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They Key to Believingchapter 2
The Rain Forest ExperimentTurning to the room, Howard asked, “Do you have any idea where she’s going?” to everyone in the room. “She was waiting for a call from Tobias Graham,” a young technician answered. “Oh, Toby,” Kyle answered. “I’d assume she’s meeting him somewhere.” “When has she ever left before six in the evening?” Howard asked. “She did have a strange look on her face,” Kyle said. “I hope she’s taking a break with Toby and spending some time with him as a friend instead of talking about their research.” “You know her; it’s got to be business,” Howard said. “You know she wouldn’t leave work early to be social. She wouldn’t leave on time to be social. But on the plus side, at least no one will be barging in here looking for her.” Howard turned to Kyle and smiled. “Yeah, but those confrontations are entertaining to watch,” Kyle smiled back. “Now all we get to do today is work.” They both smiled as they turned away from each other and went back to what they were working on.
Before Sloane got to the plane she checked her messages at home. Normally she did not worry about her phone, but seeing that she was in such a rush she did not even get the chance to change her answering machine. She dialed her number and pressed the code to listen to her machine messages. “Hi, it’s your dad, didn’t know how you were doing. We didn’t get a chance to talk much when we saw each other last, and I know you are at work, but this was my only time between working here, so when you get the chance, give me a call. Talk to you soon.” “Miss Emerson, hi, it’s Kyle’s friend, Steve... I know you weren’t expecting someone who was almost a stranger to call, but Kyle gave me your number, and I know this will sound silly, but it would be cool to have someone to talk to next weekend. If you need to, my number is three six four ten sixty-three, ’cause I’m always up for a refresher course on the work you guys do. Otherwise I’ll see you next weekend.” Those were the only two messages, though she was surprised that there were that many messages there in the first place. Making a point to write down Steve’s phone number and to call her dad and Steve back, she smiled, hung up the phone and made her way to the plane. After sitting down, she thought it was strange to be on this plane. She was used to seats in rows of three with no legroom and a thin aisle. This plane had large, roomy seats, some facing inward, toward the aisle, some facing forward, and there were a few cocktail tables and large counters bolted to the floor. This was a social airplane. This was a plane for entertaining guests. “So, Jim, when’s the flight attendant going to get on the plane and show me how to fasten my seat belt?” The pilot laughed. “Haven’t you been on enough flights to know your safety rules, Ms. Emerson?” “Please, call me Sloane, and yes, I think I could mimic every move those people do. You know... ’If there is a change in cabin pressure, your oxygen mask will come down. Place the mask over your head and continue breathing normally; the bag will not fill up, but there will be a continuous stream of oxygen. If you are taking care of a minor, place your mask on first, then assist the child.’” The pilot was laughing at the show she was putting on, using two fingers to point where the oxygen masks and exit rows were. “And those flight attendants mock putting the mask on over their heads, but they never put the elastic around their head, because they can’t mess up their hair.” “You do know how it’s done then.” “What I can’t imagine is how infuriating it must be for those flight attendants to have to do this degrading little exercise and as they’re looking around the cabin they can see that no one, I mean, no one, is paying attention to them. And still, they have to stand there, do these silly gestures, pull the loose end of the seat belt, point to the lights along the aisle.” “I never thought about it, actually.” “And why do they point with two fingers? When they point at something, they use both their index finger and their middle finger, and it looks so unnatural.” “You know, they’re actually trained to use two fingers to point those things out. In some cultures, pointing with your index finger is considered very rude, so they are trained to use two fingers so as not to offend anyone.” Pausing, she answered. “That never occurred to me.” “If you’ve got a screaming Japanese businessman on your plane because you pointed in his direction when you were showing the safety rules, it occurs to you.” “I suppose it does.” “Well, Ms. Emerson --” “Sloane, please.” “Okay, Sloane, since there is no flight attendant here, let me tell you to keep your seat belt on during take offs and landings. And the other important thing you need to know is where the refrigerator is. It’s stocked with a few sandwiches, I think there’s ham, tuna salad, roast beef and turkey, and there’s just about any liquor you could want in there, too. Usually people go for the champagne, and actually, I think the bubbles help with people who feel queasy flying.” “Got it, Jim. Can I ask another question?” “Of course.” “This plane isn’t too big for you to fly by yourself?” “No. Actually, if this plane were any bigger by law I’d need someone with me. But this plane is fine for me. Besides, they add all these control features on planes like this, like ’auto pilot’, so this plane could literally fly itself. Why do you ask -- do you not feel safe?” “I’m just amazed that this much machinery flying in the air can be comfortably controlled by one person.” “Visit the cockpit while we’re up and I’ll show you how it works.” “Thanks. What time should we get to Miami?” “Oh, right around seven o’clock their time.” “Thanks, Jim.” “No problem.” Jim walked into the cockpit and closed the door behind him. After leaning back, she could only close her eyes. She figured she’d wait until after they took off to get her work out. Besides, she thought her briefcase should be stowed away under her seat during take-off, right? She waited for the plane to move. She enjoyed airplanes; she liked knowing that a large, heavy piece of machinery could lift her up into the air and fly her across the country, or around the world. She listened to the engine start up; the plane made its way to the runway. The engine always seemed loudest when it just started up, it always forced her to pay to the motors the attention they deserved. Someone made this engine, She thought. Someone made it, not merely put