| "Monday" | ||
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Sunday, May 11, 2008 Duck, North Carolina 1700 hours Dr. Noah Carter sat passively listening to the tiny ice cubes rustle against the tumbler as they were slowly melted within the harsh amber liquid. He was not a drinker, not by any standards, but occasionally (now more often than he could remember) he enjoyed his splash of whiskey on the rocks. "C'mon Clotho," he spoke quietly as he ushered the cat who sauntered over his laptop keypad. The orange tabby purred instantly upon Carter's touch though in her predictably independent feline way, did not relinquish her position. Carter stared into the golden eyes of his pet, Maggie's pet, actually he reminded himself, as Clotho, content with herself, sat on the keyboard and stared back. Clotho, so named after one of the three Fates, apparently sensed her owners melancholy mood and out of sheer pity as opposed to actually obeying, gingerly stepped off the keyboard with a soft meow. "That's a good girl," Carter smiled as he scooped the bundle of orange striped fur into his lap. He rubbed Clotho's belly but she would only tolerate such messing of her fur for so long and she squirmed. After righting herself she jumped down to the floor silently and sat putting her hairs meticulously back in order. He mused over her a few seconds before turning back to his laptop to survey the damage done. Luckily, he thought as he took another sip of his drink, there was only a string of garbled letters across his work. He pressed the backspace key and began erasing the cat code as his thoughts began to center on that task at hand. The latest results were not due in for another week, his time line obnoxiously pushed back by the Intruder back in DC, but there was still work to do. There still existed more t's to cross and more i's to dot, and he wondered casually, if it was even worth it. Was it? His question was confirmed by a simple look at the pictures that lined the book case next to his desk. There were only a few out as he had not completely unpacked the vast number of boxes shipped in earlier that week to his new home. Maggie. She was worth it and even in her long absence she constantly reaffirmed that notion. He sat back and began typing. The control study only existed of one animal, a tiny female monkey, affectionately named PC14. She was doing very well as would be expected. Although doomed to a life behind bars, PC14 already outlived the average life expectancy of her wild counterparts. She was one of the lucky ones that would be transferred to a zoo once the testing was completed. The others, the younger ones, a group of eight, would only complete their testing phase when they passed away of old age. Carter was very protective of his animals, well fed, clean habitats, affection, playtime, and constant social interaction amongst themselves. He was so concerned with their well being that he had hand picked and purchased them himself. There would be no doubt then they would be cared for because he understood their needs, and more importantly, understood a healthy study group would yield not only the most realistic results, but the most accurate. Accuracy was the name of the game. Project Capricorn would live and die by his ability to be accurate, thorough, and meticulous. "Perhaps we'll get you in on it, Clotho," he said smiling as he looked down at the cat. Clotho gazed up with that bored expression possessed only by felines, stopping momentarily her work on her fur. Deciding her owner did not wish anything from her and obviously had no intentions of handing over a treat, dismissed him and returned to the fur. Carter shook his head grinning. Clotho was at least amusing company. He had not thought so when Maggie had first brought the then 3 pound fuzzy orange fur ball home, but he soon learned to love Clotho's take on the world. Maggie had a soft heart, and an even softer one for homeless kittens, especially when they were free to a good home. And so, that is how Clotho became part of the Carter clan and household, terror to string and ribbon everywhere, warmth generator to feet on a cold night, and giver of unconditional love at all times. Clotho the Great, Clotho the Magnificent, and Clotho the Cat, the last living attachment to Carter's beloved Maggie left in the world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monday May 12, 2008 Hickman County, Tennessee 0807 hours The nameless boy sauntered easily down the hallway, as he had done at this same time for the last two weeks, and he would continue to do until his demands were met. They were simple demands from one of only nine years of age but they were not so simple to the Institution that he had placed them on. He opened the door to room 211 and fixed his brown eyes on his arch enemy, the evil bitch, Miss. Ammerman. "Well, Brian, nice of you to join us," her sarcastic tone elicited no reaction from him. Had he had a decent comeback he might send one her way, but he did not. As smart as he was, social interaction and worthy comebacks still eluded his child mind. He took his seat, near the back, resolving himself once again to another two hours surrounded by peers that although intelligent in their own right, did not match his. The demands that he had placed consisted of class start times being later in the morning. He was not a morning