Friday, 4:00 PM, Nebraska Ave and Reno Road

Gil

Another dull day of school complete. Twelve more left. Or was it thirteen? In any case, it is nice to kick back and smoke a couple of butts with Ted and talk about whatever. Lindsay doesn't look too thrilled, but big surprise there.

Fritz shows up with some girl. She's about as tall as he was on his skateboard, which made her probably about five-nine. Fritz was not a big guy. They were both dressed suburban-punk, him in ripped jeans and a Dead Kennedies t-shirt, her in a black hooded sweatshirt, short skirt and ripped fishnets. Oh, and I can't forget to mention the ten-hole ox-blood Doc Martins.

We chat, and then he drops this bomb on us. He claims to have broken into some Soviet computer, and the girl Leisl is helping him translate.

I don't know, man. Fritz is a pretty hard core hacker, but this is pushing things. Leisl and I agree to go get some food, and then well all meet back later. She seems nice. Cute too.

Follow Gil

Leisl

Fritz skates up after school and we take a leisurely walk over to Nebraska Ave. to meet his friends. That's Gil, who seems cool, Ted who seems nice, if a bit nerdy, and his sour girlfriend Lindsay. She doesn't say a word the whole time, and looks like she'd really like to be somewhere else.

Fritz drops his little exploit into their laps. Gil looks doubtful. Ted almost shits his pants. Pretty funny stuff. I'm glad I came.

Lindsay, out of nowhere, says, "Let's have a picnic."
"Sounds fine to me. Where? And we'll need food."
"My mom has the El," Gil says, "but if you all want, we can metro out to my place, pick it up and go from there."
"I have a better idea," says Fritz. "How about you metro out and get the car, pick us up some food and meet us in Battery Kimball park."
"All by my lonesome?" Gil says, making a mock-sad face.
"I'll go with you," I reply.

Follow Leisl

Fritz

Hooboy. I pick up Liesl and spend the whole way there trying to impress here with (mainly unsuccessful) skateboarding tricks and nearly kill myself trying to do a railslide.

They take the whole thing pretty calmly, all and all. They ask some questions, and try to act cool, but I feel like they must be pretty impressed. Leisl and Gil seem to hit it off pretty well. That's ok, after all,she his age, not mine.

After a little bit Lindsay proposes a picnic, and we settle on B.K. park, and Gil and Leisl go off together. No great surprise there, mark my words.

Follow Fritz

Ted

We're sitting around when Fritz finally decides to grace us with his presence. He's got some punk girl with him.

"Friends," he begins, "I would like you meet Liesl. She's been helping me with my research."
"What do you mean, `helping with your research'?" I ask. "I thought you liked to work alone."
"True. But then again, I don't speak Russian."
"OK, now what the fuck are you trying to say here?" I ask,"You broke into some Soviet computer, or just the local Russian Orthodox concerns BBS?"
"That was exactly what I was trying to figure out. Unless someone is spoofing me, it's something big. The question is, now that I am in, what do I do?"
"What do you mean, `what do I do'?" I ask. "You break into some big computer in the USSR and all you can ask is `what do I do'?"

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Lindsay

An afternoon of hacker talk. Fritz shows up with this girl, Leisl. I'm not too happy and have a splitting headache, and I don't think I'm doing a good job of hiding it.

Fritz has some story about a Russian computer. Whatever.

Gil goes off with Leisl to buy food for a picnic. My suggestion. Anything is better than sitting here on Nebraska Ave. Shit. I should have asked them to pick me up some aspirin.