it together, but someone created this engine. Someone figured out a way to create the power to fly, to move, faster and faster, with this machinery. Someone created this. “I want to create like that” as all that kept going through her head.. Leaning back in her chair, she felt the plane moving faster and faster down the runway. She could feel the first wheel leave the ground, then the others. She was in the air. With the nose of the plane pointing so high, it felt like she was almost lying down. She felt the pressure of gravity pulling all of her body into the seat. It felt like her clothes were being pressed to her skin. It reminded her of when she would go to amusement parks when she was a child and go in the spinning room where the floor fell out from underneath her. Once she accidentally swallowed her gum on that ride; it was almost impossible for her not to have swallowed her gum, the force of the ride spinning was strong against her. Having the chance to lean back in her seat, she got to enjoy the ride, until the plane leveled off. Straightening her hair, she opened her eyes and sat upright. She reached under her seat and looked into her briefcase. She almost pulled out her computer, but she decided that her notepad and pen would do the same job. She saw the messages to call her dad and Steve. A flurry of thoughts went through her head; she didn’t entirely understand why her dad was calling her, she thought they had caught up at dinner, and then she thought about what she should make of the phone call from Steve. “Men aren’t usually calling me,” Sloane first thought, but then she thought that it might be just what she needed, someone to talk to about work that wasn’t in the field, someone that might actually want to listen. Then she thought about the work she had to do when she got back to the office, and she wrote down: 1. Improve Emivir 2. Integrase Inhibitor 3. Improve side effects and ease-of-use for drugs Then she stared at her list; she drew a line under her list and wrote: -------------------------- 4. a vaccine 5. a cure After putting her pen down, she looked out the window. “It’s not as bad as it seems,” she said under her breath, looking at the clouds the airplane was flying over outside her window. She had to look over her list. “There has to be something I’m missing. Just look at this from a different angle,” she thought. She looked at her list. She stopped on point three. She picked up her pen, and drew another line again. -------------------------- 6. psychological treatment 6a. alleviate depression, may help immune system 6b. help memory to take drugs, and keep positive attitude 7. homeopathy 7a. nutrition, diet and herbs to improve general health 7b. herbs to alleviate nausea for patients who experience side effects and to make injections more plausible 7c. vitamins and herbs with effects on immune system 7d. is there a psychologically positive effect of eating things good for you? -------------------------- Homeopathy stuck in her head as she looked at her list of notes on homeopathy. She was surprised that she knew nothing about this. She never thought of the nutritional aspect of illness and health. She remembered that in order to get her degrees, she needed only three hours -- one class -- on nutrition. And no one in the medical community in America seems to give anything credence for health benefits other than a drug -- at least not on paper. Tearing the paper off of the note pad, she put it in her briefcase. She pulled out her mail and her journals, placed them all on the table before her and started reading. A few hours later, while she was still reading, she heard her pilot’s voice over the speakers in the cabin. “Have you been working all of this time? Have you eaten any food yet? You have to be starving by now.” The door to the cockpit was open; Jim was glancing back at her. “Okay, okay, I’ll get some food.” “Good. You know it will be after dinner by the time you get settled in Miami,” she heard over the speakers in the cabin. She knew he was right and slowly walked to the back of the plane and grabbed a turkey sandwich and a can of juice. She looked at the champagne in the refrigerator before closing the door. Instead of going to her seat, she went to the cockpit. Maybe Jim was right, she thought, she probably needed a break from her work. Standing in the doorway, she looked at the tiny cockpit. “Mind if I come in here? I’ve never been in a cockpit before, and yes, I would like to see how you fly this plane all by yourself.” “Sure, come on in. there’s an empty seat here.” Sitting down, she opened the wrapping from the sandwich and peeled it down. “Is it okay to eat in here? Oh, wait, will you need some food? I should have asked before.” “No, I’m fine, I ate right before we left Seattle.” With eyes transfixed over all the controls, she then looked up at the sky in front of her. The sky unfolded rows and rows of billowing clouds in the panoramic picture windows before her. “You know, the sky looks a lot better here than from the passenger seats.” “You know, seeing the world from this high is going to be a lot better when you have a window bigger than a magazine cover.” Sitting for a few minutes in silence, eating her sandwich and drinking her apple juice, she smiled while Jim radioed controllers at the ground to check for weather conditions. A few minutes passed, and then she spoke. “Jim?” “Yes?” “What kind of feeling do you get when you’re flying a plane?” “You mean, while I’m in the air?” “Yes. You’re in this cockpit, dealing with all of these controls, high above the ground. Do you ever get lonely or scared?” “Lonely? Scared? No, not at all, Ms. Emerson.” “Sloane.” “Sorry. No, Sloane, I don’t get scared at all. I feel, well, I don’t know how to say it, but when I’m up here I feel like I have more control than I do anywhere else in the world. This is my space, this is my domain, and it makes me feel, well, I don’t quite know how to put it...” Jim paused while speaking. “Alive, I guess. I guess I could feel scared, but here I know that if I do something wrong it’s my fault, there’s no one here to tell me how to do my work or to second guess me. I never get tired of flying airplanes. And as for lonely, well, no, I don’t feel lonely, either. I guess I’m alone up here a lot, but there’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. And when I’m up here, flying, I could never feel lonely. I feel like I have everything I need right in this little cockpit, flying in the air.” “Are you sure you don’t need anything? I