The Abbreviated Adventures of Mogey & Smush Volume CCCLV

One morning, Mogey awoke to find a tattered piece of parchment stuck to his face, upon which was scrawled a single red X.

"What do you suppose it means?" Mogey exclaimed, after he'd found Smush and told him of his discovery.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," Smush said. "I guess we'd better go ask Madame Shoosteaux."

Madame Shoosteaux was on old gypsy woman who lived in a tepee down the road a spell. Mogey and Smush often consulted with her on mattes of mystery and intrigue, and her wisdom had a calming effect under even the most dire circumstances.

"Not the crimson X!" Madame Shoosteaux cried as Mogey related the events of that morning. "Anything but the crimson X! It is a sign, Mogey," she went on in a whisper. "A sign that you must go to the Cave of Souls."

"The Cave of Souls?" Mogey repeated. "But where is that?"

"At the base of Mount Poppersax, a fortnight's journey from here on foot," Madame Shoosteaux replied. "Or exit 42 off the interstate."

And so Mogey and Smush journeyed tirelessly, stopping only for the most essential jerkeys (beef and turkey), until they had reached the base of Mount Poppersax. The walked inside the first cave they happened upon and were greeted almost immediately by a sweaty gentleman wearing a bright blue suit.

"Yow!" the man hollered, and then began a sort of half singing, half yelling performance. "You make me feel blue," the man sang/yelled. "Bluer than a plucked turkey in winter. Yow!"

"We should leave, Mogey," Smush whispered as the man went on. "I think this may be the wrong Cave of Souls."