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Ok, I'll admit it outright. I never talked with Cindy about Leon. But I had a very good reason: Just after I dropped my diary and rushed outside to rescue the clothes, all hell broke loose. Well, to tell the truth, it only started breaking loose. It still is in the process of doing so now, which is very distressing to me! I guess I'd better explain...
I ran out of the house, slid on the slick wet stones of the patio, barely kept myself from falling, and ran over the slightly safer grass to the clothesline. I yanked the mixture of my clothes and Cindy's off the line, then set off for the house, trying to shield the clothes from the pouring rain with my body. I had nearly got across the patio, when I heard a sound that made my blood run cold. A wooshing squealy sound that came from the sky. I looked up, already knowing what it was, and saw a flying saucer, flying so low it seemed about to brush the treetops! Off it went, westward, at a fantastic speed.
I ran into the house, screaming in senseless terror. The wet clothes landed on a pile on the couch, while I kept moving, ending up in the broom cupboard, where Lady Luck, equally frightened, soon joined me. I stood in the dusty darkness, shaking and trying to think straight enough to think of something to do. Of all the times for this to happen, this was the worst I could think of. Cindy was at work, and would likely be there for a long time, what with the panic the alien's arrival would cause. I was alone in the house, with no means of getting in contact with her. The only way I could get to her would be on foot, and I didn't feel like going out into the wet woods alone with that thing zooming around. After a while I left the cupboard and made my way to the kitchen for a cup of tea. It was as I shakily drank it that a horrid thought crossed my mind: Was Cindy all right? The thing had been heading west, but there was no reason it shouldn't have looped around to Barton...to do what? With images of Barton in flames running through my head, I grabbed my cloak, scooped up Lady Luck and tucked her under it, and was out the door, running for Bass'ken Lake.
There was no smoke rising from Barton as I burst out of the woods, and I slowed down thankfully. Then I speeded up again, spurred by Lady Luck's unhappy meowing and clawing. My cloak wasn't completly waterproof, and she didn't like the weather. I figured I'd stop at Old Man Logan's and see if he'd seen the flying saucer, then go into town and see Cindy. She must be safe...
Old Man Logan was already standing outside when I got there, shooing a cow away and looking anxiously at the sky. "Dawna!' he yelled when he saw me. "They've come! They've come!"
"I know!" I shouted. "One flew over the house!"
"Get inside, it's no time ta be out in the rain!" he said, herding me towards his door. "Yer snifflin' already..."
It was true, I felt like I was getting a cold, and my throat was starting to scratch again. Just what I needed, to be sick now...
"Get some tea into ya, ya don't want to be sick now," Old Man Logan said as we got inside his cozy cabin. He took my wet cloak off, frowning at the sight of my miniskirt and t-shirt. "Ya brought yer kitty? Let 'er sit by the fire... What were ya doing out in those clothes?" He put the kettle on.
It was true, I thought, I'd chosen the worst possible day to not wear pants under my skirt...the luxery of being underdressed in an overly heated house had been too much for me. "I ran out without thinking..." I muttered as he handed me a cup of tea.
"Well, at least ya put that cloak on," he grumbled. "I'm glad ya kept that buckle too."
I looked down at where the buckle was fastened to my skirt, fastening on an old, non-functioning, but pretty silver pocket watch I'd found in a junk shop in Barton. I'd worn it ever since our talk, even when I didn't wear the whip.
"The time's comin' now!" he was saying. "I hope ya feel up ta defendin' ol' Mother Gaia, bub, 'cause it's gonna be ya lot who'll be doin' it!"
"Aren't you going to help?" I asked. "It's your world too!"
"O' course I will," he said. "But I figure...an ol' man like me...well, I figure they'll get me soon as I stick my neck out."
"No way!" I started to say.
He shrugged, and, talking over me, said, "It's ok, I've had a good long life...an' I can't see a better way ta go then defendin' Mother Gaia!"
I stood up, unable to hear any more of this from him. "I've got to go see how Cindy is," I said.
"No ya don't!" he said , jumping up too and going out to the shop. "Yer not goin' out in that rain! I'll just phone yer aunt an tell her yer here, an not to worry about ya, just pick ya up when she gets off work."
He didn't manage to get the call through. "Bloody cell phone network's down," he grumbled. "I never could get the hang o' those things... I'll just call the station."
That didn't work either. I think he got a switchboard once, but they must have hung up on him. "Said she's too busy to talk ta just anyone!" he groused. "Wouldn't even take a message!"
"I really should go," I said. "I do work for the station, you know, and they might need me now!"
