Cherry Key and the Secret of Volcan Baru

Parts one and two of my radio drama. (I should probably finish this some day.)

Cherry Key and the Secret of Volcan Baru

A Radio Drama by Doc Walton


Narrator: Good evening (day) ladies and gentlemen (fair listeners?) As our story begins we find Cherry and her boyfriend Geraldo Serracin hiking up Boquete’s Pipeline Trail. With them is Cherry’s dog Spike, a mixed breed that is fiercely loyal to Cherry, but not the smartest pup in the litter. Slung over Cherry’s shoulders is a backpack of considerable size without which she never leaves her house.

Cherry: So tell me Geraldo, why do they call this the Pipeline Trail?

Geraldo: Por supuesto Katie. It got its name muchos anos ago when Indians from the other side of Baru used this trail to smuggle pipes down the mountain for use by the smokers in the valley.

Cherry: You’re kidding.

Geraldo: Ha! Of course I am. It’s because of that huge water pipe that runs along side the trail. See it over there?

Cherry: Oh is that what that is? Reach inside my pack and grab my camera, will ya? I want to get a picture of that thing.

Geraldo: Should I pose over there by the pipe?

Cherry: No, I want to get a PRETTY picture.

Geraldo laughs again.

Cherry: Go over there by the pipe Spike. You’re the good looking one here. I want to take your picture.

Spike: Barking sounds.

Cherry: Okay, forget it Spike. Jumping at my finger when I’m pointing is not what I had in mind.

Narrator: Cherry, Geraldo and Spike continue up the trail making small talk about the plants and wildlife. Geraldo is Panamanian and knows about these things. Cherry is from New York and doesn’t. Suddenly, from the forest around them comes …


Cue weird howling noise, frantically barking dog.


After it stops.

Cherry: Quiet Spike! Quiet, quiet! What the hell was that Geraldo? Some kind of Monkey?

Geraldo: I don’t know Cherry. I’ve never heard anything like it before. It sounded como un animal…but it was… much too loud. Yo creo if that was un animal we’d have seen it, would we not?

Cherry: We sure would!. That was just TOO spooky. I’m not turning back though, I don’t care what it was. We’re about halfway to the top of Baru, aren’t we? If my Dad was right, there is something there I have to find. I promised myself I would do this and I’m not going to let some silly noise stop me even if it WAS spooky. Are you with me?

Geraldo: Es verdad Cherry. I no want to go back either.

Cherry: Spike?

Dog barks.

Geraldo: The trail gets muy angosto aqui so stay close behind.

Narrator: Our three hikers start off again, walking slower, more cautiously in single file. They stop from time to time to listen to the noises around them, but nothing seems out of place. At a small clearing along the way they stop for a bite to eat.

Cherry: Geraldo, grab the picnic basket from my pack. It’s over by that tree. I’m going to fill my canteen from the stream.

Geraldo grunting and talking to himself as he removes the basket: How in el mundo does she put all this stuff in there?

Narrator: After eating, Cherry and Geraldo clean up their luncheon debris and continue up the trail. Spike bounds ahead of them nose to the ground. They hike no more than a few hundred yards when Spike begins to act very peculiar. He darts in and out of the thick jungle foliage as if he were looking for something or trying to fix on an elusive
scent. He stops abruptly, points his nose at the sky and emits a long wolf-like cry. He
then plunges into the brush and disappears. Katie and Geraldo can hear his bark get further and further away. They call and call but Spike does not respond.

Geraldo: What is WITH this dog Cherry? He goes loco!

Cherry: I don’t know Geraldo. He’s never run off before. We’ve got to find him.

Narrator: Cherry and Geraldo leave the trail in the direction of Spike’s distant barking. The underbrush gets so thick that Katie pulls a machete from her backpack and gives it to Geraldo to hack their way through the dense greenery.

Chopping noise in background.

Cherry: I think this is about where we heard his last bark. I don’t know where to go from here.

Geraldo: De acuerdo. If we go any further we are sure to get lost if we aren’t already. We should head back to the trail. Spike will be esta bien. He’s a dog. He can find us with his nose.

