Chapter 1: Poison at the Party

Natalie took a deep breath and filled her lungs with air ready to sing.  Normally she wouldn’t  attempt it, as she was not known for her singing.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  As  far as she knew, she had never hit a correct note in her life.  But Natalie was having a great time, and didn’t give a hoot what she sounded like.  Her best friend Maryellen sat at the head of the table in front of the birthday cake, the candles flickered brightly, and friends who couldn’t sing either surrounded her.  If not now, when?  “Happy Birthday”, rang throughout the house as the seven girls and Mrs. Dunn toasted Maryellen with lemonade and kisses.  Maryellen beamed and blew out all of the candles except two.  “Ha! Ha!” the girls screamed, “Maryellen has two boy friends”.  Maryellen blushed and quickly blew out the two remaining candles.  Her efforts only fueled the hilarity.  “I do not!” Maryellen defended herself and looked to her mom for help.  Mrs. Dunn laughed and handed her the cake knife.  It was time to eat!

While great gobs of cake were disappearing, Maryellen’s older brother, Mike, arrived home from basketball practice.  He was a couple of years older than the girls, and much taller.  To the girls, he seemed much older, almost a man, and all the girls turned to watch him.  Mrs. Dunn handed Mike a slice of cake, which he ate ravenously.  “Haffy birfday, Sis!” he said with his mouthful.  Then he winked at one of the girls and left to cleanup.  Maryellen was happy to see him go as the girls’ attention returned to her.

Natalie knew Mike well having spent a lot of time with Maryellen.  He was good looking, she admitted, just like Maryellen was pretty.  The whole family was handsome.  Mike was also quite funny, but he was too eager to take the attention of Maryellen’s friends.  He was not really considerate of Maryellen at all, although he was never actually mean to her.  Natalie really didn’t like the fact that he smelled like stale cigarette smoke.  She had never seen him smoke, but couldn’t help think that he must.

The birthday party was fabulous with games and tea and much joking around.  Later in the afternoon Mike joined them again much to Maryellen’s disapproval.  Again, the attention of the girls swung to him and soon he was telling jokes and flirting viciously." Do you guys want to see something really cool?” Mike said with a twinkle in his eye.  “Yeah,” said several girls. 

Natalie looked at him suspiciously and asked, “Depends on what it is.” 

“Yeah, what is it, Mike?”  Maryellen demanded, put out at having lost the attention of her friends again. 

“You’ll just have to come and see,” Mike said walking away.  “Com’on!  It’s in the basement.”

Several girls immediately followed him out the front door, into the vestibule, and down the basement stairs.  Natalie and Maryellen followed close behind the others.  As they passed through the vestibule, Maryellen pointed up a set of stairs and said, “The crazy lady I was telling you about lives up there.  Mrs. Tonkin.  She was yelling at us again last night.  She’s nuts!”  Natalie glanced up the dark empty staircase, grimaced, and then quickly followed the others down the steep wooden stairs into the basement.

The basement smelled damp and mildewed.  Feeling uneasy, Natalie quickly took a look around.  The floor was dirt and the walls were made of fieldstone that had been painted white a long time ago, but now were blackened with soot and dirt.  An old boiler sat on cinder blocks in the middle of the room and clanked rheumatically.  But what dominated the room were the old wooden shelves stuffed with junk most of which was unidentifiable because it was covered in a thick coat of dust.

“Ewww,” Natalie whispered to Maryellen.  “This is more like a cave than a basement.  How long have you guys lived here?”

“About a year.  I haven’t been down here before.  It’s disgusting.” 

Mike picked up a large glass jar from a shelf and held it out for all to see.  When the girls had gathered round, he swirled the jar and a silvery liquid rolled around inside.  “What is it?” one of the girls asked.

Mike turned the glass jar on its side and poured a small amount onto his outstretched hand.  A large drop spilled out and split into a million little beads that rolled onto the floor leaving only a small amount trapped on his supine palm.  The girls jumped back and squealed with delight at this mysterious fluid.

“It’s mercury, I think,” Mike said delighted to have the full adulatory attention of the girls.

“Wow!” said a couple of the girls who crowded in again to see the slippery metal.  “Where did you get it?” someone asked.

“It was here in all this junk.  The old guy who owned this place before we bought it must have collected it all.  But he died, so we got the house and all this stuff,” he summed up nodding to all the junk in the basement.

“Can I hold it?” one of the girls asked holding out her hand.

“Sure.” Mike tipped his hand over hers, and the puddle of mercury slipped into her waiting palm.  The other girls crowded round even closer to look.

Meanwhile, Natalie looked around nervously.  When the beads of mercury had dropped from Mike’s hand onto the floor, she noticed other silvery droplets in the dirt at her feet.  In fact, the more she looked around the more she saw.  She couldn’t remember much about the metal, but had a feeling it wasn’t good.  She couldn’t remember N&J Environmental ever having to clean up mercury, but still the feeling nagged her. A flash of light caught her attention, and she looked up to find Mike lighting a cigarette.  She frowned, her suspicions confirmed.  She watched him lean against the shelves as the girls crowded around him.  He was showing off again and her friends were eating it up.

