Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Chapter 4 Stoneybrook: Toxic

 "Bashers! Bashers! Yay!"

They had arrived at the park. Logan and Mary Anne's daughter, Amber, and Shannon's daughter, Ray, ran off to join the cheerleader's practice. Logan and Mary Anne's 13-year-old son, William, ran off to join his teammates and Bart.

Logan went to the concession stand to get sodas and grape juice. They sat on the bleachers for a while. Logan was intent on watching the practice. Mary Anne and Dawn sat and gossiped with Mona.

"Oh wow he is cute," Dawn said about Bart.

"Are you going to say hi?" Asked Mona.

"Yes, I will wait until the practice is over though." And she suddenly got nervous. She hadn't dated in a while but was ready for a fresh start. She could ask him to Watson's party. Even if it was just as friends. She knew it was childish but playing Pooh Sticks always helped her think. "Hey, I'm going to go down by the bridge. I will be back in a bit."

She walked along the dirt path. It all looked so familiar. She found two sticks one smaller than the other and carried them to the bridge. She stood at the peak of the arch, closed her eyes, and said," If the small one wins, I ask Bart. If the bigger one does, I don't." And threw them both in the water and watched them come out the other side. "Shit!" She yelled. The smaller one had come out ahead. She threw a rock over the side and watched it plop in the water. Wait a minute. She saw some rainbow-colored film on the surface of the water, a clear sign of pollution. She wondered where it was coming from. She walked down to get a clear look. And right there under the bridge, she saw a big black trash bag. It was on its side and open, but she couldn't see the contents inside. A first, she was going to open it but held back. There could be a broken glass or worse, a dead body. She had to find a stick. She finally found one and crept up on the trash bag like a lioness to her prey. She took the stick and got it positioned at the mouth of the bag and gently lifted it. Dawn sighed. It wasn't a dead body. But what was in the bottles? She got closer and looked inside. They were old chemistry sets from the 50s. Didn't those have uranium in them? Ew. She knew better than to touch it without gloves. Gloves! Don't baseball players wear gloves? Like a bolt of lightning and without much thought she ran down the path, ran straight on the ball field, and straight to Bart.

"Bart! Bart! There's uranium in the brook! Quick! We need to get the bag out!"

"...Dawn? Is that you? What do you mean, uranium?"

"I was by the brook. There are old chemistry sets under the bridge, the kind that got banned in the 50s for uranium, in a bag spilling into the brook. I need gloves to get it out! Please help me!'

"ok, I have something. Hold on a minute, Logan?" Mary Anne and Logan had come down from the bleachers walking toward them." Can you coach? Dawn found some toxic waste in the brook."

"Enough said. And sure thing," said Logan. 

Bart went to a building off from the concession stand and got some cleaning gloves. "Ok Dawn lead me to it."

So much for making an impression, Dawn thought 

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