Page 55 of The Women of Oak Ridge
Good gracious, what would Mama say if she could see me now? Wandering around a strange neighborhood at night, spying on a man? But it worked. I’d found Clive. I hadn’t been able to readthe number on his trailer in the dim light, but I remembered the number of the one across the street where I’d hidden.
A bus soon arrived, and I boarded. Even at night, most of the seats were occupied. As we traveled the eleven miles to Townsite, I stared out the window into darkness. Stars blinked in the cloudless sky. The moon was nowhere in sight.
A sense of purpose replaced the anxiety I’d felt since Sissy disappeared.
Tomorrow’s the day,I silently declared, my chin lifted in stubborn resolve.
Tomorrow I would discover the truth. Sissy had clearly been afraid of something. Whether it was Clive himself or the knowledge that he could possibly be working for the enemy, I wasn’t certain. Like me, she’d been inundated with instructions from the moment we set foot on the Reservation about what to do if someone spoke out of turn or acted suspicious. Informants lurked everywhere, from the dorms to the cafeterias, to K-25 and beyond. Everyone knew they were to report odd behaviors and shady suspects. Sissy had been infatuated with the fellow in question, which seemed to act as an obstacle for her good sense.
I had no such qualms.
If I found out Clive was indeed involved in espionage, I would report him immediately.
And if I discovered he had threatened Sissy in some way, forcing her to leave Oak Ridge, he’d be sorry he ever met Maebelle Willett.
