Welcome to the Jungle

THE ARNOLD AND HELGA CHRONICLES XVIII: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
By Jake Collins

It was the evening before New Year's Eve and, at the Hillwood Medical Centre, Dr. Bliss, Head of the Psychology Department, was filing some paperwork. After she had done this, she intended to leave the medical centre, lock the doors firmly behind her, and enjoy two days off work, just as all her colleagues had begun to do already. However, as she was in the process of crossing the front lobby and finding her keys, someone burst into the medical centre. It was a short middle-aged woman with red hair, carrying a notebook and a biro. She smiled disarmingly at Dr. Bliss.
"Can I help you?" asked the psychiatrist politely.
"I was hoping to speak to whoever's in charge of liaison with the media here," the visitor gabbled in reply. "My name's Rita Richardson, I'm a reporter with the Washington State Medical Journal."
"Oh, I see," Dr. Bliss replied warily. "Well, I'm afraid we're closed now until January the second - everyone's gone home except for me, so it won't be possible for you to speak to anyone today."
"Are you sure?" asked Rita Richardson. "You work here, don't you? You're a doctor, right?"
"Yes, I'm Dr. Bliss, Head of Psychiatry."
"Well, Dr. Bliss, I'm sure you'll appreciate my position here. The New Year issue of the Washington State Medical Journal is really boring as it stands, but it has to go to press within the next twenty-four hours so that it's ready for distribution on the morning of January the first. I'm looking for a really sensational medical story to spice up the pages, and I was wondering whether your fine medical centre had anything I could use."
"Oh, I see," Dr. Bliss replied awkwardly. "Well the thing is, Miss Richardson, I really can't give you any information about any of our patients or doctors just like that - confidentiality issues, you know."
"Oh, come on, you must have something," Rita grinned annoyingly. "I'll write all about what a wonderful medical centre this is and you'll get loads more patients wanting to come here."
"That's really not the issue," Dr. Bliss sighed. "I can't hand out sensitive information at the drop of a hat, and that's that."
"But you must have something!" Rita insisted. "The editor's going to fire me if I don't come up with a good story!"
Dr. Bliss was tired and worn out, and she wanted to get home. She could see that the only way she was going to be able to do that was to get rid of this reporter, so she resolved to do something she would never have done under normal circumstances. It wasn't breaking any confidentiality issues, Dr. Bliss reflected, although she doubted whether the idea would be well received. However, she crossed to the main reception desk and tore a page from a notebook beside the telephone.
"We recently had a call from a local doctor named Stella," Dr. Bliss told Rita Richardson. "She was inquiring about finding jobs here for her and her husband, who's also a doctor."
"So?" Rita snapped impatiently.
"Well, I don't quite know the full details, but I gather that these two doctors were lost in the Central American rainforest for ten years, and were rescued this summer by their son," Dr. Bliss explained. "Sounds to me like a good human interest story for your medical journal, Miss Richardson."
"These two are definitely doctors, are they?" Rita asked suspiciously. "It's not really a medical story otherwise, is it?"
"Well, that's what they said," Dr. Bliss sighed wearily. "It sounds to me like just the kind of thing your journal needs - an inspiring story to lift the readers' spirits and motivate them for the New Year."
"Okay, I'll go for it," Rita agreed, after a moment's thought. "It's not ideal, but I guess it'll have to do. Have you got the name and address?"
"Here, you can take this," Dr. Bliss replied quickly, thrusting the piece of notepaper at the reporter. "We've got their details on our files now, so you can keep the phone message."
"Hmm, it says their names are Miles and Stella," Rita read. "Looks like they didn't leave a surname. Ah, yes, they live at the Sunset Arms boarding house on Vine Street. Thanks, Doctor, I'll get over there right away."
"Great," Dr. Bliss sighed. "Now, I must ask you to vacate the premises so that I can lock up - this medical centre is closed until 2004!"

Welcome to the Jungle
By Rita Richardson

It's a jungle out there, readers - an urban jungle. No one has a better understanding of that than I do, as my travels reporting for the Washington State Medical Journal have taken me into the very heart of the poorest areas of cities such as Olympia and Seattle, but I never dreamed I would find the heart of the urban jungle - the real urban jungle - in the usually quiet and unremarkable city of Hillwood.

Late on Tuesday night, this reporter set forth into the urban jungle armed with one snippet of information. Somewhere within the confines of Hillwood's peaceful streets live two doctors, who have spent the last ten years living in the jungle. Not the urban jungle, like the rest of us, but the Central American rainforest - a jungle that is doubtless fraught with more danger and uncertainty than any urban one. But how, I hear you cry, did these two doctors come to be in the jungle for so long, and how did they eventually get back home? I, too, was determined to find the answers to these questions, although I did have one piece of information to help me begin to formulate a theory - the two doctors were rescued by their teenage son.

Have I got your attention yet, readers? I certainly hope so, for what follows is a heroic account of humanity and self-sacrifice, which warms the cockles of this reporter's heart. Armed with only two names - Miles and Stella - and an address, I, Rita Richardson, prepared to brave the urban jungle in order to visit a very ordinary-looking boarding house, determined to find some answers to this intriguing mystery.