“Isn’t mercury toxic?” Natalie asked. 

“Oh, for crying out loud, everything is toxic to you, Natalie,” Nancy chuffed and several girls laughed.

Mike, feeling that he might loose his audience spoke up quickly, “It’s not toxic.  I’ve been down here many times and nothing has happen to me.”

“Yeah.  He looks good to me!” Jane batted her eyes flagrantly, which sent several girls into giggling fits.

“No, really.  I think she’s right,” said Maryellen.

“No way, and I can prove it,” Mike argued.  “Watch this!”  And he stuck the end of his cigarette in the mercury, and then drew a long puff.  He smiled at Natalie and blew a smoke ring at her.

Natalie waved the ring away and glowered at him.  “Don’t be stupid, Mike.  You don’t know what that could do to you!” Mike smiled at her arrogantly.  “Do it again,” Jane dared him. Maryellen became alarmed and grabbed Jane by the arm squeezing it hard.  “No, don’t be stupid!  If Natalie says it’s toxic, it probably is!” Jane winced with pain and pulled away from Maryellen.  Mike smirked and dipped his cigarette in the mercury.  He drew another long puff and then blew a second smoke ring up into the air.   Maryellen glared at him seething inside.  She was about to tell him off when, the door at the top of the stairs creaked and an ancient voice crackled down the stairs, “Who’s d-d-d-down there?”

    Chapter 2 : Mrs. Tonkin

Mike walked to the bottom of the stairs and said calmly, “It’s us Mrs. Tonkin, Mike and Maryellen.”

“I d-d-d-don’t care wh-wh-who it is.  Get out of there, right this mi-minute, you hear me!”

“Yes Ma’am,” Mike answered, and he dropped his cigarette on the floor and stepped on it.  He and the girls marched up the stairs and back into the Dunn’s unit.  Standing on the stairs in the vestibule was an old lady wearing a frown with such deep grooves that Natalie wondered if she had ever smiled in her life.  Her hands shook uncontrollably at her sides, but the rest of her was solid and chubby.  As Natalie passed by, the lady’s tongue suddenly flew out of her mouth, did a couple of flips, and then disappeared behind her lips again.  “Ooo.  Damn it! Timmy. Damn it!” the lady cursed loudly and then the frown returned to her face as if nothing had happened.  Natalie nearly jumped out of her skin, and stepped forward quickly bumping into Maryellen who in turn bumped into Jane, and they all piled quickly into the Dunn’s unit and slammed the door shut.

“Did she just do what I think she did?” Natalie asked astonished.

“That’s what I’ve been telling you” Maryellen said.  “She’s not just nuts, she really is crazy.”

“That’s not half of the crazy things she does.  She’s always yelling at us and crying about Timmy this, and Timmy that,” Mike said.  “No one knows who Timmy is, and she lives alone.  She’s certifiable if you ask me.”

“Well, you kids just leave Mrs. Tonkin alone,” Mrs. Dunn said, walking into the kitchen.  “She’s harmless, and I don’t want her getting upset so soon after losing her husband.”

“Yes mom,” Maryellen said and Mike nodded his head.

    Chapter 3: The Emergency Room

The party wound down around 7 pm, and Natalie and the girls went home.  Natalie was just drifting off to sleep when the phone rang.  Mrs. Brown quietly woke her and asked her to get up and get dressed, “Mike is in the emergency room, and the Dunn’s need our help.”

Visions of Mike smoking the mercury soaked cigarette were still fresh in Natalie’s mind, and she wondered if it had anything to do with Mike’s illness.  Mr. Brown drove Natalie, Jason, and Mrs. Brown quickly to the hospital emergency room and listened quietly as Natalie related what happened in the basement.  He groaned when Natalie finished and just looked out the window.  Natalie looked to her father for some reassurance that the mercury couldn’t have caused any problems, but he didn’t say anything, and she couldn’t see his face.

When they entered the waiting room, Maryellen jumped out of a chair and grabbed Natalie around the neck.  “Thank God, you’re here,” she cried.  Natalie hugged her hard for she had seen the tears streaming down her friends face.  In the emergency room, they heard crying and screaming.

“Tell us what happened, Maryellen?” Natalie asked softly.

“After you left, Mike went to bed with a chest pain, and when Mom went to check on him, he was hardly breathing and was delirious.  He was screaming about something that was after him.  Mom tried to wake him but couldn’t, so she called an ambulance.”  Maryellen pointed behind the closed doors and said, “Mom and Dad are in there with him now.”

Mr. Brown asked, “Did you tell them about the mercury?”

Maryellen looked at him and Natalie with a pained expression on her face, “I … I tried, but I don’t think I did a good job.  That’s why I called you.  Come quick.”

Maryellen pulled Natalie by the hand past the nurse and into the emergency ward.  Mike lay still on a gurney with his eyes closed, an oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose.  Mrs. Dunn sat anxiously beside him holding his hand as doctors and nurse hovered over him checking his breathing and other vital signs.  Mr. Dunn was pacing the room and watching the doctors work.

