José the Red Mummy by Brendan Connell – BSCkids Short Story!

(for Desmond)

    In the deserts of Mexico there was a little cabin. It had one window and a chimney. Inside the cabin lived José, the Red Mummy.

   He would walk through the desert, looking for food. He ate cactus fruit and pine nuts. Sometimes he found lizards and ate them too. He had mummy magic, and when he blew, the desert was covered with dust storms.

   But José was very lonely, because he had no friends. When he walked up to someone, they got scared and ran away. Even the donkeys and rabbits did not want to talk to him.

   José  was sad and wanted to cry. But mummies don’t cry, even if they are red.

   One day when José was walking through the desert, a big crow came and landed in front of him.

   “Hello,” the crow said, “my name is Allan.”

   “My name is José.”

   “I come from Canada,” Allan, the crow said. “I am a bandit.”

   “I come from here,” José replied. “I come from Mexico. I am a mummy.”

   “Why are you so sad?” Allan asked.

   “Because I am lonely out here in the desert. People run away from me and don’t want to talk.”

   “That is because you are too polite. You are a mummy, so you should do what you want to. I will be your friend. Listen to me and we can make a lot of money.”

   José  was happy and told the crow he would do what he wanted.

   Allan flew up into the air and after about an hour came back.

   “A group of men is coming,” he said. “They are riding mules and look like they have money. Let’s scare them and take what they have.”

   José  agreed and when the men arrived he walked up to them and moaned.

   “A mummy!” everyone shouted. “It’s a red mummy!”

   They were very scared and threw down everything they had, so they could ride away faster.

   Allan looked through their bags. Inside there were tortillas, cheese and candy and also a lot of silver coins.

   “See,” he told José, “now we can eat dinner and we have money also.”

   That night they had a big meal of tortillas and cheese and for dessert ate a lot of candy.

   José  was happy and had very good dreams.

   The next day they robbed another caravan and got more money and food. After that, they did the same thing every day, robbing anyone who passed through the desert. They were bandits.

   “We will soon be very rich,” Allan said “Then we can buy a big house in a big city and be happy.”

   “But I am happy now.”

   “You will be happier later,” Allan said, and then flew up in the air to look for more people to rob.

   After a while, he came back and said that there were a lot of people coming towards them.

   “They are riding in trucks,” he said. “They must have a lot of money and candy.”

   “But we have a lot of money in the cabin,” José said. “And too much candy isn’t good for you.”

   Allan laughed. “You can never have enough money and candy,” he said.

   Soon the trucks were there and José went up to them and moaned, to scare everyone. But the trucks were full of policemen, and they were not scared. José ran away and the police grabbed Allan and put chains around his feet.

      “Help! Help!” Allan cried.

   José  turned around and began to blow. Using his mummy magic he caused a big dust storm so the policemen couldn’t see. Then he broke the chains away from Allan’s feet, because he was very strong, and carried him away.

Soon they were far off, and out of danger.

“We need to leave,” José said.

“But what about all the money and candy that we left in the cabin?” Allan asked.

“We don’t need it,” José said.

“Yes,” Allan agreed, “we can go to South America and be happy.”

“But I can’t fly.”

“Yes you can. Watch.”

      Allan cut off the big sharp leaves of a yucca plant and tied them to José’s arms. José began to flap his arms and rose up into the air. Then the crow and the mummy flew down to South America where they ate fruit and lived by a waterfall and were both very happy.