Grandpa threw open the front door in answer to the violent hammering to which it was being subjected. He scowled at the short redhead whose false smile greeted him on the other side.
"Hi, I'm Rita Richardson from the Washington State Medical Journal," the visitor greeted Grandpa. "Is it possible to speak with Miles or Stella, please?"
"Lady, what the hell do you think you're playing at, turning up here at this hour?" Grandpa grouched. "Why couldn't you wait until the morning like a civilised human being?"
"Well, I'm very sorry to intrude, sir, but I'm on a deadline," Rita gabbled annoyingly. "I want to speak to Miles and Stella in relation to a story we're hoping to run for New Year's Day."
"Bah, journalists!" Grandpa spat. "It's always the same with you lot, isn't it? Sex scandal this, drugs scandal that!"
"Look, sir, I'm not out to cause any trouble," Rita assured Grandpa calmly. "I just want to ask a few questions."
"Yes, well, I suppose we'll see if they'll let you ask your questions," Grandpa relented. "Come into the lounge and I'll fetch them for you."
"Thanks," Rita grinned, as she darted over the threshold and made straight for the living room. After a few minutes, Miles and Stella appeared in the room, curious as to what their unexpected visitor might want.
"Erm, hello," ventured Stella. "You were looking for us, I believe?"
"Ah, you must be Miles and Stella," beamed Rita, shaking their hands in an overfriendly manner. "I'm Rita Richardson from the Washington State Medical Journal."
"And what can we do for you, Miss Richardson?" asked Miles.
"I'd like to ask you about your experiences in the Central American rainforest," Rita blurted without ceremony. "Would you be willing to share some of your experiences with me?"
Miles and Stella both looked shocked and a little put out. Miles sank down into an armchair and rubbed his temples hard.
"Where did you get our names?" he asked.
"The Hillwood Medical Centre," Rita replied. "You've been asking about jobs there, I believe."
"Well, look, I'm not sure we're ready to talk about our experiences yet," Miles said cautiously. "We still haven't come to terms with them fully ourselves."
"But it'll make a great story for the Journal!" Rita enthused.
"Yes, but..." Miles began, but Stella cut him off as she, too, sat down.
"You may ask us your questions, Miss Richardson," she said quietly. "We'll try to answer them as best we can."
"But..." Miles objected.
"We've got to talk about this sometime, Miles," Stella sighed. "It might as well be now, don't you think?"
"Yes, well," Miles faltered. "Very well, then. Ask away, Miss Richardson."
"Great, thanks," beamed Rita, opening her notebook and getting her biro ready. "So, how did you two come to get lost in the jungle in the first place?"
"Ah, " Stella sighed reflectively. "Now that's quite some story."

Miles comes across as a strong yet cautious character, while Stella seems to be more open and honest with herself and others. When asked about how they came to be lost in the jungle, Miles and Stella both insist on starting at the very beginning of the story, with their first ever meeting, which took place in 1986.
"I was conducting an anthropology investigation near San Lorenzo, trying to learn more about the mysterious Green Eye People," Stella recalls. "Miles just blundered into our campsite, having fallen off a mountain pass while out walking with his best friend, Eduardo. I could tell from the very beginning that there was something special about him."

Miles and Stella both speak fondly of the early days they spent together in Central America, having all sorts of hair-raising adventures, and eventually getting married in the place they loved amongst the people they had come to call their family. However, when life took its natural course and Stella had a baby in October 1988, the couple decided to move back to the United States.
"Arnold was born in a Green Eye temple during a volcanic eruption," Miles recalls. "Life in San Lorenzo was far too dangerous for him, so we decided to move back to Hillwood to live with my parents, here in the Sunset Arms boarding house."

The Sunset Arms has been owned since 1948 by Miles's parents, Philip and Gertrude, both now eighty-five years of age, but the house has been in the family since 1896. Miles and Stella recall fondly the time they spent living in the Sunset Arms with their young son, Arnold. When I mention the fact that they eventually left him to return to the rainforest, they both look regretful and downcast, clearly lamenting the ten years and more they spent away from their son.

Miles's best friend and companion Eduardo, who had accompanied Miles and Stella on many of their adventures, was responsible for sending them back to San Lorenzo, where the Green Eye People were suffering badly from a rare sleeping sickness.
"The Green Eyes were like family to us," Stella reflects sadly. "We couldn't ignore their plea for help. It was the hardest thing we'd ever had to do, leaving our little Arnold in the care of Phil and Gertie, but we only planned to be away for a very short time."
"We had a strong bond of kinship with the Green Eyes," Miles takes over. "We had saved them from sickness before, and had rescued a sacred artefact of theirs from a river pirate. They had given us two gifts in return. The first was a little totem thingy, which was swell, but the second was much more precious to us - the safe delivery of our baby son in their sacred temple. There was magic in the air that day, believe me."
"We managed to concoct a new serum and deliver it to the Green Eyes fairly quickly," Stella explains. "We were ready to fly back home. However, Eduardo told us that there was more work to do, in the sacred Hidden City of the Green Eyes. We knew that no one from outside the tribe had ever entered there, but we were prepared to be the first. Eduardo showed us the way in - we took the serum, and entered the Hidden City."
"It was completely deserted," Miles tells me sadly. "Not a soul in sight, and no way back out again. We searched and searched, but we couldn't find the way back."

Miles and Stella go on to share with me some of their jungle experiences, although the memories are clearly very painful for them. They explain that the rainforest surrounding the Hidden City seemed literally endless, with no way out. An exit into the civilised world was nowhere to be found - the Hidden City was the only sign of civilisation Miles and Stella saw for ten years, completely devoid of a living soul except for themselves.
"Of course it was a struggle to survive," Miles replies irritably when I pose the question to him. "You have no idea what it's like, not knowing whether you'll be able to eat from day to day, and not knowing what’s about to burst out of the endless foliage and consume you for breakfast!"
"It was the thought of Arnold that kept us going," Stella adds. "If it hadn't been for him - the remotest possibility of seeing him again someday - then I know I would have given up long ago. But, boy, were we glad to see Arnold when our wishes were finally fulfilled!"

