The Last Tender Blossom
an excerpt

The warming sunlight of this spring morning dissolved the low lying mist and moistened the newly emerged buds. It lifted her spirits as a slight smile crossed the old woman’s face and she rocked back on the bench inhaling the subtle scents, her long held memories of children’s lively play and childish squeals coaxed the tearful torrent from her eyes. This once inviting playground sat empty, its usefulness long dormant as the children of future mankind now dwindled to be slowly extinguished. Age had turned her skin tissue thin, crepe-like and fissured as it draped over her once youthful form, which was now racked with pain as she sat on the hard bench. Danay Henson gazed vacantly at the scene overwhelmed by the emptiness forgetting the ache in her aging bones. “ How could they have failed all of those innocent lives?” she questioned herself going over it in her mind again and again.
No one could claim that they had not seen it coming all the leading scientists watched in shock as it spread from a tiny tinder box spark to a roaring unstoppable inferno its ability to snuff out the lives of all the most vulnerable of mankind, the youngest and freshest of all hope.

There were millions of promising minds and hearts gone in a single year, including her own precious grandchildren. Her descendent’s.passed before her eyes, each of the six in turn beginning with the youngest as she stood helpless, unable to stop what was occurring. Each passing took a huge chunk from her gaping heart as her daughters succumbed to their grief unable to rise. No amount of time could comfort them or the loss she saw all around her. Many unable to cope committed suicide, some went mad, other’s killed in rage or stole another’s child only to see it repeat itself, leaving them grieving again and subjecting these stolen children to the anguish of dying without their true parent present. It was insanity at its worst spectrum.

No one in the medical community could explain what was causing this. The only leads were that it did not occur after puberty. They tested scores of young infants who succumbed quickly and then focused on those nearing puberty. In each case they were unable to define the source of the shutdown. It was as though they had encountered an alien invader which was anti-life. Each one began the same beginning with a sore throat that quickly began to bleed, the child’s major organs began to shutdown and the little ones tossed moaning and rocking themselves as the headaches began and they became unable to communicate. The final stage was when they began to bleed from the ears and nose, convulse and cease breathing. Watching was agonizing as it ripped at your heart to witness this suffering in one so young. Anger was rampant from those who wanted answers from the scientific and medical community for this plague of unprecedented proportions.

The only answers they could give were that they were working on it. This angered her beyond all reason. Danay had spent these years shuttling between research labs from one end of this country to another, along with long flights to other nations to attend mind-numbing symposiums among the ill-tempered scientific and medical communities whose competitive insistence upon using up vast sums of research monies in pursuit of this dark beast was to no avail. Way over budget and disorganized she’d thrown up her hands and

Her head was swimming and it was hard to focus on what she was telling her but, she seemed to get the important parts and her concern was that they would always be able to talk to her at least for now. “ Honey it is very difficult sometimes to know what is right for you. I do know that rushing into a relationship can be the easiest way to get in trouble.
I don’t want you to get hurt that way. If he’s pushing the issue of sex then, you need to ask some hard questions of yourself. Like am I really ready for this? Claire are you ready to deal with all that goes with an intimate relationship. Like for instance, what if’s.” she asked her.

Claire sat quietly and listened this time. “ What if God forbid Claire is careful but, despite that she becomes pregnant? What if you don’t know he has HIV or genital warts or how to protect yourself from these diseases? What if he is just using you and leaves? Or what if he is a slob, his feet stink and he eats like a pig and farts in public? What if he embarrasses you by laughing like a jackass in public or he has a drug or drinking problem? There’s so much to think about honey…. I mean this is a way to help you see what is the fantasy about love and what is the reality, before you find yourself in over your head.” Danay concluded holding her breath as Claire laughed at some of what she said but, it hit home as she stared into her eyes and Danay knew she’d just opened them. Claire stood and hugged her.

“ Thanks for the advice Mom… really. I will think about it all. There’s no rush.” She said as she headed for her room, cell phone in hand. She hoped for the best watching Claire leave. Her daughters had finished their long conversations with friends and began the last of their homework assignments as she cleaned up the dishes and did some laundry, went over a few bills she’d have to pay tomorrow and called her friend Trish to see what was going on. She had been invited over this weekend to a modest dinner party with some of her older friends. A few were coming up from Connecticut and one was traveling from upper state New York from a small town near Albany, New York.

Danay woke to the alarm and dreaded the morning rush to work. Arriving barely on time she headed into the old building meeting Kepo Tang inside the lobby area. He introduced her around to the rest of the crew and they went down to the labs below to begin an introduction to the facility and the equipment used . The biggest chapter they would cover today was protocol which Kepo stressed was to be followed at all times unless you wished to be dismissed with extreme prejudice. They were given legal papers to sign, outlining their responsibilities to the facility and others. These papers also spelled out the consequences of divulging anything taking place inside of the facility. Kepo suggested that they obtain their own malpractice coverage to assure themselves if any blame for errors were ever to come up and in an aside he suggested that it might be smart to carry it as a hedge against becoming a scapegoat, alluding to the habitual nature of the beast when it came to research.