think I’m going to put my work away, I could bring you something.” “No, really, I’m fine. Yeah, you should pack your stuff up, I think we’re going to be landing in about twenty minutes.” “Really? We’ve been on the plane that long?” “Yes. Apparently you lose yourself in your work, too.” Sloane walked to the door of the cockpit. “I suppose I do,” she said as she walked back to her seat to prepare for the descent into Miami International Airport. The airplane arrived at the airport only about fifteen minutes before Toby’s plane was landing, so She didn’t have to wait long for Toby to arrive. She stood at the security gate, just past the customs agents, pulling out the last journal from her briefcase. She leaned against the railing along the window. Was he was going to give her any answers, as all she kept asking herself. She knew that she was supposed to be there for him as a friend; that’s why he asked her to meet him in Miami. But she knew she wanted information about his search for a solution to the AIDS mystery. She wanted to get somewhere with her search, and she traveled across the country to try to get it. Toby walked through the passenger terminal toward the security gates. He spotted her before she saw him, which is the way he preferred it to be: he could then look at her for one long moment before having to collect himself. Something about Sloane Emerson appealed to Toby, but he could never understand why. “But she’s not very feminine looking,” Toby thought, “...her jaw is even sharp and rigid...” Toby saw her sitting on a ledge along the window at the side of the terminal. Her trench coat was over her right arm, and she was holding her journal in her right hand, and holding the strap of her overnight bag on her shoulder in her left hand. She was wearing beige slacks and a white button-down shirt. He could see that she was wearing a gray tank top underneath her shirt. Her hair kept falling into her eyes; she continually had to let go of her luggage strap to guide her hair back behind her ear with her fingertips. She stared at her journal. For that moment, she saw nothing other than the words she was reading and processing in her brain. And for that moment, Toby could see nothing other than her. It took him about thirty seconds to be processed by customs. He walked out of the hallway and to the open area where she was waiting and started walking toward her. She looked up at him. “Toby! I didn’t even see you coming.” Standing up, she crammed her journal into her briefcase and put her arms around him. Toby smiled. “That was the warmest greeting you’ve ever given me.” “I forget that my friends need reminders from me that I’m their friend. How was your flight?” “Fine. I don’t have any luggage, so let me just run into the bathroom and then we can go to the hotel.” “Oh, a hotel,” she answered. “I completely forgot about where I’d stay.” “Don’t worry. I made sure I got a room with two beds.” “I’m sure I could get my own room.” “What for? Look, don’t bother buying a room, it doesn’t make any sense.” “you’ve got a point... So, get to the bathroom, will you?” Toby smiled at her again and walked to the bathroom. It occurred to her then that Toby was smiling all the time. She couldn’t actually imagine that he was that happy all the time, it just couldn’t be possible. She watched him walk to the bathroom; as she watched him she thought that he looked like he belonged on a beach in California and not in a laboratory in the dreariest city in the United States. His blond hair was long on the top and short on the sides and bounced with him whenever he walked. His usual five o’clock shadow looked like little spears of copper and light brown. He almost always wore jeans, faded ones, with a t-shirt and sometimes a sports coat. He looked like he needed a convertible to complete the outfit. They walked in stride through the airport and found a taxi. “The Pelican Coast Hotel,” Toby said as the taxi sped off toward the expressway. Toby checked in while Sloane stood by his side. She thought it was strange that she was with a man in a hotel; she usually checked herself in, because she usually traveled alone. They went to their room. Sloane started unpacking her bag. “Can’t that wait? Let’s get a drink at the bar.” “I want to hang my clothes so that they don’t get more wrinkled.” “Okay. How about I meet you down there?” “Sure.” Toby bounced his way out of the door. Noticing that he was his usual happy self, she still thought that he seemed much better than he was when he called from South America earlier that day. She walked over to the thermostat. It was 76 degrees in the room. She turned the temperature down and took off the white blouse that was over her tank top before heading downstairs. Toby was sitting at a corner table in the hotel bar. It was relatively quiet; usually the tourists went to other bars on the weekends. He saw her walk through the lobby and enter the bar. He saw that She had taken off her white shirt in her room and was wearing only the tank top with her slacks. Toby wasn’t expecting this. He knew She thought of her clothes as only functional garments; that they were doing a job for her. It was warm in the hotel; she wouldn’t have a need for her white blouse; it served its function; it could now rest from its duty. But now he saw her shoulders. He noticed how she moved around the tables through the room. When she maneuvered around a table or a chair she turned one shoulder to the front, as if it were a guiding force, as if she was steering with her shoulders, as if she were about to shove her way through a crowd in a room. She held her purse in her hand, and even in how her arms held her purse, it seemed as if her limbs consciously knew they served a function and should do it effectively. Toby was transfixed on her shoulders and arms as she made her way to the table. He stood up and pulled out the chair for her. As he was seating her, She asked, “Okay, I’m here. Care to tell me what’s going on?” “Is it always business with you?” “Toby, you called me this morning upset, asking me to fly across the country, and now that I’m here you act like nothing has happened. Can you explain it to me?” The waiter walked up and placed a wine glass down in front of her. “I hope a Chardonnay was a good pick. I didn’t know what you’d want.” The waiter finished pouring and brought a shot of whiskey and a draft beer for Toby. The waiter walked away. “Shots, already?” She asked. “Look, I’ll get it out, but I just wanted to say,” and he raised his shot glass in the gesture