Chapter Three: Confession at 30 meters.
Vanzilla caused problems again. And even Lana didn't know what to do anymore. So Rita, Lincoln, Lucy and Lynn brought Vanzilla to the workshop. Rita parked and threw the ignition key in the werkstadt mailbox. The four made their way back.
"Have you heard from Lily's friend?" asked Rita.
"No. Did she meet him in kindergarten?" Lynn asked.
"No. She's about fourteen years old." said Rita.
"No. She's about fourteen years old. And she's kind of, quirky. Maybe quirky is the wrong word, but I think she's up to something." said Rita.
"Why do you think that?" asked Lucy.
"I don't know. I just have a feeling." said Rita.
"Do you need our help? You've already spied on Leni, Luna and Luan." said Lincoln.
"I can teach you to follow someone silently like a cat. Or I can accompany you." said Lucy.
"No thanks. I'll take care of this myself."
"Fine, but if you need help, you know what to do." said Lucy.
The four arrived home. After ten minutes the doorbell rang.
"Hi, how are you?" asked Rita.
"Good and you?" Alison asked.
"Yes. Goes very well."
Lily came running. She hugged Lily's legs.
"Hi Lily."
"What are your plans for today?" asked Rita.
"We're going to invite someone to a McDonalds. A Marie Baker. She'll probably become a club member." said Alison.
"Good Idea. Make sure Lily gets water. If she drinks coke, it's like putting gas on a fire."
Lily and Alison left. Rita went to her bedroom and changed. She had trouble putting on her pants again.
"I'll buy a new one afterwards." said Rita.
Alison and Lily got to the McDonalds by bus. It was red, and had a graphite gray stripe on it. In white letters on the bus: RWR bus. The two got out.
"So here we are. Are you hungry Lily?" Alison asked. Lily nodded.
Rita came running with her wig on her head.
"Hello everyone. Am I late?" Rita asked.
"No. We just arrived."
The three entered the McDonald's.
"Can you smell the burger Alison?" asked Rita.
"Yes." said Alison.
They went to the checkout to order. There was a Teenager.
"Welcome to McDonald's, your order?" the teenager asked.
"Well, for the little one we'll have a happy meal with fries, burger and apple slices. For me a plain hamburger, fries and a coke." said Alison.
"Good. And for you?"
"I'll have two Big Macs, a Coke and a large cinnamon roll." said Rita.
"Good. Your order is being prepared." said the teenager.
After a minute they got their food and they sit down at a table. The two got into a conversation. "You're also interested in nature?" Alison asked.
"Yes. Especially plants." said Rita.
"Which do you find particularly beautiful?"
"I think the Lily of the desert is beautiful."
Lily looks at Rita confused.
"Ah. You know that flower is poisonous?"
Lily looks at Alison anxiously.
"Don't worry Lily. You would have to eat the flower for it to become dangerous."
"Most plants that are beautiful are poisonous." said Rita.
"Unfortunately, that's how it is. I mean, in the club center we have a Ricinus communis. You can get ricin from the seeds of this tree," Alison said.
The two continue to discuss plants. When they were done, Lily headed to the playground. "You wanna Play there?" Alison asked.
Lily nodded.
"I think we should go there." said Rita.
The three go to the entrance of the younger children. The entrance was 60 centimeters wide. Lily get in.
"That seems a bit tight to me." said Rita.
"Oh come on Marie. Encourage Lily." said Alison.
Rita went in. But her hips cause her to get stuck.
"Oh. Hell." said Rita softly.
"Marie! Please don't use such words!" said Alison.
Rita pushes the floor with her legs to get through. Alison pressed her back against Rita. Rita slides through the entrance. Alison follows her. For Rita, the tunnel feels tight.
"My goodness, it's cramped here. You almost get claustrophobia." said Rita. "Are you claustrophobic?" Alison asked.
"No. But I enjoy the moments in which I have space for myself." said Rita. Rita sees Lily in front of her in the tunnel. She giggles.
"Whats so funny?" Rita asked.
Lily moves quickly back and forth.
"Oh I see. Because we can't move fast here. Very funny."
"Is Lily making fun of us?" Alison asked.
"Yes."
"You're being mean Lily." Alison said sarcastically.
"Sorry." said Lily.
The three continued crawling, and reached a transparent sphere.
"It's a bit high." said Rita.
Lily walks close to Alison and holds her hand.
"You can't fall down there. You're very safe here." said Alison.
"It feels unnatural." said Rita.
"Why do you think that?"
"I don't like high places."
"Shall we go back down?"
"Would be good."
The three continued to crawl through the tunnel, and reach a strait, yellow slide.
"Look Lily, a slide." Said Alison.
