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Rory. Oh God Rory, what have you done?
How did he haul the remains of an old motorcycle up the rock wall, piece by piece, reassembling it inside this little crawl space? His mummified mom - Mummy! - oh God! - was preserved in this crevice, facing her beloved desert, gripping her beloved old Indian motorcycle, her beloved, mummified cat Marlin riding with her into eternity.

DeLorean found her breath, moved one foot back, slowly, then gasped. The press of a gun against her spine kept her from falling off a cliff.

(End of Part 15)

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Day 637: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: hill of prairie dogs

"I knew you were trouble,"

Rory said, "from the first sight of that god-awful burgundy spray paint job on that van."

"So, shoot me," DeLorean said, trying to sound flippant.

In a way, she really didn't care. Jagged scars on her face, compliments of Dwayne, would likely never fade. She couldn't outrun him forever. Better have to have that pipsqueak third-cousin Rory end it all now before things got any worse. Which they could, and they would. Never, ever console yourself with the lie that things "can't get any worse," she'd learned.

She'd learned a lot of things.

And if she lived to be as old as poor Lenna had, she'd go out in style too. Not as a mummy, of course. That was so illegal and so creepy, it was no wonder Rory acted so testy.

Come to think of it, she did mind if Rory went off and shot her. What was he doing with his mother mummified up the side of a cliff anyway?

"This was how Maw wanted it," he said, as if reading her mind. "Don't go thinking it was my idea. I couldn't report her dead and get away with this setup, so, yeah, I didn't report it. Now I been collecting social security checks, and you're not going to shoot off your mouth and get me locked up for this."

DeLorean slid her hand back and pulled her own pistol from the waistband of her jeans.

The gun went off with a tremendous noise that about knocked her a hundred feet down to the sand and cactus below.

"Shit!" Rory yelled, covering his ears, then checking for missing body parts. "Shit! You lunatic!"

"You started it."

Above his head, a rock shattered and in a nanosecond of clarity, DeLorean pulled him out of the way, or tried to, as shards of red-rock plummeted down.

Her feet gave way, and she realized she was literally falling off a cliff now. Her fingers grasped a rocky ledge but she slid down, down, her stomach scraping rock, and when her eyes opened again she was flat on her back. She must be hallucinating, or small furry rodents were yelping under the rising moon and scurrying for cover.

"A hill prairie dogs," came the voice of her nemesis, Rory. "Only you, DeLorean. Only you--"

A strange sobbing noise cut him off, and soon DeLorean realized the sounds he was making were due to a seizure of laughter.

She started laughing too until she remembered driving here in search of her mom's penpal and cousin, who was so far gone now, there was nothing but shock and awe and horror to glean from her.

Now the sobbing sounds really were sobs, and of all horrors, they were coming from her.

Thank you for reading!

Part One: She Came in through the Kitchen Window - Day 577: 5 Minute Freewrite: Monday - Prompt: window

Part Two: "You Little Tart" - Day 585: 5 Minute Freewrite: Tuesday - Prompt: tart

Part Three: Day 588: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: rodeo
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-588-5-minute-freewrite-friday-prompt-rodeo

Part Four: Mom's Cousin Lenna the Tart - Part 3 or 4 -Day 591: 5 Minute Freewrite: Monday - Prompt: Rule

Part Five: Mom's Cousin Lenna the Lunatic

Part Six: Mom's Cousin Lenna, Part Six-ish - Day 595: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: trot

Part Seven: Batter My Heart - Mom's Cousin Lenna, Part 7 - Day 598 :5 Minute Freewrite: Monday - Prompt: Batter

Part Eight: Mom's cousin Lenna + Rory, Part 8, Day 599: 5 Minute Freewrite: Tuesday - Prompt: yoga

Part Nine: Mom's Cousin Lenna, Part 9 - Day 602: 5 Minute Freewrite: Prompt: show me the way home

Part Ten: Mom's Cousin Lenna - Day 605: 5 Minute Freewrite: Prompt: moving to the city

Part Eleven: Mom's Cousin Lenna - Day 606: 5 Minute Freewrite Prompt: nap

Part Twelve: Mom's Cousin Lenna - Day 607: Prompt: Hippo

Part Thirteen: Mom's Cousin Lenna- Day 620 - Freewrite Prompt: Metal Butterfly

Part Fourteen: Mom's Cousin Lenna, Day 621: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: stone rose

Part Fifteen: Mom's Cousin Lenna, Day 622: 5 Minute Freewrite: Thursday - Prompt: wet carpet

Part Sixteen: [Mom's Cousin Lenna, Day 637: 5 Minute Freewrite: Prompt: hill of prairie dogs]

Mummification

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