It was a tribute to his will that he had gotten this far, though. He lived on a mountainside, and had gone through a great deal of trouble to get the alligator. That part about killing it with a propeller had been the most awkward, and the hardest. He didn't understand it at all, but it was what the recipe called for.

It had to have its mouth propped open and a lark in it, too. Feathers and all. He hoped it was just a decoration. He supposed he should have gotten the lark first. He had had to buy a large freezer to store the alligator in until he could get the lark. Then he had to dig a huge pit to cook the alligator in.

He had never been able to find a place that sold dead larks, so he had to buy a live one, then kill it himself. He hated to do that. It was harder in a way than killing the alligator. He finally drove out to a chicken farm and paid one of the workers to do it. He had boiled the lark, then, as called for in the recipe, trying not to damage the feathers too much.

He found in the end that he had eaten most of the carrots, waiting for the rest of the meal to be done, and had to go buy more. He was getting a little drunk, too, taking increasing sips of the wine that was supposed to go with it, as the project just kept getting longer and longer.

It was finally done, though. The alligator was laid out on the long table, specially purchased for this occasion, with the lark in its mouth and the carrots around it. To say that it had taken an awful lot of preparation was being charitable, but at least it was done. All done. Finally. Or was it?

He checked in the cookbook again to be sure. Hmmm. It said continued on the next page. He turned the page and read: "For those who have gotten this far, and completed everything according to the directions, congratulations! Dig in. For those who have simply read this far without doing anything, relax. It was just a joke. The real recipe is below..."


Mini Challenge:

chisel,
worship,
suicide,
organic,
plus

The chisel slowly committed suicide as he beat on it, trying to carve the stone. He finally had to stop again and grind a new edge on it. He had gotten a whole box of them very cheaply, from a man who was selling them from his trunk. Too bad the steel was so soft, but he guessed they had to cut corners somewhere for a price like that.

He had gotten some surprisingly inexpensive organic food from the man, too, a bunch of cans and microwave dinners. Too bad it turned out to have a lot of organic bugs in it, plus the occasional twig, but the price made it worth it. Art sales were slow now, and he really had to keep costs down.

Well, it looked like the chisel was sharp enough now. Time to get back to work. He paused and stared at the mostly completed statue with something akin to worship. This was going to be one of his better ones. He hadn't been able to afford a model, but things were turning out nicely anyway.

He was about to start again when he heard a groan. He quickly stepped forward and bopped the man again with the hammer, then carefully propped him back in position. Then he returned to the statue, and began to work again.


Mega challenge:

Charitable,
alligator,
tribute,
drunk,
slave,
preparation,
carrots,
mountainside,
propeller,
lark

chisel,
worship,
suicide,
organic,
plus

The excavation of the site of the alligator cult had been going on for years before they found the well with the fire pit at the bottom. It was covered with a heavy layer of decaying organic matter, and under that dirt. At the bottom of the pit they found a layer of ash several feet thick, mixed with human bones, the remains of the sacrifices.

An argument went on as to whether they were forced to jump into the fire, perhaps even being pushed, maybe even bound and thrown in, and whether they had been slaves, perhaps captured in a war, or, in a slightly more charitable interpretation, whether they had gone willingly, committing suicide. A large number of wine vessels were in the area, and perhaps they had fortified themselves with that, maybe even being thoroughly drunk. No one remained who knew of the cult, so it was hard to tell for sure what went on in it.

It was a difficult place to get to, high on a mountainside, and no one had even known it existed until ten years ago. It was not some place one went to on a lark, and it had been found purely by accident. A survey was being done back then of the plants in the area, and one of the people had tripped over a paving stone. Archeologists had eventually been brought out, but they didn't immediately realize the immensity of the find. Too much was hidden by the jungle. Even now, they just knew the outlines of it.

The discovery of the alligator statues and then the fire pit had been great finds, and had really stimulated interest in the area. They had also eventually found tunnels leading down to the fire pit, at the bottom of the well. They were probably for tending the fire and bringing in air to it, as well as cleaning it out afterwards. The cult-people had apparently been a little behind in their cleaning, which was good for the archeologists.

Whatever other rites and tributes might have occurred in the worship of the gods was largely unknown, though carrots were featured prominently in the stone carvings in the area, plus a few instances of a strange propeller-like design. Perhaps the ceremonies had something to do with the harvest, bloodthirsty alligator gods that had to be appeased for everything to turn out right.

A lot of research was being done now in preparation for a book on it, and eventually a TV special. A whole team of people were out there, not only archeologists but photographers and cameramen.

The head archeologist, who was also the writer of the upcoming book and an executive producer of the TV special, was sweeping away the dirt over a nearby stone walk, when he found that an inscription had been chiseled into it. The language was close enough to an ancient language that he knew that he could read most of it.

It said that the place was used for funerals, and cremations, and that the alligator statues were there because of memories of a time when the people used to live in a different area, near the ocean. The people actually worshipped carrots, instead. The propeller-like design was simply a representation of the odd furrows they used for the ceremonial plantings.

This was going to be a much less interesting book, and TV special. He looked around. No one had seen him. He quickly swept some dirt back over it. He would put something heavier over it later, maybe some of the paving stones. Maybe he would reveal it in another ten years, after he had gotten all the money he could out of the first story. Or maybe he would leave it to be found by later generations. Who knows, he might be able to work out some movie deals for a fictional adventurer/archeologist finding some of the alligator-cult people still living hidden in the forest, and the money might never end.

The truth was only what people thought it was anyway, at any given moment, and for many moments to come this truth would be only his.