by D L Jones
“Chauncy! One of your Bitches called here again today! I thought we were over this!” Rebecca yelled.
“One of my bitches? I don’t have any bitches…I got a wife that would sometime fall into that category. But I wouldn’t dare tell her.” Chauncy said jokingly.
“For real babe, what are you talking about?” He added
“Who is TRACY? She called 2 times today! And this ain't the first time I saw her number on our phone!”
“Hold up Becca, Tracy is not a bitch…Well I mean HE is a HE! This Tracy is not a female!” Chauncy said
“Don’t try that shit with me CHAUNCY! We’ve been through this shit before! I know- “
“10 YEARS AGO!” Chauncy interrupted.
“We’ve been through this before 10 years ago! When I was Younger! When I was dumber! You still have suspicions about me playing around...NOW?! I thought we were past that Becca.” Chauncy added.
“Tracy is TRE…
Remember him?
We went to high school together, He was in our wedding. Remember?” Chauncy explained.
“Remember I told you he was coming to visit this weekend?”
“Oh…OK” Rebecca responds
Chauncy could hear Rebecca giggle nervously on the phone as he imagines she was embarrassed.
“Yea I guess I still get a little insecure at times. You are gone so much and keep so busy” Rebecca said.
“You know I was just stupid back then, that will never happen again. I love you and only want you. You have it all beauty, Brains! I owe a lot to you, you have been there for me even after I screwed up 10 years ago” Chauncy explained.
“We have been there for each-other.” Rebecca said.
“Hell, you are the finest, sexiest woman in the city, what would I want from another woman that I can’t get from you?
“A baby…” Rebecca whispered.
“We will have a child, we just have to keep trying. I’m definitely not complaining about the trying part” Chancy said.
“We have been trying for the last 3 years and nothing – Wait a minute” Rebecca gathered her thoughts.
“You are talking about the same Tre that came to our wedding and used it as a focus test for his Thesis? He aired all our dirty laundry, ALL over the state! Just so he can ace his class!!!
That asshole?
I thought you weren’t talking to him.”
“Well, it wasn’t that I stopped talking to him, I just decided to keep my distance” Chauncy responded.
“But like my infidelities, that was also 10 years ago. It’s the past. He and I spent a lot of time together growing up. It will be good to hang out with ole Tre again.” Chauncy added.
“I might be out when you get here, Lisa wants to go have a drink.” Rebecca said.
“Oh, Lisa will be around this weekend? She’s single right?” Chauncy said.
“Yes she will probably be around and yes she is single.” Rebecca said.
“Tre is single…” Chauncy said.
“No Chauncy, I am not hooking my friend up with Tre.” Rebecca said.
“Why not? Who knows, they may hit it off.”
“If they do, then I would have to deal with Tre again. I don’t want that” Lisa said.
“I know. I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of interaction with Tre myself. A weekend is one thing but imaging, Tre coming here every weekend…holidays…the 4 of us going on double dates. Or even worse, going on group trips and vacationing together?” Chauncy said.
“ugh, makes me sick just thinking about it. Keep Tre way the hell away from Lisa!” Rebecca said.
“Ok Becca. This is one thing I agree with you about.”
“Besides, I think Lisa has a thing for that young boy that works for you.” Rebecca said.
“She always had a thing for younger men. I thought she was trying to get at your personal trainer” Chauncy said.
“She was…I had to put a stop to that. Couldn’t have my personal trainer focusing on her while he supposed to be keeping me fit.” Said Rebecca.
“What about now? He’s not your trainer anymore.” Chauncy said.
“She hasn’t mentioned it in a while.” Rebecca replied.
Chapter 3
Tre was about the same age as Chauncy, 36, He was tall and thin. “A wiry framed man” as some would describe him. Chauncy last saw him during his wedding, they were both in college. Tre has changed a lot in his appearance now, more mature looking. He sat at his desk looking over some paperwork. Now wearing glasses, a little grey in his hair. He adjusted his lab coat as he reached over to the phone on his desk. He tapped the speakerphone button and dialed an extension. His assistant answered.
