Читать книгу Saffron’s Menagerie - Phil Stevenson - Страница 7

At the beginning of 2009, Reginald Charles is thrilled to be joining his great friend at M.I.T. in Boston. He’s younger, but you never know if you play your cards right. He is also a brilliant chemistry nerd.

Saffron Justice, twenty, is enrolled at M.I.T. to do a doctorate in Biological Science. Big subject. Really big subject. These days you can specialize, and do more precise studies. Reg was hanging close to Saffron.

“Saff please tell me, what are you going to decide on?”

“Shoot Reg! I don’t know, what about you?”

“Waiting for you.”

Frustrated, she looks at him, “This is going nowhere.”

“So?”

“OK, OK, but you may not like my line.”

“Don’t care,” smiles Reg.

“Get ready! I want to do biological studies on prehistoric creatures that are still present today.”

“Well, there are about a few thousand, if you count chickens and stuff.”

“No, I mean the ones that have not changed much since that time.”

“Oh,” smiles Reg, “Let me guess? Crocs, alligators, sharks, Loch Ness monster even. I know, what about bringing prehistoric animals back to the present?”

‘Reg, you are losing the plot. What, a woolly mammoth?” She smiles.

“Ok, how about something more recent. Say a thylacine.”

“What’s a thylacine? Hang on - isn’t it the Tasmanian devil? No wait, the Tasmanian Tiger.”

“Correct, as always Saff. And it is not a tiger. It’s a dog type with tiger stripes. It was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times.”

“Very creative Reg, but you are looking at the almost impossible. Like twenty years devotion, and that ain’t me brother. We are talking DNA big time and genome sequencing. Nah, not going there.”

“Alright, what about creating a mutant shark, like Jaws’?

“Stop fucking with me Reg.”

“OK, sorry. I’m all ears.”

“Snakes and insects, especially the scorpion,” she says directly.

“You’ve picked a very attractable family. All you need is a cat.”

“A cat! A Birman. Like my Mom’s? Yes, one day.”

“Have you told your Mom and Dad?”

“Yup, last night. They just say, do want you want that will make me happy. And I say, well I’ll be here most of the time for four to five years then. And they say, we are only about sixty minutes apart and weekends will be more special.”

“Have you already enrolled on that direction?” Reg looks.

“Yes, I have and didn’t want to tell you so that we could be free.”

“Free we are. I actually decided to do the same and also enrolled this morning, after our conversation last night on your thoughts,” he looks smug.

“Love you even more Reg,” Saff reaches out and gives Reg a big hug and kiss on the lips.