of a toast, and She followed his lead, “that I’m really happy that you came here. I mean, I’m glad that you thought this was worth traveling to Miami for. I do need to talk to you, but I just want you to know that I appreciate the effort you’ve made. Thanks.” Their glasses clinked; Toby threw his head back with the glass and grabbed his beer to chase it down while She watched him and took the first sip of her wine. “Look, remember the last trip I took to South America, to look into natural materials that may have anti-viral effects on humans?” “The natural materials, and yes, and Toby, I’m still amazed that you got the funding for it. You didn’t even know how to go about looking for material for AIDS drugs.” “You forget that I work for the government, you and your little company probably would never have funded it, but the government did. That’s why I like working for the university. All I had to do was make the proposal sound nice.” “You just had to make it sound nice,” She replied, almost with a condescending undertone. “Yes, you know what I mean.” “So getting money doesn’t necessarily depend on merit or talent?” “Oh, don’t start, I didn’t mean anything by it.” “And you said the government pays for it?” “Well, yes, to the university.” “Who pays the government?” “What?” “Who pays the government?” “Um, taxes, I guess.” “Yes, they do. And who pays taxes?” “Okay, you can stop now.” “I’m just trying to gently remind you that your money has to come from somewhere, it’s not like the government is giving you free money, it was taken from somewhere else, taken from all the people who pay taxes.” “Sloane --” “That everyone pays money so that you can go to South America searching for plants when you don’t even know exactly what it is you’re looking for.” “Sloane --” “Okay, okay, I’m done, I’m getting off my soapbox now.” “Thanks.” “So on your last trip...” “So on my last trip I managed to find something from the sap on the back of some bark there, and we brought it back to the States, and it seemed to do a very good job of fighting the virus.” “Yes, you told me about it, what was it, two months ago?” “Yes.” “In fact, there’s a little write-up about you and your findings in a medical journal I was reading on the flight over here.” “Really? Did you read it?” Sloane did her best to put a coy expression on her face. “Maybe...” Toby laughed. “We did a bunch of laboratory tests on it and it seemed to be doing really well, so we administered it to four test subjects. Half of them showed marked improvements in their condition -- their viral load dropped and their T-Cell count shot up. For the other two the substance had no impact.” “Still, that’s great, with a little engineering you can find out what made the substance not work for the others and alter it to give it a higher success rate.” “Exactly. In doing all of these tests, we used up all of the drug.” “Oh, so you were going back now to get more of the bark.” “To get the sap -- not the bark.” “So you were going back to get more of the sap.” “Exactly.” Toby emphasized his last word too much; Sloane was sure he intentionally placed too much emphasis on that word. She looked at him for a moment. “And... how did the trip go?” “How did my trip go?” Toby almost laughed as he signaled the waiter for another shot. “I go back to the same place where I found that tree, because you know how rain forests go, a tree there might be the only one of its species, or one like it may be very far away from it instead of right next to it, it’s a very diverse and very rich area.” The waiter brought up the shot; Toby held up his finger while he did the shot and handed the shot glass to the waiter and gestured for another. “I go back to that same place where I found that tree, and you know what I found?” He took a swig of his beer. “What happened, Toby?” “What happened is that some American cattle-ranching beef company or something bought a thousand acres of the land my tree was on and they cleared all one hundred acres for cattle ranch. Cleared. I mean, my tree was right smack-dab in the middle of the hundred acres. And it was completely gone. This field looked like it could have been right in the middle of Illinois or Iowa. Not a tree in sight. There was a little fence all the way around and a little sign every hundred yards at the fence line with the company name on it.” “So you had to come back empty-handed.” “Yes, I had to come back empty-handed.” “Is there any way that company could have known that researchers were using the material on that land for disease research? I mean, could you have notified the government or something?” “I did notify the government. But how accurately are they going to keep records in different departments of these things? They make a note of what I’m doing and they seem to just put it in a file cabinet. Hell, they could have put it in the circular file for all the good it did. When someone wanted to buy the land, the government was the first to want to make a penny out of it.” “Well, of course they want the money for it. And if no one really knew...” “There’s so much bureaucracy, no one knows what the guy next to them is doing, unless they’re doing something wrong.” Sloane looked at him for a moment. “Is there anything I can do?” “Get me that tree back.” “Toby --” “I’m sorry.” It all flashed in her mind that she should learn to be more social, especially in these situations. She did the best she could on such short notice by saying, “I mean, do you need to talk more? What can I do right now to make you feel better?” Toby was surprised by her concern. He responded by stating, “It’s not like you to make such an offer.” “I didn’t make an offer.” The waiter brought another shot to Toby. “Point well taken.” The waiter walked away. Toby looked at his shot, then at her. “You know what you can do for me?” “Name it.” “Just have a drink with me.” “Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Toby looked at her, then at her half-full glass of wine. “Waiter,” She called out, “Two more shots of whiskey and two pints of his draft.” Toby could hardly believe his eyes. He smiled almost inquisitively at her. The waiter brought back two shots and beers. Sloane picked up the shot with Toby and they held them in the air. Toby counted to three; She followed his lead and they both drank. Sloane shivered after drinking the shot and followed his lead in going for the beer to wash the whiskey down. Toby thought it was cute that she was doing this for him, knowing that she didn’t drink much, and he watched her as he drank.