Miles and Stella explain to me that they were sleeping in the ruins of an old amphitheatre in the Hidden City one morning - which was, in fact, last July the first -when a great whirring, grinding noise disturbed their rest. A hidden door was opening in the steps of the amphitheatre, and through it came four dishevelled teenagers.
"There were three kids we didn't recognise," Miles tells me. "The fourth, however, we recognised at once. Like his companions, he had clearly been through a great deal in order to reach us, but there was no mistaking him - Arnold, our son."
"The rest happened in a great blur of relief and disbelief," Stella continues. "We hugged and kissed Arnold for all we were worth, while his three companions hugged and kissed each other and celebrated boisterously. Before we knew where we were, we were on a plane back to Hillwood - back home at last."

When I ask how Arnold and his friends managed to locate them, Miles and Stella are reluctant to say any more. I press them for further answers, asking how a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy could contrive to travel so many thousand miles in order to find his lost parents after so long and against so many odds.
"Well," Miles says briskly. "You'll have to ask Arnold about that, won't you?"

"So can I talk to him, then?" Rita asked eagerly.
"Hmm? Who?" queried Stella.
"Your son, of course!"
"Well, look, I don't know about that," Miles frowned. "I'm not sure that it's really appropriate for you to..."
However, there was someone else who had something to say about the matter. He had been listening outside the door for some time, and he was keen to discover what was going on. Now that his name had been mentioned, he thought it was time for him to make an entrance.
"Hey, Mom, Dad," Arnold smiled suavely as he sauntered into the lounge. "What's going on?"
"Ah, you must be Arnold," Rita leapt in before anyone else could say anything, jumping up and shaking Arnold's hand in the same overfriendly manner. "I'm Rita Richardson from the Washington State Medical Journal. I'm writing an article about your parents' experiences in the Central American rainforest, and I'd like to ask you about the thrilling rescue you performed."
"Oh, I see," Arnold replied flatly. "And you two are okay with this, right?"
"We're ready for our story to be told, Arnold," Stella replied calmly. "You can answer Miss Richardson's questions, if you want to."
"Don't feel pressured into anything though, son," Miles added. "I know you don't like to brag about all the good works you've carried out."
"That's okay, I'll talk," Arnold smiled, adopting his famous half-lidded gaze. "I think it's great that you both feel ready to talk about this at last, so I'll help to tell the story all I can. You must realise though, Miss Richardson, that I'm not the real hero of the story here - my parents are here today because of my girlfriend, Helga, rather than because of me."
"Well, we'll get to that in a minute," Rita replied dismissively. "But first I want to know all about you, Arnold, so I can set the scene for our readers. How do you feel about having been raised by your grandparents? What did your dad mean about you carrying out good works?"
"Let me assure you, Miss Richardson, that Grandma and Grandpa were the best surrogate parents I could have asked for, and if you imply anything different in your little article then I'll sue your medical journal for libel," Arnold replied heatedly. "Perhaps you'll realise what a good job my grandparents have done raising me as I tell you about some of the stuff I've done, which you seem to be so interested in. Now, where do I begin?"

Arnold is a strapping, fair-haired young man of fifteen years. He tells me in no uncertain terms that his grandparents have done an excellent job bringing him up, and he bears no ill will to his parents for abandoning him at an early age. Arnold's manner is firm and insistent, yet also slightly sad and reflective. Despite Miles and Stella's tropical incarceration, Arnold has clearly not been left wanting in the parenting stakes.

Arnold's life seems to have been one long crusade to help people from all walks of life achieve all sorts of incredible things. Arnold describes to me in great detail many of his achievements, but there is not the slightest hint of the braggart in his tone. As I hear about how Arnold has reunited estranged families, rescued repressed animals from captivity, delivered a litter of puppies on the subway, helped his school friends with every conceivable and inconceivable problem known to man, integrated at least six long-term recluses back into the community, saved his entire neighborhood from redevelopment and still found time to rescue his parents from the jungle, it becomes quite clear to me that I am talking to someone very special.

Having spoken to Arnold at length, it seems that a seemingly impossible task such as rescuing his parents from an ancient lost city is meat and drink to him. However, the fact cannot be denied that the rescue of Miles and Stella is his most remarkable achievement to date, so I ask him exactly how it came about.
"What you must realise, Miss Richardson, is that I'm not the real hero of the story here," Arnold tells me, with typical modesty. "My parents are here today because of my girlfriend, Helga, rather than because of me."

I assure Arnold that I'll be delighted to hear about his girlfriend's role in the rescue later on, but first I would like to hear exactly how he himself knew where to look for his parents, and how he contrived to travel there with his entire eighth-grade class from school. Arnold smiles slightly to himself, possibly betraying some realisation of the enormity of the task he has achieved, and begins his tale.
"I found my dad's old journal way back in February, which gave me a fascinating insight into some of my parents' adventures," Arnold tells me. "Hidden in a secret pocket on the back page of the journal, I discovered a map of San Lorenzo and the territory of the Green Eyes, with the route my parents were supposed to take marked out on it. Of course, I was massively excited about this and I wanted to go and investigate at once. However, it wasn't as easy as that."

Arnold certainly knows how to tell a story, and this one excites me even more than I was expecting. Arnold tells me about a lucky turn of fate, which saw him entering - and winning - a national essay contest, the prize for which was a trip for the winner's entire class to anywhere on the American landmass.
"My essay was about urban decay and the exacerbating effect of so-called urban renewal that can sometimes result from big businesses redeveloping entire neighborhoods," Arnold grins. "I'm not sure where I got the inspiration. Anyway, I won, so naturally I chose to take my whole class to San Lorenzo. While everyone else was enjoying the scenery, I intended to search for my parents."

