The Ninth Skull Spoke of Work Standards
Richard and
Joan were amazed to find twelve skulls set in niches in the wall of the
circular chamber. They turned about on
entering the chamber, he clockwise, she counter, and met each other’s gaze with
mouths equally agape, thus confirming the copacetic nature of their
relationship once again.
“Are these real
skulls?” Joan wondered. She was taller
than Richard, but the skulls, which were indeed real, were set at a height
between their respective eye levels, so that was alright then.
As Richard
was examining one of them to make an attempt at answering Joan’s question, he
touched something, some protuberance among the ornamentation on the wall, that
triggered a sound recording. It nearly
scared the couple into wetting themselves.
“A sense of
humor,” the skull appeared to say, though its mandible did not move,” Is vital
for the maintaining of sanity—“
“Can’t you
turn it off?” Joan demanded. The
recording was loud, echoing around the hollow stone chamber and upwards to the
domed ceiling hidden in nighttime above.
Richard fumbled at the same area as before, but nothing would shut the
skull up until it played out its rather mundane lecture. Joan was much relieved when the recording
finally ended. Perversely, however,
Richard set another of skulls to talking, this one going on and on about the
connection between Art and Health.
Cursing furiously, Joan fled the chamber and sought refuge in the gift
shop.
.
