Curse of the Fountain -7- by Melanie Brown

“I’m serious, Bea.”

 Beatrice looked at my curlers and laughed. “You look serious.”

 I stood up and shouted, “Will you forget the fucking curlers? If you had properly notified us of your coming, this would have been taken care of before you arrived. And of course, I found the Fountain! How do you explain me?”

 Beatrice smirked. “Hiring a kid actor isn’t hard.”

 Scowling, I said, “Like we knew you were coming. You stupid cow! We have video!”

 Beatrice pointed at my nose. “Watch your mouth, little girl.”

 Mom walked over to the closet. “Yes, Mom. We have video of Neil’s transformation.” She removed a box from the closet.

 “And Eric whats-his-name’s death.”  Mom looked over at me and said, “That’s pretty grizzly, honey.” She plucked a memory module from the box and inserted it into the player on the TV. “I think this is the right one.”

 The video opened on a view of mountains and jungle in Brazil. Whoever had the camera, most likely Eric, made a nice pan of the vista below. You could hear us grunting as we made our way through the jungle. Exotic bird would take flight as we neared them.

 Denise stopped to drink from her water bottle. “It’s so gorgeous here, Uncle Neil. You should have brought Aunt Bea with us.”

 The camera panned to me looking dapper in my pith helmet and khaki jungle outfit. I snorted. “Bah! That stupid cow would push me off a cliff the moment we found the fountain!”

Denise whined, “Oh Uncle Neil. You know that’s not true.”

 Watching the video, Beatrice grunted, “I probably would have.”

 Mom shook her head at Beatrice. “Oh Mom.”

 We missed part of the video. A little loudly, because of his closeness to the camera, Eric said, “…As long as I’m paid, what do I care?”

 Not watching where he was going, Billy stepped on a rock and went tumbling down the mountain side, “I… aaaiii!”

 Denise frowned. “Let’s run it up a bit.”

 Denise hit the play button and the on screen Denise shouted, “I see it! That’s wonderful, uncle. You and Eric go on down to it. I have to tend to my big baby hubby”

Watching the video, Beatrice muttered, “What a douche nozzle.”

The video showed me starting down the hill side. “Come along, Eric. Get ready to film the historic moment.”

 A lot of shaky video of me making my way down the rocky hillside. I had to cut away some jungle overgrowth. We lost sight of the fountain for a moment. For an old geezer, I thought I looked pretty good.

 And then the jungle parted, and before me stood the fabled fountain of youth!

 I picked up my radio and said, “Denise! I’ve found it! Hurry to the city center!”

 “Rodger Dodger…” I clicked off the radio. I couldn’t believe I finally found it. Eric’s video captured me walking solemnly up to the fountain. I let the fountains’ water trickle over my fingers.  A cut I had received earlier in the day instantly healed.

 I held up my dripping fingers and said, “Behold, Eric! The fabled fountain of youth! Think of what this means!”

 The video goes on to show both Eric and then Denise warning me not to drink the untested water. But I did anyway. On video, you could see me struggle with pain, but I suddenly started looking younger. Eric stepped up to the fountain and drank deeply. While his body was being shredded, my own continued to change. Beatrice shook her head. “Stupid old fool.”

 As I collapsed to the ground, on the screen, Billy took over doing the video. Mom leaned over and hit the stop button.

 Beatrice stood frozen for a minute. It’s rare for her to be speechless. Finally, she said, “You did it. You son of a bitch, you actually found it!”

 Sounding like a teenage girl, I shouted, “I told you! I wouldn’t kid about that!”

 Looking like she suddenly had a mission, Bea said, “We have to get back down there. Neil, seriously. Why didn’t you claim that area of the jungle and buy it?  We need to get back down to Brazil and buy that land. We could open a resort there. And a healing spa. Neil, we could make millions. Billions!”

 I scowled at Bea. “What’s this ‘we’? Besides, I checked into that before we started our expedition. For starters, that’s sacred tribal land. The Brazilian government won’t sell. Personally, I think it’s because that area is inaccessible. There are no roads. Building a resort would be monumentally difficult. And then you have to consider liability. How many kinfolks can you implode before you’re sued into oblivion? And then you have to think. Is it really a good idea to bring a fountain of youth to the world?”

 Denise said, “He’s right, Mom. What would this discovery do to the world?”

 Bea snorted as she started pacing excitedly. “Aren’t you two a couple of Debbie Downers? Look, with enough money, sacred lands and roads won’t be an obstacle. Obviously everyone would have to sign a waiver indemnifying the resort. And we can always hire some natives to test the water for the best dosage amount. And since when were you concerned about the world? Why did you even go there if not to share with the world and receive global acclaim?”

From my seat on the couch, I said, “I went there for the same reason you climb a mountain. Because it’s there. And because I was an old fart who didn’t like being old. Bea, even if I thought it was a good idea, I just don’t have the money for such an operation.”

 Bea sat next to me on the couch. “But with our combined money, we could easily do it. The return on investment would be incalculable.”

 I laughed humorously. “I get a stipend each month. Or rather, Mom does. My money is locked in trust until I turn twenty-one.”

 Bea sighed. “Just tell me where it is. I’ll get some investors and…”

 “No.”

 Bea gave me a curious look. “No what?”

 I stared at the floor. “No. I’m not telling you. It’s a bad idea.”

 Bea sighed again and leaned back in the couch. “Why are you so damned obstinate? How about this? We secure the rights to the fountain from the Brazilian government and we just bottle the water? We can remove the bottled water daily by helicopter.”

 Denise shook her head. “We brought samples of the fountain’s water back with us. It turns lethal very quickly.”

 Bea looked stonily at both of us. “Sheesh people. Don’t you want to get rich?”

 I shrugged. “I’m already rich.”

 Denise smirked. “Why do you think I moved away from you?”

 Bea grunted. “Because you married that douche-nozzle.”

 Denise folded her arms. “Well, he’s my douche-nozzle.”

 Bea stood up. “Well, it’s easy to see we’re getting nowhere at the moment. But this isn’t the end of this conversation. I need to run.” She turned to Denise. “Come give your mother a hug.” She poked one of my curlers and laughed. And then left.

 Mom sighed. “Did we make a mistake?”

 I frowned. “Ask Eric.”

 Mom nodded.

                     *

 End of Part 7