When I ask Arnold what his search turned up, his bright and happy expression suddenly melts away as he remembers the pain and frustration he felt over the two weeks he spent searching for the Hidden City in the rainforest surrounding San Lorenzo. However, he doggedly and bravely continues his tale.
"I couldn't tell anyone what I was up to, or they'd have thought I was completely crazy," Arnold sighs sadly. "Well, I told Gerald, of course - he's my best friend. We followed that map into the heart of the rainforest, but we couldn't find the Hidden City. Again and again we tried, but each time we failed. Gerald pointed out that, as the city was supposed to be hidden, it was bound to be hard to find, but I was ready to give up hope completely."

Arnold tells me of his feelings of extreme disappointment and desolation as he sat on the plane that was waiting to take him and the rest of his class home. Gerald was giving his best friend all the solace he could, but it is very clear to me that nothing could have comforted Arnold so much as to bring him out of the pit of disappointment that had been dug by the heart-rending failure of his hard work and dogged determination… that is, almost nothing.
"The plane was really badly delayed taking off," Arnold goes on to say. "Eventually we worked out that one of us was missing - Helga Pataki. And then, suddenly, Helga turned up, looking like she'd just crawled through Hell!"

An enormous smile splits Arnold's face as he talks about this girl, Helga, and her mysterious late arrival on the plane. Apparently her best friend, Phoebe Heyerdahl, had been assuring everyone that Helga would be along shortly, and this prediction proved to be true. Arnold recalls Helga's disheveled look as she doggedly shoved aside the fussing flight crew, marched up to him, and grabbed him by the wrist.
"I was completely stunned," Arnold tells me. "I couldn't think what Helga was playing at, but I could see great excitement in her tired eyes. She dragged me off my chair and began hauling me off the plane, so I asked her what she was playing at. As soon as she replied ‘I've found it’, I felt a tremendous burst of renewed hope. Now, I wasn't sure exactly why, but it seemed to me to be quite a plausible notion that Helga had located the Hidden City, so I willingly followed her back into the rainforest. I hadn't noticed them leave the plane, but Gerald and Phoebe were both with us by this stage as we plunged through the tropical undergrowth, under Helga's guidance."

When I ask Arnold about his lack of surprise at Helga's incredible achievement, he shrugs it off casually and tells me that he had known for some time that Helga was secretly in love with him, and that she had furtively helped him out with his crusades of justice several times in the past. I try to press him on the matter, but he insists on bringing his story to a close.
"Helga took us to this great bank of foliage, which Gerald and I had searched for hidden entrances many times before," Arnold continues. "However, Helga clearly knew something we didn't. There were several creepers hanging down, which Helga pulled hard in a particular order. She was working frenziedly and anxiously, as if she was praying to God that what she was doing was going to work, and it did. This enormous door grated upwards, we went through it, found ourselves in an amphitheatre and... well, the rest you know."

It's an incredible story, readers, but true. Arnold has clearly now said all he wants to say, but I can't resist pressing him about Helga one more time.
"I was, and always will be, eternally grateful to Helga for finding my parents," Arnold tells me. "She and I are together now."
My curiosity is pricked to the point of serious hemorrhage by all this, readers. Clearly, I realise, all the holes that still remain in this incredible story can be filled in by one Helga G. Pataki.

"I want to talk to her," Rita announced.
"Who?" asked Arnold.
"Helga,” Rita replied.
"Hey, now just wait a minute here," Miles butted in sharply. "You've got loads of stuff for your article - why do you want to go and bother Helga for more?"
"This is the story of the century!" Rita exclaimed. "It needs to be told in its entirety."
"Look, I'll give Helga a call and see if she's up for it," Arnold offered, before his father could say anything else. "But if she doesn't feel like talking about it then no force on Heaven or Earth is going to make her change her mind."
Arnold went into the hall and dialled Helga's mobile phone number on the telephone. Before, long, he heard her voice at the other end of the line:
"Hello. This is Helga."
"Hi, Helga. It's Arnold."
"Oh, Arnold, hi," Helga gushed girlishly. "What's going on?"
"Well, the thing is, I have to ask you something," Arnold attempted to explain. "You see, there's this woman here who's doing a story... well, she's writing a report... well, more of an article, really..."
"Ooh, Arnold, I just love it when you get all tongue-tied," Helga cut in playfully. "It makes you sound all innocent and sexy. Do carry on."
"Well, as I was saying, this woman," Arnold faltered. "She really wants to know... she really wants to ask you..."
"Y'know, Arnold, I was just thinking about you before you rang. Do you want to know what I was doing while I was thinking about you?"
"Helga, there's this journalist here who wants to ask you about how you found the Hidden City where my parents were trapped. Are you up for it?"
There followed a few seconds of silence, then Helga's voice spoke in more serious tones.
"What kind of a journalist?" it asked suspiciously. "She's not a freelancer, is she?"
"No, she works for the Washington State Medical Journal," Arnold explained. "They want to run a story about my parents, and you're the one who has the real key to the story. You haven't even discussed the full details with me yet."
"I know," Helga replied quietly. "I didn't feel quite ready. Are you and your parents cool with this idea?"
"Yeah, we've all told our parts of the story. This journalist - Rita Richardson, she's called - seems genuine enough, if a little pushy. Will you talk to her?"
"I don't know. That rescue thing... it all happened in such a mad rush of adrenalin, Arnold. I don't know if I'm ready to..."
There followed a few more seconds of silence.
"Do you think I should do it, Arnold?" Helga asked suddenly.
"Well, I think it's good that the story is going to be told," Arnold responded. "And I think that your part in the whole thing was a very major one, so... yeah, I think it would be good for you to get it all out in the open."
"Okay, I'll do it," Helga agreed. "You and this woman can meet me at Big Al's Café tomorrow morning, nine-thirty. See you then."
With that, Helga hung up abruptly.  Arnold replaced the receiver and explained the arrangement to Rita, who scowled petulantly.
"I'd rather talk to her tonight," the journalist sniffed. "I am on a deadline here."
"Hey, it's late, and you've got your interview," Arnold told her sternly. "Just be happy with that, can't you? Pick me up here at quarter past nine tomorrow and we'll go to the cafe to meet Helga, okay?"
"Fine," Rita agreed, stalking towards the front door. "See you tomorrow. Oh yeah, and thanks for the interviews."
Rita left the boarding house, Miles's disapproving stare boring into her back.
"Well, she's a pushy, bolshy, unpleasant woman," he frowned.
"She's just doing her job," Stella sighed. "Trust you, Arnold, to be prepared to help her so much."
"Well, she's right, in a way," Arnold replied solemnly. "Your story is a fantastic one that deserves to be told, and I'm glad you're ready to let it be."
"Ah, Arnold, it's not our story really," Miles smiled reflectively. "It's yours, and Helga's. After all, without you, there wouldn't have been a happy ending."

