by C J Murphy
Jordan waved her off. “And yet with all that, my main goal still eludes me.” Jordan put her hands behind her head and squeezed the back of her neck.
Paula shifted. “The superfood?”
Jordan rolled her head toward her, surprised to realize Paula knew that much about her research.
Paula shrugged her shoulders. “Jordan, even in my field, you’re a big deal. You work in disease abatement by using controlled cross breeding, and your genetic research is, well, legendary.”
“A legend I’m not. Driven is a better descriptor.”
Kallie’s laugh resonated across the yard, causing Bandit to perk up his ears. “Can you say understatement?”
“On that note, I think it’s time I let you get that little one to bed.” Jordan watched as Ariana crawled up into Kallie’s lap and laid her head on her mother’s chest. “Thank you for a wonderful evening. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the workshop. Paula, it’s been great to meet the woman who finally tamed Kalista Nelson.”
Paula rose and took Ariana from Kallie. “Trust me, Jordan, it was much more the other way around.” She leaned over and kissed Kallie.
Kallie reached out and hugged Jordan, who accepted it with genuine affection. “There’s someone out there who’s going to see what I used to. More importantly, someday you’re going to see it.”
Jordan kissed her cheek and waved to Paula. “Ben, thanks for playing with Bandit. He’ll sleep well tonight.”
Ben shook her hand. “Thank you for letting me play with him, ma’am.”
Jordan bent down and whispered in his ear. “He had a great time. I can tell. I’d start reading about how to train a puppy. Once you study up, start leaving hints.” She winked at him. The grin he returned made her night. She watched as he ran back to the porch to wave at her with Kallie. Paula, shifted a sleeping Ariana, so she too could wave, and Jordan watched them go into the house as a family.
Bandit jumped into the Jeep, and Jordan turned toward the bed and breakfast. She needed to review her notes. Kallie told her the handouts she’d emailed were ready. Her PowerPoint presentation was a visual for her audience. She rarely even glanced at one as she spoke. It had been interesting to spend an evening with a woman she’d once known intimately. I barely recognize her now. Jordan could tell Kallie was truly happy and wondered, had she known this version of her, could they have been something more? No, the Kallie she’d met tonight didn’t exist until she’d met Paula. It was all about meeting ‘the one.’
***
Noeul slipped into the bathtub in her room at the Thomas Shepherd Inn. When she’d been with Aggie, they’d always preferred to stay in smaller, quirky accommodations. Traveling on her own, she sought out the same type of places. Occasionally, she’d stay where she and Aggie had as a couple. Some places were too hard to revisit.
Her room was tasteful. The comfortable, queen-sized bed was balanced with a mixture of antique furniture and oriental rugs. She’d been happy to find that her room had a private bathroom. She turned on the hot water to fill the tub, while she unpacked a few of her toiletries. After shedding her clothes, she slipped into the scalding water and groaned as the knots in her shoulders started to release. Driving long distances had never been a favorite activity. Noeul had always enjoyed being able to take in everything on the journey, riding in the passenger seat and singing along with the radio. Aggie had…She let the thought drop.
The hot water lulled her senses, as she settled with her head against the back of the tub. She’d poured in the fragrant bath crystals she’d found on a shelf beside the tub and luxuriated into the smell of lavender. Noeul’s thoughts strayed to the woman she’d traveled to see. It had been a long time; Noeul remembered Jordan as a student with extreme intelligence, able to grasp and understand concepts well above her educational background. She was a sponge in Noeul’s class, soaking everything up. Her research papers had been extraordinary. Noeul had known she was bound for incredible achievements. By all the research Noeul had read, she’d done just that.
