demonic scarecrow.
Watching her. And her children. My children.
A red suit with white frills and buttons and a matching red hat.
huge blue triangular eyes like a jack-o’-lantern. Its mouth bloodred and
covering the entire bottom half of the face. In the shape of an enormous
smile.
Now, she knew.
Scooping up the rest of their things and slinging the bag over her
shoulder. Dragging little Michael in one arm, pulling her daughter with
the other.
“Pox,” Michael said. “Pox!”
“In the car, baby. hush now.”
She looked up at the swing set, clearly saw the girl there for the first
time. A woman. her “boyfriend” slowly and mechanically pushing her
swing from behind. The woman’s face masked behind grimy hair, head
drooped to the side. What Ashley had thought was a shirt was not. The
woman was nude from the waist up. What she’d figured was a shirt’s
pattern was dried blood.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?”
Ashley staggered forward to her car. Michael started crying.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?”
“Shut up,” she hissed, wrenching her daughter closer. “Please, baby,
just . . .”
One of the boys laughed.
She’d reached the car.
“Pox,” Michael yelped again. “Pox!”
“Pox,” Ashley replied in a half laugh that shuddered through her
whole body. “Pretzels. That’s right, baby.”
She had the door half open when they finally stopped her.
The first boy squatted down to playfully wave a finger at her daughter. The girl’s eyes were wide, her grip on Ashley’s hand like a vise.
Another boy reached out and touched Ashley’s mouth.
“Please . . . ,” she stammered over his probing fingers.
Around the back of the car, a third shape moving toward them.
A horrible thing made of white and blue and red. One she’d somehow been waiting for.
“Pox.” The clown smiled at them in a bloody grin that now filled
the whole world. “Pox?”
Michael giggled.
II
dNA n.
short for deoxyribonucleic acid
(1) A nucleic acid capable of self-replication and synthesis which carries genetic information in every cell; (2) two long chains of nucleotides
twisted into a double helix and joined by hydrogen bonds between the
complementary bases adenine and thymine or cytosine and guanine; (3)
sequence which determines and transmits individual hereditary characteristics from parents to offspring: see also genetic code; (4) dnA: see
also do not Alter; (5) dnA: see also do not Ask
While Odysseus pondered thus in mind and heart,
Poseidon, the earth-shaker, rose up a great wave,
dread and grievous, arching over from above,
and drove down it upon him.
And the wave scattered the long timbers of his raft
but Odysseus bestrode one plank.
the odyssey
AND The MONSTerS
JuNe 04, SAturdAy—MArcHwood, PA
D
STI was founded by Dr. William Asbury and incorporated
in 1977. Its chief executive officer was Dr. Thomas rolich, M.D., Ph.D. Its director of research was Dr. Gregory
Jacobson, recipient of the Zonta Science Award and The
Genetics Society of America’s prestigious Novitski Prize for “exhibiting
an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in genetic
scholarship and application.” Castillo lifted this from DSTI’s corporate
website.
The rest came from Brody. Pete Brody had worked on half a dozen
missions with Castillo as the chief analyst from the DI, the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, and was now working in the private sector,
something to do with Wall Street. his choice, but he’d still seemed
genuinely interested when Castillo had called earlier. “I’ll see what I can
find,” he’d said.
Ten hours later, and Castillo had info DSTI had not quite included
on its website. “They were acquired as a subsidiary by BioStar in 1990
to obtain several of DSTI’s cloning patents,” Pete reported. “BioStar is
a subsidiary of Goodwin Bio-Med, formed by the Nerney Institute in
’87. Nerney’s a sister company of Terngo engineering, who designs and
builds vehicles
Watching her. And her children. My children.
A red suit with white frills and buttons and a matching red hat.
huge blue triangular eyes like a jack-o’-lantern. Its mouth bloodred and
covering the entire bottom half of the face. In the shape of an enormous
smile.
Now, she knew.
Scooping up the rest of their things and slinging the bag over her
shoulder. Dragging little Michael in one arm, pulling her daughter with
the other.
“Pox,” Michael said. “Pox!”
“In the car, baby. hush now.”
She looked up at the swing set, clearly saw the girl there for the first
time. A woman. her “boyfriend” slowly and mechanically pushing her
swing from behind. The woman’s face masked behind grimy hair, head
drooped to the side. What Ashley had thought was a shirt was not. The
woman was nude from the waist up. What she’d figured was a shirt’s
pattern was dried blood.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?”
Ashley staggered forward to her car. Michael started crying.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?”
“Shut up,” she hissed, wrenching her daughter closer. “Please, baby,
just . . .”
One of the boys laughed.
She’d reached the car.
“Pox,” Michael yelped again. “Pox!”
“Pox,” Ashley replied in a half laugh that shuddered through her
whole body. “Pretzels. That’s right, baby.”
She had the door half open when they finally stopped her.
The first boy squatted down to playfully wave a finger at her daughter. The girl’s eyes were wide, her grip on Ashley’s hand like a vise.
Another boy reached out and touched Ashley’s mouth.
“Please . . . ,” she stammered over his probing fingers.
Around the back of the car, a third shape moving toward them.
A horrible thing made of white and blue and red. One she’d somehow been waiting for.
“Pox.” The clown smiled at them in a bloody grin that now filled
the whole world. “Pox?”
Michael giggled.
II
dNA n.
short for deoxyribonucleic acid
(1) A nucleic acid capable of self-replication and synthesis which carries genetic information in every cell; (2) two long chains of nucleotides
twisted into a double helix and joined by hydrogen bonds between the
complementary bases adenine and thymine or cytosine and guanine; (3)
sequence which determines and transmits individual hereditary characteristics from parents to offspring: see also genetic code; (4) dnA: see
also do not Alter; (5) dnA: see also do not Ask
While Odysseus pondered thus in mind and heart,
Poseidon, the earth-shaker, rose up a great wave,
dread and grievous, arching over from above,
and drove down it upon him.
And the wave scattered the long timbers of his raft
but Odysseus bestrode one plank.
the odyssey
AND The MONSTerS
JuNe 04, SAturdAy—MArcHwood, PA
D
STI was founded by Dr. William Asbury and incorporated
in 1977. Its chief executive officer was Dr. Thomas rolich, M.D., Ph.D. Its director of research was Dr. Gregory
Jacobson, recipient of the Zonta Science Award and The
Genetics Society of America’s prestigious Novitski Prize for “exhibiting
an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in genetic
scholarship and application.” Castillo lifted this from DSTI’s corporate
website.
The rest came from Brody. Pete Brody had worked on half a dozen
missions with Castillo as the chief analyst from the DI, the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, and was now working in the private sector,
something to do with Wall Street. his choice, but he’d still seemed
genuinely interested when Castillo had called earlier. “I’ll see what I can
find,” he’d said.
Ten hours later, and Castillo had info DSTI had not quite included
on its website. “They were acquired as a subsidiary by BioStar in 1990
to obtain several of DSTI’s cloning patents,” Pete reported. “BioStar is
a subsidiary of Goodwin Bio-Med, formed by the Nerney Institute in
’87. Nerney’s a sister company of Terngo engineering, who designs and
builds vehicles
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