How I Got My Shrunken Head (2 page)

“Mark … Mark …”

The eerie whisper grew louder.

I sat straight up, and my eyes shot open. And in the heavy darkness, I saw Jessica, standing beside the bed.

“Mark … Mark …,”
she whispered, tugging my pajama sleeve.

I swallowed hard. My heart pounded. “Huh? You? What’s your problem?”

“I — I had a bad dream,” she stammered. “And I fell out of bed.”

Jessica falls out of bed at least once a week. Mom says she’s going to build a tall fence around Jessica’s bed to keep her in. Or else buy her a king-size bed.

But I think Jessica would just roll around even harder in a big bed and still fall out. My sister is a pest even in her sleep!

“I need a drink of water,” she whispered, still tugging my sleeve.

I groaned and pulled my arm away. “Well, go downstairs and get it. You’re not a baby,” I growled.

“I’m scared.” She grabbed my hand and pulled. “You have to come with me.”

“Jessica!” I started to protest. But why bother? Whenever Jessica has a scary dream, I end up taking her downstairs for a glass of water.

I climbed out of bed and led the way to the door. We both stopped in front of the dresser. The shrunken head stared out at us in the darkness.

“I think that head gave me bad dreams,” Jessica whispered softly.

“Don’t blame the head,” I replied, yawning. “You have bad dreams just about every night — remember? It’s because you have a sick mind.”

“Do not!” she cried angrily. She punched my shoulder. Hard.

“If you hit me, I won’t get you a drink,” I told her.

She reached out a finger and poked the shrunken head on one of its wrinkled cheeks. “Yuck. It feels like leather. It doesn’t feel like skin.”

“I guess heads get hard when you shrink them,” I said, straightening the thick tuft of black hair.

“Why did Aunt Benna send you a shrunken head and not send me one?” Jessica asked.

I shrugged. “Beats me.” We tiptoed out into the hall and turned toward the stairs. “Maybe it’s because Aunt Benna doesn’t remember you. The
last time she visited us, you were just a baby. I was only four.”

“Aunt Benna remembers me,” Jessica replied. She loves to argue.

“Well, maybe she thinks that girls don’t like shrunken heads,” I said. We made our way down to the kitchen. The stairs squeaked under our bare feet.

“Girls like shrunken heads,” Jessica argued. “I know I do. They’re cool.”

I filled a glass with water and handed it to her. She made gulping sounds as she drank. “You’ll share your head with me — right?” she asked.

“No way,” I told her.

How do you share a head?

We made our way back upstairs in the darkness. I took her to her room and tucked her in. Then I crept back to my room and slipped into bed.

I yawned and pulled the covers up to my chin.

I shut my eyes but opened them again quickly. What was that yellow light across the room?

At first, I thought someone had turned the hall light on.

But squinting across the room I saw that it wasn’t a light. The head. The shrunken head — it was glowing!

As if bright flames surrounded it. A shimmering yellow glow.

And in the glow, I saw the dark eyes gleam and sparkle.

And then the lips — the thin, dry lips that had been set in a hard scowl — the lips began to twitch. And the mouth pulled up in a horrifying smile.

“Nooooooo!”

I let out a terrified wail.

Glowing brightly, surrounded by eerie yellow light, the head grinned at me, its dark eyes flashing.

My hands thrashed at the covers. I struggled to pull myself out of bed. But my legs were tangled in the blanket, and I fell with a hard
thud
to the floor.

“Nooooooo!” I cried. My body trembled so hard, I could barely scramble to my feet.

Gazing up, I saw the grinning head float over the dresser. Float into the air. Float toward me like a glowing comet.

No!

I covered my face to shield myself.

When I glanced back up, the shrunken head glowed on the dresser top.

Had I imagined it floating up?

I didn’t care. I ran out of the bedroom. “The head! The head!” I shrieked. “It’s glowing. The head is glowing!”

Jessica jumped out as I ran past her bedroom. “Mark — what’s going on?” she called.

I didn’t stop to answer. I kept on running down the hall to Mom and Dad’s room. “The head!” I wailed. “The head!” I was so terrified, I didn’t know
what
I was doing!

The door was closed. But I shoved it open without knocking. Mom was lying on her back on her side of the bed. My dad was away this week on a business trip. But Mom still slept on her side of the bed.

As I burst in, she sat up and uttered a startled cry. “Mark?”

I ran up beside her. “Mom — the shrunken head — it started to glow!” I cried, my voice high and shrill. “It’s glowing, and it — it
grinned
at me!”

Mom stood up and wrapped me in a hug. She felt so warm and soft. I was shaking all over. I suddenly felt as if I were a little boy again.

“Mark, you had a nightmare,” Mom said softly. She ran her hand over the back of my hair, the way she used to do when I was little.

“But, Mom —”

“That’s all it was. A nightmare. Take a deep breath. Look how you’re shaking.”

I pulled away from her. I knew it wasn’t a nightmare. I’d been wide-awake. “Come and see,” I insisted. “Hurry.”

I pulled her out into the hall. A light clicked on in Carolyn’s room, and her door swung open. “What’s happening?” she asked sleepily. She was wearing a long black nightshirt.

