Then with everything going so well, everything all the sudden went wrong. Samantha and her little friends ran off in the night. David tracked them to the fountain cave, where the brats fell into the pool and disappeared. Vanished in a flash of red light, David told her. Along with them her hopes of completing her revenge.
It's not fair, Veronica thought. After thirty-five years for Samantha to die because of some algae pained Veronica like a knife to the gut. Her ultimate triumph stolen by plants! Those same plants laid waste to her plans for Grandpa Jonas's island. With only a quart of the precious water remaining, she might live for a century or even two if she rationed it well, but she wouldn't have any to spare. Her plans to eventually sell the water for millions-billions even!-to vain women seeking to be young forever were dashed by that fucking algae.
There had to be some way to get rid of the shit. She threw aside rakes, scythes, and hoes in search of something that could dissolve the algae. Nothing in here could bring back Samantha so that Veronica might yet have her ultimate victory, but at least the rest of her plan might come to fruition. She pushed aside a bag of seeds and fertilizer. "Haven't you people heard of pesticide?" she shouted.
"It's not in here," David said from the doorway.
"Then where the hell is it?"
"In the barn, locked up. Samantha didn't want any of the little ones getting into it and poisoning themselves."
"Go get it. As much as you can carry."
"You think some bug spray is going to kill that?"
"You have a better idea?"
"I was thinking to burn the shit off," David said.
Veronica crossed the tool shed, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "You always did think big," she said. "Let's grab a drum of cooking oil from the pantry then. That should be enough to do it."
As they walked back along the trail into town, he said, "You should be glad. She's gone, just like you wanted."
"I don't expect you to understand," Veronica said.
"What did she do to you that was so bad you'd hate her for so long?" he asked.
"She betrayed me," Veronica said. "That's all you need to know." She kicked at the dirt with one of her stubby hooves. All she had to look forward to now was being trapped in this flabby body, going through puberty over again on this stinking rock with this oaf David, mousy little Molly, and the other brats. I ought to kill them all the first chance I get, she thought. But first she had to get rid of that fucking algae.