Mr. Brown walked straight to Mr. Dunn and said, “Hi Jim.”  “Uh hi, Frank.  What are you doing here?”  “We need to talk, now, about Mike.  Please ask the doctor to join us.  Natalie, you come too.” Moments later, Natalie had finished the story of the mercury.  Mr. Brown said he believed that the symptoms, difficulty breathing, delirium, and hallucinations were consistent with mercury poisoning.  The doctor, a tall dark woman wearing a lab coat, thanked them and rushed back to take care of Mike.

Mr. Dunn stood dumbfounded.  “I can’t believe Mike would do something so stupid.”  Mr. Brown put his hand on Mr. Dunn’s shoulder and said, “He didn’t know, Jim.  Yes, common sense should have …” and his voiced trailed off.  “Look, they can cure this if they can remove the mercury from his system fast enough.   We’ll all be praying for him.  In the meantime, we need to get you and the rest of your family checked for mercury as well.”

“Us to! Why?”  Mr. Dunn protested.

“Mercury volatilizes into the air and if your basement is as full of mercury as the girls say it is, it’s likely that your whole house is saturated, and you all have mercury poisoning.”

   Chapter 4: The Investigation

Mrs. Brown insisted that the Dunn’s stay with them that night.  Mrs. Dunn refused to leave Mike’s side, but an exhausted Mr. Dunn and Maryellen gratefully accepted the invitation. 

During the night, the doctor confirmed that Mike was suffering from acute mercury poisoning, and ordered chelation therapy to remove the toxic metal from his body.  The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Dunn had their blood drawn for mercury tests.  The doctor insisted that all of the girls at the party be tested as well, and Mrs. Brown arranged for them to visit the hospital. 

Natalie and Maryellen came to visit after the doctors drew their blood.  Mrs. Dunn had not slept at all during the night and looked awful.  The bags under her eyes sagged deeply with sorrow and her face was stained with tears shed throughout the night.  Mike’s condition had not changed substantially although he was breathing easier.  He was still delirious.

The rest of the girls from the party arrived around 9 am.  They crowded into the room, each with a band-aid on their arm, and hugged Mrs. Dunn.  Then Jane burst into tears and quickly turned and left without saying a word.  “What’s up with her?” Maryellen asked.  Everyone shrugged his or her shoulders.  Jane’s mom and a couple of the other girls went to look for her.

Many stayed to watch over Mike.  Each of the girls had a story or two to tell of something Mike had done that was amazing or funny, and each helped to cheer Mrs. Dunn.  She was grateful for the company.  Even Jason told a funny story about bumping into Mike in a department store when Mike had slipped on a flowered dress as a prank on his friends.  Everyone laughed.

Eventually, the stories ended and only the occasional visit from a doctor or nurse broke the silence.  The medical staff shuffled silently in and out of the room, which fueled the frustration. These people seemed to have no feelings at all.  For Natalie, the waiting and not knowing became excruciating.  She could do nothing but wait and hope, and her thoughts wandered to the other things, things she could do something about, like the mercury in the Dunn’s basement.  She didn’t know much about mercury, but she was determined to find out and do something.

Sometime around 10 o’clock, Natalie slipped out of Mike’s room to look for her Dad.  Seconds later she heard footsteps behind her as Jason caught up with her.  “I was waiting for you to leave,” he said.  “What are you going to do?” “First, we’ve got to find Dad.  Any idea where he is?” 

“He was here a few minutes ago.  I saw him talking to Mr. Dunn.”

Mr. Dunn and Mr. Brown were just leaving together when Natalie and Jason caught up with them in the hallway.  “Hi Dad! Where are you going?” Natalie asked knowing exactly what he would say.  After all, she was her father’s daughter.

“Hi Natalie and Jason.  We’ve made arrangements to help the Dunn’s investigate the mercury in their house,” he said.  “I suppose you’ll want to join us?” he asked knowing exactly what his kids would say.

Natalie and Jason sat in the back seat, as they drove to the Dunn’s residence.  No one said anything for a while which made Natalie very uncomfortable.  She wanted to ask questions, to seek information to help solve the problem, not brood in silence.  So she asked what they could do to clean up the mercury.

“Mercury is a funny metal,” Mr. Brown began.  “Even though it is one of the heaviest metals, it volatilizes into the air.  No other metal can do that.  So, first we going to use an air monitoring instrument called a Jerome Meter to test the air in the house.” 

“Well, I know you’ll find it in the basement,” Natalie said confidently.  “I saw lots of it on the floor down there.  Mike said that Mr. Tonkin collected junk that contained mercury and left it there when he died.”

Mr. Dunn spoke for the first time in a while, “Mr. Tonkin was an electrician.  He left a lot electrical stuff in the basement.  I cleaned out some of it but didn’t have time to finish.  I … I never knew Mike was going down there.”

Mr. Brown turned a corner and then said, “Mercury was used in a lot of electrical equipment.  Do you know if he was collecting mercury or just electrical parts?”

“No,” Mr. Dunn answered.  “I never met him.  His wife, Eleanor, lives upstairs, and I spoke with her about the junk one day.  She said he’d been collecting that stuff for fifty years, but didn’t know much about it.”

“Oh man, she’s crazy,” Natalie announced.  “She chased us out of the basement yesterday and has some kind of weird tremors in her hands and face.”

