She moved at a high pace, with purpose, and she had personal drive. Amber was on a mission and she would find time for men later. She dressed nice and groomed herself because she believed in presenting the best image to represent what she felt internal. If people wanted to be in her life, they’d find more success in doing so by exchanging ideas about the latest lists of human genes that had been broken out or discussing how current gene therapies were working. She was interested in learning what the obstacles to progress were, so she could study what was necessary to reduce the roadblocks and end the misery as well as the unnecessary frustrations of disease that affected so many and actually overcome them, “if we could just focus, dedicate ourselves a little more, and cease with this fixation and lust toward violence, brutality, and death, maybe we could get somewhere as a civilization. People settle for their bestial instincts all-too-often,” she thought when she saw others seemed to fade away to a life of no meaning or ethical purpose.
What she didn’t have time for was being dangled upside down at keg parties in a mediocre-lifestyle-blur to see if she could win a chugging contest or get high off of heaven knows what. She was frustrated with humanity’s slow progress and its distractions. Amber had no desire to numb away from reality, or squander time away in fruitless pursuits; she wanted to be innovative in the face of reality, which was the one thing that everyone else seemed to blow off in order to justify mediocrity in life by saying “well that’s just life. That’s just the way it is,” “What a façade,” she would reply mentally—she would take that beast face on. She also saw more to life than natural impulses and the evolution of mixed results—she saw first-hand and far too close-up how that can work out. Nonetheless, it was as if nature was screaming at humanity to use the gift of our minds that we have been given and to take the burden out of its hands, so we could preserve life, live with compassion, create our legacy, explore our Universe, and perhaps do something we could never dream of at this point in our existence.
With Amber’s routine, today was a little different. Dr. Eliza A. Williams was in town after being away on a book-signing tour. She had been across the country, around the World, and had even started up a company, called Pathway LLC, which specialized in biogenetics and the advancement of modern technology for the well-being of mankind. There were whispers that she had even begun her own political party, the UP, which was becoming surprisingly more the buzz and that intrigued Amber as well. She was a busy woman doing good things and she had nothing but pure respect for that. Dr. Eliza A. Williams did all of this, while still providing enough time when school was in session to be a professor at Harvard. And now, here she was, she was back in town, and she had gone on a second tour here through Cambridge.
Amber had missed her the first time around while working in the laboratory at school, doing research, and looking for concrete data and statistics in relation to her thesis. This time, however, she would not miss the opportunity to meet this remarkable woman, who was only seven years her senior, but had risen to heights of fame rarely reached by scientists— “despite what the scientists have done for the last few generations when it comes to increasing the quality of life and providing much of the world a forward-civilization-leap through technology—she seems to be deterred less and does so much more,” Amber whispered to herself. Yes, Dr. Eliza A. Williams was the real deal; her word was gold, and Amber wasn’t going to miss meeting her or asking a couple of questions this time, “hopefully I can keep things short,” she thought.
Dr. Eliza Williams was going to be signing books at the largest and oldest bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, today, and now that Amber was done with Study Hall and two of her classes, she was heading to the bookstore with her raggedy paperback book in her hand to meet her once and for all. She felt the irony since she was wearing her black and stunning evening gown—which she had purchased and worn for her modeling gig while carrying her raggedy book. She had left her debit card locked up at home the day she saw the book at the store on display and had just enough cash at the time in her mini-purse to purchase a copy of Dr. Williams’ book, the paperback version—not the hardcover since that was above her present price-range. “You can’t be too proud,” she thought.
After seeing it sitting on display in the bookstore only three months prior, she had opened the pages and couldn’t put it down. She read the book once and after purchasing it, she read it, again and again, many times over. Each time she read it she was moved and inspired. Never would she let a page go without taking notes, highlighting passages that spoke to her most, writing correlations to her studies and her thesis, and then referencing it often. There was something phenomenal about this literary masterpiece and every section of it pulled at her. To Amber, no matter how much everything seemed to coalesce in importance, for some reason the sections about curing diseases and reversing aging impacted her most.
Oh, Amber certainly had read a lot of books since there were a variety of bookstores and collegiate-level libraries nearby. She had pored over peer-reviewed journal articles and wrote quite a bit of her own for both her thesis and her personal development, but she would still religiously go over Dr. Williams’ “Pathway to the Stars” every day, keeping it close. Her classmates had given her some guff for it, but she would just smile and say, “Thank you,” and move on to more important matters. In some ways, this book kind of helped her draw parallels between herself and her sister. It gave her a unique sort of connection to both her sister, Sarah and Dr. Williams. It was almost as if Dr. Williams was her sister or a once in a lifetime friend and she had never met her before. Amber would not let herself fall prey to the pressures of youth, despite jeers, or anything else of any sort that led to mediocre results for what she wished to achieve.