person, nor was he a night owl, but he was bored, and boredom led to idle thoughts, and idle thoughts led him to his current personal stance of being late to these morning classes until they changed them. They had no intention of doing that, he knew, but it was an effective method of getting their panties in a bunch, and if nothing else, at least it broke up the monotony the Institution so explicitly imposed on them. Miss. Ammerman continued with her lecture and the nameless boy just as quickly tuned her out. He pulled a ragged notebook from his worn backpack and after a hectic one minute search for a pencil, concentrated his efforts and his thoughts on this new formula. It had been given to him by the Bitch last Friday and he had purposely saved it until now to begin working it out. Anything, even nuclear physics, was better than listening to her boring lectures. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina 0815 hours Dr. Carter sipped at his steaming cup of coffee. It was always the first cup in the morning that he enjoyed the most. The guard, finally after a week, had recognized him and greeted him with a smile and a 'mornin' laced with a twangy southern drawl. The friendliness was a ruse, though, and the army MP had still insisted on seeing Carter's id badge. Of course, it wouldn't have been fun for the guard without a little comment about 'those DC guards' and a snicker. Carter had taken it to heart, some of those 'DC guards' had been his friends for a long time, but he withheld the immediate retort that sprang to his lips. If he had any hope of forgoing this inane ritual of badge show and tell, it would do him well not to make enemies with the main gate guard. "Good morning, Dr. Carter," the peppy female voice broke him from his plotting the untimely demise of the main gate guard. "Good morning, Lacey," he returned the gesture with a smile. "Settling in okay?" she asked as she dumped a pile of folders and mail onto the corner of his desk. He eyed the pile suspiciously, "up until now everything was going well." He immediately recognized the need to sanction some sort of in-box for his morning dumping of work. She giggled softly as he caught the sparkling blue eyes of his lab assistant. She had only been working for him eight months now, after two months interning, and had been the only one to take the transfer from DC to the Outer Banks. She loved her work and was a valuable asset to him and he had been very grateful she had decided to come along. In those eight months, she had come to know him better than Clotho did, he believed. It had been a long time, almost seven years, that he had someone he could trust to anticipate his work and put up with his idiosyncrasies. One of those being the orderly way he kept his office. She did this on purpose, this dumping of work on his desk, and good naturedly, she did it almost every morning knowing he would not like it, and knowing he would not reprimand her. "What's a Monday morning without a little work. Consider it," she studied the ceiling for a moment, "a good start to the work week." "A good start to the work week would be a holiday," he replied booting up his computer. "True, but that would get boring after the first month, and Tuesday would then become the hated Monday, and it would just snowball from there." "A tragedy," he quipped. "A tragedy indeed, speaking of which, PC18 has a cold." "A cold?" he asked focusing his attention on her, PC18 was one of the monkeys in the test group. "Apparently the storm we had Saturday night knocked the electricity out, it got a little cold in the lab and he got a chill." "Don't we have generators or something?" "They never kicked in. I've already contacted maintenance and had a little talk with them, I'm sure it won't happen again." He nodded his head knowing it would not happen again and what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of Lacey's little 'talks'. That was the other thing he liked about her, she didn't take shit from anyone, no matter who they were, and she demanded perfection, especially when it came to the monkeys well being. "Get a swab, run a C&S, and start him on some light antibiotics." "Already done," she said studying one of her pink painted fingernails. She was damn efficient, too, he thought to himself. "Seriously, I think we have the most spoiled group of lab monkeys in the world," she commented. He laughed softly, she was always passing comments about the care of his animals. That of course was just another facet of her personality, a decent sense of humor, and for her being a scientist, it was almost unheard of. "You're sure no chicken soup then, spoon fed with a fluffy blanket?" she asked brightly. "No, I'm sure the antibiotics will suffice�but I'll take it into consideration." She rolled her eyes with a smile and turned to leave. "Oh, Lacey," he said suddenly remembering the bag, "almost forgot." He handed over the plastic shopping bag. "I picked up some fresh bananas this morning, would you?" She took the bag with a sarcastic grin on her face, "really Dr. Carter, bananas? How clich�." He grinned and watched her leave. He then moved the pile of files and mail to his credenza and sat back down at his desk. He opened his email and let out a sigh. How could he get so many emails? Over a weekend? Return |
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