At twenty past nine the next morning, which was New Year's Eve, Arnold and Rita Richardson walked into Big Al's Cafe and scanned the clientele.
"Is she here?" Rita asked, somewhat impatiently.
"No, not yet," Arnold replied. "But look, there are Gerald and Phoebe."
"What, the two others who were there when you entered the Hidden City?"
"Yeah."
"I'm going to mention them in my article," Rita announced, her tone of voice now less hostile. "I wonder if they'll give me some quotes. Hey, you two!"
Rita marched over to a corner table, where Gerald and Phoebe were enjoying a quiet milkshake together. They looked up in surprise and took in the excited features of the journalist, as well as Arnold following close behind her.
"Oh, good morning, Arnold," Phoebe said levelly. "Who's your friend?"
"I'm Rita Richardson from the Washington State Medical Journal," Rita hastily introduced herself. "I'm writing an article about Arnold's parents and the thrilling rescue you lot performed, to go to print tonight! Could I get some quotes from you for my article?"
"Well, you're a sister who doesn't beat about the bush, aren't you?" Gerald remarked coolly, as he sucked nonchalantly on his milkshake straw. "What kind of quotes are you after?"
"Well, how did you feel when you saw Miles and Stella, for example?" Rita asked.
"Personally, I was utterly flabbergasted," Phoebe told her levelly. "I'd been traipsing through that jungle for ages, helping Helga track Arnold and Gerald, but I never thought we'd find anything - or anyone - important."
"Uh-huh," Rita responded, scribbling furiously on her notepad. "And have you helped Helga secretly follow Arnold before?"
"Well, yeah, a few times, I guess," Phoebe replied guardedly. "I'm sure Helga wouldn't thank me for disclosing the details of any of those times to you, however. What's that got to do with your article, anyway?"
"Oh, just background," Rita replied casually. "So tell me, Phoebe, how come you ended up on the plane with the others while Helga finally discovered the Hidden City by herself?"
"Well, we were almost due to be on the plane," Phoebe explained. "Arnold and Gerald had given up their search, and Helga was about ready to give up as well, but suddenly she said she'd thought of something. I told her that I wanted to go back to the plane, so she said she'd investigate the idea herself. I wish I had gone with her now; the next thing I knew, Helga was marching onto the plane - looking like she'd just been mud-wrestling an alligator for five hours - grabbed Arnold and took him off into the rainforest with her. Well, I just had to follow them to see what she had found, didn't I?"
"Yeah, me too," Gerald added. "I'd been helping Arnold search that damned rainforest for two weeks, but we never saw even the slightest hint of any city, hidden or otherwise. But of course, I never really believed we would, to tell you the truth. I mean, it was exciting when Arnold showed me that map he'd found in his dad's journal, and it was great when he won the essay contest, but I never thought in my wildest dreams it'd come to anything."
"So you were surprised when Helga led you right to Miles and Stella?" Rita prompted him.
"You bet your ass I was," Gerald enthused. "It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen, when that doorway opened up after Helga pulled a few creepers."
"That's great stuff, guys," Rita beamed. "I'll put some of it in the article after Helga's testimony."
"Y'know, Miss Richardson, Gerald was pretty surprised when it turned out to be Helga who saved the day," Phoebe grinned.
"You're not wrong there, Phoebs," Gerald nodded. "I'd always thought that Helga Pataki was just a mean bully, but boy was I wrong. I mean, it was mind-boggling enough when she turned out to be the one who gave Arnold and me the information to save the neighbourhood from Scheck..."
"Hmm, I don't seem to recall that incident very well," Phoebe mused.
"...but when she got us into the Hidden City, man oh man! I tell ya, Rita, I had this new respect for Helga I never thought I'd have."
"Why, thank you, Gerald," Helga smiled serenely from the cafe doorway. "You're not too bad yourself, really."
Rita swung around, taking in Helga's striking features.
"Helga, you came," Arnold smiled.
"Well, of course I did, Football Head," Helga grinned. "I heard that someone was telling a story and needed me to fill in a few gaps. Ah, I see the gang's all here. And you must be Rita Richardson."
"Helga, it's a real pleasure to meet you," Rita gabbled in her overfriendly manner. "I'm Rita Richardson from the Washington State Medical Journal. Please, come and sit down."
"Okay, Rita, I'll do that," Helga replied in slightly mocking tones, which made Arnold snigger. "I hear you've got a few questions to ask me."
"Oh yes, I have," Rita assured her. "This story intrigues me, Helga and, from everything I've heard, it appears that you're definitely the heroine of the piece."
"I can't deny it," Helga shrugged.
"Tell me all about it," Rita asked in begging tones. "Tell me why you wanted to help Arnold find his parents. Tell me how you worked out the way to get into the Hidden City. Tell me what you went through in order to get Arnold off that plane. Tell me how you felt when you saw Miles and Stella. Tell me..."
"Whoa there, Silver," Helga interrupted the journalist. "That's enough to be going on with, wouldn't you say? Right then, you'd better pin back your ears and listen, and everything will be made crystal clear."

