IDEA ON TUESDAY 641

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

Horror Trope: artifact of doom
Recent Event: A real-life, right now mummy kidnapping! http://www.examiner.com/art-in-new-york/ancient-egyptian-artifacts-discovered-smuggling-bust

Oh, we LOVE our mommies…er…mummies! 100 pieces of King Tutankhamen’s funerary stuff, as well as a bunch of “fake stuff” (they call them replicas) is currently on display here at the Science Museum of Minnesota – which is what’s inspiring THIS post. So OBVIOUSLY, the stolen sarcophagi (which, BTW, in Latin means “flesh eater”…ew…) are bad luck for the New York antique dealers who went down in the bust. So far, the curse of THESE mummies hasn’t reached the Jordanian collector being sought after by his countrymen…

But WHAT IF…he made a clean get away and he’s tipping a few cold Mountain Dews in his air-conditioned house in Jordan even as I write this. He’s pocketed his finder’s fee and he figures he’s home free and is just opening the file on his computer for his next heist. It picks up a virus like so many other computers and his AVAST program supposedly eats it up.

The next time his fourteen-year-old son, Itamar goes online to update Snapchat and chat with his friends all over the planet, the computer virus from the sarcophagi takes a little leap from inside his phone, onto his hand and after he’s done with his session, he yawns and rubs his eyes, passing a proto-biological virus to the moist membranes of his eyes.

Late in the morning – because his dad is pounding on the door to wake him up he rubs his eyes and notices his vision is a little foggy. He tried to tell his dad to knock it off, but all he can do is moan which sounded WAY too much like a sound he’d make when he was...He covered his mouth in horror, sitting up in bed. He didn’t notice anything except that the hand in front of his face was wrapped in dark brown bandages…

Names: ♂, Jordan
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg