And so we come to Chapter 11, where the trio plans their next move.
Imo it starts better than it finishes, but that's just me and my opinion
isn't one of those that counts, unless I started reviewing my own fics and
that just doesn't seem right.
Speaking of the reviews, I'd like to start like I did last chapter, by acknowledging borg. I appreciated your apology. Feel free to look around; there's plenty of fics around here that make me feel insignificant.
n8, glad you caught at least part of that ref. For those who don't know Curly is voiced on the show – at least in a few episodes – by Haley Joel Osment, better known to the general public for the movies Pay It Forward and the one with Bruce Willis where he said "I see dead people". It was also a chance to get in a Monty Python reference (would y'all believe I've never seen a whole episode?), and I relish every chance I get to combine refs. JESS. hmm, could be. And I did notice; you might notice I corrected that with extreme prejudice. Starry Nights, kind of you. Ms. Prongs, thanks for that; maybe you should've listened to Revolution #9 while reading Chapter 9, I dunno. Just a thought. Houkanno Yuuhou, you'll find out here. And if you had cause to say 'poor Lila' before... Now that you mention it I should get back to Arnold & Helga, but not in this chapter or the next. In Chapter 13, though, I will. And I can relate on the voice; my singing voice is all over the map from tenor, though I prefer bass. I guess I have one of those voices. CharmedRomanticLady, I look forward to reading your reviews and I'd better get around to reviewing some of your stories. True Locket, Chien, Dramagirl310, Horseamew, thanks for your feedback too.
Hey Arnold! is created, owned, & / or copyrighted by Craig Bartlett, Snee-Oosh, & / or Nickelodeon, which in turn is owned by Viacom. Post-It is a trademark and copyright and patent of the 3M Corporation.
Phoebe & Lila walked on in silence until they turned a corner and came in sight of the library. Then Lila broke the silence.
"Have you ever been here before?"
"A couple of times. It's a good place for research, better in many ways than the public library. All of those newspaper and magazine microfilms and microfiches, why, their New York Times archives alone go back to the 1800's."
"That is ever so impressive. But then what does the public library have?"
"Well, they're better at non-curriculum oriented books. The fiction and non-fiction series --- James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Purdy Boys, etc."
"I see."
"And it's the official repository for government census records, so it's where the genealogists go."
"I see."
"This library gets the rest of the government records."
"Why would the government records be divided between the libraries?"
"I don't know."
By now they had entered the library and passed through the entryway, and now they stood at the front desk. Phoebe approached the librarian.
"Excuse me. We're supposed to be here for a group project study session but we have no idea where we're meeting."
The librarian, surprised, looked down at the both of them. The college library was open to the general public, but that didn't change the fact that one didn't see people from the other side of adolescence in there very often. "What is your name, miss?"
"Phoebe Heyerdahl."
"Oh, yes. Miss Heyerdahl. Arrangements have been made, and your name's on the list. Go upstairs; it's Science Lab 3 on the second floor. There's a map at the top of the stairs."
"Thank you." Phoebe turned to Lila and nodded in the direction in which they were to go, which the two of them then did.
As they walked, Phoebe had something on her mind which she was reluctant to bring up, considering what Lila had already been through that day. But she had to know.
"Um, Lila?"
"Yes?"
"Um, there's something I'm curious about. It's about Arnold and.. , well, I hesitate to mention it because you've already been through quite a bit but I was wondering..."
"You were wondering if I was tempted to keep him."
"Well, yes."
"Well, if I said that I didn't, that would be ever so much of a lie. I mean, it had occurred to me that maybe I could learn to like like him, and that maybe we could join forces to help Helga learn to like like Brainy. It wouldn't have worked would it?"
"Not on Helga's end. Brainy might love her as much as she loves Arnold, but while Arnold has a significant amount of regard for her, she barely acknowledges Brainy's existence."
"I thought as much."
"Here's the map." Phoebe checked it. "Hmm, close to the restrooms. Convenient of them." With Phoebe leading the way, they went in the indicated direction.
Phoebe continued the interrogation, as it were. "What about you? Could you learn to like like Arnold?"
Lila chewed her lips over that for a while. "Maybe. But there would always be a part of me that would know it was pretending. I might look for that in him that I saw in his cousin Arnie, but..." she left the thought unfinished.
But now Lila had a question on her mind. "What cause did you have to doubt whether I could do it?"
"Well, you had been sending out mixed signals." "I know." "Like when you accompanied Arnold to the Cheese Festival."
Lila chewed on her lips again. "That was a mistake; I acknowledge it now. I knew how Helga felt about him, but he asked me so nicely, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. When Helga showed up at Rhonda's party dressed as me, though, I knew how serious it was; I even took the trouble to sound Arnold out about Helga. But back then, I was just trying to not hurt him."
"To the extent of telling him you were allergic to stuffed animals?"
"All right, I lied so he wouldn't feel so bad."
"And your taking ballet for two years?"
That brought Lila up short suddenly, not to mention affecting her emotionally. Phoebe noticed the change in her demeanor.
"Lila?"
It was everything Lila could do to control herself at this point. "That wasn't a lie, Phoebe. I, I had taken ballet for two years. Back in, Pleasantville."
Phoebe realized her mistake too late. She immediately attempted damage control. "Lila, I--"
"I had to give it up when we had to leave. I, I had to give up so many things..." She was starting to cry now.
"I'm sorry I brought it up, Lila." Phoebe by now was frantic to stop what she'd started, but it was too little too late.
"I still have my ballerina outfit. It's too small now of course. Sometimes, I'll get it out and just hold it, remember my old life."
Phoebe could only stand and watch, knowing she was powerless to hold back the tide.
"Daddy always loved seeing me in it. He said I could be a prima ballerina in one of the big companies like the Kirov or the Russe or the Bolshoi, or the American equivalents at least. He used to call me his little Pavlova. And Mommy, she, she..." And the dam burst.
It was ugly. Lila broke down on a level equal to a normal Olga crying jag, and it wasn't because of a Big Sis Little Sis thing either. The volume was quickly and dangerously approaching a decibel level that would normally cause the staff to ask you to leave. Phoebe looked around, then spotted sanctuary, the women's restroom. She hugged Lila for dear life and guided her into the restroom. What happened in there, I have no right to divulge.
Some time later the two of them emerged, Lila looking a little worse for her experience and occasionally sniffling. They headed for the science labs; breakdown or no breakdown, they still had an appointment to keep, and they couldn't just leave Brainy there wondering what had happened to them.
LABORATORY #3 was on the door through which Phoebe passed without knocking, one arm still on Lila. There they saw Brainy, standing, staring out a window. His face was reflective, pensive even.
"Brainy?"
"Huh?" Snapped from his reflection, he faced the girls. Whatever his expression had been, it immediately changed to concern. "Lila!"
"I'll be all right; I just need a moment." Before she started talking Brainy was at her other side.
"We can reschedule this; you can go home if you need to. I should have anticipated this."
"No, really."
"Lila," Phoebe put in.
"No, both of you! I'll be all right. Let's get to work; I can put my problems aside if I'm working on helping other people." Her determination showed as she now set herself to the group project.
"Are you positive?"
"Always. I'll cry later. At home. In my room. In private."
She was resolute; they could see that she was going to see some progress made on the group project that day if she had to do it herself. So, reluctantly, Brainy called the meeting to order.
"I need to start by apologizing for blowing you two off yesterday."
"Understandable," said Phoebe, "you were on the job and we shouldn't have tried to talk with you while you were working."
"Well yes, there was that. But you see, like you Friday, like Lila today, yesterday I was to say the least out of sorts."
"Oh?"
"I had to schedule an emergency meeting with Dr. Bliss, who just happened to have a Saturday slot open. I think she was expecting that I would need her services; I'd told her what I was going to do on Thursday."
"The day we got the notes at Helga's."
"Yes. But enough of my problems, let's get down to business. What did you two find out Friday?"
You had to give Lila credit; when she set her mind to it you wouldn't know there was a thing wrong with her. She and Phoebe made their reports to Brainy, who took in every word without interruption.
"So it was the play wherein she caught the conscience of the queen." referring to Rhonda's conduct and the reasons therefore. "Or was it the Queen who did the conscience-catching?"
This brought a much-needed laugh.
"Well, for what it's worth, I think either of you would've done fine as Juliet. Though not as well as Helga, needless to say."
"Of course." said Lila.
"You were Paris in that play, weren't you?"
"You know I was, miss stage manager. It wasn't easy getting out his lines without blowing my cover; fortunately, he didn't have much to say."
"I assume you could have done better had you not been so preoccupied with remaining inconspicuous."
Brainy went into one of his silent moods, then he stood and recited words he had needed years before but which he had apparently lived with every day since.
"Beguil'd, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!
Most detestable Death, by thee beguiled,
By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!
O love, O life! not life, but love in death!"
There was polite, though enthusiastic, applause from the ladies as Brainy took a bow and re-seated himself.
"Brainy, I don't know what to say. It seemed like you were actually Paris." said Phoebe when she found her voice.
Brainy nodded, in a thoughtful mood again. "I identify with him." he said. "A young man, incidental to the play, who loves someone who's in love with another. I really did cry over Helga in that scene in the crypt; and when I fought with Arnold, it took an effort to hold back."
Shocked silence from the ladies. When Brainy broke the spell, he was once more all business.
"So Rhonda knows, but she won't do anything about it."
"What?" a startled Lila emitted. "Oh, yes. She gets too much of a charge out of seeing Helga squirm."
"Not surprising," Brainy said disdainfully. Then his gaze switched to Phoebe. "And Coach Wittenberg female doesn't know but she suspects."
"Quite. And for the record, I withdrew from the play because of stage fright."
Yeah, right was the look that passed between Brainy and Lila. Brainy, because he knew Helga; Lila, because Helga had tried the same 'stage fright' routine on her.
"And from your condition when I first saw you today," continued Brainy, his eyes still on Lila, "I assume Phase 1 was a success, so to speak?"
"So to speak;" Lila confirmed, a sad frown on her face, "Arnold is free, and I left him within a dozen yards of Helga."
The two of them filled Brainy in on the remainder of the afternoon's agonizing experience. "She even tried to push Helga in Arnold's direction, literally!" confirmed Phoebe.
"Really?" Brainy's eyebrows rose, as did his estimation of Lila. "She must've been out of it at the time; that's the only reason why you're still in one piece."
That provoked another needed laugh.
"Well," said Brainy, "moving on to Phase 2, then. Which is the group project."
"I still don't see how you're going to be able to reconcile the Patakis." Phoebe said. "In all of the times I've been there I've not exactly been impressed with family togetherness."
"I'm not going to be able to do it, Phoebe. We are. Us, plus some divine intervention."
"Oh?"
"Let me explain. Has Helga ever tried to explain to her family how she felt?"
"Sporadically."
"And what happened?"
"She never gets the chance to fully explain herself. Something always happens, and when the focus is again on her the mood has passed."
"Suppose she gets that chance to fully explain herself?"
"How?"
"She would need to not know that she's doing it." A worried glance from Brainy swept his colleagues. "I won't kid you, this depends on much. And a lot of that much is quite frankly out of our hands. We can only do all that we can and pray to whatever deities we acknowledge for the remainder. Now, what will need to happen is for her to unburden her pain to someone. Someone she trusts implicitly, of course."
"Dr. Bl--" Phoebe began, before it occurred to her that the others might not know of that part of her best friend.
"...Bliss?" Brainy finished. "I've known about that from the first session; I was waiting outside with one of those 25 cent rings. How do you think I knew what she told her about Arnold?"
Phoebe reluctantly nodded, acknowledging this. But as she did so she furtively and with frustration glanced in Lila's direction.
Brainy continued. "As for whether Lila knew, well, even if she didn't before, she knows now. Like I said, there are to be no secrets about this matter between us."
Phoebe gave another grudging nod, resigned to the loss of secrecy. "So who would she tell?"
"Who would she trust?"
"Well, I'm her best friend."
"Has she told you what would be necessary for her family to know yet?"
"No. She knows that I know, so I suppose she doesn't feel it necessary."
"My thoughts exactly. So we must find someone else, someone whose discretion can be counted on, someone she would trust with her life, with her soul. Someone who has helped her more than she could ever repay, although she keeps trying."
Brainy's words took a moment to sink in, but once they did Phoebe's reaction was instantaneous. "Arnold?!? You want her to tell Arnold?!?"
"Exactly."
Phoebe was now officially beside herself, again. "Brainy, she can't bring herself to tell him just about anything! How do you propose to get her to tell him about her family?"
"With timing and the proper conditions, it can be done."
Stone silence reigned in the lab.
Brainy tried again. "We've already started to work on both of them."
"'We'?"
"Yes. You might have noticed that note Arnold got."
"'Who wrote the little pink book?'. That was you?"
"Surprised?"
"I shouldn't be."
"And there's more where that came from. I have dozens of reminders and points for him to ponder." Brainy continued, absently flipping through a stack of papers in front of him; he was really warming to his task now. "You see, over time Arnold has had odd little glimpses of the real Helga, the kind and caring person she really is. But they have been so few and far between that he might not have really considered the full weight thereof. He's never really stopped and counted. But now he will. Even now, thanks to Lila here," here he indicated the taciturn Lila, "she's being a friend to him after a heartbreak, just like before. He will of course want to return the favor, and this Saturday will be his golden, his only, opportunity."
"This Saturday?" Phoebe considered for a minute. "Wait, that's her birthday!"
"So it is, her 13th birthday to be exact. Were she related to Harold, it would be the day she would become a woman; and don't think that hasn't occurred to her."
"What's the connection?"
"It will be when she is at her most vulnerable, especially after what you said to her today, Lila." Brainy then shifted his gaze to her, then back to his other colleague. "Phoebe, you're Helga's best friend; what do you remember about her last birthday?"
Phoebe had to think about that one. "Well, aside from calling her to wish her a happy birthday, not much."
"I'm not surprised. Her own family doesn't really acknowledge the occasion, though not intentionally." A look mixing anger, frustration and perplexity settled on Brainy's face. "That is one hard family to understand. They're capable of the occasional random act of kindness, every one of them. But when it comes to the day to day regard, simple human consideration..." he trailed off in frustration. Then he re-gathered his resources. "Well, I'll tell you how her birthday goes, because I've observed her last three."
Eyebrows arose at that remark. "Well, I told you I was obsessed with her. Anyway, you must understand that those I have observed have all been on weekdays so this year might be different, but considering it comes in summer I don't see why it would. It's a typical summer day for her. She sleeps in late; of course no one bothers to wake her. Although there was one other year when Olga was in; Olga barged in early and woke her up with all the 'Happy Birthday' well wishes, which Helga really liked, not. "Sometime around noon she finally drags herself back into the land of the livid. After one phone call --- presumably from you, Phoebe ---" Here he looked straight at Phoebe, who nodded. "she emerges from the house with a couple of books in her hand, a little pink one and a black one that's not so little. She walks to the park, where she selects a secluded spot which others either have not yet discovered or ignore. She writes some in the pink book, reads some out of the black one, writes some more in the pink one. After about an hour, she packs her materials and returns to the house. That is the sum total of the occasion of her birthday."
"What makes it different from other days?"
"Other days she doesn't have the black book."
"And you think that this is the time at which she is the most vulnerable."
Brainy looked Phoebe directly in the eyes. "How would you feel if your family didn't remember your birthday?" She got the point.
"So how do we do this?"
"Well, we know where Helga will be, and when; now it's a matter of getting Arnold there. He and Gerald hang out in the park most Saturday afternoons, so we'll need to get Gerald away from him and point him – point Arnold, that is - in the right direction." Now Brainy turned on the charm, what little he had. "Phoebe, you're the only one here who has a chance of distracting Gerald from Arnold. Would you do this, for Helga?"
Phoebe could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon than with Gerald, but she gave the impression of mulling it over. "All right, I'll do it for Helga."
Inwardly, Brainy smiled. He knew Phoebe liked Gerald and was amused that she was covering it up, a trait she had obviously picked up from Helga. "And I'll show you where to send Arnold. The three of us can get the lay of the park this week."
"Brainy?" Lila finally decided to enter the conversation.
Brainy's attention, which included lingering concern, shifted to Lila. "Yes?"
"Well, I can see how this will get Helga to tell what is wrong with her family life, but how will her family find out?"
Brainy reached under the table at which they were seated. "Because she'll be telling it for the record." As he finished, he brought up a pack of videotapes.
"Let me see that!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"I was right; Helga's rubbing off on you. This is the second time in three days you've said that to me." said Brainy. Nevertheless, he complied.
Phoebe gave the tapes the once-over. "These tapes are top of the line!"
"For what they cost, they'd better be, not that I can't afford it."
"I mean this isn't one of the brands that you can just walk into a J- Mart and pick up; this is professional equipment."
"Yes, it is." Brainy turned back to Lila. "Lila, I believe BSLS has sent you and Olga a video camera and tapes for a record of your BSLS activities this summer?"
"Yes, and somehow I had a funny feeling you already knew that."
Brainy smiled. "Have you been bird watching lately?"
"No."
"Then maybe you should, maybe this Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July."
"What?" came back in stereo.
"Sorry about that last part, but I just couldn't resist." Nervous laughter, and not just from Brainy. "Seriously, Lila, you'll need to make an appointment with Olga to be in the park at that time."
"Does this mean we're letting Olga in on this?" asked Phoebe.
"No, that wouldn't be a good idea. Aside from it being against the rules, well, Olga is nice and only wants the best for her 'baby sister', but, well, do you remember when she was Simmons' aide, and the 'bedwetting' story?"
"Oh." They got it.
"But Olga is key to this operation. She will need to be the first in the family to know of Helga's true feelings, and it'll have to be where Helga won't be able to hear her crying jag. And with it on videotape, she'll be able --- when she's in a more lucid frame of mind --- to look at it, even show it to the Pataki parents."
Phoebe was silently incredulous. "That's your plan?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any idea how much of that depends on chance?"
"Yes I do. I've devoted months to the question of how to rectify things in the Pataki household, and this is the best I've been able to come up with. But if you can come up with anything better..."
They couldn't and they knew it. After a prolonged silence the best Phoebe could offer was, "Well, it is short notice any way you look at it."
"I suppose we'll have to put in some time at the park this week." was Lila's contribution.
"And I guess I'll have to grease the skids a little more." Brainy absently commented as he looked at the stack of papers in front of him.
"What do you mean by that?" Phoebe demanded.
Brainy looked back at her and adopted his inscrutable look. "You'll see. Take my word for it, Arnold will make Helga tell him what's wrong with her." Then he gathered his things to leave, after sliding the tapes over to Lila. "Well, I guess that's all for now."
"That's all?" Phoebe was incredulous.
"Well, it is if you two want to make that game today at Gerald Field."
"Oh, I'm ever so certain I'd forgotten all about that!" Lila exclaimed, jumping up.
"Understandable." Brainy responded. "And we can always schedule another meeting, work out any kinks we can..."
"Easy for you to say." Phoebe interjected. "You seem to be the one who knows everything about everyone, while we don't even know your name, and don't try to tell me you were born with the name 'Brainy'!"
Brainy just stared at her. Finally, "Fair enough."
"Uh-oh." said Lila.
Phoebe swung back around. "What?"
"Well, you remember the last time this happened? With you trying to find something out about Brainy, and him staring at you and saying 'fair enough'? It took you the rest of the day and him the rest of the next day to recover."
"It's all right, Lila." Brainy said. "I could say that either of you could find out as much as I have by keeping the mouth closed and the eyes and ears open, which is true. But if I'm going to impose on the two of you so much, you deserve to know something about me. You're just lucky I'm in the mood to spill my guts, or not so lucky depending on how you look at it." He continued to talk while crossing to the area of the room where the scientific equipment was.
You had to give credit to whoever put up the money for this particular college library, especially the science labs. Brainy certainly was impressed. "Best supplied science rooms in town, probably. It wouldn't surprise me if the science classes actually meet in here." By now he'd approached a stack of papers that looked like Post-Its.
"Shall we start with my name?" was the rhetorical question as he grabbed the top sheet and scribbled on it. As he held it up to them, he lit a Bunsen burner.
"Brainy!" was the alarmed cry from Phoebe.
"Well, they put these things in here; they obviously mean for them to be used." He then held the sheet of paper with the scribbling toward them. "Now, I'd appreciate it if you didn't say what's written here out loud. I'm kind of paranoid about my real name getting out; it's something I'm working through with Dr. Bliss."
Seconds later, as the sheet of paper touched the Bunsen burner, it instantaneously disappeared.
Brainy chuckled. "Flash paper. Gotta love it."
"But I didn't even get a good look at what you wrote!" Phoebe objected.
"Neither did I." Lila admitted.
Brainy sighed, then decided on a different tack. "Do either of you have a pad of Post-Its?"
Phoebe pulled hers out first. As Brainy again wrote, he again admonished his colleagues against saying his name out loud. He showed it to them, made sure they knew what they were reading, then he took the paper and disposed of it with extreme prejudice.
He attached it to a clamp, which he then touched to a Bunsen burner. As the paper burned, he turned the burner off, then held a mortar under the clamp. As he released the clamp, the burning paper fell into the mortar. When the fire extinguished, Brainy went to work on it, grinding the ashes with a pestle. As he was doing this, he crossed to the sink. Turning on the faucet, he washed the ashes out of the mortar and off of the pestle. After drying the scene with some paper towels, he turned to the amazed faces of Phoebe and Lila.
"Well I said I was paranoid about that. Shall we go? There's lots for me to tell you and we'd better do it on the way." And with that he was out the door.
Phoebe and Lila followed, their minds on the events of the evening --- a worthy successor to Friday --- but most immediately on the name they had read, Brainy's apparent name.
Edward Moore Elkins V.
Well, a cliffhanger, sort of. But it will be brought back from the edge of said cliff soon; oh I have plans for Brainy. I'll have Chapter 12 up soon, because I know exactly what I want to be said and done there, unlike most of these chapters where I had to think about it. Fair warning: it's going to get a bit unbelievable, although imo it will explain some questions raised on the show. Please continue to review, y'all. I'm Nftnat, on e-mail I'm nftnataol.com , and on IM I'm Nftnat. Cy'all.
Speaking of the reviews, I'd like to start like I did last chapter, by acknowledging borg. I appreciated your apology. Feel free to look around; there's plenty of fics around here that make me feel insignificant.
n8, glad you caught at least part of that ref. For those who don't know Curly is voiced on the show – at least in a few episodes – by Haley Joel Osment, better known to the general public for the movies Pay It Forward and the one with Bruce Willis where he said "I see dead people". It was also a chance to get in a Monty Python reference (would y'all believe I've never seen a whole episode?), and I relish every chance I get to combine refs. JESS. hmm, could be. And I did notice; you might notice I corrected that with extreme prejudice. Starry Nights, kind of you. Ms. Prongs, thanks for that; maybe you should've listened to Revolution #9 while reading Chapter 9, I dunno. Just a thought. Houkanno Yuuhou, you'll find out here. And if you had cause to say 'poor Lila' before... Now that you mention it I should get back to Arnold & Helga, but not in this chapter or the next. In Chapter 13, though, I will. And I can relate on the voice; my singing voice is all over the map from tenor, though I prefer bass. I guess I have one of those voices. CharmedRomanticLady, I look forward to reading your reviews and I'd better get around to reviewing some of your stories. True Locket, Chien, Dramagirl310, Horseamew, thanks for your feedback too.
Hey Arnold! is created, owned, & / or copyrighted by Craig Bartlett, Snee-Oosh, & / or Nickelodeon, which in turn is owned by Viacom. Post-It is a trademark and copyright and patent of the 3M Corporation.
Phoebe & Lila walked on in silence until they turned a corner and came in sight of the library. Then Lila broke the silence.
"Have you ever been here before?"
"A couple of times. It's a good place for research, better in many ways than the public library. All of those newspaper and magazine microfilms and microfiches, why, their New York Times archives alone go back to the 1800's."
"That is ever so impressive. But then what does the public library have?"
"Well, they're better at non-curriculum oriented books. The fiction and non-fiction series --- James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Purdy Boys, etc."
"I see."
"And it's the official repository for government census records, so it's where the genealogists go."
"I see."
"This library gets the rest of the government records."
"Why would the government records be divided between the libraries?"
"I don't know."
By now they had entered the library and passed through the entryway, and now they stood at the front desk. Phoebe approached the librarian.
"Excuse me. We're supposed to be here for a group project study session but we have no idea where we're meeting."
The librarian, surprised, looked down at the both of them. The college library was open to the general public, but that didn't change the fact that one didn't see people from the other side of adolescence in there very often. "What is your name, miss?"
"Phoebe Heyerdahl."
"Oh, yes. Miss Heyerdahl. Arrangements have been made, and your name's on the list. Go upstairs; it's Science Lab 3 on the second floor. There's a map at the top of the stairs."
"Thank you." Phoebe turned to Lila and nodded in the direction in which they were to go, which the two of them then did.
As they walked, Phoebe had something on her mind which she was reluctant to bring up, considering what Lila had already been through that day. But she had to know.
"Um, Lila?"
"Yes?"
"Um, there's something I'm curious about. It's about Arnold and.. , well, I hesitate to mention it because you've already been through quite a bit but I was wondering..."
"You were wondering if I was tempted to keep him."
"Well, yes."
"Well, if I said that I didn't, that would be ever so much of a lie. I mean, it had occurred to me that maybe I could learn to like like him, and that maybe we could join forces to help Helga learn to like like Brainy. It wouldn't have worked would it?"
"Not on Helga's end. Brainy might love her as much as she loves Arnold, but while Arnold has a significant amount of regard for her, she barely acknowledges Brainy's existence."
"I thought as much."
"Here's the map." Phoebe checked it. "Hmm, close to the restrooms. Convenient of them." With Phoebe leading the way, they went in the indicated direction.
Phoebe continued the interrogation, as it were. "What about you? Could you learn to like like Arnold?"
Lila chewed her lips over that for a while. "Maybe. But there would always be a part of me that would know it was pretending. I might look for that in him that I saw in his cousin Arnie, but..." she left the thought unfinished.
But now Lila had a question on her mind. "What cause did you have to doubt whether I could do it?"
"Well, you had been sending out mixed signals." "I know." "Like when you accompanied Arnold to the Cheese Festival."
Lila chewed on her lips again. "That was a mistake; I acknowledge it now. I knew how Helga felt about him, but he asked me so nicely, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. When Helga showed up at Rhonda's party dressed as me, though, I knew how serious it was; I even took the trouble to sound Arnold out about Helga. But back then, I was just trying to not hurt him."
"To the extent of telling him you were allergic to stuffed animals?"
"All right, I lied so he wouldn't feel so bad."
"And your taking ballet for two years?"
That brought Lila up short suddenly, not to mention affecting her emotionally. Phoebe noticed the change in her demeanor.
"Lila?"
It was everything Lila could do to control herself at this point. "That wasn't a lie, Phoebe. I, I had taken ballet for two years. Back in, Pleasantville."
Phoebe realized her mistake too late. She immediately attempted damage control. "Lila, I--"
"I had to give it up when we had to leave. I, I had to give up so many things..." She was starting to cry now.
"I'm sorry I brought it up, Lila." Phoebe by now was frantic to stop what she'd started, but it was too little too late.
"I still have my ballerina outfit. It's too small now of course. Sometimes, I'll get it out and just hold it, remember my old life."
Phoebe could only stand and watch, knowing she was powerless to hold back the tide.
"Daddy always loved seeing me in it. He said I could be a prima ballerina in one of the big companies like the Kirov or the Russe or the Bolshoi, or the American equivalents at least. He used to call me his little Pavlova. And Mommy, she, she..." And the dam burst.
It was ugly. Lila broke down on a level equal to a normal Olga crying jag, and it wasn't because of a Big Sis Little Sis thing either. The volume was quickly and dangerously approaching a decibel level that would normally cause the staff to ask you to leave. Phoebe looked around, then spotted sanctuary, the women's restroom. She hugged Lila for dear life and guided her into the restroom. What happened in there, I have no right to divulge.
Some time later the two of them emerged, Lila looking a little worse for her experience and occasionally sniffling. They headed for the science labs; breakdown or no breakdown, they still had an appointment to keep, and they couldn't just leave Brainy there wondering what had happened to them.
LABORATORY #3 was on the door through which Phoebe passed without knocking, one arm still on Lila. There they saw Brainy, standing, staring out a window. His face was reflective, pensive even.
"Brainy?"
"Huh?" Snapped from his reflection, he faced the girls. Whatever his expression had been, it immediately changed to concern. "Lila!"
"I'll be all right; I just need a moment." Before she started talking Brainy was at her other side.
"We can reschedule this; you can go home if you need to. I should have anticipated this."
"No, really."
"Lila," Phoebe put in.
"No, both of you! I'll be all right. Let's get to work; I can put my problems aside if I'm working on helping other people." Her determination showed as she now set herself to the group project.
"Are you positive?"
"Always. I'll cry later. At home. In my room. In private."
She was resolute; they could see that she was going to see some progress made on the group project that day if she had to do it herself. So, reluctantly, Brainy called the meeting to order.
"I need to start by apologizing for blowing you two off yesterday."
"Understandable," said Phoebe, "you were on the job and we shouldn't have tried to talk with you while you were working."
"Well yes, there was that. But you see, like you Friday, like Lila today, yesterday I was to say the least out of sorts."
"Oh?"
"I had to schedule an emergency meeting with Dr. Bliss, who just happened to have a Saturday slot open. I think she was expecting that I would need her services; I'd told her what I was going to do on Thursday."
"The day we got the notes at Helga's."
"Yes. But enough of my problems, let's get down to business. What did you two find out Friday?"
You had to give Lila credit; when she set her mind to it you wouldn't know there was a thing wrong with her. She and Phoebe made their reports to Brainy, who took in every word without interruption.
"So it was the play wherein she caught the conscience of the queen." referring to Rhonda's conduct and the reasons therefore. "Or was it the Queen who did the conscience-catching?"
This brought a much-needed laugh.
"Well, for what it's worth, I think either of you would've done fine as Juliet. Though not as well as Helga, needless to say."
"Of course." said Lila.
"You were Paris in that play, weren't you?"
"You know I was, miss stage manager. It wasn't easy getting out his lines without blowing my cover; fortunately, he didn't have much to say."
"I assume you could have done better had you not been so preoccupied with remaining inconspicuous."
Brainy went into one of his silent moods, then he stood and recited words he had needed years before but which he had apparently lived with every day since.
"Beguil'd, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!
Most detestable Death, by thee beguiled,
By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!
O love, O life! not life, but love in death!"
There was polite, though enthusiastic, applause from the ladies as Brainy took a bow and re-seated himself.
"Brainy, I don't know what to say. It seemed like you were actually Paris." said Phoebe when she found her voice.
Brainy nodded, in a thoughtful mood again. "I identify with him." he said. "A young man, incidental to the play, who loves someone who's in love with another. I really did cry over Helga in that scene in the crypt; and when I fought with Arnold, it took an effort to hold back."
Shocked silence from the ladies. When Brainy broke the spell, he was once more all business.
"So Rhonda knows, but she won't do anything about it."
"What?" a startled Lila emitted. "Oh, yes. She gets too much of a charge out of seeing Helga squirm."
"Not surprising," Brainy said disdainfully. Then his gaze switched to Phoebe. "And Coach Wittenberg female doesn't know but she suspects."
"Quite. And for the record, I withdrew from the play because of stage fright."
Yeah, right was the look that passed between Brainy and Lila. Brainy, because he knew Helga; Lila, because Helga had tried the same 'stage fright' routine on her.
"And from your condition when I first saw you today," continued Brainy, his eyes still on Lila, "I assume Phase 1 was a success, so to speak?"
"So to speak;" Lila confirmed, a sad frown on her face, "Arnold is free, and I left him within a dozen yards of Helga."
The two of them filled Brainy in on the remainder of the afternoon's agonizing experience. "She even tried to push Helga in Arnold's direction, literally!" confirmed Phoebe.
"Really?" Brainy's eyebrows rose, as did his estimation of Lila. "She must've been out of it at the time; that's the only reason why you're still in one piece."
That provoked another needed laugh.
"Well," said Brainy, "moving on to Phase 2, then. Which is the group project."
"I still don't see how you're going to be able to reconcile the Patakis." Phoebe said. "In all of the times I've been there I've not exactly been impressed with family togetherness."
"I'm not going to be able to do it, Phoebe. We are. Us, plus some divine intervention."
"Oh?"
"Let me explain. Has Helga ever tried to explain to her family how she felt?"
"Sporadically."
"And what happened?"
"She never gets the chance to fully explain herself. Something always happens, and when the focus is again on her the mood has passed."
"Suppose she gets that chance to fully explain herself?"
"How?"
"She would need to not know that she's doing it." A worried glance from Brainy swept his colleagues. "I won't kid you, this depends on much. And a lot of that much is quite frankly out of our hands. We can only do all that we can and pray to whatever deities we acknowledge for the remainder. Now, what will need to happen is for her to unburden her pain to someone. Someone she trusts implicitly, of course."
"Dr. Bl--" Phoebe began, before it occurred to her that the others might not know of that part of her best friend.
"...Bliss?" Brainy finished. "I've known about that from the first session; I was waiting outside with one of those 25 cent rings. How do you think I knew what she told her about Arnold?"
Phoebe reluctantly nodded, acknowledging this. But as she did so she furtively and with frustration glanced in Lila's direction.
Brainy continued. "As for whether Lila knew, well, even if she didn't before, she knows now. Like I said, there are to be no secrets about this matter between us."
Phoebe gave another grudging nod, resigned to the loss of secrecy. "So who would she tell?"
"Who would she trust?"
"Well, I'm her best friend."
"Has she told you what would be necessary for her family to know yet?"
"No. She knows that I know, so I suppose she doesn't feel it necessary."
"My thoughts exactly. So we must find someone else, someone whose discretion can be counted on, someone she would trust with her life, with her soul. Someone who has helped her more than she could ever repay, although she keeps trying."
Brainy's words took a moment to sink in, but once they did Phoebe's reaction was instantaneous. "Arnold?!? You want her to tell Arnold?!?"
"Exactly."
Phoebe was now officially beside herself, again. "Brainy, she can't bring herself to tell him just about anything! How do you propose to get her to tell him about her family?"
"With timing and the proper conditions, it can be done."
Stone silence reigned in the lab.
Brainy tried again. "We've already started to work on both of them."
"'We'?"
"Yes. You might have noticed that note Arnold got."
"'Who wrote the little pink book?'. That was you?"
"Surprised?"
"I shouldn't be."
"And there's more where that came from. I have dozens of reminders and points for him to ponder." Brainy continued, absently flipping through a stack of papers in front of him; he was really warming to his task now. "You see, over time Arnold has had odd little glimpses of the real Helga, the kind and caring person she really is. But they have been so few and far between that he might not have really considered the full weight thereof. He's never really stopped and counted. But now he will. Even now, thanks to Lila here," here he indicated the taciturn Lila, "she's being a friend to him after a heartbreak, just like before. He will of course want to return the favor, and this Saturday will be his golden, his only, opportunity."
"This Saturday?" Phoebe considered for a minute. "Wait, that's her birthday!"
"So it is, her 13th birthday to be exact. Were she related to Harold, it would be the day she would become a woman; and don't think that hasn't occurred to her."
"What's the connection?"
"It will be when she is at her most vulnerable, especially after what you said to her today, Lila." Brainy then shifted his gaze to her, then back to his other colleague. "Phoebe, you're Helga's best friend; what do you remember about her last birthday?"
Phoebe had to think about that one. "Well, aside from calling her to wish her a happy birthday, not much."
"I'm not surprised. Her own family doesn't really acknowledge the occasion, though not intentionally." A look mixing anger, frustration and perplexity settled on Brainy's face. "That is one hard family to understand. They're capable of the occasional random act of kindness, every one of them. But when it comes to the day to day regard, simple human consideration..." he trailed off in frustration. Then he re-gathered his resources. "Well, I'll tell you how her birthday goes, because I've observed her last three."
Eyebrows arose at that remark. "Well, I told you I was obsessed with her. Anyway, you must understand that those I have observed have all been on weekdays so this year might be different, but considering it comes in summer I don't see why it would. It's a typical summer day for her. She sleeps in late; of course no one bothers to wake her. Although there was one other year when Olga was in; Olga barged in early and woke her up with all the 'Happy Birthday' well wishes, which Helga really liked, not. "Sometime around noon she finally drags herself back into the land of the livid. After one phone call --- presumably from you, Phoebe ---" Here he looked straight at Phoebe, who nodded. "she emerges from the house with a couple of books in her hand, a little pink one and a black one that's not so little. She walks to the park, where she selects a secluded spot which others either have not yet discovered or ignore. She writes some in the pink book, reads some out of the black one, writes some more in the pink one. After about an hour, she packs her materials and returns to the house. That is the sum total of the occasion of her birthday."
"What makes it different from other days?"
"Other days she doesn't have the black book."
"And you think that this is the time at which she is the most vulnerable."
Brainy looked Phoebe directly in the eyes. "How would you feel if your family didn't remember your birthday?" She got the point.
"So how do we do this?"
"Well, we know where Helga will be, and when; now it's a matter of getting Arnold there. He and Gerald hang out in the park most Saturday afternoons, so we'll need to get Gerald away from him and point him – point Arnold, that is - in the right direction." Now Brainy turned on the charm, what little he had. "Phoebe, you're the only one here who has a chance of distracting Gerald from Arnold. Would you do this, for Helga?"
Phoebe could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon than with Gerald, but she gave the impression of mulling it over. "All right, I'll do it for Helga."
Inwardly, Brainy smiled. He knew Phoebe liked Gerald and was amused that she was covering it up, a trait she had obviously picked up from Helga. "And I'll show you where to send Arnold. The three of us can get the lay of the park this week."
"Brainy?" Lila finally decided to enter the conversation.
Brainy's attention, which included lingering concern, shifted to Lila. "Yes?"
"Well, I can see how this will get Helga to tell what is wrong with her family life, but how will her family find out?"
Brainy reached under the table at which they were seated. "Because she'll be telling it for the record." As he finished, he brought up a pack of videotapes.
"Let me see that!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"I was right; Helga's rubbing off on you. This is the second time in three days you've said that to me." said Brainy. Nevertheless, he complied.
Phoebe gave the tapes the once-over. "These tapes are top of the line!"
"For what they cost, they'd better be, not that I can't afford it."
"I mean this isn't one of the brands that you can just walk into a J- Mart and pick up; this is professional equipment."
"Yes, it is." Brainy turned back to Lila. "Lila, I believe BSLS has sent you and Olga a video camera and tapes for a record of your BSLS activities this summer?"
"Yes, and somehow I had a funny feeling you already knew that."
Brainy smiled. "Have you been bird watching lately?"
"No."
"Then maybe you should, maybe this Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July."
"What?" came back in stereo.
"Sorry about that last part, but I just couldn't resist." Nervous laughter, and not just from Brainy. "Seriously, Lila, you'll need to make an appointment with Olga to be in the park at that time."
"Does this mean we're letting Olga in on this?" asked Phoebe.
"No, that wouldn't be a good idea. Aside from it being against the rules, well, Olga is nice and only wants the best for her 'baby sister', but, well, do you remember when she was Simmons' aide, and the 'bedwetting' story?"
"Oh." They got it.
"But Olga is key to this operation. She will need to be the first in the family to know of Helga's true feelings, and it'll have to be where Helga won't be able to hear her crying jag. And with it on videotape, she'll be able --- when she's in a more lucid frame of mind --- to look at it, even show it to the Pataki parents."
Phoebe was silently incredulous. "That's your plan?"
"Yes."
"Do you have any idea how much of that depends on chance?"
"Yes I do. I've devoted months to the question of how to rectify things in the Pataki household, and this is the best I've been able to come up with. But if you can come up with anything better..."
They couldn't and they knew it. After a prolonged silence the best Phoebe could offer was, "Well, it is short notice any way you look at it."
"I suppose we'll have to put in some time at the park this week." was Lila's contribution.
"And I guess I'll have to grease the skids a little more." Brainy absently commented as he looked at the stack of papers in front of him.
"What do you mean by that?" Phoebe demanded.
Brainy looked back at her and adopted his inscrutable look. "You'll see. Take my word for it, Arnold will make Helga tell him what's wrong with her." Then he gathered his things to leave, after sliding the tapes over to Lila. "Well, I guess that's all for now."
"That's all?" Phoebe was incredulous.
"Well, it is if you two want to make that game today at Gerald Field."
"Oh, I'm ever so certain I'd forgotten all about that!" Lila exclaimed, jumping up.
"Understandable." Brainy responded. "And we can always schedule another meeting, work out any kinks we can..."
"Easy for you to say." Phoebe interjected. "You seem to be the one who knows everything about everyone, while we don't even know your name, and don't try to tell me you were born with the name 'Brainy'!"
Brainy just stared at her. Finally, "Fair enough."
"Uh-oh." said Lila.
Phoebe swung back around. "What?"
"Well, you remember the last time this happened? With you trying to find something out about Brainy, and him staring at you and saying 'fair enough'? It took you the rest of the day and him the rest of the next day to recover."
"It's all right, Lila." Brainy said. "I could say that either of you could find out as much as I have by keeping the mouth closed and the eyes and ears open, which is true. But if I'm going to impose on the two of you so much, you deserve to know something about me. You're just lucky I'm in the mood to spill my guts, or not so lucky depending on how you look at it." He continued to talk while crossing to the area of the room where the scientific equipment was.
You had to give credit to whoever put up the money for this particular college library, especially the science labs. Brainy certainly was impressed. "Best supplied science rooms in town, probably. It wouldn't surprise me if the science classes actually meet in here." By now he'd approached a stack of papers that looked like Post-Its.
"Shall we start with my name?" was the rhetorical question as he grabbed the top sheet and scribbled on it. As he held it up to them, he lit a Bunsen burner.
"Brainy!" was the alarmed cry from Phoebe.
"Well, they put these things in here; they obviously mean for them to be used." He then held the sheet of paper with the scribbling toward them. "Now, I'd appreciate it if you didn't say what's written here out loud. I'm kind of paranoid about my real name getting out; it's something I'm working through with Dr. Bliss."
Seconds later, as the sheet of paper touched the Bunsen burner, it instantaneously disappeared.
Brainy chuckled. "Flash paper. Gotta love it."
"But I didn't even get a good look at what you wrote!" Phoebe objected.
"Neither did I." Lila admitted.
Brainy sighed, then decided on a different tack. "Do either of you have a pad of Post-Its?"
Phoebe pulled hers out first. As Brainy again wrote, he again admonished his colleagues against saying his name out loud. He showed it to them, made sure they knew what they were reading, then he took the paper and disposed of it with extreme prejudice.
He attached it to a clamp, which he then touched to a Bunsen burner. As the paper burned, he turned the burner off, then held a mortar under the clamp. As he released the clamp, the burning paper fell into the mortar. When the fire extinguished, Brainy went to work on it, grinding the ashes with a pestle. As he was doing this, he crossed to the sink. Turning on the faucet, he washed the ashes out of the mortar and off of the pestle. After drying the scene with some paper towels, he turned to the amazed faces of Phoebe and Lila.
"Well I said I was paranoid about that. Shall we go? There's lots for me to tell you and we'd better do it on the way." And with that he was out the door.
Phoebe and Lila followed, their minds on the events of the evening --- a worthy successor to Friday --- but most immediately on the name they had read, Brainy's apparent name.
Edward Moore Elkins V.
Well, a cliffhanger, sort of. But it will be brought back from the edge of said cliff soon; oh I have plans for Brainy. I'll have Chapter 12 up soon, because I know exactly what I want to be said and done there, unlike most of these chapters where I had to think about it. Fair warning: it's going to get a bit unbelievable, although imo it will explain some questions raised on the show. Please continue to review, y'all. I'm Nftnat, on e-mail I'm nftnataol.com , and on IM I'm Nftnat. Cy'all.