Surviving Paradise (Full Draft Version)

CHAPTER 29

"You said you would let them go"

"Indeed.  Run along kids"

CHAPTER 29

Pondering the mug before her, Allisa tried to remember if she had sugared the coffee yet.  In a small pile on her desk, next to the slides she was currently logging was a stack of the white packets.  Ripping the end from one, she decided she would rather take a test sip of overly sweet coffee than black this morning.

A half hour later when her pocket buzzed, she pulled out her phone automatically glancing at the id.  The landline number to her parents residence flashed with each subsequent vibration.

“Hey mom.”  The greeting was chirpy, the coffee finally taking effect.

“Hello sweetie.  How are you?  How is Will?”  It was normal these days for her mother to combine the two questions and even leave out the interrogative inflection that distinguished a question.

“I'm good.  Will's  good.  Everyone is good.”  Allisa always returned. 

Today though within the first minute of the call, she was moving to the window in search of better reception.  The voice on the other end continued to breakup, and instead of calling her mother back, she had heard enough to prompt her to an area with a clearer signal.

“Baton Rouge?  When would you be moving?”  Allisa paced the tiny family area, down the hall where a signal booster had been installed. 

“LSU is wanting your father to begin the Spring semester, so we would not be making the actual move for a few months.  Although there is a lot of planning to be started now.”

Call waiting sounded, but Allisa did not even check the identity of the person beeping in.  Although she had wished her parents safely from this town, preferably before they accidentally discovered the secret that they had been kept immune from, the news was still a shocker.  Dr. Gillis had been offered a prominent position at the state college.  Although the money was better than here in Paradise, the motivating factor was actually her brother's possible parole around the same time.  There were many reasons her mother cited a larger city preferable for this reason, and Allisa refrained from pointing out that her parents had so long ago thought the opposite.

Swiping her id, she let herself back into her office and found Sayer sitting at her desk.  Forcing a smile despite the strain of the phone conversation she had just finished, she said, “Please tell me you are not bringing more slides.  I just finished the others from yesterday.”

Frowning at her computer he barely looked her way as he replied, “I tried to call you.  Was looking for the updates on Alex Sands medication.”  As she advanced closer, he took his eyes from the screen to her face, his brows still drawn.  “Allisa, what is this?”

The recollection was immediate.  Without even looking at her computer, she remembered working pharmaceutical formula possibilities for Ashton's “mortality.”  But before she could answer, he went on.

“This won't work.  The ratio is not near close enough to counteract the progression of --”  Stopping his sentence, he studied her for a moment, then vaguely trailed.  “But you know that...Of course you know that.  It is not something you would ever overlook.”

“I was just, just mulling over some 'what ifs'.”  Cautiously, Allisa chose her words.

Sayer, by habit, glanced at the sunny day beyond the window before he returned,  “Those are some dangerous 'what ifs.'”

“I know.”  The screen drew her eyes once more.  She was well aware how one small miscalculation would affect the cells free radicals and speed up the aging process too fast.