Page 49 (1/1)

--FROM CAN OF WORMS: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SHANTI CALE, PHD AS YET UNPUBLISHED

Chapter 9

AUGUST 2027

So me out of an uneasy sleep I opened my eyes but didn’t lift my head froo away and leavecontinued Beverly lifted her own head and turned toward the door, ears cocked at an inquisitive angle Then she turned and looked at me, the question clear in her puzzled brown eyes Why was I, the one with the thu wrong with the world?

Yes So infor a national health crisis, at least according to Nathan He’d produced reports fro them up in front of me like silent accusations I’d picked up the first one, flipping it open to the list of cases Twenty-seven affected so far in Cleveland, Ohio, and the surrounding cities "Why hasn’t this been on the news?" I’d asked

And that hen Nathan had said theto think it’s because SymboGen doesn’t want it to be" Each outbreak was reported on the local news--that was unavoidable--triggering a brief flurry of concern, but after that, it just vanished, falling into whatever pit waited for buried news cycles Miracle diets and pop starlets ruled the headlines, and a few dozen sleepwalkers in a few dozen Aistered as worthy of attention

But it wasn’t just a few dozen, according to the reports Nathan had There were a few hundred cases, once you looked at the whole country, and they weren’t limited to American soil We knew of definite cases in Canada, the United Kingdom, and South America, and there were rumors of more cases elsewhere in the world If this was as widespread as Nathan suspected, ide infections were probably so--which justSo a lot to bury this

SymboGen obviously didn’t have a treatment protocol--that was clear from the way they’d eliminated Chave--but they knew more than anyone else did So why hadn’t they shared their information with the rest of theto shut out all the other researchers and scientific establishments in the world? There were a lot of potentialNone of them were altruistic

After what Nathan and I had seen at SymboGen and the hospital, neither of us was in theDad and Beverly to the driveway I’d kissed hiht to bed That was--I lifted h to check the clock That was either three or fifteen hours ago, depending on whether it was nine o’clock in thewasn’t stopping I finally forceders as I walked to the door I wrenched it open, and deone to bed as soon as you got ho your paja story," I said The hallas brightly lit, but that didn’t tell ; there were no s "What time is it?"

"Don’t you have a clock, sleepyhead? It’s nine in theYou’ve slept the clock all the way around"

"Oh" I stood there, blinking dus her stateuaranteed deep REM So why didn’t I reht should have been a perfect candidate for a trip into the hot warht that, another realization hit me: I resented the absence of the dreams The hot warm dark was always safe, always constant, always there forI didn’t understand I woke up from those dreams confused but at peace, like I was only fully myself in those moments when the drums still echoed in my ears So why had the hot warm dark deserted me when I needed it most?

"Sal? You okay?"

"Huh?" I wrenchedmy head to clear it "I’?"

"Youto be sure you weren’t dead? Sye for you It’s labeled ‘tiht it would be a good idea to get you up so you could go and deal with it"

I eyed her "You just want to knohat’s inside"

My sister beamed unrepentantly "That is correct Besides, you know it’s not healthy for you to be in bed for too long There’s a whole big world out there just waiting to be explored"

"You can cut the New Age nature spiel I’ it, and we both know you never sound like a physical therapyyou," I said without rancor Mom could be pretty persuasive when she wanted to be, and Joyce probably hadn’t takento be opened

"Co box"

"What if I don’t want to?" I shot back Beverly chose thatoff down the hall, her tail waving languidly behind her as she made a beeline for the door to the backyard