CHAPTER TWO
familiar tunes.
JENNIFER BEGAN WALKING BACK TO SCOOPS AHOY, A SMALL BAG FILLED WITH SNACKS IN HER HAND FOR STEVE, ROBIN, AND DUSTIN. As she walked into the back room, she saw Robin standing across the table from Steve and Dustin. "I'm fluent in four languages, you know."
"Russian?"
"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day." Robin said to Dustin, earring laughs from the two boys.
"Isn't that Pig Latin?" Jennifer questioned, having not heard all of the conversation prior. Robin simply replied with a high fave, signalling the girl was right.
"Idiot." Steve mumbled, hitting the young boy with the banana peel he held.
"But, I can speak Spanish, and French and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me." Steve and Dustin looked at the girl unsure. "Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored." The two thought for a moment before Robin and Steve swapped the recording and an ice cream scooper.
"What's going on?" Jennifer spoke up, tossing the plastic bag onto the counter, Dustin immediately looking through it.
"They think they have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, but have no idea how to translate it." Robin summarised, Jennifer looking at her with furrowed eyebrows before tilting her head and looking away.
"I'll help." She said as she sat up on the bench.
"What do you have to offer?" Dustin asked, the girl immediately stopping where she was and staring at him.
"I'm helping." Jennifer repeated in a monotone voice.
"Alright." The boy said quickly, avoiding eye contact with Jennifer.
__________
WHILST STEVE STOOD OUT FRONT SLINGING ICE CREAM, DUSTIN, JENNIFER, AND ROBIN WERE IN THE BACK, LISTENING TO THE RECORDING OVER AND OVER AGAIN. "That music sounds familiar." Jennifer noted, earning a groan of annoyance from Dustin.
"Will you and Steve please stop about the music! We're trying to translate the Russian." He repeated to the girl.
"I'm just saying it sounds familiar!"
"Wait, that last part, just one more time." Robin said, cutting the two off. Dustin quickly rewound the tape and pressed play again. "Okay, that word. Um... It's pronounced... 'day-nna-ya.'" Dustin repeating the word to himself. "Which is spelled..." The two quickly began translating the words, Jennifer helping wherever she could.
"We got our first sentence." Jennifer said excitedly as she opened the window, looking out to Steve who quickly turned to her.
"Oh, seriously?"
"The week is long." She spoke, imitating a Russian accent as best she could.
"Well that's thrilling." Steve complained.
"Yeah, but at least it's something." Jennifer spoke optimistically, a smile on her face. Once the window was shut, Steve couldn't help but also smile, chuckling at the girl who had just gone back to continue helping Dustin and Robin.
Later, when the mall had been well closed, Steve, Jennifer, Robin, and Dustin remained out back of the Scoops Ahoy ice cream shop. "The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." The four spoke aloud in sync.
They looked at the whiteboard confused for a few moments before moving to close up shop. "I mean, it's just... it just can't be right."
"It's right."
"Honestly, I think it's great news."
"How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes." Steve scoffed. "It's total nonsense."
"It's not nonsense." Jennifer spoke up. "It's obviously a code, if they are Russians, they can't just outright say their plans over radio. 'We attack at dawn.'" She said, imitating a Russian accent once again. "That'd just be stupid." The girl continued, Dustin nodding in agreement.
"What do you mean, a code?"
"Like a super secret spy code."
"That's a total stretch."
"Not really." Jennifer said in a sing song voice.
"I don't know, is it?" The other girl said at the same time.
"You're buying into this?"
"Jen's right, they wouldn't send out clear messages. And my 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 true meaning of their message?"
"See?" Jennifer noted, looking over at Steve momentarily. Dustin and Robin continued to talk as they walked ahead, Steve mimicking the two earning a slight hit on the chest from Jennifer. Steve stopped suddenly, looking at a coin operated horse whilst eagerly searching his pockets for loose change; Jennifer stopped next to the boy, looking at him confused. "What is it?" She questioned.
"The music." Was all he muttered. It took Jennifer a second, though once she realised what he was talking about, she was quick to copy him, searching for any loose change she had on her. Up ahead, Robin and Dustin turned to the two after noticing they had stopped following behind.
"What are you guys doing?" Robin called out.
"Uh, it's a quarter. I need- do you have a quarter?" The boy asked desperately.
"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?"
"Quater!" Steve quickly caught the quarter Robin tossed to him, huffily putting it into the machine. As the ride started, Steve and Jennifer looked to one another, smiles on their faces as the familiar tune played. Robin and Dustin began teasing the two, Steve quickly shushing them. "Would you two just shut up and listen?"
"Holy shit." Dustin muttered. "The music. The music!" He pointed out, looking to Robin who still stood confused. He pulled out the recording from his backpack, pressing play to hear the same song playing in the background.
