“I didn’t know McMurrich had friends at the DNA center”, I said.
Brad shrugged and Alice replied, “I didn’t know McMurrich had any friends. Jeez, that woman is sourer than yoghurt after its best before date”.
“You bet”, I said laughing.
Brad shook his head and said, “Ok misses, McMurrich is a bitch but should we try to call Sandeep and see if he can help us again or do we want to continue discussing our boss?”.
Alice and I looked at each other shrugging, and we went to our office to give Sandeep a call.
Chapter 27
“It’s great to hear from you”, Sandeep said on the loud speaker when he received Brad’s phone call, “I could meet you anytime today, but let me try to reach Wilhelm before we set a time. I think it would be helpful to have him there, I’ll call you back shortly”. And he did just a few minutes later, telling us to bring our samples in the afternoon.
When we got into the lobby of the Cross Cancer Institute my attention was attracted by a trim looking fellow talking with the lady at the front desk.
“I am from the press”, I heard him say, “And I would like to speak with a doctor to ask few questions about your center”.
Then Brad tugged my arm and told me we should get going, and I lost part of the conversation. Whatever the guy had said had bothered the lady at the front-desk, who was clearly alarmed now.
“No, this is absolutely impossible”, she was saying.
“There have been quite few deaths lately, perhaps more than usual”, the fellow insisted, “and all I want to do is have few words with the doctors who were in charge of the patients who passed away recently”.
At this point Brad had also noticed the dispute, and we were both listening when the elevator’s door opened and a doctor walked out.
“Good afternoon doctor, I am from the press”, the journalist began, “I am wondering if you would have the time for few questions”.
The doctor looked at the guy with a perplexed expression, but before we could hear the rest of the conversation Sandeep walked towards us,
“Sorry I kept you waiting”, he apologized, “I wasn’t sure if you would come upstairs or if you would wait for me here”.
“Oh, we just came and were about to come up and find you”, I assured him.
“So, you tried the polymer on other samples and they are also swelling”, Sandeep said once the elevator started moving up.
“Yes”, I confirmed, and then explained that the strange behaviour the unknown bacteria seemed to have was common to all the samples to which the polymer was added.
“Ehm, this is very intriguing”, he commented pensively, “Let’s have a chat with Wilhelm, he’s upstairs waiting for us”.
Wilhelm was a man who gave out the feeling of dryness. He was bold with little reddish-white hair on the sides of his head, and he looked at us with blue myopic eyes through a pair of rounded glasses balanced on his bony face. He shook hands with us without smiling.
“Sandeep told me about your case”, he started, “I think we can analyze all your samples and compare the compounds with find. I also understand that you found unknown bacteria, the presence of which is interesting and can shed light on the results we obtained last time”.
His voice was professional and calm, and shaded the uncanny feeling his appearance conveyed without completely dissolving it.
“You mean the presence of compounds which resembled the metabolic activity of bacteria?”, Brad asked.
“Yes, for instance”, he replied.
“And what about the toxins Sandeep mentioned last time?”, I asked.
Wilhelm was silent for a moment, and I had the impression his features were perturbed by my question for the shortest moment.
“We cannot say much about that yet, the concentrations were too low. If you leave the samples with me I will investigate further and call you as soon as I complete the tests”, he said, then asked, “Do you have some more polymer with you? I would care to duplicate the analyses on it, to ensure that the results are reliable. I would be able to complete the analyses in a couple of days”.
I said we did and thanked him and Sandeep profusely for their help.
When we got downstairs the journalist was gone, and I wondered if someone had decided to take him somewhere to answer his questions after all or if they just kicked him out.
“It was weird, no?”, I told Brad.
“The journalist, you mean?”, he asked.
“Yeah, what he was saying about the fact that there had been a number of dead patients…I’m going to keep an eye on the local news in the next days, maybe they’ll say something about it”, I said.
“I must admit the episode was odd”, Brad replied.
“And what about Wilhelm?”, I asked
“What about him?”, Brad echoed.
“I don’t know, he is a bit spooky”, I said.
He shrugged, “Don’t be so sensitive, he’s just a guy and all we want from him are some results”.
“Ok”, I conceded, comforted and annoyed at once that Brad was as always matter of fact and chill about everybody.
Chapter 28
I spent the rest of the afternoon browsing scientific journals for some hint to what could be the link between our unknown bacteria and the polymer. Scrolling one publication after the other without finding what I was looking for I was about to lose hope when I landed on a manuscript that attracted my attention. “The effect of chemicals on the genetic modification of common microorganisms: the case of E. Coli”, authored by E. Livingstone and M. Mori. The researchers had isolated E. Coli from a mixed colony of bacteria and cultured two groups of E. Coli bacteria, which were initially identical. An petroleum derived organic chemical had subsequently been added to one of the two E. Coli groups:
“…upon addition of the chemical E. Coli bacteria were found to grow at a rate which differed from that of E. Coli bacteria not exposed to the chemical…Interestingly, when the chemical was added, the bacteria generated from the separation of the original E. Coli bacteria were dissimilar from the parent cells in that they had a markedly distinct genetic patrimony…The reasons for these observations are not fully understood and require further investigation, which will be the object of our future publications”.