Sloane took the hotel key from Toby’s pocket and leaned Toby up against the wall. “Now you stay right there young man, don’t move,” Sloane ordered Toby while she reached over and opened the door. She kept her foot in the doorway to hold the door open while she nudged Toby toward the door. “Okay, I’m not guiding you anymore, get to the bed or bathroom yourself.” Toby lifted his head and looked at her and smiled. “What, you can’t help a guy in need?” he asked. “Not when I know he’s perfectly capable of doing the job himself.” With that Toby burst out laughing. Only then did she realize what it sounded like she meant. Toby walked to the bathroom, splashed some water on his face and walked toward the bed. Sloane stopped and leaned against the wall and watched Toby slowly walk over to the bed and fall face-first onto the bed. She smiled, grabbed a t-shirt and shorts from her drawer and went to the bathroom to change. A few minutes later she walked out into the room and pulled the covers off of her bed. Toby was in the same position as he was when she walked into the bathroom. After she got into bed she heard Toby mutter, “Why did this happen?” “What, Toby?” “Why did this have to happen?” “Toby, just get some rest.” “But I was so close.” Considering it for a moment, she thought: on some level it hardly did seem fair. That rain forest was much more valuable than a cattle ranch. But all she could think was: why did this have to happen? It didn’t have to. The company that bought it had a right to buy that land; they just made a bad business decision. Then again, if no one knew this patch of land was being used for research, how would they have known the value of it? The government kept poor track of things -- they made a bad mistake by making the sale. “I know you were so close. But there’s no use in lamenting over that when there’s work to be done. Are you sure there’s no way you can use anything what’s left from the samples and try to replicate synthetically?” She heard Toby start to snore. Smiling, she got up and walked over to his bed. She untied his shoes. She tried to push him up the bed, so his head was on a pillow. She slid his jacket off his shoulders. She figured he could sleep in his t-shirt and jeans. She got up and turned off the light next to her bed. She sat upright in the dark for a while. She couldn’t stop thinking. There would have to be a way to replicate that tree sap, even if he used it all in tests, as long as he kept some of the results. Maybe he could search other rain forests nearby to see if there was any chance a tree like this existed somewhere else. She thought about Colin Madison, telling her that she has a green light financially to do whatever she needed for research. That she could use the company plane whenever she wanted. But he offered that to her because she proved her talent and created a good product. She made strides and she was being rewarded for it. Toby was given the green light because he worded his guesses appropriately and got lucky. How could she? She couldn’t blame Toby for using the system? The government allows it, the government has created this system where independent panelists of people unrelated to the field dole out millions of dollars to the people who have a grin like Tyler Gillian, or who have a lobby group that talks the loudest. Maybe she should blame Toby, though. She knew she didn’t want that university job; she knew she wanted to be rewarded for her merits and nothing else. Toby liked the fact that the university had this “caste” system that gave him security in his job. Now he had a bad break. He has to learn from it. After trying to think about the rain forest, she wondered: why would it be so hard to find another tree? She realized how little she knew about the planet’s rain forests. The tree had to be seeded from another tree, right? Is his search over? She got up and walked over to her briefcase, by the window. She quietly pulled out her computer and plugged it into the wall. “I can get on line tonight,” she thought, “and see what is on the Internet about the rain forests, and possibly about the possible relationship of AIDS and HIV to it.” Looking out the window at the darkness for a minute, she noticed a few boat lights moving along the water. She saw the lights of the Miami were still alive, at two in the morning, even though Toby was out for the night. She saw the lights of a few bars crowded with people. And then, like a page ripped down the center, next to all the lights was the ocean, a void of blackness. “Anything is conquerable,” She said under her breath as she closed the drapes from the ocean versus the city and went to bed. Her Internet research could wait until morning.
But she still thought about the Internet research, even when she wasn’t on line. This would be something she could stand some help on, she thought. Maybe the team at Madison would be able to use the Internet accounts to get more information on specific parts of the problem for the Madison group. She knew that if there was a concern for the rain forests on the Internet, then there would probably be concerns -- and a number of web sites -- about things like “alien abductions” and “government conspiracies” and “AIDS and homeopathy” and more. And if it was on the Internet, she could find it. And so could anyone at Madison.
