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.