phone when Oswald came to my lab.
On Saturday night, Oswald would unveil his product. And immediately afterward, as he basked in the glow of the lava lamp and his followers cheered, they’d hear a recording of him admitting the product was fake. That aliens never visited him. That it was all a scam.
As soon as Oswald left my lab that night, I began making a list of everything I needed to do, everything that would make my plan work perfectly.
Gideon’s Notes from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3
Sunday
Had in-depth discussion with Ishmael.
Ish: You know, dude, this means we’ll be outed too.
Me: Then you can finally take credit for the hoax.
Ish: Good point.
Ishmael is on board. His task: get as many people as possible to the town square on Saturday. Not just Seekers and myTality™ acolytes, everyone. The entire high school, Father and his workout buddies, longtime Lansburg residents who attend Bingo Extravaganzas. EVERYONE.
Ish: I got this.
My task: research lava lamps and exactly how they work.
It turns out, the internet has a very passionate lava lamp community. I’m not an expert, but I got the info I needed. More convinced than ever I can do this.
Monday
Arden returned to school. Lots of whispers as she passed in the hall, but she says no one directly harassed her.
Cass: If anyone does bug you, tell me right away.
Me: Apparently Cass is exploring a new career as a bodyguard.
Cass: You don’t think the job would suit me?
Me: Maybe not in that outfit.
Outfit: gauzy green top, glitter makeup, seashell hair clips.
Me: What is this supposed to be anyway?
Cass: Mermaid chic, obviously.
Arden: I’m so glad to be back here with you guys. I thought my mom was going to keep me home forever.
Don’t want to keep anything from Arden anymore, so told her about my plans for Oswald. Long, awkward silence.
Me: If you don’t want me to go through with it, just say the word.
Arden: You’d change your plans for me?
Me: Yes.
It’s true. I wouldn’t like it, but I’d do it.
Arden: He really admitted he lied about the aliens?
Me: You can listen to the recording.
Arden: No. I don’t want to hear it.
Cass: You okay?
Arden: I know what he did was wrong. And I understand that people deserve to know the truth. But I don’t want to be there when it happens, okay?
Me: Of course.
Hoping this means Arden is coming around, that soon she’ll be willing to talk to Chief Kaufman about her experience with Oswald.
Tuesday
After school: Oswald let me into the boiler room underneath the lava lamp. Only took 30 min. to get basic idea of how the heating element functions. No one from Oswald’s camp has the mechanical aptitude to figure it out for themselves???
In regular lava lamps: “lava” is heated by a lightbulb.
In our giant version: light and heating element are separate.
Makes sense. No lightbulb could heat such a huge amount of liquid.
Boiler is simple. Has a switch to turn it on and window displaying temperature—with dial showing if furnace is going “in the red” so emergency shut-off can be engaged.
Setup means I can start heating the lamp on Sat. afternoon, well before unveiling. If calculations are correct, might be able to get lava moving at the same time the lamp lights up—even possible turning on the light will give last push of heat needed. Still, warned Oswald the two won’t coincide exactly.
Me: The lamp will light up right away, but it’ll take a while before the paraffin heats up enough to start swirling.
Oswald: But the light will be pink, right?
Me: Yes.
He seemed satisfied.
Spent approx. 2.5 hrs. tinkering/making list of items needed.
A bit paranoid I can’t do a test run. Even in the dead of night, it would be impossible to turn on the lamp, see if I got it running properly. People would notice. Sat. night will have to be first time.
Made plans to return Thursday, after Oswald picks up supplies. Made conversation as he locked the boiler room behind us.
Me: Is everything else in place for Saturday?
Oswald: Are you worried?
Me: It’s just, if you’re looking for help with the sound system, I know someone. They do AV work for a band. They probably have access to equipment.
Oswald was interested.
Wrote down info, hoping he wouldn’t be put off that my contact went by “Laser.”
Wednesday
In lab, hunched over computer, trying to get work done. Ishmael burst in.
Ish: Did you see last week’s episode of Pitch, Please?
Me: I don’t know. Maybe?
Ish: The contestants wanted to make a show about weird dance competitions, like starting the world’s biggest