“Lucy, could you get a hold of Michael and see if he could come in here for a minute” Tre asked
“Sure thing Mr. Jones” She responded.
Michael was an older black man, older than Tre but he reported to Tre just the same. He was wearing your Typical office attire. Slacks, a button-down shirt, and a tie. Michael was sitting at his desk when the phone rang. Tre summoned him to his office. He got up and headed across the office floor and into Tre’s office.
“What’s up Tre? You ready for your trip?” Asked Michael.
“As ready as I’m going to be. I haven’t seen Chauncy in well over 10 years. We didn’t exactly part on good terms” Tre explained.
“It’s not going to be all fun and relaxation on this trip though, I have a lot of work to do while I’m visiting” Tre added.
“Remember, you are not visiting, you are there to work. That’s what this trip is about first and foremost” Michael confirmed.
“I know. Are the samples ready? This is a new batch, right?” Tre asked.
“Yes, sir! The latest and greatest. You should come down to the lab and watch the test they are doing now. There really has been a lot of progress.” Michael said.
Tre rose from his desk and gather a few things and walked with Michael across the office. Once past the office floor, through a row of cubicles, they got to the elevator. They waited for a few seconds and the doors opened. Michael and Tracy entered and hit the button to take them to the lab.
The lab environment was huge. There were tables and equipment everywhere, it was a spotless room with a lot of testing and sample stations in different areas. Michael and Tre got off the elevator and walked over to 2 large tables at the back of the lab. Each of those tables had a maze set-up that spread the length. Next to the tables were cages. One cage held About 20 little white mice. Tre stood by the table looking at the mazes.
“I don’t get this new set-up” Tre said
He points to one table and comments on how that maze isn’t really a maze but just a straight line to the end. Then he looks at the maze on the other table and points out how there is a lot of branching paths going in all different directions.
“Yes, Sir! That is exactly what you are looking at. The table with all the branching paths circles around the cheese. If you notice, there is no access to the cheese in that maze” Michael explained.
Michael reached in and grabbed one mouse from the cage. He held it up, dangling it by his tail. With his other hand, he holds a piece of cheese in front of the mouse, almost teasing it. The mouse reaches out while swinging back and forth trying to grab at the cheese. He then put the piece of cheese in the middle of the maze. He put the mouse at the beginning of the maze and let it go.
The mouse sniffs around and runs. He keeps running through all the branching paths of the maze and ends up just running around the path that circles the cheese. The mouse can smell the cheese but with no patch to get to the cheese, all the mouse can do is circle around.
“So, the mouse knows the cheese is there and he just keeps circling it. Seems like typical behavior” Tre said.
“It is indeed typical behavior. That’s the control, the mouse acts as it is expected. This maze here with the straight line to the finish is the test” Michael said pointing to the table as if he was displaying a
prized showcase.
“OK, that’s a single hall to the cheese. But it’s still blocked—”
Yes, the cheese is blocked off” Michael interrupted.
Michael reached down and picked up the little-wooded block that ended the straight line on the table. He handed it to Tre and Tre examined it. He noticed that the block is slightly heavier than what these mice can physically move. Michael then walks back over to the cage of mice and grabbed a different mouse. He then took a syringe from the table and injected the mouse.
“Well, Mice have been known to gnaw off their own limbs to escape mousetraps” Tracy said.
Tre watches as Michael dangles the mouse in the air. He then took another piece of cheese and held it in front of the mouse. The mouse seems to get excited trying to get at the cheese. The mouse viciously grabbed at the cheese, trying to bite it while dangling. Even bit Michael a few times.
“Damn, that mouse seems a lot more aggressive than before” Tre said
“Take a look at this…Oh, just so you know, this is the 37th time we have done this today” Michael answered.