“Mark says his shrunken head glowed,” Mom reported. “I think he had a bad dream.”

“No, I didn’t!” I shouted angrily. “Come on. I’ll show you!”

I started to pull Mom down the hall. But I stopped when I saw the intense expression on Carolyn’s face. She had been sleepy a second ago. But now her eyes were wide, and she was staring at me hard. Staring at my face, studying me.

I turned away from her and nearly bumped into Jessica. “Why did you wake me up?” Jessica demanded.

I pushed past her and led everyone down the hall to my room. “The head glowed!” I cried. “And it smiled at me. Look. You’ll see!”

I burst into my room and strode up to the dresser.

The head was gone.

I stared in shock at the bare dresser top.

Behind me, someone clicked on the bedroom light. I blinked in the bright light, expecting the shrunken head to appear.

Where was it?

My eyes searched the floor. Had it fallen and rolled away? Had it floated out of the room?

“Mark — is this some kind of joke?” Mom asked. She suddenly sounded very tired.

“No —” I started. “Really, Mom. The head —”

And then I saw the sly grin on Jessica’s face. And I saw that my sister had both hands behind her back.

“Jessica — what are you hiding?” I demanded.

Her grin grew wider. She never could keep a straight face. “Nothing,” she lied.

“Let me see your hands,” I said sharply.

“No way!” she replied. But she burst out laughing and brought her hands in front of her. And of
course she had the shrunken head gripped tightly in her right hand.

“Jessica!” I let out an angry cry and snatched it away from her. “It’s not a toy,” I scolded her angrily. “You keep your paws off it. Hear?”

“Well, it wasn’t glowing,” she sneered. “And it wasn’t smiling, either. You made that all up, Mark.”

“Did not!” I cried.

I examined the head. Its dry lips were pulled back in the toothless snarl it always had. The skin was green and leathery, not glowing at all.

“Mark, you had a bad dream,” Mom insisted, covering her mouth as she yawned. “Put the head down, and let’s all get some sleep.”

“Okay, okay,” I muttered. I flashed Jessica another angry look. Then I set the shrunken head down on the dresser.

Mom and Jessica walked out of my room. “Mark is such a jerk,” I heard Jessica say, just loud enough for me to hear. “I asked him to share the shrunken head, and he said he wouldn’t.”

“We’ll talk about it in the morning,” Mom replied, yawning again.

I started to turn off the light. But I stopped when I saw Carolyn, still standing in the hall. Still staring hard at me, a really intense expression on her face.

She narrowed her silvery eyes at me. “Did you really see it glow, Mark?” she asked softly.

I glanced at the head. Dark and still. “Yeah. I did,” I replied.

Carolyn nodded. She seemed to be thinking hard about something. “Good night,” she murmured. Then she turned and padded silently back to the guest room.

The next morning, Mom and Carolyn greeted me with the biggest surprise of my life.

“Your aunt Benna wants you to come visit her in the jungle,” Mom announced at breakfast.

I dropped the spoon into my Froot Loops. My mouth fell open to my knees. “Excuse me?”

Mom and Carolyn grinned at me. I guess they enjoyed shocking me. “That’s why Carolyn came,” Mom explained. “To take you back with her to Baladora.”

“Wh-why didn’t you
tell
me?” I shrieked.

“We didn’t want to tell you until we worked out all the details,” Mom replied. “Are you excited? You get to visit a real jungle!”

“Excited isn’t the word!” I exclaimed. “I’m … I’m … I’m …
I don’t know what I am!”

They both laughed.

“I get to go, too!” Jessica declared, bouncing into the kitchen.

I let out a groan.

“No, Jessica. You can’t go this time,” Mom said,
putting a hand on my sister’s shoulder. “This is Mark’s turn.”

“That isn’t fair!” Jessica wailed, shoving Mom’s hand away.

“Yes, it is,” I replied happily. “Kah-lee-ah!” I cheered. Then I leaped to my feet and did a celebration dance around the kitchen table.

“Not fair! Not fair!” Jessica chanted.

“Jessica, remember: you don’t
like
jungles,” I said.

“Yes, I do!” she insisted.

“Next time will be your turn,” Carolyn said, taking a long sip of coffee. “I’m sure your aunt would love to show you the jungle, Jessica.”

“Yeah. When you’re older,” I sneered. “You know, the jungle is too dangerous for a kid.”

Of course, when I said that to my sister, I had no idea of just how dangerous the jungle could be. No idea that I was heading toward dangers I couldn’t even imagine.

After breakfast, Mom helped me pack my suitcase. I wanted to bring shorts and T-shirts. I knew it was hot in the jungle.

But Carolyn insisted that I pack long-sleeved shirts and jeans, because of the scratchy weeds and vines we’d be walking through. And because of all the jungle insects.

“You have to protect yourself from the sun,” Carolyn instructed. “Baladora is close to the equator. The sun is very strong. And the temperature stays in the nineties all day.”

Of course I carefully packed the shrunken head. I didn’t want Jessica to get her paws on it while I was away.