Helga certainly has a commanding presence, and I can see that if she's set her heart on doing something - like rescuing two lost doctors from the jungle - she won't give up until she's done it. But why, I hear you ask, was Helga so keen to rescue Miles and Stella, and what did she go through in order to achieve her goal?
"I've loved Arnold with all my heart for so long," Helga tells me earnestly. "He was the first person in my life who ever paid me a compliment, you know - he actually made me feel good about myself. Of course, the fact that I hid my true feelings behind a front of hostility for over ten years really is irrelevant now. I was there for Arnold when it really counted."

Helga recalls overhearing Arnold and Gerald discussing the map that Arnold had found, and her interest was immediately pricked. When she learned that the whole class would, in fact, be flying to San Lorenzo because of Arnold's triumph in the essay contest, Helga immediately knew what Arnold was after, and she determined to help him achieve his goal at all costs.
"I knew what the loss of his parents meant to Arnold," Helga assures me. "Don't go doubting the fact that he loves his grandparents, of course, and that they've done a wonderful job bringing him up like he was their own son - it's just that he obviously always felt there was something missing from his life, something very important."

Helga recalls an event at grade-school which she refers to as Parents' Tournament Weekend. Apparently this involved kids and their parents competing against each other in a sort of sports competition. Helga tells me that it was very insensitive of the school to organize such an event, given Arnold's situation. She recalls the awkwardness and sadness he was obviously feeling during the experience, which was apparently exacerbated by her own father's insensitive comments.
"I cried for Arnold that night," Helga says passionately. "Tears of sadness entirely on his behalf, they were, and all because of my blowhard dad's stupid insensitivity. Well, I wasn't about to stand by and watch Arnold's hopes and dreams be dashed to pieces on the cruel and jagged rocks of fate yet again. I resolved to follow him through that jungle until he found his parents, giving him any help I thought I could provide."

Helga goes on to speak of the progressing disappointment and frustration that she - like Arnold - felt at the search's continuing lack of success. Helga tells me that her best friend, Phoebe, was with her all through the two weeks, giving all the help and advice she could.
"Phoebe eventually persuaded me that the search was hopeless," Helga continues. "She reasoned that there was a whole enormous rainforest out there, into which Miles and Stella had disappeared over ten years ago. The chances of finding them now were astronomically small. Of course, Phoebe was right in all she said, but we agreed to follow Arnold and Gerald as they set out to search the rainforest one last time."

Clearly none of the four would-be rescuers believed that they were going to locate Miles and Stella now, but they resolved to risk being late for their flight home in order to have one last attempt at finding Arnold's lost parents.
"Arnold and Gerald went back to some of the places they'd tried already, including this great big cliff thing that was absolutely covered in foliage, and it had these great long creepers hanging down to the ground, seven of them," Helga explains. "There was something about that place, something really eerie... magical, some might say. It was deep within the territory of the Green Eyes, although we'd never seen any of them there, what with them being so secretive and all."

Helga tells me of a temple near this cliff, which Arnold apparently thought might have been the one in which he was born. Helga describes feelings of certainty she couldn't help experiencing that Miles and Stella were nearby, somewhere. She was sure that Arnold was feeling the same thing, but she was at a loss as to what to do about it.
"Then, suddenly, I saw him," Helga tells me excitedly. "A human figure, lurking in the bushes a little way up the cliff. Arnold and Gerald had already turned around to go back to the plane, but I was all ready to leap out of the cover of the trees and stop them in their tracks. But then I stopped, and thought. Was it really worth it? Had I really seen someone on the cliff? There was no sign of him now. Could I risk exposing the truth about my feelings for Arnold just for the sake of that brief glimpse of... something? Before I reached a decision, Arnold and Gerald were lost to view."

Helga clearly wishes now that she had told Arnold about the mysterious sighting but the fact that she didn't serves only to add to this story's sense of suspense, wonder and awe. Helga relates how Phoebe almost persuaded her to join Arnold and Gerald in going back to the plane, but she just could not ignore the strange figure.
"If there was any chance of a breakthrough - no matter how remote - I had to investigate," Helga explains, conviction in her voice. "I wasn't sure whether I really had seen a human figure on that cliff, but, for Arnold's sake, I had to investigate. Phoebe was obviously thoroughly bored by this point and had decided to go back to the plane, so I began to climb the cliff alone."

Helga describes the sudden pang of terror she experienced as she realised that she was completely alone and defenceless deep within the territory of an ancient jungle tribe, somewhere in the heart of the Central American rainforest.
"I wanted to drop down to the ground and run back to the plane as fast I possibly could," Helga tells me. "But I just couldn't."
I ask her whether this was because she felt she would be letting Arnold down.
"No, I really physically couldn't move," Helga informs me. "I'd climbed about halfway up the cliff, and I was utterly exhausted, when I suddenly realised that a stupid great boa constrictor had curled itself around my waist and right arm!"