The day was spent more on the preliminaries then any true lab work. Finally they concluded with it all and she was able to see what the labs had to offer in the way of new equipment. She stood around with the others as he demonstrated the new assay computing device, some serious computerized analyzer with telescopic lenses for viewing micro bacterium up close and personal but, under sterile conditions. Stabilizing coolants, sealed and suited tanks retrofitted with biohazard suits and decontamination stalls. Alarm systems and filtration rooms with self-contained environments were next and then they were introduced to a robotic creation used to handle samples while the person placed the skin electrodes on his fingers to guide the process. Several of the male team members were treated to use of this equipment and Danay stood watching as they demonstrated its usefulness in maintaining high hazards without exposing the rest of the lab to this. The robotic unit could be sterilized and re-enter the lab after an examination of the tissue samples. She was impressed to some degree but, she had kept in mind that it was good old fashioned brain work that netted the best results. Her own mind was the only thing she put full faith in most times. This wasn’t going to be easy for her as she heard the comments from the men on her team.

“ I have no idea what they expect from her?” she overheard the comment from Brad Carsten, someone she’d immediately took a dislike to. He was a brash, overbearing egotist who in all likelihood had never spent a day in his life without Evian water and a trip to the day spa once a week. He talked incessantly about working out at the gym, the last triathlon he participated in, who his latest conquest is and how his parents had invited them for a recent ski holiday in Colorado. She wasn’t impressed it was more annoyed that he needed a dose of humility in his life and perhaps a bit of gratitude for all of his good fortune. There was so much more to life and much of that life was a struggle for so many. She pondered at how far the money he spent on indulging himself would stretch to feed and cloth so many of the impoverished masses. “ Oh well,” she chastised herself “ To each his own.,” she reminded herself.

She had a job to do and despite the criticism she’d be dammed if they would dissuade her from doing her best. Ignoring the comments Danay asked a multitude of observant questions, catching the interest of one man who had entered and lingered in the background watching this group. Levite Stalhmen had been standing quietly at the back, his tall muscular frame was outlined in a white lab coat with dark blue slacks in stark contrast. His olive complexion with strong masculine features, brown-green eyes framed with long dark lashes, thick brown wavy hair and a dark neatly trimmed goatee framed his face as he leaned on the doorway smiling slightly while he focused on the lone female asking a multitude of very pertinent questions. She appeared to him to be very young for all this. He wasn’t sure of her age just that she had a very sweet and open appearance almost vulnerable as she clamped down on her lip with her teeth noting her tense and somewhat fearful assertiveness.

He was intrigued studying her closer as he moved inside the room and came up behind her. Levite noticed that she had no ring on her finger but, she had telltale signs of being a bit older than his first impression. It was the noticeable dark circles under her eyes perhaps due to fatigue or maybe she had allergies as he did. He continued to conjecture as she asked another question while they swam in a grouped batch like guppies grateful for the chance to interject and show how knowledgeable they were. Her hair was a beautiful light mahogany color, rich and silky as she pulled it back from her face into a low pony tail. He noticed she was trim and shapely, her features were lovely and those eyes of golden brown and green sparkled with life. She was exceptionally bright and surprisingly perceptive but, there was a credible humility to her. Levite Stalhmen was the Head of Biological Sciences and Genetic Research at Wilkomen Center in Braintree, Massachusetts and he’d come to know when a sharp geneticist in bio- research crossed his path. It was his ability to weed out the best ones that catapulted him into his present position. This one was sharp, he had a strong sense about it. He wanted to engage her in conversation and find out more about her.

Danay backed off from her need to delve into the workings of this facility finding that she had probed in –depth much of what she needed for the present. This would aide her greatly in how to approach those she would be working with and define the parameters of her present situation. As she turned to slide back a bit from the forefront where Dr.Placek had engaged her, pointing out to all in attendance that valid queries had a place here, she heard him speak about her cringing over this.

“ Should any of you uninitiated feel likewise unfamiliar and in need of direction, I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with all aspects of this lab and it’s protocol as you will find yourself being given an exam in order to continue to participate in teams. Should you fail this exam….well don’t!.” he stated bluntly. “ Ms. Henriques is it? “ he paused speaking directly to her. Danay nodded stunned at this. “ You have a keen skill for observation and I do hope that you will observe all those who are at your disposal. Let us hope that your bright and shining moment is not a brief lucidity and a dismal failure to shine any further. For now… I will be keeping a close eye on your work.” He said severely, his remark effectively cutting her off at the legs. Danay was scorched her face turned ten shades of white, as Levite observed her flush bright red. He felt her pain and humiliation having experienced more than his share from this man. He quietly put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed to distract her from her frozen state of mortification. Danay flinched feeling a slight pressure on her shoulder and turned unable to say anything.