Without warning and to the utter horror of Claire and Eliza, Dr Marlow came forward and slapped Tiffany on the face. Immediately, Tiffany has transformed into Emily again, who gracefully clasped her sore face and glanced around, oblivious of what had just happened. Nonetheless, Dr Marlow didn't notice the change, and persevered with her ways.
"How dare you insult the way I dress without first enquiring about the reason for which I do this," screeched the professor, who, after having calmed down a bit, continued. "This is all in honour of Petunia, my favourite pepper tree planted in my front garden. As a child, I had a severe case of autism, therefore, I did not have any friends. Whilst other children played jump rope on the streets, I preferred reading alone, while concealed in the safe abode of my mini treehouse, in which I have struggled to fit at the age of ten, on top of the pepper tree Petunia, whom I have named. Nevertheless, on my eleventh birthday, the city council ordered the death of Petunia, my only friend, after having noticed that its roots are beginning to penetrate the pavement in front of my house. My dad did his best to prevent them, but in the end, Petunia was cut down mercilessly." At this point in her speech, Dr Marlow paused in order that she could suppress her tears from trickling down her cheek.
"From that day on, I have lost my one and only friend, thus I have planned my revenge," she continued. "My ambition have since then been to become a botanist, so that I can genetically modify plants so that they can listen to commands, helping me conquer the world and make everyone the slaves of plants, who have suffered enough during the past centuries already. This world is inhabited by selfish people, who only ever cared about their own interests to the point that they couldn't even stand the existence of a tree in someone else's garden. Look at all the environmental damage humans have done to this planet! This is further prove of the self-indulgence of humanity." At the conclusion of her speech, the botanist glanced at the speechless spies.
"You mentioned the selfishness of humanity," said Claire after a short pause. "But aren't you also a part of this same community of which you despise? All humans share the same blame in the destruction of our environment, and I am sure you are not to be exempted from it either. Dare you say that you've never, whether on purpose or unintentionally, done any sort of damage to this environment, including throwing away a plastic bag, or buying something from the supermarket that has excess packaging?"
"Enough chit-chat!" retorted Dr Marlow, who could not respond directly to Claire's interrogation, with a wave of the flower in her hands. Abruptly, the spies began to feel extremely sleepy and dizzy. In fact, the flower that the botanist waved was one that could produce a smell to enhance sleep. Before long, the three spies were all sound asleep on the fuzzy, comfortable grass.
"That'll teach ya not to interfere with my plans, you meddling kids! Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite. Hahahahah!" laughed the botanist.
Oh no! If the spies have all fallen asleep, who will be able to prevent the vengeful professor?
~To be Continued~
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