"Slide." Said Lily Happy.
Rita slid down the slide. Then Lily came down the slide. Then Alison came down the slide. Alison picked Lily up.
"That was fun. I feel like six years old." said Alison. "Yes. You have to enjoy your childhood." said Rita. Lily pulls on Alison's jacket.
"Back. Back." said Lily.
"Alright Lily. I'll come with you." said Alison.
"Hey Alison, I have to go home. I have something to do." said Rita.
"Okay. See you then."
Lily waves to Rita.
"Bye Lily." said Rita.
Rita leaves the McDonald's. She went to the Bus Stop.
"That went well." said Rita.
Rita looks at the bus timetable. She exhales deeply.
"Of course the next bus comes in an hour. Then I have to go home again."
Rita is waiting. After twenty minutes, Alison and Lily come out. Rita jumps into the bush next to the bus stop. She gets caught with her hip. She twists her legs and tries to squeeze into the bush. She crouched down and listened to the two.
"It's 3 o'clock. What do you want to do?" Alison asked.
"Fish." Said Lily.
"You love fish, don't you?"
"I should follow them both." said Rita to herself.
Alison and Lily walked towards the river. Rita climbed out of the bush. She had scratches on her arms and branches in her hair.
"Yeah, this is great, i Like it." Said Rita angry and sarcastic.
Rita pulled the branches out, and followed the two. Alison and Lily reached the river bank. It was near the forest, and between the trees you could see the two cooling towers of the nuclear power plant. Alison put Lily down. Salmon swam around.
"Look Lily, those are salmon." said Alison.
Lily watched. Rita hid behind a tree. Lily took aim at a salmon and caught it in her hands.
"What are doing?" Said Alison startled.
Lily got startled and let go of the fish.
"Oh Lily, what have you done?" Rita said quietly to herself.
"You can't catch fish with your hands, it hurts them." said Alison.
"How?" Lily asked.
"How to catch a fish? Well, with a net. But you have to have a permit for that. A rod would also cause injury." said Alison.
The two continued to watch the river. Then Alison saw a pike. "Look, that's a pike. That's a predatory fish." said Alison.
"A pike. I caught one with my father once." said Rita softly.
Rita had a fond memory of catching fish on that river. Pop-pop used a trick he learned from nuclear power plant workers. The cooling water of the nuclear power plant is warm and the fish love it. Alison looked at her cell phone.
"Lily, it's already 5:00 p.m. You have to go home." said Alison.
Alison looks at Lily. Lily lay on her side with her head on her arm. The sound of the river was soothing as Lily slept peacefully on the river bank. Alison took her phone and took a picture. It was a beautiful sight.
"Come on sweetie. Let's go home." Alison said softly, taking Lily in her arms. Rita saw this.
"Aww."
Then Rita remembered that she should go now too.
"Oh I have to go home now." said Rita.
Rita ran through the forest along the river. Rita runs all the way home. She goes through the front door. In the living room are Lincoln, Lucy, Luan, Lana, Lola and Lynn senior.
"Hey honey how was your... What the hell ist this?" Said Lynn senior. "That? Oh that's nothing." said Rita stressed.
"It doesn't look like nothing." said Lucy.
"Yeah, Lucy ist right." Said Lana.
"When I say it's nothing, it means it's nothing." said Rita slightly angry. Rita runs into her room and slams the door.
"I never saw her like this." Said Lola.
"Let's give her some time to calm down." said Lynn Sr.
The doorbell rang. Lincoln went to the door and opened it. Rita changed in the bedroom. She put on her normal clothes and listened.
"You must be Alison." said Lincoln.
"Yes. Here, take Lily." whispered Alison, handing the sleeping Lily to Lincoln. "Hi. Won't you come in?" asked Lynn Sr.
"No thanks. I still have plans and something to do." said Alison.
"Bye Lily." Said Alison quietly.
Lily didn't woke Up. Alison left.
"You heard her. She's up to something." Rita said quietly to herself.
She sees Alison through the window.
"You'll think you're alone. But I'll watch you."
She opened the window and climbs out. Rita sees Alison leaving Franklin Avenue and Rita decides to follow her. Rita walks thirty yards behind her. It's getting dark. Alison goes home. Rita stops at the end of the street and watches the house. After twenty minutes, Alison walks out of the house with a backpack. She is wearing black leggings and a black sweater. Alison walks towards the nuclear power plant. Then she arrives at the fences. There are two four meter high fences with rolled razor wire between them. Alison takes a pair of bolt cutters And cuts open the fence. Then she crawls through and cuts the razor wire. Alison's hair gets caught on one of the razor blades.
"Oh no, no no. Please don't." Alison said to herself.
