Friday, May 24, 2024

Chemistry, a life of crime, and the Periodic Table of Elements


This is a two-part tale, and you'll need the Periodic Table of Elements to solve it. But stay with it for the adventure and the answers! Now, get ready to hand over the loot!

The (Au)-Dust Kid mounted his trusty, rust-colored horse, Old (I).  His shooting (Fe) was strapped to his belt, alongside a shiny (Ag) buckle from Mexico.  The bright, new invention, (Ne) lights, lit up the night sky like a (Mg) flare.  There was danger in the wind:  The Kid was aiming to rob the midnight stagecoach with the payroll money!  The nearby (U) mine was getting ready to make a deposit at the local bank, and The Kid was looking for one last big stick-up.  He decided to use a bag of burning (S) to confuse the horses and make the stagecoach driver stop.  The Kid hated the smell of the stuff—it reminded him of a rotten goose egg.  But, it would make any dumb animal or man helpless when it was inhaled and make them forget everything but the need to breathe clean, crisp fresh (O).
          He was getting too old to do this, and his bones ached from (Ca) deposits he had developed in his knees from hard work in the (Zn) refinery.  He had led a hard life:  as a young man, he had been a scout in the army and had used (He) balloons to spy on the enemy during the War Between the States, and he was a Confederate soldier from Texas.  A rancher’s daughter had loved him too, and she tried to poison him with (As) when she found that he cared for another woman.  He just wanted one last robbery to make his fortune and then he would leave his life of crime.
          Up there!—the stagecoach was coming, guarded by a deputy with a (Tn) badge.  The Kid lit the bag from his hiding spot and tossed it in front of the horses, causing them to rear up and snort in fear.  The deputy went for his rifle, but The Kid drew first and filled him with (Pb) slugs.  The (Cu) shells from his pistol clattered on the ground—the deputy’s life wasn’t worth a plugged (Ni). A (Pt) blonde passenger with red lipstick screamed at the sight of The Kid, and she held tightly to an (Al) box under her seat.  “Give me those diamonds on your fingers,” snarled The Kid, “or I’ll crush them into (C) dust!”  The woman fainted in fear.
          Suddenly, shots rang out again, and the sheriff and his posse galloped out from their hiding spot with their guns raised.  The Kid was taken before a judge and thrown into a jail with (Co)-colored steel-reinforced bars—the sun would burn out of its supply of (H) before The Kid would be a free man. His jail sentence was a warning to all that crime never pays!!

H _______________   Co__________________     C ______________   Ni ____________

Pt _______________   Al __________________    Pb _____________    Tn ____________

As____________        Zn _______________          S ______________     O _____________

Cu ___________         Ca _______________          U _____________      Mg ____________

Ne ____________      Ag _______________            I _______________  Fe _____________

Au ____________          




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