Michael took the weighted block from Tre and placed it back in its spot at the end of the maze. He then took the piece of cheese and put it behind the block. Tre examined the maze, which was just a straight line to the weighted block, with the piece of cheese hiding behind it. Michael walks to the front of the maze and placed the mouse at the starting point.
The mouse immediately runs toward the maze’s finish at a speed beyond that of the fastest mice they’ve seen in the lab. The mouse runs to the end of the maze and slams head first into the weighted block. The block moved just a fraction of an inch. The mouse then viciously claws and bites at the block.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that before. That mouse seems to be really determined, to the point where it completely ignored the pain from slamming into the block at that speed” Tre commented.
The mouse then takes off running in the opposite direction, back towards the beginning of the maze. He turns around and sprints back to the block at an even faster speed than before, slamming his head on the block once again.
“The mouse isn’t ignoring the pain, the brain stopped registering it” Michael said.
The mouse repeats this act several times, moving the block just a fraction each time. After a few minutes of this display, the block was moved just enough for the mouse to slide through the opening. The mouse did so and ate the cheese.
“My research stated that this would happen but I didn’t think we could achieve that this soon.” Tre said.
“Well, the last set of changes you proposed to the formula seem to put us at the almost there state. As you can see by the speed of the mouse, the brain is able to tell the body’s muscles to perform at levels above normal. The mouse’s skin seems to go into a protective mode and harden, just a tad, to brace for impact.” Michael explained.
Michael reaches into the maze and removes the weighted block. The mouse continues to eat the cheese.
“So, we have created a near invincible mouse…” Said Tre.
“No, the mouse is still completely vincible, but it will be the toughest mouse you have ever seen…for a short period of time.”
“How long?”
“Well, it’s hard to say with other specimens, but with the mice we have, and the dosage we have been giving them, it last about 5 minutes. The other problems we have had are still there with prolong use so we have been using a new mouse each time.” Michael said.
“There is one problem…” Michael added.
Tre looks at the maze and notices the mouse is laying limp on the floor beside the cheese. The lab tech walked over and picked up the mouse as if it is dead and put it in a second cage filled with a different set of mice.
“Did the mouse die?” Tre asks.
“No, it didn’t die. All the benefits of the formula are fueled by a goal, which in this case was getting to the piece of cheese. Once the goal is accomplished, the Hypothalamus realized it has delegated functions beyond the body’s safe capabilities. Tries to normalize the brain functions in a hurry. Thus, the mouse passes out.” Michael explains.
“Hmm…new problem…” Tre said.
“Yep…New problem. The passing out seems to have no effects on the mouse. Just looks like it’s a way of the brain returning to normal…in a hurry. But something you must be mindful of. Nothing we can do about it now.”
Tre looks over at the mouse cage to see the once limp mouse running on the pinwheel, like nothing happened. Tre’s phone rings. It’s the assistant telling Tre he has a call in his office from Chauncy Peters. Tre rushes back to the elevator and makes his way to his office. He puts his phone on speaker and answers.
Heey, Tre…It's almost time! Your flight is about an hour, right? I’m about an hour away from the airport so I was trying to time things out, don’t want you to be waiting too long” Chauncy said.
“Yep, it leaves at 8 and I’m all packed. I just have to finish up a little work here and I’ll be heading straight to the airport.” Tre said.
“Damn it’s going to be good to see you again” Tre added.
“Yea, same here. What’s it been? 10 years? Wait over 10 years!”
“Yes over 10 years…Rebecca still mad at me?” asked Tre.
“Naa…Well…yea, she should’ve been mad at me. I’m the idiot that decided to sleep with my hot neighbor the night before the wedding.” Said Chauncy.
“But I’m the one that knew and did a documentary on the outcome…without your knowledge. I never thought anyone would see what I wrote or recorded besides my professor. Who knew that it would be the thing that my life since has to thank. I owe you and I really want to try to make it up to Rebecca.” Said Tre.