"I don't understand." Robin noted, confused as to why it was so fascinating to the three.
"It's the exact same song on the recording."
"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia."
"'Indiana Flyer'? I don't... I don't think so." Steve said.
"Robin, the code isn't from Russia. It's from here." Jennifer clarified, Robin taking in a sharp breath. "See, we're not stupid!" She called out, her and Steve high fiving.
__________
THE WOODEN DOOR CREAKED OPEN AS JENNIFER STEPPED INSIDE. "Hey, sweetheart." Robert greeting, Jennifer offering a halfhearted smile. The man cleared his throat, trying to brush off greeting. "So your birthday's coming up... I was thinking we could go out for dinner or something?" He offered, though, the girl simply shrugged. Robert went quiet, his eyes darting around the kitchen counter where he stood. "Uh, I got us pizza for dinner; your favourite."
Jennifer nodded slightly, looking at the food for a moment. "I'm not hungry right now." She muttered before walking to her room. She felt bad always brushing off her Father, but the fear always overpowered. She couldn't let anything happen to him, and this was the only was she knew how to protect.
In the kitchen, Robert let out a shaky breath, his eyes slightly watering. He looked at the food in front of him before closing the cardboard box, his appetite now also gone.
As Jennifer sat in her room, the stereo playing quietly, her mind wandered, thinking about the recording she had been translating with her friends earlier that day. She was broken out of her thoughts by a particular song she heard playing through her room.
'When you hold me in your arms so tight. You let me know everything's alright.'
'I'm hooked on a feeling.'
'I'm high on believing. That you're in love with me'-.
The music was cut off as Jennifer quickly turned the stereo off, the silence of the room taking over. Her breathing was heavy, her mind now running with memories. The song had been her sisters favourite, 'Hooked on a feeling' by Blue Swede. The two had countless memories together with the song playing, but now, she could hardly stand to hear the song.
The only memories the song brought now were the nasty ones. The ones that make you feel sick to your stomach whenever you hear them; the ones that you want to lock away forever.
__________
JENNIFER STOOD IN THE BACK ROOM YET AGAIN, STARING AT THE WHITEBOARD TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE WORDS WRITTEN OUT ON IT. Steve wandered next to her, looking at the board alongside her. "What do you think?" He asked.
The girl sighed. "I dunno. But I know that as soon as we figure it out, it's going to be so obvious." She complained, Steve nodding in agreement. He looked at the girl next to her, pausing for a moment and just looking in admiration until Dustin broke him out of the trance he was in.
"Steve! Come on!" He complained. The two had planned to go look around the mall for anyone suspicious whilst Robin and Jennifer stayed at Scoops Ahoy; the girls agreeing that it was a good plan. Steve rushed to Dustin, the two leaving immediately whilst Jennifer stayed staring at the whiteboard.
"You two are so oblivious." The short haired girl commented, looking to Jennifer with a bored look.
"What?" She said confused.
"The way he was looking at you!" Robin said, speaking as if it was so obvious, which it was.
Jennifer rolled her eyes before looking back to the board curiously. "You're seeing things, I swear."
"Just tell him!" Robin tried to encourage, Jennifer quick to shut it down.
"Are you crazy?" She spoke, a teasing smile on her face.
"You see anything?" Dustin questioned, looking to Steve who was crouched down, looking around the mall through binoculars.
"Uh, I guess I don't totally know what I'm looking for."
"Evil Russians."
"Yeah, exactly. I don't know what an evil Russian looks like."
"Tall, blonde, not smiling. Also, look for earpieces, camp, duffel bags, that sort of thing." Dustin listed off.
"Right, okay, duffel bags." Steve muttered, looking around once again. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."
"What?"
"Anna Jacobi's talking with that meathead Mark Lewinsky." He complained.
"If you're not gonna focus, just gimme the binoculars."
"Aw, Jesus Christ, whatever happened to standards?" Steve said, ignoring Dustin. "I mean, Lewinsky never even came off the bench."
"Dude, you are the worst spy in history, you know that?" Dustin exclaimed, stealing the binoculars off of Steve. "Besides, I don't get why you're looking at girls. You have the perfect one right in front of you."
"Seriously, if you say Jennifer again-"
"Jennifer.
"No, don't. No."
"Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer." Dustin kept repeating the girls name and Steve kept denying the very obvious fact.
"No, man, she's going through her own stuff." The boy tried to reason. "Besides, she's not into me anyways."
Dustin scoffed. "Yeah, right, and you're good at fighting." He said, earning a glare from Steve. "You two are so obvious to everyone but yourselves. I mean, come on." Steve simply rolled his eyes before turning back to look at the mall, his mind still stuck on Jennifer.
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