At ten in the morning Toby rolled over. He thought he heard a slight tapping of rain outside his window. When he opened his eyes, however, he realized he was in Miami and not in Seattle, where he would expect the rain to be falling outside his window. He turned over and looked at the window. The sun beamed in, streaming around her, sitting at the table in front of the window. The light sound of rain was Sloane typing into her computer. “How long have you been up?” Toby asked. “Since six.” He rolled back over to check the clock; he remembered that he was still dressed and checked his watch instead. He picked his head back up to look at her. “You’ve been up for four hours? Why didn’t you wake me?” “You needed your rest. Besides, I wanted to get some work done.” “Is that all you think about?” “Sometimes.” Toby let his head fall back on to the pillow. “How are you feeling?” Sloane asked. “Oh, my head hurts. Surprise. I just need some food. You’ve had breakfast, right?” “Oh, I forgot. No, I haven’t eaten yet.” “I can understand letting your mind go into overdrive, but doesn’t your body remind you that you have to maintain it?” “I’m fine, besides, I’ve been so amazed at the information on the Internet that I haven’t been able to stop working. Now I know why Colin wanted me to get on line so bad.” “What do you mean?” Toby started to sit up. “I’ve been using the e-mail they gave us, right? Well, the boss kept telling me to use the Internet, and I don’t even think he’s ever been on it, I don’t think he knows how it works. And I’ve never had a real need to get on line before. But this morning I was thinking, I don’t know much of anything about the rain forests, really, so maybe I can get on line and learn something. Madison Pharmaceuticals has a T-1 line as well as a national dial up number, so I just got on line. I checked my e-mail, and then I got on to the Internet to see what I could find about the rain forests.” “One question before you go on.” “Sure.” “Are you going to let me take you out to breakfast when you’re done?” “You can take me to breakfast now, as long as I can tell you what I’ve learned.” Toby got up out of bed. “Okay, I’m ready.” “For breakfast, or my story?” “Both. I’m dressed, aren’t I?” Sloane laughed. Toby walked to the washroom; he turned back and looked at Sloane. and spoke. “Maybe you can wait until I have some coffee before you tell me your story.” “It’s a deal.” Toby ran some water through his hair while she closed her programs on her computer and shut the laptop off so they could go to a breakfast diner. The both of them both simultaneously turned their coffee cups over as they sat down in the booth of the diner. The waitress came over and filled them up. Toby curled his left hand around the mug. “Okay, I’m ready.” “You know, it’s not that big of a deal...” “Oh, just spit it out.” “Okay, so I decided to go on the Internet to find out what I could about rain forests. So I went to a search engine and typed the words ’rain forest’ in to see what I could get. I got so many entries that I’d never be able to check all of the web sites. So I typed in the words ’rain forest destruction’ in and got a number of sites to tell me about why and how the rain forests are being destroyed.” “And?” Toby asked. “And did you know that the three primary reasons rain forests are being cleared are farming, cattle ranching and logging?” “It makes sense, I suppose.” “Did you know that orange juice sold in the United States that is from concentrate has oranges from groves in Brazil, on what used to be rain forest land?” “Really?” “Yes, just check the fine print on the package. Usually it will say something like ’oranges from Florida, Mexico and Brazil.’ Right on the package.” “Wow, I had no idea.” The waitress walked over. “Are you ready to order?” “Sure. I’d like a Spanish omelet and hash browns, white toast.” “Would you like any orange juice with that?” Sloane glanced at Toby, then looked back at the waitress. “Is it from concentrate?” The waitress answered that it was. “No, thank you,” she answered. The waitress continued, “And for you, sir?” “Two scrambled eggs, two sausage links, hash browns, and toast?” “Sure.” “Actually, miss, can I change my order? What he’s having sounds good.” “You want exactly what he’s having?” “Yes please.” “Okay. It’ll be up in just a few minutes.” “So,” Sloane turned back to Toby, “I thought it was interesting to learn this stuff about rain forest destruction. Most of the people that want to save the rain forests are talking about atmospheric changes, but there’s no proof in that, and there’s not even any proof that there’s permanent damage to the ozone. I was surprised to find that people were arguing about saving the rain forests from that angle and not from the medical research angle.” “Good point, I guess.” “So then I went back to the search engine and typed the words ’rain forest AIDS’ to see if there was anything. Get this. There was even a site about the monkey theory about how the first human got AIDS --” “You mean the theory that a monkey transferred the virus to a human by biting his butt? A virus jumped from animals to humans? Do you even believe that theory?” “Just listen, I never said I believed that. What I’m saying is that this site suggested that it was the destruction of the rain forest that caused the spread of AIDS in humans.” “From monkeys.” “Not from monkeys biting a human butt.” Toby laughed. “The theory is that a man ate monkey meat that was contaminated with a virus, not that a monkey bit a man in the butt.” “But still --” “I’m just telling you what was on this one site. The suggestion it was making is that not only do rain forests contain a plethora of rare animals and plants, so too it could contain rare viruses.” “A plethora?” “And records of some viruses that have erupted since the beginning of rain forest destruction in African towns are spread by the air, not just by blood, which could mean the beginning of more drastic epidemics. And you don’t need to make fun of me because I’m coherent enough to use big words like ’plethora’ in the morning, mister drinker.” “Mister drinker?” “I’m going to keep telling my story.” “No one is stopping you.” She mockingly glared at him. “They posted the theory that if AIDS mutates as much as it has been known to, it may mutate to the point where it can be transmitted by air.” “That’s not going to happen.” “Are we sure?” “If it is possible for it to mutate to that point, it will not be for years and years and years. I’m sure there will be a cure within the next decade or so.” “Still, it’s something to ponder, something to spur you on a little more, isn’t it?” Sloane paused to eat some of her eggs. “There were a few more sites, and most of them were about herbs and vitamins and things people were