Nine
Clarity leaned forward to hear the words of George, the man in charge of papers at the courthouse.
“What secret?” she asked. She saw George turn away his head a few seconds. Clearly, he was savoring the expression of intrigue on the girls´ face.
“A poll, a secret poll,” he finally said.
Clarity raised her eyebrows, her look unequivocally saying that she wanted to know more. She pushed aside a pencil case with her elbows and moved closer to George.
“A few months ago,” said the man, “when the hippies almost turned their outburst into riots, the mayor didn´t know what to do. There were meetings with his staff all day long for days, and the sessions ran for a long time, sometimes into the night. I must have ordered take out pizza and Chinese food for dinner a dozen times or more. One night, the mayor came out of the room. He was angry that his staff wasn´t finding a way to stop the protests. So I told him that maybe those people were trying to tell him something, something he didn´t know.”
He paused a few seconds, stood up and walked a few steps to get a can from a coke machine, which for some reason was kept in his office. He went on with his revelation.
“When I said that, his face suddenly beamed with a big smile. He looked at me and said thanks. That´s when the real work started. He kicked all his staff out of his office and asked me to ask two hundred people from Malibu whether they were in favor of walking naked in public and at work. And you know what? They were, a majority of people, eighty seven point three percent of the adults asked in the poll were in favour of letting people walk and work naked in public. But the poll was never released because the governor of California stepped in and calmed the protesters by opening a nudist beach in Northern California. That, more or less stopeed the daily protests of the hippies…and that´s where we are now.”
“My God,” said Clarity, “but that means that people in Malibu would like the freedom to walk and work naked. George, where is that poll now? We need to know in order to prevent the closure of a company which is much better than the hippies, it´s a normal company in Malibu struggling to allow naturism at work, and many people´s jobs are on the line.” Clarity noticed how George pulled back his neck, and gave them a stern look, as if absorbing that he was again responsible for a destiny changing decision. She saw all of his six foot two frame stand up and walk to the window, letting the sunshine hit his face. Suddenly, she saw him turn around.
“Locker one three seven out the door to the right. The combination is five one zero. There´s a photocopier across from it, the poll and its results are only five pages. Do the copies and leave right away. As they say, this meeting never took place.” Clarity felt like hugging the corpulent clerk. The three girls made the copies and thanked George for the information. Clarity folded the five page summary of the secret poll results, and walked with Cynthia back to Taimi´s Monte Carlo. She stepped into the front seat and pointed towards the opposite side of the road, afer explaining their findings to Lanai and Taimi.
“Let´s make a U-turn, we need to take this secret poll to the national press.”
“But that means there will be a scandal,” said Lanai apprehensively.
“Exactly what we want,” said Clarity and Cynthia in unison.
They drove to a local internet café to check the address of the Los Angeles Times and headed for the newspaper main quarters on West first Avenue. This time, Lanai decided to join Clarity in her quest to reveal the poll, and Cynthia and Taimi stayed in the car.
Clarity recognized the logo of the L.A. Times, crossed the entrance of the building and came face to face with a security guard.
“We need to see the editor, we have a scoop.”
“A scoop? A scoop on what?” said the guard half jokingly. Clarity hesitated for a few seconds, and Lanai hid behind her.
“Well, it´s a private scoop…I mean, a secret scoop…I mean it´s just a scoop, but that´s the nature of a scoop, it´s secret,” said Clarity, hoping to make sense.
“If we let you know about the scoop, it´s not a scoop anymore, it´s only a scoop for the editor,” said Lanai.
“It´s an editorial scoop, yes that´s what we have, a nice editorial scoop for the editor,” finished Clarity.
“Give it to me, I´ll ensure the editor receives it,” said the guard brusquely.
Clarity hesitated before giving the pages to the guard, reasoning there wasn´t much else they could do at this point. The two girls walked back to the car and they all headed to Cynthia´s home, a lavish mansion facing the sea. Since they all measured more or less the same height, Cynthia often let them try her own set of clothes and the girls always enjoyed their stay at her home.
“Let´s hope the editor runs the story now,” said Clarity, as she sat on a sofa.
The following morning, Clarity eagerly searched for the morning newspaper in Cynthia´s garden. She found it buried beside a group of daisies and let her eyes run through the headlines.
“It´s out,” said Clarity triumphantly, laying the paper on the living room table, almost tripping over Lanai who was waking up. Clarity pointed towards one of the headlines and Lanai picked up the front page to see it more clearly. Malibu Mayor hides secret poll on naturism from Malibu constituency. Below the headline, a subheadline was just as eye grabbing. Should walking naked in public and at work be allowed now?