Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?

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 searched the full extent of the riverside.]

[I know, but we got in trouble yesterday for it and today they were more ready and noticing of our movements.] (Syrus)

It didn’t help that the river went through the farms so getting caught going beyond where they were supposed to be was very easy.

[What are we supposed to do then?] Said Luna, she jokingly sighed [Get our parents' help?]

But Syrus thought that was a good idea, “Yeah, I think we are going to need our parents' help.” And she jumped back up off the chair Anna was slumped on.

Lilly questioned, [How are we supposed to do that?] Having no idea how they would breach the topic.

[Ask them I guess?] (Syrus)

Luna had paused since Syrus mentioned her off-handed idea back at her, and now with a couple of seconds of solid deep thinking complete, she had an idea. [Well, it would be as simple as asking them, under the right conditions of course. We need them to be in a position of wanting a solution, so realistically when they are tired. Also, we need to keep our reasoning simple, overcomplicating it may make them ask questions… that we don’t want to answer.]

Syrus and Lilly silently understood what Luna was suggesting.

[So where are our folks now? Just on the farm again?] (Syrus)

[In a meeting.] (Lilly)

[Another one?] Syrus let out an annoyed sigh.

These meetings started by happening irregularly, but now they started happening every on average three days. They were all about the current problem the town was facing.

Seeing an opportunity, Luna said [Let’s just spy on the meeting.] 

[Why?] (Syrus)

[Mostly just curious as to what the current state of the town’s thought process is, and we might gain some information that could help us in the future talk with our parents.] (Luna)

Syrus and Lilly agreed with Luna’s idea, so they started their spy operation. The trio looked through the windows and the door of their house and noticed no one was around, so they stealthily made their way to the town chief’s house–where the meeting was taking place.

They could hear the voices from inside–thanks to Syrus being able to focus on them really well–but they still needed to hide.

[Let’s just hide in the wood storage. We should still be able to hear from there.] (Syrus)

[Good idea.] (Eva)

[Move quickly, I think I can hear some people walking closer.] (Luna)

They jumped in the wood storage which was a box on the outside of the house and closed the door to it. It shouldn’t be opened by anyone else unless they were trying to steal from the town chief.

The conversation between some of the adults had already started but they recognised a few of the voices.

The town’s chief voice rang out, “Okay yes I know that failed, but what about the horticulturist, were you able to get a response?”

“No,” said a quiet female.

“Adding on to that, we still haven’t got a response from the church.” Said Mern, father of Billy. 

The chief replied, “It wasn’t your turn to speak. Now, Henry, what about your attempts to cook the failed crops? Have they been successful?”

“Of course not, the results have been vomit, vomit and days of sickness. I wouldn’t be surprised if I dropped dead soon at this rate. For my own health, I’m going to stop trying to find a way to cook the purple crops.”.

“Useless,” the town chief angrily sighed.

But in response to the chief's bad behaviour, George reprimanded, “How about coming up with an idea yourself then, instead of just barking orders, telling us to ‘Solve the problem’, and making us participate in these worthless meetings! We have scheduled get-togethers for a reason, adding more isn’t going to magically solve the problem.”

[Wow… that’s the loudness I’ve heard him yell... Well in a normal conversation anyway.] (Lilly)

[He does have some strong lungs.] (Syrus)

The chief ordered, “Jen! Control your husband!”

The trio then heard a seriously terrifying Jen, her tone ice cold, “Speak to me or my husband like that again and I will strangle you while you sleep. I get it you're upset, but we all are. However, some of us are trying to solve the problem, unlike yourself.”

“You…!”

Jen calmly commented, “Would you like it if I stopped doing your papers?” 

Then a moment of silence occurred.

[Wow… impressive.] (Syrus)

[...] (Luna)

[...Mum and Dad are a lot scarier than I realised…] (Eva)

[Wasn’t the town chief supposed to be a nice guy?] (Luna)

[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.