I know, I know. Sometimes I’m pretty mean to my sister.

As we drove to the airport, I thought about poor Jessica, staying home while I went off to exciting adventures with Aunt Benna.

I decided to bring her back a really cool souvenir from the jungle. Some poison ivy, maybe. Or some kind of poisonous snake. Ha-ha!

At the airport, Mom kept hugging me and telling me to be careful. Then she hugged me some more. It was really pretty embarrassing.

Finally, it came time for Carolyn and me to board the plane. I felt scared and excited and glad and worried — all at once!

“Be sure to send postcards!” Mom called as I followed Carolyn to the gate.

“If I can find a mailbox!” I called back.

I didn’t think they
had
mailboxes in the jungle.

The flight was very long. So long, they showed three movies in a row!

Carolyn spent a lot of time reading through her notebooks and papers. But when the flight
attendants served dinner, she took a break. And she told me about the work Aunt Benna had been doing in the jungle.

Carolyn said that Aunt Benna had made many exciting discoveries. She had discovered two kinds of plants that no one had ever seen before. One is a kind of crawling vine that she named after herself.
Benna-lepticus.
Or something like that.

Carolyn said that Aunt Benna was exploring parts of the jungle where no one had ever gone. And that she was turning up all kinds of jungle secrets. Secrets that will make Aunt Benna famous when she decides to announce them.

“When was the last time your aunt visited you?” Carolyn asked. She struggled to pull open the plastic wrapping around her utensils.

“A long time ago,” I told her. “I can hardly remember what Aunt Benna looks like. I was only four or five.”

Carolyn nodded. “Did she give you any special presents?” she asked. She pulled out the plastic knife and started to spread butter on her dinner roll.

I scrunched up my face, thinking hard. “Special presents?”

“Did she bring you anything from the jungle when she visited you?” Carolyn asked. She lowered the dinner roll to the tray and turned to me.

She had her dark glasses on again, so I couldn’t see her eyes. But I had the feeling she was staring at me, studying me.

“I don’t remember,” I replied. “I know she didn’t bring me anything as cool as a shrunken head. That head is really awesome!”

Carolyn didn’t smile. She turned back to her food tray. I could tell she was thinking hard about something.

I fell asleep after dinner. We flew all night and landed in Southeast Asia.

We arrived just after dawn. The sky outside the airplane window was a deep purple. A beautiful color I’d never seen before. A big red sun rose slowly through the purple.

“We change planes here,” Carolyn announced. “A huge jet like this could never land in Baladora. We have to take a tiny plane from here.”

The plane was tiny, for sure. It looked like a toy. It was painted a dull red. It had two red propellers on the slender wings. I searched for the rubber bands that made the propellers spin!

Carolyn introduced me to the pilot. He was a young man in a red-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. He had slicked-down black hair and a black mustache. His name was Ernesto.

“Can this thing fly?” I asked him.

He grinned at me from beneath the mustache. “I hope so,” he replied, chuckling.

He helped us up metal steps into the cabin. Then he hoisted himself into the cockpit. Carolyn and I filled the cabin. There was only room for the two of us back there!

When Ernesto started the engine, it chugged and sputtered like a power mower starting up.

The propellers began to twirl. The engine roared. So loud I couldn’t hear what Ernesto was shouting to us.

Finally, I figured out that he was telling us to fasten our seat belts.

I swallowed hard and stared out the tiny window. Ernesto backed the plane out of the hangar. The roar was so loud, I wanted to cover my ears.

This is going to be exciting,
I thought.
It’s kind of like flying inside a kite!

A few minutes later, we were in the air, flying low over the blue-green ocean. The bright morning sunlight made the water sparkle.

The plane bumped and jerked. I could feel the wind blowing it, making us bounce.

After a while, Carolyn pointed out the islands down below. They were mostly green, with ribbons of yellow sand around them.

“Those are all jungle islands,” Carolyn told me. “See that one?” She pointed to a large egg-shaped island. “Some people found buried pirate’s treasure on that island. Gold and jewels worth millions of dollars.”

“Cool!” I exclaimed.

Ernesto leaned over the throttle and brought the plane lower. So low I could clearly make out trees and shrubs. The trees all seemed tangled together. I couldn’t see any roads or paths.

The ocean water darkened to a deep green. The engine roared as the plane bounced against strong winds.

“That’s Baladora up ahead!” Carolyn announced. She pointed out the window as another island came into view. Baladora was larger than the other islands, and very jagged. It curved around like a crescent moon.

“I can’t believe that Aunt Benna is down there somewhere!” I exclaimed.

Carolyn smiled beneath her dark glasses. “She’s there, okay.”

I glanced to the front as Ernesto turned in his seat to face us. I saw instantly that he had a troubled expression on his face.

“We have a little problem,” he said, shouting over the roar of the engine.

“Problem?” Carolyn asked.

Ernesto nodded grimly. “Yes. A problem. You see … I don’t know how to land this thing. You two will have to jump.”

Panic made me gasp. “But — but — but —” I sputtered. “We don’t have parachutes!”

Ernesto shrugged. “Try to land on something soft,” he said.