20demayo Chapter 28 – Polluted Plant Problem #1
Chapter 28 – Polluted Plant Problem #1
Chapter 28 – Polluted Plant Problem #1
After a long day of being poisoned, Anna recovered. Their parents were a little reluctant to leave the house but with a little push from Luna, they finally left. Which allowed Luna to cure themselves, so by the time their parents came back they were all up and ready.
Now for their plan of action.
Syrus wanted Eva’s help to examine the river, because in Syrus's mind and based on her past experiences, the only way for multiple crops on different fields to all be showing the same symptoms would be because something was wrong with either the soil or water. The former quite quickly seemed to not be the case, so she wanted to examine the river if there was anything strange.
The issue was that she had no idea what to look out for, which was why she wanted Eva's help to examine the plant life and river to help find what was causing the problem.
Of course, this whole plan would be useless if the plants weren’t being poisoned by the river. Lilly even hypothesised that it could be the rain if it wasn’t the river. But that was hard to test because it hadn’t rained recently, and potentially the poisoned rain may’ve been a one-off event–if that theory appeared to be true.
[Still nothing…] (Lilly)
[Sorry Eva, looks like my plan didn’t work.] (Syrus)
[Don’t say that… you know that’s not true… I just couldn’t find anything…] (Lilly)
It had now been a few days since the self-poisoning incident and the start of their current plan.
Anna had sadly arrived home after another quick jog around the village, but that was only what it seemed to be. Instead, she was examining the river again, this was the third day now.
[I wouldn’t say that. Both of you did just fine.] Luna chimed in. [Lilly if there was nothing there, then simply there was nothing there. Plus Syrus you know we barely
[Who knows, maybe our parents were lying or it could be that he is really bad under stress.] (Syrus)
The meeting continued for a while longer, but when it started to wrap up, Anna got out of her hiding spot and made her way home.
[So did we learn anything useful?] (Syrus)
[Mostly that, they are all very exhausted.] (Luna)
[Didn’t we already know that?] (Lilly)
[We did, but now we know the extent. Honesty, I just thought they were tired from dealing with the crops, but it turns out that the town chief was adding unneeded stress.] (Luna)
Anna sat at the table tapping away, and soon their parents entered through the door. Both were worn out because of the meeting.
Luna concernedly mentioned, “Mum, Dad, you two look exhausted again.”
“Thanks for the concern sweetie, but we are fine,” Jen replied, but Luna took this opportunity to start the assault.
“You haven’t solved the issue with the poisoned crops yet?”
Jen stopped and asked, “What makes you say that?”
Anna tapped the spots below her eyes, insinuating they had eye bags, “You would look a lot happier.”
“How do you know they were poisoned anyway?” George asked, he knew what Jen was teaching her and ‘what poison is’ wasn’t on that list. Even if it was, even the adults didn’t know what the issue was. But honestly, he thought it was just his child’s ramblings and he just wanted to start a conversation with her, as it seemed like it would be a good learning opportunity for her. Sick, pollution, purple, poisoned, and dying, were terms different adults in the village used.
Luna turned and gave Jen a deadpan look, “Do you know how many books she has read to me that have involved poison?”
George did not expect that answer… he just looked over at Jen, who couldn’t look back and just shied away, embarrassed but happy, “But.. she enjoyed them.”
“Jen…” George sighed.
Jen quickly recovered herself and asked out of curiosity and more importantly to get the attention off herself, “So! How did you figure out they were poisoned?”
“They smell bad, they burn funny, and if they were just rotten Mama and Papa would be smart enough to solve the issue!” Luna emphasised the last part.
Both of them blushed slightly at Anna’s words and awkwardly scratched their head and arms.
Jen said, “Thanks, dear for the wonderful words.”
“What wonderful words?” Anna tilted her head.
“Oh, you!” Jen dived down for a big hug.
George paused for a moment thinking before he shrugged and asked, “Hey Anna, do you have any idea what could be poisoning the plants?” He figured a kid’s perspective might’ve noticed something different.
“Um… the water? “ Jen let go and Anna was free once again, “What else is there?”
Jen added, “That makes sense if we are going off the idea that the plants were poisoned.”
“But what if they weren’t?”
Jen shrugged, “Who cares? If we check the water and there is nothing wrong with it, then that’s still a good thing.”
George asked Jen, “That’s true, where should we go first?”
Anna interjected, “Up the river, the further the better! Maybe the problem was caused by the pollution of a mountaintop spring!”
“A what…?” George asked.
Jen quickly replied, “It’s… the sub-plot of one of the books…”
“I see….” George muttered before he said, “Well going up the river is the best idea we’ve got. Cause waiting for another stupid professional to come down is going to take way too long.”
Anna proudly stated, “I'm coming too!”
“No Anlesa, you will be staying here,” said George, using her full name to make sure understood.
Anna replied, “No, I am going as well.” She understood, but that didn’t mean she was going to listen.
Jen jumped in, “Listen to your dad and stay here.”
Syrus added, “Mum I will just sneak out and follow you.”
This caused Jen to pause and look at George. The two of them spoke a thousand words in a quick ten-second look at each other.
Their focus bounced back between each other and their daughter. Looks of hesitation, then thinking, hesitation, concern, resolution, concern, and then finally a reluctant acceptance.
[…Wow, I’ve seen someone actually have a full conversation through their eyes before.] Luna amazedly exclaimed.
Lilly and Syrus ignored Luna’s comment and just waited for a response from their parents.
Jen and George replied, “Fine…” “You can come, Anna…”
Anna just nodded triumphantly.
The family spent the next half an hour preparing to leave, it was still midday so they had time before sunset. They got some food and water prepared just in case they got hungry or thirsty. They decided to do this now just to get it out of the way, both of the parents were a little hopeful that they could finally have a solution to their problems.
Jen announced, “Let’s get ready,” before she moments later excitedly yelled, “Time to solve this Polluted Plant Problem!”
This caused Anna and George to just stare at her for a solid three seconds.
“What? I was going to say it's a Corrosive Crop Conundrum, but we know the plants aren’t corrosive so I can’t say that.”
George stuttered and sighed, “I… yes… let’s deal with this.”
Anna added, “Yeah, let’s… just start our investigation.”
“Why does it feel like no one is on my side?”
George and Anna exclaimed, ““We are.””
After they turned around, Jen smiled and quietly laughed, she knew what she was doing with her joke. With the mood that ever bit lighter, the family left the house and began their walk.