DESIDERIUM [ 3 ] ↠ STRANGER THINGS

9. MOTHER TONGUE TRANSLATOR

DESIDERIUM
CHAPTER NINE

➝ MOTHER TONGUE TRANSLATOR

         LIZZIE WAS ABLE TO DECIPHER THE "TOP-SECRET" CODE IN A MATTER OF SECONDS FROM THE MOMENT SHE WALKED IN. Which made seeing the jumbled words across the whiteboard, through the small window, in a mix-matched order even funnier to the blonde. She could hear the recording playing again and she decided to walk through the back doors of the ice cream parlor. Ignoring the bell that was sitting on top of the front counter. She had been standing at the register for at least three minutes at that point. With no one even batting an eye for a "customer".

She was reciting the saying with the recording as she walked through the double doors of the ice cream parlor, "The week is long. The silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west."

Dustin quickly shut the recording off as the girl walked into the back room. Steve twirling his ice cream scoop in his hand, and Robin was sitting at the table with the dictionary in her hands.

She looked over the scribbled words on the board, before erasing the incorrect ones and writing the correct words in their place. Steve cleared his throat as the blonde turned around, "Lizzie. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Apparently saving your asses from whatever this is that you are trying to decipher."

Robin smiled up at the girl with an impressed look on her face, "You speak Russian?"

"Yes, it is my mother tongue." Lizzie fluently demonstrated in Russian before giving the trio a triumphant smile, "Yes. My family is Russian. It's actually my first language. We moved to America when I was a kid. I was kinda forced to have to learn English."

Steve gave an impressed shrug as he stared at the corrected statement on the board. The mall was about to close, and they had spent most of the night deciphering this secret message. The three all quoted the message in unison, as Lizzie went through the back cabinets and opened up a can of crushed reese's cups. She took a handful before popping them into her mouth. Steve shook his head before signaling that it was time to close up and the four of them made their way out of the ice cream parlor. Robin and Steve quickly finished their closing tasks as Dustin and Lizzie sat in a booth chatting. Steve closed the gate behind them, "I mean, it just... It just can't be right."

"It's right," Lizzie and Robin spoke in unison.

Dustin shrugged his shoulders as they all walked forward as Steve locked the gate behind them. "I mean. Honestly, it think it's great news."

Steve groaned as he trailed behind, "How is this great news? It's just nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," Dustin added. "It's too specific. It's obviously a code."

Steve questioned, "What do you mean, a code?"

"Like a super secret spy code."

Robin dismissed Steve's questioning thoughts, and spoke up for the group. "Listen, just for kicks. Let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say," Her voice dropped an octave, "Fire the warhead at noon"?"