"Well, if ya say so...but at least leave yer poor kitty here. She'll be safer here then in the rain and madness... An' take an umbrella too! Wait, I'll give ya my spare one..."
Barton Town was in madness! People were running back and forth as if it wasn't raining, some screaming, some laughing, some crying, and a surprising amount dancing to the music blaring from two parked cars by the fountain. It reminded me unpleasently of how Durem had been on April Fools. Dodging a little brown-haired girl in jeans, a pink sweater, and pink bedroom slippers, who was shouting, "It's the end of the world, so give me CANDY!" I skidded across a bridge and ran for the station.
Inside was just as mad as outdoors, and nearly as wet. Some nitwit had jammed the doors open, and nobody seemed to care enough to close them. As a result, the stone floor of the lobby was wet and slippery, and many of the people running in all directions were in great danger of falling down. Trying not to myself, I headed for Cindy's office.
She wasn't there. I went for the next place I knew she would likely be, the basement room with the linkup to the observatory. She was there, as was Mike, who was biting his nails. Cindy was on the phone, yelling, "How can you tell us we have to keep the blackout up? Everyone knows about the stupid things now, they just flew overhead!" Seeing me, she covered the phone with her hand and said, "Go to the broadcasting room, maybe you can help them!" I did so.
It seemed that the station's signal kept getting jammed. And I knew from where! Well, actually, everyone in the room did, but I was the first to say "It's the aliens, of course!" Of course, I was practicaly no help at all, not knowing much about that kind of equipment, and I eventually went back down to the basement.
"So you finally see sense!" Cindy yelled into the phone as I walked in. Slamming it down, she said to me, "Any luck getting the signal back on?"
"Nope," I had to say. "I think it's the...the aliens."
"Of course!" she snapped. "Same as it's them that put the cell phones down..." She sunk into a chair, visibly trying to relax. "So, what brought you here? Don't tell me you were out in the rain!"
"Well, I was," I said, trying not to sniffle. "But a flying saucer flew over the house while I was rescuing the clothes from the...ACHOO!" I couldn't help the sneeze.
Cindy sighed. "So you ran all the way here? Great. Now on top of everying else, you have a cold!"
We sat around gloomily, drinking tea that Mike brought us and trying to think of somthing sensible to do about the situation. Then, at four o'clock, a frenzied young rabbit-girl, dressed in shiny purple and with purple hair that stood out in all directions, came running in. "They told me to get you...Cindy...signal's up...don't know how long for though...want you to do the news now..." she gasped breathlessly. Cindy leaped to her feet and was up the stairs in a flash.
When I cought up with her, she was in her office, putting on her makeup. "Do I look right?" she asked, turning to me.
"Yep," I said, wondering how she got her mask of makeup to turn her face into her TV face so fast. As she ran out the door, I saw the clock on the wall. It said six minutes past four. Amazing...
By the time I got to the studio, she was already inside and the door was shut. "Up here!" hissed the girl, who had reapeared, pulling me toward a flight of stairs. They led to a gallery, one wall of which was a window looking down onto the studio from behind the camera. And so I, for the first time, watched a live news broadcast from very close range.
As Cindy started saying, "This is Cindy Donovinh with Gaia Action 9 News," I looked down at the clock on the studio wall. It said nine minutes past four. That must be a world record, I thought, getting a news broadcast together in nine minutes!
"I only hope this bulletin gets through", Cindy said. I hoped so too. It would be a shame if nobody got to see such a historic event...even if they didn't know the real reason why it was historic. Never mind the aliens! GAIA 9, and Cindy, were doing an amazingly great job despite all the odds!
Of course, this happened to also be the day the new railroad tunnel was finnished, allowing the South Gate to be opened and rather ruining my alternate rout into Barton. Oh well, that wasn't too much to cry for, although I didn't like the new subburbs that were opening south of Barton. I liked city life, not the fake citys of the subburbs...
Cindy didn't get off work untill nine o'clock. We picked up Lady Luck at Old Man Logan's, then headed home. Now Cindy's off at work again, leaving me at home again, and there's no telling when she'll be back. My cold's worse and she made me promise not to go outdoors for any reason whatsoever. She left a big pot of pea soup in the fridge for me to heat up when I get hungry, so I figure she won't be back for ages. Cindy's pea soup is delicious, but I don't want soup, I want her! Oh well, she's got a job to do...but I wish I could do something to help! I can't even watch TV much since the stations keep going off the air. If Barton was destroyed, I wouldn't even know...unless Old Man Logan came out to tell me. But would he be able? I think I'm going to take a nap...