Her skin nearly pruned, she rose from the tub and dried off with a soft, cotton towel. A thick, terry cloth robe hung in the closet. After moisturizing with her homemade lotion, she slipped into a tank top and boxers. She was tired, and the queen-sized bed was too inviting. She’d stopped for dinner and shopped in some of the smaller stores around her lodging before retiring to her room. In the morning, she’d take advantage of the complimentary breakfast and make the short drive to Kearneysville. If not for the bath, her nervous anticipation would have kept her awake. She was grateful. For once, loose muscles and a quiet mind allowed her to slip into slumber easily.
***
Jordan took Bandit for a morning run along the Potomac River, her four-legged companion happily bounding beside her, mouth open wide as his tongue lolled slightly out of his jowls. After an hour run, they turned and headed back toward town. The smells from one of the shops up ahead made her stop. She pulled her wallet from her shorts and told Bandit to stay. Inside the Guide Shack Café, the smell of good coffee and baked goods filled her senses. The café sported kayaks on the walls as decorations, while patrons sat in colorfully painted chairs. Shelves were lined with local goods from preserves to apple butter, while another wall contained books and magazines.
Jordan stepped to the counter and ordered two large Black Dog coffees and a selection of blueberry muffins and some banana bread. She stepped out and signaled Bandit to follow, as they made their way back to their lodging. She could have had breakfast delivered to her suite from the offerings the owners included with her stay. The time schedule she’d laid out for herself required she be gone before the offered delivery time. Jordan drank one of her coffees, saving the other for the drive. She fed Bandit and went to shower and clean up. Before seven, she was on her way to the venue. It wasn’t a long drive, and she enjoyed watching Bandit stick his nose out the window, taking in all the smells of new territory. It had been a long time since she’d been to the facility. When she pulled up, she noticed it hadn’t changed much. The tan, sheet metal building housed the offices, labs, and other necessary facilities. She’d cleared it with Kallie to bring Bandit with her. There were some areas he needed to stay clear of, like the research area. The rest he was free to travel with them.
An intern showed Jordan to her host’s office. Kallie’s eyes sparkled, as Jordan leaned in her doorway. “Good morning. I see you survived your evening with my brood.”
Jordan’s smile emanated from deep inside. “You have a great family. Not something I was expecting from the woman who used to like fast cars and faster women.”
Kallie leaned back in her chair and let her own laughter bounce off the walls of her office. “The only fast things I do now are to microwave macaroni and cheese and run for the bathroom when Adriana tells us she has to go.” She laughed. “Potty training, not something I ever thought about. I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
“Motherhood looks good on you, Kallie. It really does. You seem happier than I ever remember, and it’s obvious Paula is head over heels for you. I’m happy for you.”
“A far cry from my days at Cornell with you, for sure. I’ll admit, you’re right, I’ve never been happier. So, now that I have you to myself without little ears around, how the hell are you? And I don’t mean your standard ‘I’m fine’ answer.”
Jordan took a seat in the chair in front of Kallie’s desk, and Bandit lay down beside her. “I’m on sabbatical right now. I’m missing a piece of my research for the grafting process of the superfood. I’ve tried everything. That damn thing still eludes me.” She stopped and rolled her head sideways to try and release the tension that always built up when she felt the answer slipping through her fingers like the sand she wanted to grow her plants in. She leaned forward and steepled her hands, as she rested her elbows on her knees. “Do you remember Professor Scott?”
“I do. I remember she dropped out of sight after her wife died, right?”
“That’s her. I
’ve been on this sort of quest to find her. I think she’s the key to my research. I’ve been following a trail of breadcrumbs across the country. Each location building on the next. I have no idea where she is. I’m doing my best to look in all the places she’s been. I tracked her to Acadia, which pointed me to, believe it or not, Harpers Ferry. Before I could get there, Max fell, and I went home to check on him. Elle found out I was home. Before I knew it, she asked if I could take care of this while I was down here.”
