Molly could feel herself relaxing as the news that her friend would be all right sank in. With Heidi's safety now assured, Molly began to think more and more about what might have happened to the girl.

Nancy suggested they get some breakfast. Tom offered to take the McGill sisters to a nice place in the downtown business district, but Molly wasn't feeling up to that much of an outing. She really wanted to stay close to the hospital, at least until Heidi's mother arrived. Tom reluctantly agreed to the hospital cafeteria. The most important thing was to create the opportunity for Nancy to talk to Molly.

After making their way through the cafeteria line, the three got comfortable at a Formica-topped table in the corner of the eating area. The food was much better than Tom had expected and he made himself busy with it while Nancy got the ball rolling with Molly.

Nancy: So Tom tells me you're a member of this Ethernaut Club, huh?

Molly: Yeah, the Ethernauts are the biggest thing going right now. We really have a great time with our meetings and activities and stuff.

Nancy: How long have you been in the club?

Molly: We only started it a few months ago, during the summer quarter, I guess. There was nothing to do around here but study before then. I mean, how many times can you go to the boardwalk? You know?

Now we've got the club parties, the meetings, and the Web project we're doing for the club. It's going to have a ride board, a place to trade class notes, the party calendar, part-time job listings, and a pretty cool dating service. Jeremy and Zeke are working on something else too but they're not telling anyone what it is.

Tom: How do you figure the group got popular so fast?

Molly: I guess everybody was looking for something to do. Well and, of course, Jeremy had a lot to do with it.

Nancy: You think so?

Molly: Absolutely. When he decided the Ethernaut Club was going to be popular, it was like he was on a mission. He got everything organized and pushed the rest of us to get into it. That's what did it.

Tom: And he just 'decided' to make the club popular?

Molly: When Jeremy puts his mind to something, things happen.

Nancy: What was that little tantrum he threw upstairs about? Talking about Heidi not making it... It seemed pretty childish to me.

Molly: Jeremy is pretty intense, there's no doubt about that. Listen, what is this? There's nothing wrong with him, okay?

Nancy: Molly, we understand some of the school faculty and administrators have a different opinion about him. Are you sure you know what you're doing?

Molly: Older people don't seem to understand Jeremy. I don't know why, but I don't really care either.

Tom: Molly, I want to talk to you about Heidi. We spoke with the radiologist who's working on her case. He can't explain what they've found. Never seen anything like it before.

Molly: You mean she's not going to be all right?

Tom: I didn't say that. The condition seems to be fading on its own and they do expect a full recovery. But what they saw looks like some kind of induced electrical effect. What I'm saying is it doesn't look natural. Something had to happen to her that to cause this condition.

Molly: I was at Heidi's because we were planning to have dinner together. She said she needed a few more minutes to get something done. You know how that is. I figured it meant at least a half hour, so I went to watch some TV in the living room. She was working on her computer when I left her and that's how I found her, sitting in front of it staring at the screen. She looked perfectly normal. I talked to her for a while before I realized anything was even wrong!

Nancy: Did anyone else come in or did she get any phone calls?

Molly: No one came in and I didn't hear the phone or anything.

Tom: What was she working on?

Molly: I think it was just her Web page. Heidi does a sort of gossip column on her page. She calls it "The Campus Crap Line." The names are always left out, but you can tell who she's talking about.

Tom: Sounds like the kind of thing that could make enemies out of some people.

Molly: It's just for fun, Tom. People like being in the column. They usually give her the gossip about themselves and hope she'll use it. I think they mostly just make it up. Which music major is Clint Eastwood's illegitimate love child? Which KCSC disk jockey was seen dating Courtney Cox? It's harmless, made-up stuff.

Nancy: Molly, I'd like to take a look at Heidi's computer. Can we do that?

Molly: Sure. In fact, I haven't touched it since I found her. We should be able to see exactly what she was working on.

Tom: Let's go see if Heidi's mom is here yet.



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