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Red Herring

Album: 35: The Big Picture

Episode: 458

Lesson/Theme: Curiosity

Bible Verse: 1 Thessalonians 4:11

Characters: Alex, Connie, Whit

Writer: John Fornof

Sound Designer: Rob Jorgensen

Original Air Date: December 9, 2000

Last Air Date: October 15, 2009

Description:
A funny thing happened on the way to the planetarium. The Campbell College Planetarium, that is. On a class field trip, Alex Jefferson and his cousin Cal Jordan see Eugene disappear down a hallway nearby menacingly marked with a sign, "Warning! Restricted Area Security Clearance Required." Following him, they find a locked door, but when they listen, strange noises sound on the other side. Just then, a security guard opens the door and strongly suggests that the boys join their group again. Their teacher finds them down the hallway and they have to hold hands the rest of the day. Later that day, the pair are discussing their minor adventure at Whit's End when Connie desperately asks them to be guests on her radio show, "Candid Conversations with Connie." They reluctantly agree and she rushed them into the studio just as the show is beginning. After finding they have just about nothing to talk about (and that there aren't any phone calls), Cal tells Connie about their "Eugene sighting" earlier in the day. Just as Cal is telling her all about Eugene's activity that day, Whit comes into the studio to ask Connie to change the subject. Connie and Whit meet later in his office and both of them admit to wanting to know what Eugene is doing at the college that's taking so much of his time. Whit reminds Connie not to be prying into other's people's business and then questions her about a strange work order from the phone company. Connie explains that they were here to fix something earlier in the day. That evening, Cal and Alex log onto the Campbell College website looking for information about Eugene. Since Alex's mom works at the college, Cal uses her password to log into the personnel files. They are contemplating the "Radio Wave Study" on his file when they suddenly get an Instant Message from Arem, who offers to give them more information about the Radio Wave Study. He gives them a level four password and tells them to click on "Medical Tests" when the computer suddenly crashes. Later that same evening, Alex's mom comes home from work steaming that they accused her of trying to break into the computer system. When Alex admits that he and Cal were the ones who did it, their parents contact the school security department. In the morning, they head down to the police station where Detective Mark Maddox explains to the boys that Arem has been breaking into Campbell County electronically and they haven't been able to catch them. He suggests using the boys as "bait" to track Arem's location. He has the boys "break into" the website once again and, just like last time, Arem shows up. Alex and Maddox try to keep Arem on-line while the trace goes through, but Arem becomes suspicious and signs off just as the trace goes through. Maddox is astonished to find that the trace came from Whit's End. Detective Maddox is asking an astonished Whit about it when Whit suddenly remembers the strange phone work order. Connie recalls that the phone person went right upstairs. The three of them go upstairs to investigate and Whit uncovers a modem with some sort of transmitting device hidden behind a filing cabinet. Maddox concludes that Arem must have been using the modem to piggyback on Whit's computer to hack into the college. When he tries to pick up the modem, it self-destructs. Back at Alex's house, Alex is upset about being grounded and just as upset at Cal for dragging him into this. Cal knocks on his window offering to show him a way to listen into Eugene's phone conversations. Alex closes the window. He's had enough excitement for now.

Questions:
Why didn't Whit want Connie talking about Eugene on the radio? What did Alex's dad tell him about being too curious? Have you ever been really curious about something? How can curiosity be a good thing? When is it a bad thing?