Tre looks over at the wall where he has the Thesis he wrote over 10 years ago framed. He thought about how that Thesis got him an A in that class, recommendations from his professors, lauded in the newspapers, and caused his career after college to take off. He now owns his own wing of this pharmaceutical company with his own staff and labs. The very pharmaceutical company that he dreamed of being an employee. Everything he wanted in life has happened because of that class, that grade, that thesis, and documentary. He sometimes thinks about how he lost a good friend because of his betrayal. Those thoughts quickly turn to how he feels it was well worth it for what he got in return.
“No worries, that was over 10 years ago. Becca and I are over it and have moved on…was tough for a minute though. Becca is a good woman and I’ve tried to make sure she is a very, happily, married woman every second since that situation.” Chauncy said.
“Like you said, that was 10 years ago. 10 YEARS! You have been married for 10 years so you must be doing something right.” Said Tre.
“Yea, I guess I have…mostly—”
“Well I hate to cut this short, but I need to wrap some things up here before going to the airport.” Tre said
“Ok, Talk later”
Tre presses the button on his phone to hang up the call. He then gathers some papers and folders from various spots in his office. He packs them in a suitcase and a backpack. Michael walked into the office and puts 2 small plain white cardboard boxes on Tre’s desk. The boxes are about 4 inches by 4 inches. Tre looks at the boxes and Michael leaves the room.
Chapter 4
Chauncy had a busy day at the HD Shop and looks around thinking about what has happened. The broken window has been replaced, no evidence that anything ever happened. Sales were good for the day and he talked to his long-lost buddy Tre.
Chauncy walked through the parking lot and pulled out the key remote to his car. He pressed the button on the remote and the car chirps. Once in the car, he rolls the windows down. Rodney Peebles is running towards him. Rodney was one of the younger employees at the HD shop, 21-years old. His appearance is deceptive. The appearance of a physically fit young man, but always winded. He was a heavy smoker, had been for years. He always had a cigarette in his mouth, like
a fashion accessory. It didn’t matter if he was smoking it or not, it was always one there.
“Mr. Peters! Wait! Mr. Peters!” Rodney yelled half out of breath.
“Rodney…you better stop with those cigarettes, you can’t even run 20 feet without almost passing out.” Chauncy responded.
Rodney stops in front of Chauncy’s car and bend over, putting his hands on his knees. He was taking very deep breaths which ends in heavy coughing.
“Mr. Peters, I know the store will be closed the next couple of days, but remember you suggested having security here to keep watch over the store? Can I come in and do that? I could really use the money.” Rodney asked.
“You plan on throwing a party in my store?” Chauncy asked jokingly but looks at Rodney sideways.
“NO SIR! I just need the money.”
Rodney looks on as he awaits a response from Chauncy. Chauncy looks at Rodney sideways a few seconds more, mulling over the idea in his head.
“OK, yea sure…you can do it. Just make sure you don’t run all the equipment, be easy on my electric bill.” Chauncy responded.
“Thank you, sir! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Rodney said.
Rodney turns around and runs back to the store, stopping half way and coughing a few times. He then pulls out a cigarette and lights it as he walks the rest of the way back.
“You better hope no one breaks in…you don’t have the lung capacity to keep a puppy off a sofa! Never the less a person from breaking into the store!!!” Chauncy yelled to Rodney.
Chauncy starts his car and drives away.
Chauncy gets home and quickly enters his house. He takes a quick look for his wife as he walks in. Not seeing her, he yells out to her. He continues running through the house gathering things and putting things away. He yells out to Rebecca…
“Becca! Did you want to ride with me to pick up Tre? I’ll be leaving in about an hour.”
“You coming home tonight to try again?” Rebecca responded.
“Girl, you wore me out this morning! I think I need a day to recoup.” Chauncy said.