“Hmmm,” Mr. Brown considered the information.  “Have you ever heard of Mad Hatters Disease, Natalie?” he asked.

“Mad Hatters disease? No, I don’t think so,” Natalie responded, and Mr. Dunn shook his head.

“Back in the 1800s, hat makers would rub mercuric nitrate into the felt to make it soft.  Unknown to them, they absorbed a lot of mercury which got into their central nervous system and caused neurological problems like tremors.  It also made them irritable and depressed and sometimes psychotic.”

“That explains a lot about Mr. Tonkin,” Mr. Dunn said.  He groaned and covered his hands with his face.  It was a long groan with real agony underneath it.  “What have I done to my family?” he moaned.  Mr. Brown and Natalie sat quietly, respectfully, as the weight of Mr. Dunn’s situation began to sink in. 

After a few moments, Mr. Brown reassured him that he hadn’t done anything wrong.  “Let’s do our tests first before we get too far along.” 

When they arrived at the Dunn residence, a N&J Environmental truck was already parked on the street in front.  Jimmy and Kate jumped out and to greet them.  Then they quickly began unloading their equipment.  Mr. Dunn opened the doors to the house and knocked on Mrs. Tonkin’s door, but she was not in, so he opened the door and came outside again.  Natalie and Jason kept busy too.  While Jason helped Jimmy and Kate don their personal protective equipment, Natalie unpacked several radios, put new batteries in each, and handed them out to everyone.  Then Natalie removed the Jerome Meter from the Pelican case and read the operations card.  Before long, the instrument was humming quietly and ready to go. “Their quite the workers,” Mr. Dunn observed to Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown smiled proudly.  “Yes.  I’m very lucky in that regard.” 

Within half an hour, both Jimmy and Kate were dressed in respirators and saran chemical suits ready to enter the house.  Mr. Brown instructed them to go to the first floor and second floor units first and then into the basement, so they wouldn’t track mercury from the basement into the units.  As they walked to the front door, Natalie pushed the switch on her radio and said, “Radio check, Jimmy and Kate”.  Both responded, “Radio check, OK”, and then they disappeared through the front door.

As she waited, Natalie thought about the inside of the Dunn’s unit, the kitchen, living room and bedrooms.  She had been in the house countless times over the past year and knew every room.  She wondered how much mercury she may have breathed in and shivered.  The thought of having the toxic heavy metal inside her was frightening.  The doctor said the tests would take a couple of days.  They would all have to wait until then to find out.

Her thoughts returned to Jimmy and Kate in the house, and she realized she had nothing to write down the data with.  Quickly, she collected a piece of paper and a clipboard and began to draw a rough sketch of the Dunn’s unit.  Just as she finished, Jimmy’s voice crackled from her radio, “Natalie?”

Natalie grabbed her radio and said, “Go ahead, Jimmy.”

“In the living room, the meter is reading 40,000 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3), and in the kitchen it’s reading about 80,000 ng/m3.”

Natalie quickly wrote the numbers down in the respective rooms on her sketch and then spoke into her radio, “Roger, Jimmy.  How about upstairs?”

“We’re headed up the stairs now.”

Natalie looked at the numbers on her map.  They certainly looked big, but she had no idea what they meant.  She turned to her Dad to find him smiling at her expectantly.  “Umm, so what’s a safe level,” she asked.

“Good question.  The right question,” Mr. Brown congratulated her.  “And the answer is 300 ng/m3.”

“300!?” Natalie exclaimed.  “But … but that can’t be right!  Jimmy just said the levels in the house are,” and she looked at her sketch again, “80,000!”

“Yes, he did,” Mr. Brown said seriously.

Seconds later, Jimmy’s voice crackled through the radio again, ‘Natalie?”

“We’re upstairs in the kitchen, and the reading is ……. 50,000.  But there’s a hole in the wall.  When we tested the air in the wall, we got ……… 120,000.”

Natalie pushed her radio button and said, “Jimmy, this is Natalie.  Please confirm you said 120,000 ng/m3. Over”

“That is correct, 120,000 ng/m3.” 

Natalie looked at her father and then at Mr. Dunn.  She hoped the horror she felt inside didn’t show on her face.  Then again it probably didn’t matter much.  A dark cloud had descended on all of them.  There was no hiding the fact that the levels of mercury in the house were four hundred times more than the safe level, and that their worst fears had been confirmed.

   Chapter 5 : The Condemned House

By law, Mr. Brown was required to report the results to State Department of Environmental Protection and to the Town Board of Health who immediately ordered the house uninhabitable.  When the blood tests came back positive for mercury, all the Dunn’s were immediately put in chelation therapy.  Mrs. Dunn, already exhausted from too little sleep, collapsed upon hearing the news and was put in a bed next to Mike.  Maryellen, who kept her vigil at the hospital, was thankful she could be near both of them.

Mrs. Tonkin was much thornier to deal with.  Perhaps it was the mercury, or perhaps it was her age, she was seventy-four after all, or perhaps just stubborn, but she refused to leave her apartment.  Mr. Dunn talked to her for half an hour, and then the Board of Health tried without success.  Finally, three troopers had to escort her out the door to the hospital.  She came peacefully, but she bore the frown on her face, with its deeply etched hollows, as steady as ever.  Her blood tests showed high levels of mercury, but she refused treatment.  Natalie wondered if she really understood what it was all about.