I turned around and called Brad who was also doing some research on his computer, “Come have a look at this Brad”.
He rolled his chair over to my desk and began reading, humming to mark his interest for certain passages. Then he got to the part that had attracted my attention, “Oh wow!”, he exclaimed, “You mean that the bacteria in our samples are mutants?”.
“Well, if you put it that way it sounds like we are talking about aliens”, I laughed, “but yes, maybe the polymer caused some changes in the bacteria naturally present in our sample, and this why Alice cannot find them in her database. Our buddies might very well be regular Joes with a new suit”.
“Aha, let’s go get Alice”, said Brad excitedly.
But the cell culture room was empty though. “Oh, she left…”. Brad was disappointed.
I looked at the clock, it was almost 7 pm. “Oh shoot!”, I exclaimed, “I have to go see my neighbours tonight and I should have already been on my way there!”.
I rushed Brad out of the labs, and sped along the freeway, the wind blowing on our faces and through our shirts, strangely inebriated as if at that moment I had infinite power and could climb the heavens, blow up FoodTech labs or drive back and work for the whole night for no other reason that I randomly felt one way or the other.
But by the time I pulled the car in front of my house my mood had changed as a desert sky, veering from sunny to cloudy and breaking out in a black thunderstorm. At once I was lonely in a terrible and absolute way, and I felt my guts tighten in a familiar way. Then I saw Mrs. Wheeler waving at me across her fence, so I opened the door and reached out the car, waving back and forcing myself to smile.
&
nbsp; “Sorry I am late”, I said, “I’ll be there in a moment”. I climbed the stairs and called Jack.
“Jack”, I said, and paused.
“Are you doing fine?”.
“Yes…no…I mean, nothing is objectively wrong. I have to go see the Wheelers now…”, was my disconnected reply.
“Are you going to be there for long?”.
“Ah well, they’ll have me for dinner and I suppose I can’t leave right after stuffing myself with their food. They said they have some news to give me, so…”, I shrugged as if Jack were in front of me.
“You can drop by once you’re done with you’re done your neighbours”.
“Oh yeah?”.
“Sure”, he replied.
I was silent for a moment. “I’ll call you before heading to your place”, I said, the grip of anxiousness softening inside me.
Chapter 29
“John got a new job in Maryland”, Mrs. Wheeler told me after dinner when we were all sitting on the couch with drinks in our hands.
“Oh congratulations!”, I said.
“Yes, he will still be a detective, but the office is nicer”, continued Mrs. Wheeler, while her husband sat there taking in the news about his own job.
I wondered what she meant with that, but thought it would have been out of place to ask. “So you guys are going to move on”, I said instead, speaking directly to him, “when are you going to be moving?”.
One of their little ones, the girl, who was playing on the floor with a rag doll dropped her head, “I don’t want to go”.
“Oh honey, we will be just fine”, reassured her Mrs. Wheeler.
“In a month”, replied John answering my question. “We’ve already began to box up few things here but there’s always more than you expect when you start to put some order in your affairs”.
John laughed nervously and rolled the stem of his glass between his fingers as he spoke. I couldn’t understand why he was ill at ease, but he certainly was.
“I wish you all the best, although I must say that I am so used to having you people as neighbours it will be sad for me to see you go”.
“I am sad to go”, echoed the girl from her playground in a corner of the living-room. Nobody replied to what she said this time.
“I wish you all the best, really”, I reiterated, trying to chase away the odd vibes running through our conversation.
The room fell silent. We sat there with our drinks, each of us likely hoping we were elsewhere.
But then the boy rushed through the room with Wooster shouting, “It’s gigantic! Wooster dug a GIGANTIC hole in the garden”.
I laughed with relief at the boy’s bewildered expression and the dog’s muzzle caked with dirt.
“Honey, please call me if you see Wooster doing that again”, Mrs. Wheeler said, “We will have to sell this house and the holes in the garden will not look good”.
The boy shrugged and walked out.
“We’ll have to have another dinner before you guys leave”, I said, struggling to find the right words to end this evening.
“You bet”, replied Mrs. Wheeler.
“Thanks for the wonderful evening, I think I will be heading home now…”.
John gave me a nod and Mrs. Wheeler said, “Thank you for coming over, let me see you to the door darling”.
I shook hands with John, hugged Mrs. Wheeler and left. I was halfway to my door when I realized I would terribly miss Wooster.
The anticipated feeling of the loss burdened me as I opened the door, and walking up the stairs the loneliness sank in, and I found myself longing for Jack’s presence more intensely than I ever had before.
I dialed his number, nervously running my hand on the base of the phone.
“It’s me”, I said when he picked up.
“Your evening at your neighbours place wasn’t that long after all”. I could sense he was smiling on the other side of the line.
“I cut it short. I wasn’t in the mood when I got there and then things evolved in a very strange way…”.
“In a strange way?”, he asked.
“Yeah, Mrs. Wheeler told me her husband got a new job and that they will move to Maryland…”, I began and paused.
“And why is that strange?”.
