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A lanky ly beard looked up fro face?” he asked in a heavy Boston accent

“There’s a funeral in the village today The procession just passed”

“For the little boy?”

Elise nodded

“Very sad Rondi told e at the Suchitoto clinic I didn’t realize it was serious”

He shouted to a local teenage boy sorting stalks of corn from a bin “Rondi, what happened to the little boy?”

The teen hurried over to the scientists “He was enfermo for a short time A doctor came and took him to the hospital last week, but they could not help him”

“What was the diagnosis?” Elise asked

Rondi shrugged “Un misterio The doctors, they don’t say Just like the others”

“What others?”

“Three other children fro They get enfermo, and it is too late for the doctors to help them”

Elise looked at her colleague “Phil, do you think it could be related to the food crops?” She pointed to the bin of corn Rondi had been sorting

“Due to the genetically modified seeds we provided the farmers here last year?” He shook his head “Not a chance This variety is only engineered to withstand drought, and has been safely used all over the world”

She nodded “It’s just heartbreaking to see children get sick”

He shrugged “We’re agricultural scientists, Elise, not doctors” He glanced at the thriving cornfield “And tomorroe need to pack up and move ten miles north”