All of the girls at the party had mercury in their blood, but none had been at the house long enough to have dangerous levels.  The exception was Natalie who had spent a lot of time visiting Maryellen over the past year.  Her blood mercury levels were right at the safe limit, and the doctors recommended she have therapy.  As she and Maryellen sat in the nurse’s office waiting, she watched the nurse fill the syringe with fluid.  “This is too weird,” she said breaking a long silence.

“Weird is hardly the word,” Maryellen chuffed.  “Two days ago I was celebrating my birthday, and now my brother is sick, and we’ve all got mercury poisoning from my house.  I don’t ever want to go back there again!”

“Hold still,” the nurse said to Maryellen and made a quick jab at her arm with the syringe. “Ouch!” Maryellen cried but managed to keep her arm still.  Natalie winced and watched the nurse push the plunger in.  Then a thought occurred to her.  “Umm.  You’re injecting this stuff into us which will bind to the mercury, but how do we get the mercury out?”

The nurse smiled, “That’s the easy part, … you pee it out.  So, drink lots of fluids.  Oh and, don’t forget to come back every morning for a week for another shot.  You’re next, sweetie,” the nurse said looking at Natalie.  “Please roll up your sleeve.”  Natalie pulled up her shirtsleeve exposing her shoulder and waited for the pinch.

Ten minutes later, Maryellen was at her brother and mom’s side again.  Mr. Dunn kissed his daughter on the forehead and thanked her for being so strong.  Then he, Mr. Brown, and Natalie left to meet out in the main hall.

Mr. Dunn looked exhausted as he sat in his chair.  His lightly graying hair was a mess, and he was unshaven.  But he spoke with conviction.  “Thank you so much for all your help, Frank.  And you too, Natalie.  I don’t know how much worse this whole thing would have been without you.  And I’m sorry you got caught up in this Natalie.  I just didn’t know …,” his voice trailed off to silence.

“We know, Mr. Dunn.  It’s OK.  We’re glad we can help,” Natalie said feeling sorry for him.  She hoped she could more, but didn’t know what could be done.  She looked at her Dad, owner of N&J Emvironmental, for answers.

“Yes, John, please don’t blame yourself,” Mr. Brown said.  “It’s wrong and not helpful.  Did you talk to your insurance agent?”

“Oh yes.  That’s the good news,” Mr. Dunn suddenly looking more hopeful.  “We are covered.  It’s a good thing you suggested I ask them, because I never heard of pollution insurance.” “Excellent!  We’d be more than happy to help either way,” Mr. Brown reassured him, “But having a deep pocket to pay for it is good news.  When can we meet with your agent?” “He wants to see the house tomorrow morning,” Mr. Dunn answered.

“Good.  We’ll be there.” 

A brief pause in the conversation gave Natalie the chance she was looking for, “How are we going to clean up the house, Dad?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” Mr. Dunn added.  “This is my home.  I’ve got everything I have in it.  Can it be saved?”

Mr. Brown smiled and said, “I’ve been talking with some of my friends, and we all agree it can be done.  We’re just not sure how yet.”

   Chapter 6: Natalie Takes Control

Mr. Brown and Natalie left Mr. Dunn at the hospital and drove to the N&J Environmental office.  On the way, Mr. Brown called Mr. Thompson and asked him to organize a meeting with the managers and anyone with mercury experience at one o’clock.  He then turned to Natalie and asked if she would be willing to prepare a situation report for the meeting.  Natalie was thrilled at first, but the more she thought about, the more nervous she became.  How could she prepare a good report to present to the managers in three hours?  She couldn’t show them her wrinkled sketch of the Dunn’s residence.  How could she re-draw it, so it looked good by 1 o’clock?  By the time Mr. Brown pulled the car into the parking lot at N&J Environmental, she was downright terrified.  This wasn’t a school report for her classmates.  This was a report for the managers at N&J Environmental.  “They are your friends as well,” Mr. Brown reminded her.  Somehow, that helped ease Natalie’s anxiety a little bit.  “Look,” Mr. Brown said to her sympathetically, “If you don’t want to do this, I can do it, but I thought you’d like the opportunity.” 

Inside, Natalie really did want to give the presentation.  Her anxiety came from not know how to do it.  She thought hard for several seconds while her dad waited, but no big ideas came to her.  All she could think of was how her foot was shaking.

She looked at her dad who was busy putting his glasses in their case, and thought how he would handle the situation.  She had often heard him say to clients, “No problem,” with utmost confidence only to hear him say later that he had no idea how he was going to solve the problem.  Mr. Brown had said the same thing to Mr. Dunn just before they left the hospital.  He had faith in himself and his team at N&J Environmental to solve any problem.  Now she decided to use the same tactic.  “No problem, Dad.” she said confidently, even though she still felt terrified inside.  Mr. Brown smiled at her, “Thanks,” and left for his office.

