Girlfriend

Russia Transmission

As rode down to the mall, I passed a bunch of protesters outside the Mayor's Office. I continued cycling down the road to Starcourt Mall. I parked my bike and ran inside. Seeing that there were no people on the escalator, I hurried up.

I made it to Scoops Ahoy, and I hung my bag up and tightened my apron as Robin said, "Have a nice day," in a dull voice handing a man and a woman an ice cream each. The woman said "Thank you," as she took the ice cream and left.

I made my way to the counter, pulling out an ice cream scooper from the drawer. A boy with super curly hair and what seemed like no front teeth said, Hi. "Hi," Robin said. "I'm Dustin,", "I'm Robin," she said. "Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is- is he here?" Dustin asked, gesturing to the closed window.

"Is who here?" Robin asked, she slightly turned to the side. Steve burst through the door, saying, "Henderson." They both laughed as Steve jumped up, saying, "Henderson! He's back!". "You got the job!" Dustin said. "I got the job!" Steve said before imitating a trumpet. I rolled my eyes.

I leaned against the counter as they did what seemed like a handshake, they imitated lightsabers. "How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked as I took a sample scooper and dug it into the mint ice cream before putting it in my mouth. Steve sighed and gestured to me and Robin.

Steve sat down with Dustin at a table. I brought them an ice cream boat and then I floated away to talk to Robin. I went to the back and grabbed a notepad and a pen from the bench and scribble down "Steve, ice-cream boat, $15," before pinning it near the roster that was hanging up.

I jumped when I hear heard Robin say, "Yeah, and how's that working out for you?". I giggled at her comment. "I intercepted a secret Russian communication," Dustin said loudly, making the whole room go quiet.

-

Robin scooped out a chunk of mint ice cream onto a sample scooper and passed it to Erica. "Mm, can I try the peppermint stick?" She asked, I could hear that sass in her voice. "Haven't you already tried the peppermint stick?" Robin asked. "Yes, and I'd like to try it again," she said. Robin turned around and called our "Steve!".

Steve and Dustin were in the back doing something. They had a recorder and they kept replaying the tape. "I'm trying to listen to the Russian but there's music--" he was cut off by Robin. I followed after her. "All right, babysitting time is over," Robin said. "You need to get in there," she continued, looking around the room.

"Hey, my board, that had the roster you dickhead," I said angrily, turning to look at them. "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your rosters," Dustin said. "Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are you to no good anyway?" I asked, slamming my hand on the table.

"How does she know about the Russians?" Dustin asked Steve. "I don't know," Steve said shrugging his shoulders. "You told her about--", "it wasn't me," Steve said.

"Hello, we can hear you, Robin practically hears everything," I said. "You both are extremely loud," Robin said. "You think you she evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and your trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word, because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do," Robin said.

"Does that sound about right?" I asked. I looked at the tape and then at Steve, I lunged for the tape, and my hand collided with Steve's. He pulled the tape back, "Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" He asked. "We wanna hear it," I whined. "Why?" They both asked in unison.

"'Cause maybe we can help," I said. "I'm fluent in four languages, you know," Robin said. "I'm fluent in two," I said. "Russian?" Dustin asked.

"Ou-yay are-yay, umb-day," Robin said. "Oh-ho-ho,", "Holy shit!" Dustin said smiling. "That. Was Pig Latin," I said pulling the whiteboard from the wall. "But she can speak Spanish, French and Italian, and she's been in a band for 11 years," I said gesturing to Robin. "12 actually," Robin said, sitting down. "My ears are little geniuses, trust me," Robin said.

"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, our turn to translate," I pleaded as the bell dinged "we don't even want credit, we're just bored," Robin said, finishing my sentence, holding out the ice-cream scooper out to Steve.

-

I was at the counter with Steve, I scooped out ice cream and dropped it into a cone. "We've got out the first sentence," Robin said sliding the window open. "Oh, seriously?" I asked passing the ice cream to the man and turning around. "Yeah, The week is long," Robin said in a Russian accent. "Well that's thrilling," Steve said, as I scooped out more ice cream. "I know. But it's progress," Robin said, closing the window.

"Here you go, you for a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream," I said, passing two girls an ice cream each. "Wait for a second, are you even allowed to be here?" Steve asked the girl with brown hair. They both giggled and ran out. "Stop being a killjoy Steve, let the kids live," I said.

-

The mall was empty, the place was dark except for the neon lights. "The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west," we all said together reading the whiteboard.

"I mean, it's just ... it just can't be right," Steve said closing the shop. "It's right, honestly, I think it's great news," I said as we walked. "How is this great news?" Steve asked loudly. Robin chuckled, "I mean, so much for being American heroes," Steve said, "It's total nonsense, it's too specific. It's a code," Dustin said.

"What do you mean a code?, Like a super spy code," Steve asked. "No dingbat, it's a code to find the cure for blindness, honestly you're dumb," I said. "You're buying into this?" Steve asked.

"Listen, just for kicks let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission, what do you think they were gonna say, fire the warhead at noon?" Robin said as we passed an Indiana Flyer.

"And our translation is correct, I know that for sure so... the silver cat feeds, why would anyone talk like that unless they're trying to mask the meaning of their message? " Robin said, "exactly" Dustin replied.

"Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message, unless the message was somehow sensitive?" I said. "So I guess that confirms your suspicion" Robin said "Evil Russians" Dustin finished off. "I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah totally evil Russians," Robin said.

"So how do we crack it?" Steve asked. "Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges," I said, clicking my tongue. "A pattern. Right, like maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?" Dustin said, "Or a person," Robin said as we walked. "Or a weapon," I said, walking.

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but...", Robin turned around. "Where's Steve?" She asked. I turned around, he was at the Indiana Flyer, pulling his pocket out. "Hey, Steve what are you doing?" Robin asked.

"Uh, it's a quarter. I need-- do you have a quarter?" He asked, I pulled two quarters from my pocket and threw one to him "Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin asked.

"Quarter!" Steve said catching mine, causing him to spin. He knelt and slotted the coin in. The plastic horse started moving. "Do you need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin asked. He shushed her, and Dustin chuckled. "Would you three just shut up and listen?" Steve asked. "I didn't say anything," I muttered. He shushed me.

The music continued playing, and it clicked. "Holy shit, that's the music in the background of the tape," I said as Dustin pulled out the tape and played it. "I don't understand," Robin said. "It's the same song on the recording," Dustin said.

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin said. "Indiana Flyer? I don't ... I don't think so. This code didn't come from Russia, it came from here," Steve said looking at us. I felt a wave of uncertainty wash over me.