Kallie rose. “Well, whatever brought you here, I’m glad. If I can help in anyway, let me know.” She walked around the desk and drew Jordan into a hug. “If it’s possible to grow your superfood where you want to, I have all the confidence in the world you’ll do it. Now, on a more personal note, I know we didn’t work out. I also know what that bitch after me did to you. I’m telling you, the real thing exists and it’s going to jump up and bite you on the ass when you least expect it. My life is living proof. My advice is when it happens, don’t let your past throw up a roadblock. Life’s too short, Jordan.”
Jordan melted into the embrace. “Looking at you now, I can almost believe that, Kallie. Maybe someday, when this quest is done.” A strange sensation came over her as her tattoo chose that moment to start in with that irritating tingling again. Strange.
Kallie wrapped an arm around her waist. “How about we go see where you’re going to set up.”
“Lead on.”
***
Noeul sat in a session, absorbing the information. Climate change was near and dear to her heart. The book she and Aggie had authored, years ago, was more relevant than ever. Long recorded norms in temperature, rainfall, and shifting weather patterns, were becoming less predictable. California was drying up with the persistent lack of rain. Severe flooding in the Midwest jeopardized food crops in the United States’ bread basket, and Florida’s record low temperatures were playing havoc with the nation’s citrus crops. It was snowing in places where, historically, it never did, and the polar ice caps were melting. The misconceptions about global warming were rampant, along with the attacks on science. Government officials had rolled back years’ worth of legislation designed to cut carbon emissions. Watchdog government agencies had been gutted in the name of progress and prosperity, even dropping out of agreements that every other nation in the world was signing. Noeul often wondered if anyone read the acknowledgement in their book. She still remembered the entire Theodore Roosevelt quote, verbatim.
“We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation.”
Noeul glanced around the conference room. It was like some of the classrooms she’d taught in. Tables and chairs, white boards and screens, all the familiar trappings of her former profession filled up the space. Sometimes she missed the classroom and the interaction with colleagues. Even those fresh, and sometimes hungover, faces of the students she’d tried to impart her knowledge to. She wondered what some of them had become. Noeul looked at her watch. In about another ten minutes, she was about to see, live and in person, what kind of impact she’d had on one of her star pupils. Regretting that she hadn’t been around for more of Jordan’s discoveries, she was excited to listen to her talk. Maybe after, they could even go get a cup of coffee. The speaker wrapped things up, and the facilitator called for a fifteen-minute break. Noeul decided to step out to the displays and make a call back to Miranda and Kelly.
***
Jordan entered the classroom from a door off to the side, avoiding the crush of people headed for the displays in the hall. Bandit was on her heels. Jordan had visited with Kallie while the other speakers carried on their sessions. Now, it was her turn to impart her pearls of wisdom. These smaller, intimate speaking engagements were more to her liking. In larger venues, the bright lights shining in her eyes had prevented her from seeing a single face in the audience.
Her back turned to the room, she pulled up her presentation and wrote a few things on the white board, including her name. People were meandering back into the room. Jordan waited off on the side for Kallie to introduce her, shuffling from foot to foot and looking at her shoes.
After announcing Jordan’s current title and accolades, Kallie held out her arm. “And with that, I give you, Professor Jordan Armstrong of Cornell University.”
Jordan told Bandit to stay and stepped up to the front and addressed everyone. “Thank you, Kallie. For those who were expecting Dr. Martin Henry, my apologies. Let’s say, he’s on the mend.” She clapped her hands together. A bright light from a video camera was forcing her eyes down a bit. “So, let’s talk about grafting for disease and pest management.” She began to write on the white board. “Bottom line is this.” With a dry-erase marker, she wrote the words resistant rootstock. “You have to pick a rootstock with natural properties that will fight against the diseases which could potentially destroy the crop.” Jordan drew a grafting illustration with a crosscut view. “There’s a hundred-dollar scientific word for this that I’ll spare you from. All you really need to know is that it’s the process of combining the DNA from one plant to that of another. One part, the root stock,” she circled that part of the illustration, “has the disease and pest resistance we desire. We’ll combine that with a shoot,” she pointed to the other drawing, “containing the desired properties of an apple tree suitable for either the climate, soil conditions, or for the particular fruit we seek to produce.” Jordan wrote a number on the white board. “Apples alone are a 1.7 billion-dollar industry in this country.” She turned completely and faced her audience, pointing to the number. “Disease and pests drive down production, and in turn, the profitability.” She advanced the PowerPoint. “If we can take the properties of a very hearty and resistant apple tree rootstock and combine it with the canopy of a desirable apple tree, profitability goes up, because we reduce loss at the most elementary level. Which means more apples for me.” She smiled and bit into an apple she had sitting on her podium.
