Chapter 4A
It prowled the municipal water system of Lakeside relentlessly, extruding fine fibers of itself into every pipe branching off the water main it was traveling through in its search. At 143 Main Street, flowing through a garden hose that was topping off a swimming pool, it found more prey.
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Identical twins Jennifer and Jill Robinson were racing in the big in-ground pool and running neck and neck. It was the third and final heat; whoever lost it would lose the race and have to load the dishwasher after dinner.
Jennifer, know to all as Jen, was concentrating on her form. She was knifing cleanly through the water, kicking powerfully and turning her head for a breath of air with every stroke of her strong, slim arms. Beside her and matching her stroke for stroke, Jill was doing the same thing. One of them could have been a reflection of the other in a mirror, so closely did they resemble each other.
Both girls were 18, an even five feet tall, crowned with shoulder length strawberry blond hair. They looked at the world through hazel colored eyes and when they smiled, their soft, plush lips parted to reveal straight white teeth.