This week’s puzzle is once again a story problem. It is entitled “Hood’s Challenge”. The 16 sentences in the unfinished story below all have something in common. The common factor does not relate to the rather grim subject matter of the story. To solve SMP#32 you must discover this common factor and then continue the story. Please make sure any new sentence(s) you add contain this requirement.
Hood’s Challenge
Rick Hood finds it mighty tough being the head veterinarian at the *SanDunes By the Sea* clinic, especially because he is a tad more than high-strung. Our unbalanced hero Rick, age 66, has come from a country where war, riots, disease, and carnage are common. Yes, spending his semi-retirement here caring for sick ducks, ailing squids, and coughing croakers seems a way perhaps to find a measure of peace. Ha...was there ever any peace to be had on this haunted stretch of thinly-populated shoreline?
It is late on a Sunday evening and Rick is the only doctor in the office when suddenly there are several harsh knocks at the locked door. Next, a mysterious voice whispers from somewhere outside, "Help the lizards, they are unwell." This is not the news Dr. Rick Hood is expecting...not at all.
"I know that 76 ern corpses now litter the beach, and more are dying every day," rasps the voice. "Nearly 24 other poor gulls still shiver in this dank and dreary night."
Rick panics and reaches deep into his pockets for his weapons of protection. Ah, the 2 loaded pistols are still there, waiting for their time.
"Fever ravages my friend the eel, tics and spasms overwhelm my brother the frog, and even the 41 starfish sneeze," continues the whisperer.
Rick now has one hand on the doorknob, and the other on his favorite of the guns, a .38 special. The vet's eyes are demented and manic, but they are also strangely vacant.
"Even the precious wings and necks of our beautiful swans are covered with sores and pus."
As he flings open the door to confront his tormentor Rick yells, "I will make sure this vile bug gets no farther than our cursed island!"
Rick can hardly believe his eyes when he sees that his animal nemesis is none other than Spuds MacKenzie! The evil hound points to the further damning evidence of 3 stricken porpoises, their flippers sickly waving in the faint breeze of the night.
“I must get dressed!” Rick cries and begins searching for his slippers. “What else do I need to complete my ensemble - earrings? no, bracelets? no, and the lavalier’s completely out of the question,” he mumbles to himself. Have Rick’s marbles completely deserted him?
As Rick prepared for his mission, his thoughts flew back to his days in veterinary achool, when the other students would razz him about his affection for the slimier creatures. It was clear that the others were mainly intersted in the glamorous creatures – the lithe gazelles, the limber wolves, the massive bison. But Rick, with his preference for wriggly things, was perfectly suited to combat this pestilence threatening the cuddlies and drizzlies alike. He had accumulated a vast array of robust medicines, potent tinctures, and super tonics, and he knew how to use them, too.
He knew full well that a classified ad for disease-fighters was sure to produce no takers. No, Rick would have to work alone to free the island’s fauna from their microbial captors.
“What the blazes did I think I was going to do with a gun and a bracelet?!” he cried aloud as his mind returned to the problem at hand. “This is a job for Horner’s patented slurry!”
He picked up the pace as he headed back to the clinic to procure the necessary medicaments. He was keenly aware that more that a short spurt would be needed for the task ahead, but he was ready at last.
Oh, sorry, MonkeyMensch, I didn’t mean to ignore your contribution. I was one sentence away from having the whole ball of wax when I checked to make sure I wasn’t being scooped, then I saw that my nemesis aseymayo had posted. A quick rewrite, a hasty post, and here we are.
Nemesis? Man, Peregrine, ever since Puzzle #24 I thought we were on the same team! If I believed you were serious, I’d be bawlin’ my eyes out. Or I could take you to court - but I don’t want to press the issue.
Besides, MonkeyMensch slipped under my guard, too, and scored first anyway!
No need to cry foul, I just meant that I don’t dare drop my guard or you’ll be there front and center. That may not be a nemesis in the technical sense, but you do drive me to do my personal best. The retribution is only apparent when I totally dribble off court.
(As, for instance, with Puzzle #23. If not for your post, I could have looked at it for another hour saying to myself, “I could make words out of some of these bits if only they were reversed!”)
Congratulations MonkeyMensch! He shoots! He scores!
Peregrine and aseymayo, you guy are on the same team, so lets have no bawling. I suggest you all hold a conference to resolve your misunderstanding! This is not only important, it is Vitale! (Ugh!) Besides, it’s the only way you can charge forward together for next week’s big game (or the following week, depending on my workload).
By the way, each of your posts made me laugh out loud-- a great reliever during these stressful days at work.
“…Spuds MacKenzie…”
“…lithe gazelles…”
“…the lavalier’s out of the question…”
Ho! Ho! Ho!