Natalie needed help.  She had three hours to prepare the situation report for the managers and didn’t know how to do it.  She walked straight to Kate’s office praying she was in.  When she walked in the door, she sighed with relief.  Kate looked up from her desk and said, “Hi Natalie.  Oh, you don’t look so good.  What’s the matter?”

Natalie wondered for a moment how she looked, but after the past couple of days, she figured she was allowed to look “not so good” and decided to let it go. 

“Hi Kate.  Have you heard anything about our friend’s house with the mercury in it?” she got straight to the point.

“Yeah … a little bit.  Sounds sad, … but interesting.”

“I need to put together a situation report for the managers at one o’clock.  Can you help me?”  Natalie’s voice sounded a little more like pleading than she wanted.

“Absolutely!” Kate answered putting down the report she was reading.  “One o’clock!  That doesn’t leave us much time.  Tell me what you know and we’ll start right now.” 

After relating the story of the past two days to Kate, the two girls sat down together to brainstorm.  Kate called in Andy, the computer graphics tech, and Natalie gave him the sketch of the Dunn’s house she had made during the investigation.  He promised to finish the computer drawing by noon.  Then Kate turned to her computer and said, “OK.  Let’s do a short Power Point presentation for the managers.  It’s best to think chronologically, so let’s start with site history: how did the mercury get in the house and how long has it been there; and work our way forward in time to your investigation.” 

Natalie smiled.  Broken down in steps, the project suddenly took shape, and she felt in control again.  Kate had been the right person to ask for help.

At noontime, the Power Point presentation was done, but Andy wasn’t quite finished the drawing, so the girls stepped out for a quick sandwich.  When they returned at 12:30, Andy emailed them the final drawings, and Kate inserted them into their presentation.  At 12:50, they saved the presentation on a flash drive and headed for the conference room.  At one o’clock, all the managers plus some senior scientists and engineers were in the conference room ready for the meeting.

Mr. Brown quickly thanked everyone for coming and then introduced Natalie to give her situation report.  As her dad called her name, Natalie felt a rush of anxiety, and wondered if she could give the presentation.  The sound of clapping made her look up, and she saw many smiling faces looking her.  “Dad was right,” she thought, “These people are my friends.”  She jumped out of her chair and walked to the front of the room.  “Two days ago, I was at my friend’s birthday party at her house, and today one person is in the hospital and four of us, including myself, are on chelation therapy for mercury poisoning.”  Natalie heard the sound of her own voice as she spoke and liked what she heard.  It was steady and resonant.  So, without hesitation, she forged ahead.  “It started fifty years ago when Mr. Tonkin began collecting electrical equipment …”

As she spoke, Natalie glanced at the Power Point slides on the wall that she and Kate had prepared.  Each slide had three or four notes to remind her of her talking points.  The audience asked several questions of which Natalie could only answer one, but Mr. Brown stepped in to fill in the rest of the details.  Ten minutes later, she concluded with the air monitoring results.  Several people whistled in amazement at the high numbers.

“Thanks Natalie,” Mr. Brown said in a professional tone.  “Great job.”  Everyone clapped again, and Natalie took her seat next to Kate.  Kate grabbed her hand and whispered, “That was great!  You didn’t look nervous at all.”

“Actually,” Natalie sighed, “it went by so fast I didn’t have time to be nervous.  Did it really take ten minutes?  It went by in a flash.”

Mr. Brown sat at the head of the conference table and began the next phase of the meeting.  “Our goal is to cleanup the house. Any suggestions, comments, questions?” 

No one spoke at first, which seemed odd to Natalie, as she knew these folks love to give their opinions.  Finally, Mr. Brown asked another question, “Well, how did the mercury migrate out of the basement and into the rest of the house?” 

Mr. Thompson spoke first.  “There’s a couple of ways.  First, if the mercury is on the basement floor, beads of it likely stuck to Mr. Tonkin’s shoes, and he carried them up into the house.  The mercury stuck to the carpets and rugs as he walked through the house.  Same thing for anyone else in the basement.  I’ll bet the carpets contain a lot of mercury.” 

“Second,” broke in Mr. Latem.  He had a thick East Indian accent that amused Natalie a lot, but sometimes he was hard to understand.  “Mercury is volatile and evaporates just like water.  Mercury from the basement and carpets are constantly volatilizing into the air from all these sources.  It’s no wonder the air levels are so elevated.  Based on the high air concentrations and the age of the site, I’d say the whole house is saturated with mercury.  Carpets, sofas, drapes, beds, shoes.  I think it all has to be thrown out.”

“Really?” asked Margie, Kate’s manager. “Can’t it be cleaned?”

“Not really,” Mr. Thompson replied.  “Mercury is a lot like mold, you just can’t get it out.  I worked on a mercury site back when I was at the DEP, and we vacuumed, and wet vacuumed, and shampooed the carpets and still mercury was coming out of them.  We ended up throwing it all out.”

Several people offered their experiences on other sites and soon several conversations were going on at once.  Mr. Brown was ready.  A quick tap on the table with his gavel quickly got everyone’s attention.

“OK everyone.  Let’s focus.  It seems we all agree the rugs, etc. need to be thrown out.  What about the house?  Can we clean that or do we just knock it down?”