Can you imagine, readers, the fear Helga must have felt when that snake attacked her? Such bravery in the face of adversity is astounding, particularly in one so young. The fact that it was all done for the boy she loves makes this story even more poignant, in the eyes of this reporter at least.
"I was wrestling with that snake for about ten minutes," Helga explains. "Then I lost my hold on the creeper I'd been desperately holding onto for dear life with my left hand, and I fell backwards. I expected to fall back down onto the forest floor, but I didn't. I fell right through the thick bank of foliage, and landed flat on my back on the rocky floor of a dark, cold cave set into the cliffside."

"Man, Helga, this is some story," Gerald marvelled. "I never would have believed it, if I hadn't seen the results with my own two eyes."
"I feel just awful now for abandoning you, Helga," Phoebe said quietly. "I should have stuck with you and helped you fend off that snake, like a true friend would have done."
"Hey, Phoebs, you are my true friend," Helga assured her. "I was ready to bail too, if it hadn't been for that snake."
"This is amazing stuff, Helga," Arnold smiled. "You did all that, just for me. It's incredible. But what about this figure you saw? It wasn't one of my parents, was it?"
"No, it wasn't," Helga replied. "It was one of the Green Eyes. He had, however, seen your parents enter the Hidden City ten years earlier, guided by Eduardo, but he had never seen them leave again."
"You spoke to a Green Eye?" Arnold boggled. "But they never spoke to any outsiders, not even my parents."
"Not usually," Helga conceded. "But this particular Green Eye had adopted the life of a hermit up on the cliff. He recognised your parents when they entered the Hidden City, and he was concerned that they had never reappeared."
"Then why didn't he go and look for them?" asked Rita eagerly.
"Since he had decided to leave the tribe for a life a solitude, the Green Eye Hermit was not allowed entry into the Hidden City," Helga explained. "He either wouldn't, or physically couldn't, get inside. However, he knew how to activate the way in."
"And was he in the cave you fell into, this hermit?" Phoebe asked brightly.
"Well, I think we'd all worked that out," Rita snapped, somewhat impatiently. "The important thing is what he had to say for himself. Please go on, Helga."
"All right," Helga agreed. "But don't snap at my friends! Now, where was I?"

Inside the cave, Helga found a hermit who had seen Miles and Stella enter the Hidden City, never to return. This hermit was, of course, the strange figure which Helga had glimpsed briefly on the cliffside. Helga goes on to describe her conversation with the hermit, and this is where the story really comes to a head.
"I was dazed and confused, but the Green Eye Hermit sat me in front of his fire and gave me something to drink," Helga continues. "It was made by boiling some strange roots in water, and it tasted good… refreshing. When I had recovered a little, the hermit explained to me that he had seen all four of us investigating the cliff several times, and wondered what we were up to."

Helga explained to the hermit all about Arnold and his missing parents. She would normally have been loath to share all this information with a complete stranger, but she knew that this was her final chance to locate Miles and Stella.
"The Green Eye Hermit told me that he knew Miles and Stella from their long-standing association with the tribe, and that he had seen them disappear into the Hidden City," Helga goes on. "He was worried about their fate, but he himself could not follow them through the secret doorway. However, he did know how to open it."

Helga describes the relief and gratification which she felt upon realising that not all hope was lost. She had risked all to get to this stage, and now it seemed that the high stakes might just have been worth it. Helga explains to me that a sequence needed to be activated in order to open the secret door to the Hidden City - a sequence that involved tugging those seven hanging creepers in a particular order.
"The Green Eye Hermit told me the sequence for pulling the creepers, numbering them one to seven from left to right," Helga explains. "Elated, I thanked him for his help, but he merely nodded sagely, smiled slightly, and told me to hurry. I ran from the cave and skidded back down the cliff, tearing my clothes and skin as I went, but I just didn't care about that - I had to get to those creepers! But then, of course, a thought struck me - the plane."

Helga describes her extreme anxiety that the plane might be about to take off, taking Arnold away from the parents he had been searching for for so long. She deliberated momentarily over whether to try the creepers, or to fetch Arnold first.
"There really was no choice to make," Helga tells me. "I couldn't risk Arnold leaving before I'd told him what I'd found out. If the hermit's words came to nothing, and no secret entrance was revealed, I would have got Arnold's hopes up for no reason whatsoever, and made his disappointment a million times worse. In addition to this, of course, I'd also have to answer the ticklish question of why I'd done it. But, despite all this, I couldn't take the chance - I had to fetch Arnold. I ran for the plane in a mad blur, desperately trying to remember the sequence for the creepers and desperately trying to think how I would explain things to Arnold. I got to the airfield quicker than I would have thought possible, I leapt onto the plane and... well, the rest you know, don't you?"

This whole experience was clearly an emotional roller coaster for Helga, just as it was for Arnold, but, as we already know, she made the right decision. Within twenty minutes, Arnold was in his parents' arms.
"It couldn't have worked out any better, really, could it?" Helga laughs. "It was a fairytale ending. The relief and joy I felt when that door opened and took us right to Arnold's parents... well, it's indescribable. Remember how I said I thought there was an eerie - or even magical - atmosphere to that place? Well, I'm convinced now that, on that summer's day in the jungle, there was magic in the air."

