Based on Hey Arnold! characters created by Craig Bartlett. Based on Rugrats characters created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo and Paul Germain. Author claims no copyright.

The Shortmans were spending a relaxed Saturday afternoon in the park. Arnold and Phil were playing baseball catch. Helga pushed Amber in the swing. Then Amber ventured over to the playground. Once the game of catch was over Arnold went over to check on his daughter. Phil proceeded with him.

At the sight of her kids on the monkey bars and slide, Helga was suddenly reminded of a time in elementary school when she ran her own newspaper. Back then one of her front page stories was that the P.S. 118 playground was somehow deemed unsafe. The Pataki Press was an alternative and more provocative publication to the one Arnold was the editor-in-chief of, the Weekly Word. It was also more expensive, as Helga charged five cents and the Word was free.

Helga had seen that very type of exaggerated and 'fake news' that she had spread at the elementary school level become commonplace. Unfounded claims of election fraud and immigrants eating pets had been top headlines in the last year or so. Those were just some of the widespread falsehoods. America seemed to be at war with the truth. Therefore she wondered why she had not been reminded earlier of her dabbling in fake news with the Pataki Press. Maybe it hitting closer to home, at the playground, did the trick.

That night, Helga discussed her memory with Arnold. They were getting into bed, her wearing a purple nightshirt and him plaid boxers. "Oh yeah now I remember," said Arnold, "you did sink pretty low with that. But I mean, the surge in misinformation these days is all about the internet and the gazillion Pataki Presses on social media 24/7. AI deepfakes don't help either. But as for you, all that you have done and overcome since we were nine and going in a completely different direction make up for it."

As usual, Helga felt the need for her football-headed husband and love of her life to put it into perspective. But she also felt a need to get past her sense of remorse. So she created a group on Nextdoor: P.S. 118 Parents Against Misinformation. Phoebe, who had been her accomplice for her alternative fact newspaper and in many other endeavors, ran the group with her. This time around, and on more occasions throughout their adulthood, Phoebe did not feel as guilty in following orders from her best friend.

The purpose of the Nextdoor group was for parents of anyone at school to point out whatever rumors they may have heard, for better and for worse. Then the rumors would be looked into and determined if they were valid or not. Helga had access to a credible resource- her sister as the school principal. The fact that they were sisters could not be accurately denied. Even if their parents mistook their names and often acted as though Helga didn't exist.

P.S. 118 was where Helga felt she had the most difference to make in combatting harmful misinformation. It was her and Arnold's elementary school alma mater. It was where Amber would soon start going to kindergarten and Phil would soon go into third grade. It was where her sister worked. Most importantly, it was the scene of her crimes.

Once the group was launched Helga and Phoebe were appalled at the content and high level of responses from parents at the school.

Some had heard the same rumors that their paper had propagated years ago. History repeating itself in the digital age. For one, classrooms were claimed to be taken down to make room for an amusement park. In reality, Helga confirmed with her sister that construction was going on to renovate the library. They were just slow to announce it.

Others were too ridiculous that Helga didn't bother looking into and let other parents confirm or deny. Like blood showing up on a kids' face that was really ketchup.

One night Helga saw something on the tv that spoke to her. On AC360, Anderson Cooper was interviewing Angelica C. Pickles, the CEO of Pickles Enterprises. Pickles handled products such as cookies and toys. Angelica's Cookies were the one store-bought brand Helga liked as much as cookies her mother-in-law Stella baked. A book written by Pickles had just been published, titled 'Land Without Brains: Why Its Too Easy To Mislead People.'

Pickles told Cooper, "my grandpa used to call our country the 'land without brains.' After a while I picked up on that. Since I was a kid I have been guilty of lying people to serve my own self-interests. But in light of recent events and from my journey as an entrepreneur, I've come to realize that it doesn't have to be this way. People like me in positions of power have a responsibility to tell the truth."

"You seem like the writer in the family. And you have told me a lot of stories you could write. At least lately." Olga made this assessment while the Pataki sisters were sitting down for their monthly lunch at the Mexican restaurant around the corner from Sunset Arms.

"Well the one writing career I couldn't do is journalism," Helga replied, "the assignments of writing coherent and investigative reports under looming deadlines would drive me crazy. Arnold has put up with enough of my shenanigans. A stressful job like that would only make it worse."

They both dug into tortilla chips and salsa. Then Olga said, "I've never been very interested in a career in journalism either."

"Well about that, and all the stories you may have heard from me lately, there is a reason behind all of it," Helga replied. She proceeded to tell her sister all about time she had spread lies with the alternative newspaper and her crusade to atone for it through the Nextdoor forum.

"Oh, so that's why you were asking about classrooms being torn down and the playground being dangerous," Olga noted.

"Yeah," said Helga, "this time it wasn't me making it up."