Mr. Brown’s question began a whole series of ponderings and scenarios and resulted in many conversations around the table again, most of which resulted in more questions than answers.  The one thing everyone did agree on was that the cost of demolishing, disposal, and rebuilding the house would be prohibitive.  With no clear answers, the conversations wandered to musings that all scientists succumb to when they are stumped.  Even Mr. Brown was not immune.

“The worst mercury case I can think of was Minimata Bay in Japan.  The cats ate contaminated seafood and had terrible spasms and died.  The people called them suicide cats”.

“What about the hundreds of Japanese that got sick and died around Minimata?”

“Can you imagine the doses of mercury the felt hat makers used to receive back in the 1800s?  No wonder they called them, “Mad Hatters”.  I bet they were crazy.”

“You know, they used to pan for gold using mercury.  They still do today.  I was panning for gold out in the Swift River near Rumford, New Hampshire, and got a bead of mercury!”

“No kidding!  I read somewhere that the gold rush in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains left tons of mercury in the rivers.  Now, some environmental groups are looking into the contamination.”

“Oh yeah!  The same thing happened in the Amazon River.  They’ve killed a lot of wildlife habitat.” 

The conversation rambled for several minutes, and no one was surprised to hear the tap of the gavel again.  However, when they looked up at Mr. Brown, they were startled to find he wasn’t holding the little wooden hammer.  They quickly looked around until all eyes focused on Natalie who held the gavel ready to tap the table again.

“I have a question,” Natalie said splitting the silence.  “If mercury is so volatile, won’t it just evaporate away?”

Mr. Thompson nodded his head thoughtfully.  “Not at normal room temperature.  But if we elevated the temperature in the house and opened all of the windows to vent the air, it might work.”

“Do you think the house heating system could create enough heat?” Mr. Latem asked in his thick accent.

“With a little help from some salamanders in the basement, it might work,” Mr. Thompson said.  “It’s a much better option than tearing down the house.”

Mr. Brown looked around the table, but no one said anything further.  “So, do we all agree then?” he asked.  Several people shook their heads and mumbled yes.  Mr. Brown said, “OK.  Thank you all very much,” ending the meeting.

As they walked out of the conference room, Mr. Thompson whispered in Mr. Brown’s ear mischievously. “She has your gavel, Frank.  Today the gavel, tomorrow your desk.”

Mr. Brown quickly felt his pocket for the tiny hammer.  Finding it empty, he frowned and headed for Kate’s office to retrieve what was still his.

    Chapter 7: Cleaning the House

Natalie marched past the plastic sheet lying on the lawn in front of the Dunn’s house.  On it lay shovels, tubs, vacuum cleaners with special filters, gloves, chemical suits, air supply hoses, tanks, drums, mercury sorbent, and numerous other odds and ends.  A dumpster sat on the side of the road stuffed with the Dunn’s possessions: rugs, chairs, carpets, sofas, and beds, anything that wasn’t nailed to the floor or bolted to the wall.  Each piece had been checked with the Jerome meter as it was carried out, and each had high mercury readings.  The piece was then inspected by the insurance adjuster, photographed, and finally tossed into the dumpster.  Three workers were in the basement shoveling dirt and old electrical parts into 55-gallon drums.  They had filled 3 already and were close to finishing the fourth.

Fortunately, the sun was shining and weather was warm, “A perfect spring T-shirt kind of day,” Natalie thought as she looked down at the Jerome meter in her hand.  She and Rachel, a N&J Environmental field tech, had been assigned to conduct air monitoring outside the house.  Jason was helping dress the workers in personal protective equipment and bringing supplies to them.

Natalie had met Rachel once or twice before at the office and knew she was gregarious and a lot of fun.  So Natalie looked forward to working with her.  All morning they had gossiped about the office as they circled the house monitoring the air for mercury coming out the windows.  Rachel was a wealth of information about everyone and insatiable in picking up tidbits that Natalie offered.   When Rachel mentioned Kate’s name, Natalie looked up from the Jerome meter and listened carefully.  “… and did you hear what Kate did?  She was two weeks late getting a Phase I Report to Logan Airport.  They were pretty angry apparently.”

“Why was she so late with the report?” Natalie asked carefully.  Kate was still her best friend at the office.

“I don’t know.  But management had to get involved.  I hope Kate doesn’t loose her job”.

Natalie couldn’t imagine Kate getting into trouble much less being fired.  Still, she was alarmed by Rachel’s news.  “I hope it wasn’t because she helped me with my presentation,” Natalie said remembering the report that Kate had dropped when Natalie had asked for her help.

“I wonder,” Rachel answered thoughtfully.  Then added with a gleam in her eye, “But she could hardly turn down a request from the boss’ daughter, could she?” 

Natalie felt a knot tighten in her stomach.  Was Kate really in trouble and, if so, was it her fault?  “Maybe it’s because she has a hard time saying “No”,” Natalie said defensively.

“Maybe,” Rachel said smugly. 

Natalie felt the conversation had suddenly turned unpleasant.  She had enjoyed talking to Rachel all morning and now felt as though Rachel had turned on her.  Not knowing what to say, Natalie looked at the Jerome meter again.  It read 20 ng/m3.  Their instructions were to inform Mr. Brown if the readings rose too 300 ng/m3.  Natalie didn’t say anything more for quite a while, but inside, the knot in her stomach grew.

