same, sun shining brightly, and cherry blossoms everywhere. Randall inhaled deeply as he neared the corner of Sixteenth and P Streets to enter the administration building for the Carnegie Institution for Science. He was relaxed and ready to begin this new week. It was going to be great for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that Randall would not be traveling. He’d be in town all week. He’d already planned an individual playdate with each of his children (which for Albany would take place in a shopping mall), and then on Friday looked forward to a date with his wife. The conference had been amazing, his company had received great exposure, he’d returned home to a family he loved more than life itself, and after talking to the doctors tending Mom Elaine, even felt that situation becoming more promising. Yes, life was good. He entered the building, remembering a time when being alive wasn’t so great. Like when he lost his father. Then he thought of Sherri and his children and was brought back around to the blessings.
Life was good, and getting better.
He walked down the halls of a place that over the past ten years had been like a second home. The Carnegie Institute for Science, an organization founded in 1902 and dedicated to scientific research, was where one of Randall’s mentors had worked for years. After college and before founding his own company, Randall spent a couple years at this institute both interning with and shadowing his mentor, and working part-time for CASE, the Carnegie Academy for Science Education, specifically their First Light program, designed to encourage interest in science among D.C.’s schoolchildren. He learned a great deal from this patient teacher. Their discipline of choice differed—his mentor’s focus was global ecology while Randall focused on plant molecular biology—but the basic facets of research remained the same. And while the biology arm of the institute was actually operated out of Stanford University in California, Randall came here often, as he had today, for phone- and video conferences, to take advantage of their well-stocked library and to tap the learned minds of the scientists who occupied its rooms.
Randall looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes until my meeting. Cool. Instead of turning right, he kept straight and headed for the library. Over the weekend, he’d remembered a book he once read here on interactive biology. As he recalled, there was a chapter that included a more in-depth study of plant cell anatomy, which broke down in a simple way how the knowledge of the similarities among plant cells and human cells, both being eukaryotes and having the same organelles, could be effective in finding better ways to use plants as medical cures. He specifically thought there might be something within the pages to jolt his mind into an awareness of how what he’d developed with plant stem cells could be used to affect the anomalies occurring in his mother-in-law’s brain.
He entered the library, turned the corner . . . and there she was.
“Jacqueline?”
She smiled before lifting her head from the large volume she was perusing. “Hello, Randall.”
It’s a crying shame for a woman to look that good and still be single. Her conservative black pantsuit with a plain, cream-colored shell that reached her neckline and showed nothing, should not have been a turn-on. But Randall had worked out with Jacqueline and knew what lay beyond the suit jacket. Putting her hair in a ponytail accented her almond eyes, sleek nose, and pouty mouth, and made her look all of nineteen.. And gorgeous. Yes, he was married, but he was still a man . Thinking of his wife made him think of her brother. Jacqueline was just the type of eye candy he’d go for. Randall made a note to ask Sherri about his current relationship status. Randall agreed with Sherri that at thirty-two it was time for Nathan to seriously think about settling down.
Shaking off his initial surprise,
Life was good, and getting better.
He walked down the halls of a place that over the past ten years had been like a second home. The Carnegie Institute for Science, an organization founded in 1902 and dedicated to scientific research, was where one of Randall’s mentors had worked for years. After college and before founding his own company, Randall spent a couple years at this institute both interning with and shadowing his mentor, and working part-time for CASE, the Carnegie Academy for Science Education, specifically their First Light program, designed to encourage interest in science among D.C.’s schoolchildren. He learned a great deal from this patient teacher. Their discipline of choice differed—his mentor’s focus was global ecology while Randall focused on plant molecular biology—but the basic facets of research remained the same. And while the biology arm of the institute was actually operated out of Stanford University in California, Randall came here often, as he had today, for phone- and video conferences, to take advantage of their well-stocked library and to tap the learned minds of the scientists who occupied its rooms.
Randall looked at his watch. Fifteen minutes until my meeting. Cool. Instead of turning right, he kept straight and headed for the library. Over the weekend, he’d remembered a book he once read here on interactive biology. As he recalled, there was a chapter that included a more in-depth study of plant cell anatomy, which broke down in a simple way how the knowledge of the similarities among plant cells and human cells, both being eukaryotes and having the same organelles, could be effective in finding better ways to use plants as medical cures. He specifically thought there might be something within the pages to jolt his mind into an awareness of how what he’d developed with plant stem cells could be used to affect the anomalies occurring in his mother-in-law’s brain.
He entered the library, turned the corner . . . and there she was.
“Jacqueline?”
She smiled before lifting her head from the large volume she was perusing. “Hello, Randall.”
It’s a crying shame for a woman to look that good and still be single. Her conservative black pantsuit with a plain, cream-colored shell that reached her neckline and showed nothing, should not have been a turn-on. But Randall had worked out with Jacqueline and knew what lay beyond the suit jacket. Putting her hair in a ponytail accented her almond eyes, sleek nose, and pouty mouth, and made her look all of nineteen.. And gorgeous. Yes, he was married, but he was still a man . Thinking of his wife made him think of her brother. Jacqueline was just the type of eye candy he’d go for. Randall made a note to ask Sherri about his current relationship status. Randall agreed with Sherri that at thirty-two it was time for Nathan to seriously think about settling down.
Shaking off his initial surprise,
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