Jordan started chewing, as she scanned the faces in the room. A few looked familiar. Her eyes were drawn around the room and to the back, left corner. Time stopped and her hearing blunted. She grabbed the podium to steady herself. Sitting there, looking back at her, was the woman she’d traveled hundreds of miles to find. Before her sat Professor Noeul Scott.
A burning tingle started in her side, the same sensation she felt every time she thought about Noeul and this insane quest to find her. Jordan’s hand went to her side. She forgot to breathe. Within seconds, her body screamed for oxygen and she sucked in a ragged breath, along with a chunk of apple. Violent coughing made her eyes water, and she turned away from her audience to bring her hand to her mouth. Jordan tried to pull in the air her body desperately needed. Unfortunately, the chunk of apple was lodged tight. Jordan’s eyes watered as she struggled to bring her body under control.
Kallie jumped to her side and turned to the audience. “Let’s take a break and come back…”
Jordan coughed one more time and managed to yell, “Wait!” She was terrified Noeul would leave the room and disappear completely. She couldn’t let that happen, not when she was so close.
Jordan stood, seeing the concern in Kallie’s eyes. She wiped her own eyes and tried once again to bring herself under control. With all she had left, she turned and locked eyes with Noeul, willing her to stay in place until she could get to her. Walking around the podium, she coughed again and went directly to Noeul and bent down at her side.
“Professor Scott, please don’t go anywhere until I have a chance to talk to you. I can’t explain how important this is to me and maybe to the world in general. Please, stay until we can meet. I’m begging you.”
Noeul’s eyes were wide, as she shook her head up and down. Jordan squeez
ed her hand and noticed her holding her side. “Are you okay?” Again, she watched Noeul shake her head. Jordan coughed again, still trying to bring herself under control.
Noeul furrowed her brow. “Are you?”
“Aside from almost choking to death, better than I’ve been in a long time. We’ll take a break here in a bit. I know this is going to seem like a crazy request. Please, please don’t leave without talking with me.”
Noeul finally laughed. “I promise. Believe it or not, I came here for you. So, I’m not going anywhere. It’s good to see you, Jordan. Now,” she looked around, shifting in her seat, “I think everyone else is wondering what the hell’s going on and is looking to you to finish your presentation. I’ll be here. Go.”
Jordan took her first clear breath and let a smile escape as she shifted her eyes around. “Right.”
Once she returned to the front of the room, Jordan continued her presentation. Her mind raced with the need to finish her session. Part of her brain was talking about grafting apples, while the other calculated the odds of running into Noeul at this workshop. Grateful beyond all things for her ability to multitask, she allowed the analytical part of her brain to focus on the task at hand, while the emotional side concentrated on Noeul. The action wasn’t new to her even if the subject matter was. Jordan’s eyes flitted frequently to Noeul to quell the overwhelming fear that she’d look up and find her gone.
Leaving time for a question and answer session at the end, Jordan began to wrap up her thoughts. After ten minutes and a few above-average questions, she thanked everyone for their attention and fought the urge to leap over those who stepped forward to speak with her. She looked up and caught Noeul covering what appeared to be an amused smile. She did her best to focus her attention on those in front of her, while she graciously answered their specific questions and took the time to pass out business cards for those who were looking for reference material. Ten minutes later, she called for Bandit to come and found Noeul leaning up against the wall.