By that evening the house had been emptied, and three dumpsters full of contaminated furniture lay on the street waiting to be taken to the landfill. Six drums of mercury, dirt, and electrical parts stood on the front lawn.  Natalie shivered remembering the basement and asked one of the workers what it looked like now.  She was shocked to learn the basement had a finished concrete floor.  Then the vacuum cleaners entered the house and soon the whirr could be heard from every window.  Meanwhile, Natalie and Rachel continued circling the house monitoring the air, and Rachel kept prattling.

Work shut down at 8 pm.  They would have worked later but the town asked them to quit in respect of the neighbors.  It had been a long day, and everyone was glad to go home.  On the way out of the house, Mr. Brown turned the heating system up to 90 degrees and to begin the heating process.  The next day, they finished cleaning the house and cranked up the salamanders in the basement.  Hot blue flame shot out the end like a rocket engine, and the heat in the basement rose quickly.  They planned to heat the house for a week and then test the air to for mercury again.

In the meantime, Natalie and Rachel continued monitoring the air for mercury vapors with the Jerome meter.  “Oh, do you want to hear the latest about Kate?” Rachel asked suddenly overflowing with excitement.  Natalie wasn’t given the chance to respond before Rachel plowed ahead.  “Apparently, Kate got called to your dad’s office to discuss the Airport Project.  That never happens unless it’s really bad!" Natalie became quite alarmed for her friend at this news and the knot in her stomach tightened another notch.

   Chapter 8: A Job Well Done

For seven days, the house was baked in 90 plus degree temperatures.  After the third day, no mercury was detected outside, and Natalie and Rachel were allowed to stop circling the house with the Jerome meter.  Natalie wasn’t sad to get away from Rachel.  Mercifully, on day 2, Rachel had stopped talking, but Natalie had had enough.  Around day four, the roll-offs and drums were sent to a landfill.  Mr. Dunn and Maryellen watched as the trucks drove off with all their furniture.  They hugged each other, and Maryellen said they were going to be alright.  But Natalie knew the outcome wasn’t as certain as it may have appeared.

On the eighth day, Jimmy took the Jerome meter into the house and conducted a thorough survey from the basement to the top floor.  To everyone’s relief, he reported all readings at zero with the exception of some low readings in the basement, less than 300 ng/m3.  The Department of Public Health was not satisfied and required the windows be closed and the survey to be repeated in two days to ensure that the mercury was gone.  Two days later, the survey was conducted again with much the same result.  “Congratulations, Mr. Dunn,” said the public health officer.  “Quite frankly, we thought this idea was a bit crazy.  But, we can’t argue with the results.  The Order of Condemnation is lifted and you may now live in your house again.”

Mr. Dunn thanked Mr. Brown who said, “Well, it was Natalie who put us on the right track to this solution.”  Natalie laughed as she was squeezed with a double hug between Mr. Dunn and Maryellen.  Mrs. Dunn, who had recovered quickly after Mike started showing signs of improvement, also gave Natalie a big hug.  She was just glad she could help her friends.

When Natalie and Mr. Brown arrived back at the office, Natalie said she had some unfinished business to attend to and said good-bye to her father.  Several minutes later, she walked into Kate’s office and asked, “Is everything alright?” “Yes.  Why?”, answered Kate. “I heard that you were having … some problems?”. “Who said that?” Kate asked surprised. “Rachel has been telling me all kinds of things.  Like you were delayed in you airport project, and it was because of me.” “Oh … yes, Rachel,” Kate sneered.  “Well, now I understand some of the things I’ve been hearing around the office, like how I can’t say 'No'."

Natalie froze where she stood.  Inside, the knot in her stomach tightened until it was painful.  “How … how did you hear that?” “Oh, you know how Rachel likes to talk.  It’s OK Natalie.  I do have a problem saying 'No' sometimes, but that’s not why I helped you.  I helped you because we’re friends and you needed my help.  I would have needed help in your situation.  Your dad helps out when he’s needed, and that’s the way he expects us to work.  That’s why I like working here.”

Natalie felt the knot in her stomach ease a little.  “So, are you in trouble?”  “No, I’m not in trouble.  It’s a technical issue the client forgot to tell us about.  I’m doing just fine.” “Oh good,” Natalie sighed visibly relieved. 

“You know, ", said Kate, "Rachel is a real gossip.  She can be very friendly, but she uses that to get information from you, so she can pass it along the gossip grapevine.  Just be careful what you say around her.  She’s not your friend.” “OK,” Natalie said.  Then she felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around to find her dad standing next to her.  “It’s six o’clock Nat.  Shall we go home? What are you still doing here Kate?  I thought you had something to do on Wednesday nights.” “I’m just finishing up, Mr. Brown." replied Kate.  “Well, keep up the good work.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Mr. Brown walked down the hall, Natalie poked her nose back into Kate’s office and said, “Sorry about the, 'Can’t say No' comment”. “Oh pooh,” Kate snorted waving her hand. Natalie laughed and turned to follow her dad out the door.