"Wow," Rita marvelled. "That's a great story, guys, thanks so much. My editor's going to be stoked! I have to get this to him straightaway! Look, I can't thank you guys enough. Check out the Journal tomorrow, won't you? I've got to run. See ya!"
Rita dashed from the cafe, leaving Arnold, Helga, Gerald and Phoebe feeling a little bewildered.
"Man, I just hate people who interview and run," Gerald remarked dryly.
"She's on a deadline," Phoebe observed. "We'll just have to see what she does with all that stuff by reading her article tomorrow."
At that moment, Rita poked her head back around the cafe door and fixed the four teens with an intense stare.
"You guys will read the article, won't you?" Rita asked anxiously. "You remember my publication, don't you? I'm..."
"You're Rita Richardson from the Washington State Medical Journal," Arnold cut in. "We know. Now, go run your story, will you?"
Rita dashed off, leaving Arnold feeling oddly satisfied.
"I'm glad my parents' story is going to be told at last," he sighed. "It's good for them to get it all out into the open."
"It was good for me, too," said Helga. "I can't believe I've kept that whole story inside me for so long."
"Neither can I," Arnold grinned. "I'm surprised you didn't tell me what had happened straightaway. You were really quiet on that flight back to Hillwood; I was expecting at least some explanation from you. If you'd told me what had happened, I'd have hugged and kissed you right then and there until we were back home."
"I know," Helga smiled. "And much as I would have loved that, Arnold, it wasn't the right time."
"Well, now I guess we just have to wait for the Washington State Medical Journal to come out tomorrow," Phoebe surmised. "I wonder how many of our quotes Rita will use, Gerald."
"Hey, she'll use loads of what we said, Phoebs," Gerald was confident. "After all, we may not have won the essay contest or found the Hidden City ourselves, but where would Arnold and Helga be without Gerald and Phoebe to back them up in whatever they do?"

Shortly before sunrise the next morning, Arnold, Helga, Gerald and Phoebe all met up at the newsagent's in Vine Street.
"Man, it's too early," Gerald yawned widely. "Arnold, are you sure this place stocks the Washington State Medical Journal?"
"Yeah, I've seen it here before," Arnold replied. "It must be in amongst those magazine somewhere."
All four of them started looking for the Journal. Phoebe found a copy stuck in between two daily newspapers.
"Ooh, here it is," she squeaked excitedly.
"Does it say anything on the front about Rita Richardson's article?" asked Helga.
"Hmm, let me see," Phoebe mused, scanning the front cover. "It seems to be mostly taken up with this story about the lack of funding to provide free condoms for Seattle's sexual health clinics. Ah, look, there it is! ‘Rita Richardson reveals the compelling story of two Hillwood doctors who were lost in the Central American rainforest for ten years’."
"Sounds a little flat," Helga complained. "Where's the punchy headline to grab the readers' interest?"
"Well, I guess we can't complain they've sexed it up too much," Arnold shrugged. "Here, hand that over, Phoebe, and I'll go and buy it."
Once Arnold had purchased the Washington State Medical Journal, they all went out of the shop and Arnold opened the magazine for everyone to read in the half-light of the approaching dawn. The article they were interested in was on pages ten through twenty, cleverly interspersed with some illustrative pictures of the rainforest.
"I guess there wasn't time to include any pictures of us," Gerald remarked. "Never mind, perhaps they'll want to take some as a follow-up for the next issue."
"There's your attention-grabbing headline, Helga," Arnold remarked. “‘Welcome to the Jungle.’ Hmm, it's reasonably good, I suppose."
"Look, she thinks she's been really clever with this urban jungle imagery, doesn't she?" Helga scoffed.
"She's managed mostly to stick to the facts," Arnold remarked, as he flicked through the article. "And she's remained fairly true to what we said, I think. Yes, she's done a good job."
"She thinks a lot of me, doesn't she?" Helga noticed. "Makes me sound like a real heroine."
"Well, you are," Arnold assured her.
"And what pearls of wisdom did she include from us?" Phoebe wondered. "She said she'd put some of our quotes in after Helga's bit. Now, let me... Oh no! Look, Gerald, she's only given us one line each!"
"What?" Gerald frowned. "That bitch! ‘Gerald Johanssen had this to say about Miles and Stella's rescue: "It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."’ I had way more to say than that; really good stuff as well!"
"And what about me?" Phoebe squeaked indignantly. “‘Phoebe Heyerdahl added: "I was utterly flabbergasted."’ I gave her loads of stuff, and that's all she used!"
"Sorry, guys," Arnold sympathised. "I guess Rita figured that the story was really mine and Helga's, so she gave us the most coverage."
"Figures," Gerald sniffed, turning his nose up at the paper. "Come on, Phoebs, let's get out of here - maybe we'll find our own fantastic story out there somewhere."
"I'm with you, Gerald," Phoebe agreed resolutely, and the two of them set off in the direction of the rising sun, leaving Arnold and Helga alone with the Washington State Medical Journal.

Helga looked at the face she had always loved, half-illuminated by the encroaching light of the New Year, and smiled fondly.
"You know, Arnold, you were right just now," she said.
"About what?" her companion obliged her.
"About that story being yours and mine," Helga elaborated. "I mean, I know it's essentially the story of how you got your parents back, but it's also the story that brought us together."
"It's a very important story for us, and I'm glad it's been told at last," Arnold agreed.
"Y'know, Arnold, we really have done a lot of fantastic things together," Helga reflected. "I wonder what new escapades are waiting for us in the coming year."
"Maybe nothing too hair-raising, if we're lucky," Arnold smiled. "But there again, we just can't tell, can we? But I think, Helga, as long as we're together, we'll be able to meet any new challenges that fate throws at us. We'll be able to work together to overcome any obstacles. We'll be able to dig deep within ourselves to find the spirit, the courage, the heart..."
"You're overanalysing now," Helga admonished playfully, grabbing Arnold's shoulders and pulling him closer to her. "Just shut up and kiss me, Football Head."