This is the 2nd installment of @blockurator's latest Exquisite Corpse. Part 1 by @bennettitalia started us off wonderfully. Here is the link to Part 1:
https://steemit.com/exquisite-corpse/@bennettitalia/glockenspiel-s-experiment-the-last-exquisite-corpse-of-2018-begins-courtesy-of-blockurator
Here are the next venerable writers, in the order they will write their chapter:
@blueteddy, @fromage, @angelurquiola, @blockurator, @sarez, @quillfire, @stever82, and @yestermorrow
Here is a list of characters so far:
Elizabeth Lightwood, former celebrated artists' model and social butterfly; presently a corpse
Doctor Ludwig Von Glockenspiel
Helga, the maid
Lord Thimbleberry of Darbyshire upon Wexley-Haversham East
Inspector Posthaste of Scotland Yard
Lieutenant Jameson McWhisk of Scotland yard, Inspector Posthaste's assistant
Edmond Dantish, pauper, hanger on, and aspiring artist. In love with Elizabeth
Pugnacia Arabesque, Elizabeth's best friend
Alfredo, the trusty and beleaguered butler
Here is my continuation with Part 2:
free stock photo from pexels.com
“Please tell me you will be able to preserve her beauty and kind heart once reawakened,” the lovesick Edmond implored the doctor.
“Oh yes, indeed, we simply couldn’t continue in this world without her wondrous presence” gushed Pugnacia, coming forward to take Edmond’s hand and gaze adoringly at the corpse.
Inspector Posthaste of Scotland Yard and his assistant, Lieutenant McWhisk exchanged a knowing look. After spending precious time interviewing several of Lord Thimbleberry’s partygoers about the beautiful Elizabeth Lightwood, “kind heart” and “wondrous presence” were not the terms they had heard from anyone else. In fact, quite the opposite. Cold hearted, selfish, and arrogant was the impression they had gleaned from the late night revelers.
Doctor Von Glockenspiel responded to Edmond’s query by restating that he really had no concrete evidence of what might result from elixir’s reanimation. However, he added that his successful trials did result in the animals keeping their same appearance. The personality portion had yet to be determined, since none of the reanimated corpses “lived” past 24 hours.
The group of supplicants eyed each other with uncertainty. Suddenly this seemed like a decision that was made in haste, to try this ghastly experiment, and be so uncertain as to the outcome. But they were here now and there was no turning back, having spirited away the body in the dead of night and brought it here.
“And now I must begin my work” Von Glockenspiel informed his bedraggled and slightly damp audience. “Helga, if you will show our guests out, then rejoin me here in the laboratory, I will mix up a fresh batch of elixir. Inspector Posthaste, please leave your card with Helga and I will notify you immediately when there are results to report. I know you are most anxious to hear any first words she may say.”
Helga led the group back upstairs and showed them out the door, closing it behind them and latching the various locks and bolts. She prayed silently to herself that Alfredo, the butler would soon return. She very much disapproved of these inhuman experiments by Von Glockenspiel and knew she would be called in to assist if Alfredo was absent much longer. She headed over to the hearth to stack a few more logs on the flickering fire to ward off this infernal London chill and dampness. As she was poking the fire and arranging the logs to her satisfaction she heard the door to the servant’s entrance creak open and the sound of Alfredo taking off his coat and boots. Thank goodness, she was relieved of duty and she intended to head straight back to bed and pull the covers over her head.
Von Glockenspiel also heard the servant’s door and Alfredo’s arrival. He pulled the rope pulley and a bell sounded upstairs that alerted Alfredo that his presence was required in the laboratory. Alfredo expelled a long breath and wished that he had spent the night at his sister’s house. The bell coming from the laboratory at this late hour could mean only one thing. The doctor had another experiment going. The last one had gone awry with that wild racoon coming to life and trying to scratch the doctor’s eyes out. Alfredo had to stab the creature before it could more damage. The doctor thought perhaps it had been dead for too long, to make a suitable comeback and vowed that the next experiment would be on a “fresher” candidate. “I wonder what creature he has for us this time,” Alberto thought with trepidation as he slowly descended the stairs to the laboratory.
Von Glockenspiel stood at his table lined with beakers of liquids, small cloth sacks of herbs, and tiny vials of colorful chemicals. The work of a lifetime sat assembled before him. He set forth with the grinding of some herbs in the pestle with quick efficient thrusts then added a few drops of an amber liquid along with a handful of dried purple berries. When this was reduced to a rough paste, he added it to a glass beaker containing about three inches of a vile smelling black concoction. When the paste was suitably infused into the liquid it was time for the final ingredient, his most precious and expensive secret. It was the venom from a vipera berus, the only venomous snake found in the United Kingdom. He very cautiously added exactly two drops and watched the mixture come to an immediate frothy boil. The next phase was to let the elixir simmer in the beaker for at least an hour, during which time he would be busy preparing the corpse for reanimation.
Alberto rounded the stairwell and stopped short, his eyes agog. This was no simple small animal under that sheet on the table. Why, it was a human corpse! What on earth was the doctor thinking? Von Glockenspiel hadn’t even been able to control a simple raccoon and it had to be put down immediately lest it do bodily harm. What made him think he was ready for a human?
Von Glockenspiel was lost in his thoughts gazing at some notes he had written when Inspector Posthaste had given him the details of the tragedy of Miss Lightwood. Poisoning, eh? He wondered if that poison still lingering in the corpse’s blood might alter his venom-based elixir in some way. He had a thrill of anticipation of making a breakthrough with this experiment, when he looked up to see Alfredo frozen to the spot with a look of utter disbelief on his face. “Come, come, Alfredo,” he chided. “Close your mouth and wipe that look off your face, we have work to do!”
Ok @blueteddy, Tag, you're it!