selling -- products that had origins from the rain forest.” “Like what?” The waitress checked on their food. “Could I have some hot sauce?” Sloane asked the waitress. Toby looked at her with just a tinge of disgust. Sloane answered his glance with, “Just because you’re hung over, doesn’t mean I am.” The waitress brought the hot sauce to the table, and Sloane continued. “The other web sites primarily contained products with health benefits derived from plant extracts and the like from rain forest materials. There was an immune system rejuvenator made from rain forest materials, phytonutrients, colloidal minerals and even a tea to help with energy that was derived from a tree bark.” “And you think they all work?” “I have no idea, I haven’t had the drugs, the extracts, or the research facilities to check them all out. I would say probably not. My point is that there are other people out there looking for cures to diseases, utilizing the rain forest, people that you might be able to communicate with.” “People making a wonder tonic and selling it on the web do it because it makes them more money than driving from town to town and gathering a crowd for a sales pitch. ’Rev up your romantic life! Get the energy of your youth! Everything you need is in this handy...” “I get it, Toby,” Sloane answered. “Super-potent...” Toby cut in. “Toby, enough,” Sloane protested. “Energy tonic!” Toby continued. “Are you not interested in finding a way to solve your problem?” “You think I’ll find it by people selling energy tonics?” “With ingredients possibly from the same place as your research materials? Look, one of the herbs, or whatever it was, was one that claimed to help with people’s immune systems and had testimonials from AIDS patients. They said the materials were from a Peruvian rain forest. They found that this substance, from the inside of a tree bark, also helped with phagocytosis.” Toby looked up. She added, “Is this sounding a little more familiar now?” Toby leaned back in his booth. “Okay, I’ll let you eat the rest of your breakfast in peace. Just let me know when you want the web site address. I saved it for you.” “You’re doing my work for me while I sleep off a hangover, because I’m too mad about my lack of success.” “Don’t think for a minute I’m doing it for you. This is a puzzle, solving this disease. And I’m a sucker for puzzles. You know me, I can’t help but pick up a piece and try to make it fit. Besides, this research makes me think of other avenues I could be taking in helping people with AIDS.” She smiled at him. They ate for a moment in silence. “Hey, are you going to use the jelly for your English muffin?” “No. Here, take some.” They got back from breakfast and checked out of the hotel. “Hey,” Toby stopped her in the lobby, “What do you say we have the hotel hold our bags for an hour or two and we take a walk on the beach before we go? I haven’t even been able to spend any time in Miami, and I’ve got two hours before my flight takes off for Seattle. By the way, what airline are you on? Maybe we could go back together.” “I would if I could, but I’ve got the private plane this weekend.” “Well, well, well, Ms. Emerson, you’re really the big-wig over there, aren’t you?” She started to give a humorous sneer as he paused before speaking. “That’s what I get for giving up the university job.” “Well, can you at least go for a walk?” “Sure, let me phone Jim.” Sloane pulled her cellular phone out of her jacket pocket. “Jim? It’s Sloane. Yes, I suppose you knew that... Is it possible to take off in maybe around two hours? ... I didn’t know how long I’d have to be here, but I didn’t expect it to be all weekend... Yes, I know I’m supposed to rest. No, I should probably just fly back this afternoon... Okay. It can be ready? Great. Should I just meet you at the airport? Okay, I’ll see you then. Thanks.” She hung up her phone as Toby took her baggage and gave it to the clerk at the registration desk. “You know, you really should go somewhere for the rest of the weekend,” Toby said once they got to the water’s edge. “They’re letting you take the plane -- don’t you have anyone you’d like to visit? I mean, you’ve got the company plane, you could just go for a while.” “I suppose, but really, who would I go see? And I want to use this for business, and business only. This isn’t supposed to be a personal trip.” “Is that what your boss said?” He waited for her snide answer as they got to the beach and started walking. “Well, actually, no, he told me to take a break for the weekend and go somewhere.” “Well? Go visit someone somewhere.” “What, just call them and say, ’Can I see you tonight?’” “Sure. You know you’ll regret it if you don’t.” “I doubt that. But I’ll think about it.” They walked together along the water in silence. “The water is beautiful,” Toby said, looking out at the ocean. “The ocean is such a powerful force. I mean, it covers two thirds of the planet. Just one strong wave could pull you under and kill you. And yet we humans are fascinated with it. We’re over half water. We want to ride boats over it. We want to swim in it. We want to surf on it, or ski on it, or float around in it. And we just want to stare at it, listen to the waves crash into the shore, and smell the salt air. What a love affair we have with it.” Sloane thought for a minute about what he said. “I think you’re right,” she answered to him. “Yeah?” he asked. “Yeah.” she answered. “I’m not used to you agreeing with me.” Putting in a dramatic pause, she then spoke. “I’ve agreed with you on many things, Toby. But for me, the beauty of this scene is more than that, more than the beauty of nature, more than the beauty of the ocean. I like looking at the water because it reminds me of my life, about human life. It shows what nature is like, and it shows what we’ve done with nature. Yes, even though a tide can pull us under and kill us, we are still capable of going scuba diving with sharks and maneuvering boats over it. This water is beautiful because of our involvement with it, our choice to use it to our own ends. But on some levels what I think is most beautiful about this scene,” she said, moving her arm in a circle before her, “is that all of this, the waves crashing, the beauty and peacefulness of nature, is sitting here right up against high-rises.” “You like the buildings here? It would look so much nicer if there was nothing here other than the water.” “What I like is the fact that we’ve built these buildings, right at a place where the people in them can really enjoy the water. What I like is looking at the beauty of the buildings -- the steel, the glass, the functionality of the products of the human mind -- poised right up against the beautiful scene from nature.” “I don’t know if I agree with you.” “The best of