Cherry: Yeah, I know, but I hate to leave him. He’s not exactly Rin Tin Tin. Let’s rest a minute before…WHAT THE…?

Narrator: Cherry has leaned back against the broad trunk of a towering blah blah tree (need name of Panamanian tree) and very quickly melts into its interior. She cries out from the blackness.

Cherry: GERALDO. GERALDO. CAN YOU HEAR ME?

Geraldo: SI! SI! PERO DONDE ESTAS?

Cherry: I AM INSIDE THE TREE! PUSH ON THE TRUNK.

Geraldo aloud but to himself: Push on it she says. Push on the tree. Must be some kind of triiii…AI CARAMBA! (or some more likely Panamanian expression.) IT’S GOT MY HANDS!

A moment later.

Cherry: Are you all right?

Geraldo: (Taking loud deep breaths) Si, pero, que pasado?. Is this thing going to eat us or what.

Cherry: I don’t think so. It feels kind of…you know…roomy in here. There’s flashlights and matches in my pack. Reach in there and see if you can find them.

Rustling noise for a few moments.

Cherry: There. That’s better.

Geraldo: Wow. This place es muy grande. I can’t even see the other side. Cherry we have got to find a way out.

Dog barks in the distance.

Cherry: Did you hear that? That has to be Spike. Sounds like it came from over there.

Geraldo: Okay, we go in that direction, but we stay close to the wall. I want to find Spike tambien, but our first job is to get out of here. I don’t know about you, but this thing is…what is the word?... creeping me out.

Cherry: That’s the word all right.

Narrator: Cherry and Geraldo inch along the wall, step by careful step. Spike continues to bark and his barking gets a bit louder with each step they take.

Cherry: I think he’s close Geraldo. SPIKE! SPIKE! ARE YOU THERE? HERE BOY! HERE BOY!

Geraldo: Cherry stop! I think I see something in front of you. Lower su flash light un poquito.

Cherry: I see it. It looks like a hole or a pit or something. Let’s get a little closer. If its deep maybe we can go around it.

Geraldo: Oh man, I’m no to believe this! It’s a stairwell. Don’t even think about going dow

A dog bark from below interrupts him.

Cherry: That’s Spike. He’s down there. We HAVE to go get him.

Narrator: The stairs are steep and seem endless. Cherry and Geraldo descend them carefully. There are no handrails and a fall would be fatal. They go lower and lower and lower, spurred on by Spike’s continual barking. There is a slight easing of the darkness as they descend. The once dense blackness has turned to a hazy grey.

Cherry: I think there is light ahead Geraldo. Look, we can see two or three steps at a time without the flashlights.

Geraldo: You’re right. Let’s turn them off. Save the batteries.

(We hear them go down a few more steps.)

Cherry: There’s the bottom. And Spike sounds real close.

Geraldo: Yeah and it’s a lot brighter there. Let’s go.

Narrator: But brightness my friends, is relative. If one has been in total darkness a time, a match flame can seem a torch. Nevertheless Katie and Geraldo find it is now light enough to see several arms lengths ahead. Beyond that? Well… let’s just say there is still the darkness.

Cherry: There’s Spike! HERE BOY! HERE BOY! Hold my pack Geraldo, I’m going to get him.

Geraldo: Wait a minute Katie. He’s tied to something. Something behind him in the shadows. In fact…..there are….otras cosas in the shadows…all… ah…round us.

A sound that is first hiss, then voice envelops the room.
(Maybe we can echo chamber something that sounds menacing.)

It says: I AM SSSSSSILGORE, (Got to make the hiss prominent) LORD OF BARU. MANY HAVE COME BEFORE. THE GREN, THE VASSSILY. THE SSSPRADE. YOU ARE THE FIRST OF YOUR KIND. CHILDREN OF THE SSSURFACE. LIKE THE OTHERS, YOU WILL NEVER RETURN. SSSEIZE THEM!

Howls, growls, human screams and dog barks. The last sound is….

Cherry: Quick Geraldo! Throw me the backpack!

Cut to commercial.


Good evening ladies and gentlemen. With a name like Smuckers their jelly HAS to be good. With a name like Rancid-lizard-vomit our jelly HAS to be better!


