Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet by Barbara Dee

Author:Barbara Dee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2022-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

GEMBA

It was like one of those scenes in a movie where only the foreground is in focus, and everything else is a blur. At lunch I barely registered that Archer had joined our table, or that Em was giggling about her Netflix series, or that Riley was watching me with worried eyes as she ate her tuna sandwich.

After a few minutes, she asked if I was okay.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. But then I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I think it’s Gemba,” I blurted.

Riley blinked. “What is? Haven, what are you—”

“The reason we’re getting weird results in the River Project! I think the Gemba glass factory is doing something to the water!”

Now everyone at the table was staring at me.

“Did Dr. Lopez tell you that?” Riley asked. “When you were talking to her before?”

“Not exactly.” I took a breath. “But she said that when river water gets polluted, it could be from an accident, like an oil spill or something. Which we’d have heard about in the news, right? Or if the pollution was happening over and over—like if a local factory was dumping toxic chemicals! On purpose!”

Em nibbled her pizza crust. “Okay, but even if that’s right, it doesn’t mean it’s Gemba.”

“But what else makes sense?” I said. “Mr. Hendricks didn’t get these results last year, so that means the problem has to be pretty recent, right? And what’s changed in Belmont since last year? Only Gemba taking over the factory! And practically the entire town!”

“Yeah,” Riley said. “That’s true, actually.”

I nodded at her.

Em pressed her lips. “It still doesn’t mean it’s Gemba. If it’s true that someone’s polluting the river, and we don’t know that, it could be anybody.”

“Also,” I said, “I know Gemba uses some really dangerous chemicals. My dad told us how they use acid to make frosted glass. What if that stuff, or something like it, got into the river?”

“Your dad told you?” Em said.

“He works for Gemba. He’s a foreman.”

“So you’re accusing your own dad’s company?” Em shook her head. “That’s messed up, Haven.”

“It’s not just Haven’s dad’s company; it’s also Kenji’s.” Archer scowled at Em. “That’s why they moved here, so his dad could run the factory in person.”

Everyone went quiet.

“Trust me, I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” I said quickly. “Especially my dad, but also Kenji’s, okay? And I don’t want to get the factory in trouble either. I know they’ve done some good things, like giving us all that equipment for the River Project. But if they’re also doing something really bad—”

“If they are,” Em said. “That’s a big if, Haven. And anyway, I thought you were freaking about big planet stuff. Not our town’s little river.”

Archer crunched on a potato chip. “Em, you think the Belmont River isn’t part of the planet?”

“No, and that’s not what I meant.”

“So what did you mean? Because everything’s connected, all the rivers and oceans—”

“You don’t need to lecture me, Archer. For your information, I’m freaking about all this too.”

I couldn’t stop myself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.