“It wasn’t the fact, but the way they told me. John just sat there and Mrs. Wheeler did all the talking. The few times John spoke he was tense...I don’t know what’s going on in that family”.
“Why don’t you come over”, he said
“I’ll take a short shower and I’ll get there”. There was a moment of silence on the line. “I want Wooster”, I added.
“I don’t know about Wooster, but for the shower, well, you can have one at my place”, Jack laughed.
I laughed back, “Well, I suppose I should begin by taking what I can”.
There was another pause.
“Jack?”
“Tell me”, he said.
When the night swarms with buzzing insects and stars, when the heat soaks the bodies and makes emotions sizzle beyond our control, then words are of no use. All you have to do is be, shattered by joy, sadness, lust and sensorial madness, in the beautiful frenzy of a world you cannot understand.
“I will be there in five minutes”, I said, and hang up.
Chapter 30
The next morning I opened my eyes before Jack did. Pink light was already leaking in from the window. I turned around, not fully awake, and read the clock on the bed table. 4:58, I am adjusting to Jack’s schedule, I thought, and turned off the alarm before it rang.
Jack stirred, moaned lightly and said, “Hey, how come you are awake?”.
“Ehm, I am not”, I replied, plunging my head in the pillow.
“You were talking in your sleep tonight”, he told me.
I turned around, suddenly awake, “Was I?”.
“You were talking about some bacteria, you were calling out Christine’s name and then you said you had to get a plane, that you had to talk to Dr. Mori…I couldn’t really follow”.
“I said all this?”, I exclaimed amazed.
I could recall details of the dream distinctly, and even now that I had opened my eyes it felt stunningly real.
“Yesterday I found a paper written by a guy called Mori…he found that the genetic patrimony and the growth rate of E. Coli changed if he added a chemical to the bacterial colony. Maybe this is what is happening in our labs, I told you my polymer is causing unknown bacteria to grow…”.
“And so you want to talk to Mori?”, Jack asked.
“Well, I didn’t think about it till now, but why not? He could help a lot. I dreamed I went to find him, it was an unknown city I was walking in…it was pretty. I had almost missed my flight to get there…”.
“And what about Christine?”, Jack asked.
“Oh Christine…she phoned me some time ago, you know? I think I should call her back, just to see how she is doing. I probably thought about her because I saw a journalist at the Cross Cancer Institute the other day”.
“A journalist? What was he doing?”
Jack was surprised.
“He wanted to talk with somebody, he was saying that there had been an anomalous number of deaths at the hospital, and he wanted to know more. Weird, no?”.
Jack was pensive for a moment. “Yes, it is quite weird. You should show me the paper by the way, we could ask Fred for advice. He would be happy to help us if he can”.
“Thank you”, I replied, and then, “you know I don’t want to get up?”.
Jack laughed. “Then why don’t you just stay in bed?”.
“Because I am a good girl and I will make breakfast for you”, I replied, throwing the sheets on the side and running towards the kitchen in a demonstrative attitude.
“What’s with you since yesterday night?”, Jack asked me from the bedroom.
I felt a wet warm gush between my legs. “My cycle”, I thought, finding the answer
to Jack’s question.
Chapter 31
I got home before 7 a.m., and I thought I had more than half an hour before Brad would give me a lift to get to FoodTech labs. Christine was on the east coast, 2 hours ahead of me, she was likely at work, or heading there. Mornings are never a good moment to phone people to chat about life during week-days, but I decided I would give Christine a ring, just to know how life was treating her. She was still at home when I phoned her.
“Hey Iris! What’s happening for you at this hour of the day?”, she exclaimed loudly, her voice shaking my eardrums.
Then I heard some stirring on the background, and a male’s voice.
“It’s in the other room, give me a moment”, Christine said to whoever her guest was, and then to me, “Sorry, he couldn’t find his stuff”.
“I would like to ask you who “he” is, but I suppose it wouldn’t be nice to discuss the guy when he is there and you two just passed the night together”, I laughed, “I shouldn’t have called you so early…it’s just that I dreamed about you”.
“You dreamed about me? They all do!”, she teased, “And what was I doing in your dreams?”.
“I was discussing with you why people are passing away at an unexpected rate at the Cross cancer institute”.
Christine was silent for a moment.
“But is this really happening? I mean, are you sure about the suspicious deaths at the Cross cancer institute?”, she asked, her voice suddenly tense.
“I cannot be sure, but there was a journalist at the hospital the other day and he wanted to see someone, a doctor, to discuss this matter. Why, do you want to make a scoop?”.
The fact that Christine was taking me so seriously scared me, and I was trying to defuse the effect of my previous statement.
“Well, this is a very odd coincidence, you see, because in one of the cancer institutes here in NY the same thing is happening. The relatives of a patient called us, they were mad with pain at the loss of someone who, according to them, should not have died. I began investigating, and found that other patients who were not in critical conditions had died. I tried to speak with their families, some agreed to meet us, others just wanted to be left alone. Of course we couldn’t get much information from the doctors, they want to protect themselves and the reputation of the hospital so they keep us away as much as they can. I wonder if there’s a connection…”.