THE SECRET OF VOLCAN BARU PART 2


Narrator: Six months earlier.

(Sound of door opening. Tinkle of bell to alert that someone has entered.)

Cherry: Dad, what are you doing here, why is the store still open?

Jonathon: (Cherry’s dad) Hi Sweetie, not much, what are you up to?
Cherry: I was just passing by on my way home and saw your lights on. I thought something might be wrong.

Jonathon: Nothing to worry about here Kiddo, I was just playing around with a formula I found and I thought I’d keep the door open and maybe make a late sale.

Cherry: Dad, it’s almost midnight. Nobody is going to come in HERE at this hour except creepy people…what kind of formula?

Jonathon: (laughing) Hey, come on, creepy people are my best customers! You don’t sell a lot of magic potions and lotions to guys in suits. They think this is all a scam or a tongue-in-cheek novelty store. It’s the believers and the desperate who buy my wares.

Cherry: Yeah, I suppose you’re right Dad. So tell me about this formula.

Jonathon: Well it’s something I found in one of my weirdo ancient books. Let me get it and I’ll show you.

Narrator: Jonathon pushes back his chair and reaches for the backpack that rests on the floor near his desk.

Jonathon: I was rummaging through my pack the other day looking for something else and I pulled out this book. Funny thing is, I don’t remember where I got it or when I put it in there but…well… there it was. I started to flip through the pages but the book opened itself to this middle part where it shows this…this list of things…strange things like the stuff I sell in here and it got my curiosity going.

Cherry: What’s it for?

Jonathon: Beats the hell out of me! The language in the text is old and phrased funny… but… it might be some kind of …I don’t know…repellent. Something to ward off who knows what. Look, it says here… if I’ve got this right…“protection for they who seek the truth, pain for they who”… I think this word is “hide” but I’m not certain.

Cherry: Whoa. That’s a little scary. What’s the title of the book?

Jonathon: The Cryptomicon. I haven’t read much of it yet because every time I try, the damn thing flips open to this page. I think I’m supposed to do something with this formula or whatever it is.

Cherry: Well, have you?

Jonathon: Not really. I keep trying, but I’m missing a couple of the ingredients. There is a plant from Costa Rica whose leaves I need and feathers from a bird in Panama called a quetzal. I’ve substituted stuff from the store but nothing works. Nothing I put in seems to mix properly.

Cherry: It’s probably all a bunch of hoohah anyway Dad. Let’s close up, go home, and get some sleep. This can all wait ‘til tomorrow.

Jonathon: Alrighty then Sweetness, but I wish you would take more interest in these things. Magic is real you know, whether you believe it or not. I’ve seen things that…

(The door bell tinkles and interrupts.)

Narrator: A tall, very thin, very pale man stands quietly just inside the door. He is wearing some sort of hooded cloak and his face is nearly obscured in shadow. Only his exceptionally large eyes, black as coal, but shiny as a cats are visible under his hood. At first he doesn’t speak. He just stands there still as death.

Jonathan: (whispering to Cherry) Boy were you right about the creepy people. (Aloud) Hey Sport, what can I help you with?

Stranger: I have come for that book.

Jonathon: (chuckling, trying to keep it light) What, this old book? Why would anybody want this. Heck the pages are falling out. I just wouldn’t feel right about selling it to anybody.

Stranger: I do not wish to buy what already belongs to me. It is mine and I shall HAVE it.

Narrator: The stranger moves menacingly towards Jonathon and Cherry who instinctively step back a little. Jonathon snatches up the book and holds it in one hand while pointing at the stranger with the other.

Jonathon: Hold on there Creepy Dude, what’s the big deal about this book?

Stranger: That is not for you to know. CRYTOMICON, CRYPTOMICON. TO ME!

Jonathon: What the! Damn Cherry. The book is pulling me.

Cherry: Let it go Dad! Let it go!

Jonathon: No way, this (sounds of struggle) isn’t happ..en…ing.

(Door slams.)

Cherry: Are you all right?

Jonathon: (breathing hard) Yeah I’m okay. He got the book though, the freakin creep. I should call the cops.

Cherry: I doubt they’d be interested in the theft of a book. Besides, we still have the formula.

TO BE CONTINUED