As two letters from Russ show, nobody in the field of the strange & unusual contacted through his efforts wanted anything to do with this toe, a bony remnant of a Palenque ancient. I suspect the shady circumstances of retrieval may have had something to do with that, but I also wouldn't doubt that Russ's persistent attitude had a bearing on his rejections.
Unrewarded by his exuberance, condemned to acquire no answers as to a possibly mysterious (extraterrestrial?) origin of the skeletonized remains from Palenque, Russ Reardon had no option but to display his find on a shelf at home, perhaps serving as at least a conversation piece to help fill in the days remaining of his life.
During the remainder of 1993, not counting the letters displayed here, I received 11 more letters from Russ, each retreating further from the Palenque trip as subject matter shifted to other stories in the news, or to topics momentarily on his mind.
Among the letters was this photo of Russ and Susan, apparently taken in 1993, and it was the nicest -- and last -- picture of them I would ever receive.
With his final actions, it was almost as if he knew time was growing short, and I had actually come to realize that Russ, having no children, was in some way using me to document his, and occasionally his wife's, activities -- no matter the outcome.
His last letter was dated November 18, 1993, and as 1994 swept the previous year away I was never again to receive an envelope postmarked from his location. While I still need to pin down his obituary, I'm pretty sure Russ met his demise around that time, or maybe he suffered another stroke or heart attack and lingered for a bit. At any rate, his ultimate exploratory quest had been fulfilled, despite the outcome.
What of the bone? With Susan's death in 2012 as a very old woman, the mystery of the toe's final destination may never be known. Maybe it went to a distant family member of Susan's, or perhaps it sits in a museum somewhere. I, however, wouldn't be surprised if it simply ended up in a box of discarded kitty litter in South Carolina -- hardly fitting for the toe of Mayan royalty.