man and the best of nature, all in one. That’s what makes this scene astonishing for me. I’ve seen sunsets reflecting off of skyscrapers that were more beautiful than any sunrise at this beach.” Toby looked at her and smiled. “You were always a strange bird...” “Would you want me any other way?” “Of course not.” “That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.” They both smiled and continued walking. They turned around to walk back toward the hotel. During the remainder of their little trip they walked in silence. Sloane thought about all the avenues that going on the Internet had brought to her attention that morning. She thought about that list she had started writing on the airplane. Then she thought about all of the difficulties her staff had been going through trying to improve Emivir. She was beginning to feel the weight of the world upon her shoulders again. She thought about Tyler, and the lobbyists. She thought about the patients the lobbyists claimed blamed Madison Pharmaceuticals for not giving them drugs for free. “Haven’t I done enough?” she thought. “What do they want from me?” They got back to the hotel and Toby picked up their luggage. They shared a taxi together to the airport. “Sloane,” Toby said, “You look like you’re already dreading going back to work.” “It’s not the work that I dread.” “What then?” “I --” Sloane couldn’t get the words out. “I don’t know what it is. I keep thinking that I do good work, but most people just want more.” “Are you working for them or for you?” “Thanks for asking that. But for me, of course, and I want more from me too, I mean, I want to accomplish more as well, but when everyone is fighting you...” “Believe me, I know what you mean,” Toby answered. Sloane remembered his failed rain forest experiment and tried to empathize. “But I know you, you love your work. Hell, you were looking into research about the rain forest while I was passed out from drinking myself into a stupor and out of a depression over this whole mess. You love this; it’s in your blood. The thing is, you just have to forget about the people that bother you. They’ll never truly get in your way.” Starting to smile, she said, “You’re right, Toby.” “What? You’re agreeing with me again?” The taxi pulled up to the airport and Toby handed her the baggage from the trunk. “When I get into town I’ll send you the web site address for the rain forest pages I was reading.” “Thanks. And thanks for coming to help me out here. If you need it, I’ll fly across the country for you.” “Thanks, Toby,” she said, smiling and starting to walk away. “And that’s a big deal, because I’d actually have to pay for my ticket.” She laughed as she turned back toward her terminal and Toby walked toward his. Sloane met up with Jim at the end of the terminal and he walked her to the plane. “I’m surprised you don’t want to stay here, or go somewhere else. You’ve got me for the weekend, you know.” She stood outside in front of the plane. She thought for a moment, pulling out her cellular phone. “If I wanted to change our destination, could we do it?” “Where were you thinking?” “New York.” “There shouldn’t be a problem.” He looked at the phone in her hand. “Do you need to call someone first?” “Can you give me a minute?” “Sure. Come up when you’re ready -- I can confirm where we can land in New York from the plane, so let me know where we’re going, okay?” “Thanks, Jim,” she said as she watched Jim walk up the stairs and duck his head as he got into the plane. She looked at the phone. She planned to make two calls; the first one was to the phone number that was left on her answering machine. A young man answered the phone, and didn’t seem very alert when he answered the phone. “Hello?” he answered. “Hello, is Steve there?” “This is he. Who is this?” “This is Sloane Emerson, I work with Kyle, I was returning your call, but did I wake you up? I didn’t mean to --” Steve interrupted her so she didn’t have to explain. “I’m wide awake. I thought you were ignoring me by not calling me back. How are you?” “I’m about to fly from Miami to New York, I think... I got your message during my trip, but I didn’t have much of a chance to call you until now.” “Don’t worry about it. And why Miami and New York?” “Miami for business, and New York for social reasons. I am trying to not think about work all the time.” “I know you don’t know me very well, but if you are trying to be more social, I can be a good listener.” “Listener?” she asked. “Sounding board, conversation friend -- I work for the newspaper and do have a good command over the English language...” Sloane smiled at his remark and noted that this is what she had to learn to do more of. I’m not very good at being social, I am usually doing research at home or at work, so you’ll have to forgive me.” “Should I wait for you to call when you get back in to town then?” Steve asked. Knowing this call would cost her money on the cellular phone, she agreed and said she would talk to him later. Then she dialed New York. She heard a voice answer. “Hello?” She didn’t bother with a formal hello. “Carter?” “Yes, who is this? I’m having a hard time hearing you.” “Carter, it’s Sloane, Sloane Emerson. I’m standing next to an airplane getting ready to go.” “Where are you?” Carter asked. “Miami. We’re about to take off.” “Where are you going?” “That’s why I’m calling. I’ve got the company plane for the weekend, and everyone has been begging me to take time off, and I was wondering if you --” “Tell me what time I should pick you up and I’ll be waiting for you.” “You don’t have any plans? I’m not interrupting anything?” “Just call when you know where you’re going to be and when. No arguing.” “Thanks, Carter. I’ll call you in about an hour.” “I’ll see you soon.” After they said goodbye, she looked at the phone in her hand for a moment, glancing up at the plane. She pushed the antenna back into the phone and made her way up the stairs. She walked to the cockpit while men closed the airplane door behind her. She could hear the stairs being rolled away from the side of the plane. “Where are we going, Ms. Emerson?” “I have a first name!” she said, laughing at how cordial he was trying to be. She smiled at him. Jim repeated, “Sloane, where are we going?” “We could go home... but then again, it’s Saturday afternoon. We could make it to New York in just a few hours.” “New York it is,” Jim proudly said as he turned back toward the controls. “Anything in particular you’re going to do while you’re there?” “Visit a friend,” she answered. “Someone who can bring my spirit back to me.”
Click here for Chapter 3 of The Key To Believing
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portions of this book are in the following books:
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