Alison pulled at her hair and the razor blades cut part of her long hair. Five centimeters were missing. Then she cuts through the second fence and she's on the nuclear power plant site.
"I did it." whispered Alison.
She sneaks towards cooling tower one.
Rita went to the fence and crawls through. She looks at the razor wire. Her hips and legs are through the fence. She crawls through the last fence and feels something at her right leg. One of the razor blades on the razor wire cut through her pants. She kept crawling. She got up and walked towards the cooling tower. Alison climbs up the cooling tower ladder and starts spraying with spray cans. She uses yellow and black colors. Rita climbs up too. Alison didn't notice her.
"What are you doing Here?" Whispered Rita.
"What are you doing Here? Did you follow me?" Wispered Alison.
"I knew you were going to do something."
"Of course, because this power plant is a time bomb. It was planned during the Cold War. And it should be in operation by 2055. Do you know how big this risk is?"
"Why? Why are you breaking the law for this? There's something very wrong with you." whispered Rita.
"I'm pregnant!" screamed Alison.
Rita almost fell off the ladder at those words. Alison chose an unusual place and time for this confession. 1:00 a.m., thirty meters up on a cooling tower of a nuclear power plant.
"That's a bad joke. Please don't say that's the truth." said Rita. "It's the truth. I'm pregnant." said Alison.
"That explains it. That explains why you enjoy spending time with Lily so much. You wanted to prepare yourself." said Rita.
Before Alison could answer, a door in reactor block one opened. Two people came out. Both smoked. They heard a voice that belonged to a man in his mid-fifties.
"What is the energy distributor thinking when he blames us for the bottleneck?" said the man.
Rita saw them. A man and a woman. The man has a gray mustache and gray hair. The woman has black hair, 55 Centimeters Long, wavy and goes over her shoulder and Back. Both wear lab coats. She answered with a strong French accent.
"It's not our fault those idiots in Beaverton went off line." said the woman.
"And that idiot Tucker. He actually once said that a nuclear power plant is easy to operate. When I explained to him that we need 24 hours to start up the reactor, he didn't understand anything anymore." said the man.
"Tucker should be fired. You can tell that the power distributors only have an elementary school degree like the idiots at the Beaverton Hydroelectric Plant." said the woman.
The two had finished the cigarettes. Rita thought they were leaving, but the two pulled out more cigarettes and continued smoking.
"When are they leaving?" whispered Rita.
"Tucker is as dumb as he is stupid. He wouldn't even hit 1 percent thermal performance, and there would be automatic SCRAM." said the man.
The woman looks at the sky.
"There, the Orion Belt. My daughter loves the stars." said the woman.
"She is talented. Mother nuclear physicist, daughter astrophysicist." said the man. "I'd be happy, but she still has to learn English." said the woman.
"Let's go in. We still have five hours." said the man.
The two went back to block one. Rita and Alison quickly climbed down. They crawled through the fence and razor wire, and Rita felt her shirt being cut by the razor wire. The two ran away. The two arrived at the river and walked upstream. Eventually they sat down on the shore. The rushing of the river and the chirping of the crickets gave a beautiful melody.
The two just listened to the sound of the river for ten minutes.
"Thanks for following me." said Alison.
"Alison, does your mother or boyfriend know you're pregnant?" asked Rita. "No only you."
"Who is he?" asked Rita.
"His name is Patrick. He is with us in the club." said Alison.
Alison took out her phone and showed Rita a picture of her and a boy who has blonde hair, like Lori, and is wearing a dark blue t-shirt and Jeans.
"That's him." said Alison.
"I see in the picture that you two really love each other." said Rita. "I've never had such a strong feeling for anyone." said Alison.
"When were you going to tell him?"
"I... I don't know."
"It is both your child and his child."
"Rita, can you please help me with this?" Alison asked.
"To help with something?" asked Rita.
"To tell Patrick. I want you to be near me." said Alison.
"I was 22 when I was pregnant with Lori. You're only 14. I'll help you." Alison hugged Rita.
"Thanks." said Alison quietly.
Rita didn't expect it. Alison hugged her sideways. She laid her head on Rita's shoulder. Rita puts her arms on Alison's back. The two hug each other for a long time. Both say nothing more. There is nothing to say. They listen to the sound of the river and enjoy the silence. They don't realize how long they've been there. But the silence was broken. The two heard police sirens. And from the sound of it, it must have been five or more police cars.
"It's a large police force. They discovered the hole in the fence." said Rita in panic. "Let's get out of here quickly." said Alison.
The two ran away. They ran to the main street and looked at the nuclear power plant. The cooling towers and the reactor blocks were illuminated by searchlights.
End of third Chapter