While some of her peers and even professors called her an overachiever or suggested that she was overeager to study deeply, she would merely respond to them that she was just doing her best to learn and to make the most out of her life. When people told her, she cared too much about too many things, she would merely respond by telling them that they should care much more than they do. When people told her that she spent too much time and considered spending too much money on pursuits that were beyond her control, and thus didn’t matter, she would respond that her pursuits were those that mattered to the entire human race, and they ought to be investing every last hour and dime in them. Amber Blythe had balance, she had an internal drive, she was driven by fire within, and she had meaningful goals and she wouldn’t let the ignorance of others slow her down.
“First stop today,” she whispered to herself, while standing in line, “read a little, talk to Dr. Williams, go home, change, strike a pose or two for the next set of ads for several different magazines at the nearby modeling agency, go on a jog, do some yoga, shower again, and head to the Tyson Organic, or the ‘TO,’ to serve healthy food for a few hours.” After this particular schedule for her day, she would then go home, get adequate sleep, get up, go to school, and then head to study hall to start all over again. Amber chose to “start” her day whenever it was that she wanted to, since that was her way of having some say over space and time, and in this case, even though she would wake up and go to school, her day wouldn’t start until she went to study hall. To her, everything else was part of the previous day. She knew it was a bit odd for some, but it worked for her for now, and she would change it as she saw fit or as she wished.
Whether her schedule seemed redundant or odd or not, she knew her schedule would inevitably change once she had completed her doctorate, and perhaps many times more.
Years ago, when Amber was much younger, her little sister, Sarah, had come into this world with a tragic set of severe conditions. She was born with childhood Type I Diabetes, hypoglycemia, her spleen had ruptured and been removed, but just in time, four months after she was born. A year later she was diagnosed with early childhood appendicitis, and her appendix was removed. Her little sister had it tough and couldn’t seem to catch a break. Growin
g up, her sister had shared the same room at their parent’s home as Amber, yet they were separated by a transparent plastic barrier. This wall was there to protect Sarah from the contaminants that her immune system was not capable of warding off in order to keep her alive.
Adoring her step-sister, notwithstanding all, as Amber grew older and, on many occasions, while studying her school work, she would look toward her sister’s bed to exchange glances, and sometimes after Sarah had been quiet for a while, she would find her sitting there in her armchair not looking at anything, rather she would stare as if in a state of trance. When this happened, it usually meant that her body was experiencing the effects of hypoglycemia and that Sarah was suffering from an absence seizure.
As Amber grew older, she learned more and understood scientifically that along with the absence seizures, Sarah’s body suffered from what is known as aplastic anemia, where her bone marrow would not produce enough blood cells to mend her organs quick enough for the damage they received on a daily basis. Furthermore, her pancreas was not working properly, so she was also not able to process the sugars as needed and she would become hypoglycemic unless she received insulin shots multiple times daily in the fatty tissue of her body to help her system to properly process the sugars it needed. Moreover, her immune system was very weak, since she no longer had her spleen or her appendix.
As they grew up together and computers became more affordable, her mother and step-father purchased a couple of systems for Amber and her sister, along with the associated medical equipment that would work with her medical attachments and provide Amber various and important readings. Her parents set their computers up with a network so that Amber could monitor her conditions, but they also set them up so that they could play video games, do physical exercises together, study, and communicate with each other without having to yell. Their favorite game was Scrabble since it had the positive side effect of keeping their minds engaged while being entertaining.
Playing Scrabble, they would have contests with each other using only words that fell into a particular subject category that would be identified before starting each game. If they opted to play an open-book version of the game, they would choose words related to flora and fauna, constellations, stars, galaxies, the Universe, and nebulae, medical terms and treatments, or anything with a wide range of vocabulary so that their minds would expand. They would also learn more about the different scientific and social subjects, as well as the world outside, and did so regularly once their studies were complete. Sometimes they would even challenge each other closed-book-style as their grasp of vocabulary increased.
While communicating together they would share favorite music from movie scores, movie and television soundtracks, sometimes listen to new wave, trance, sometimes new wave, sometimes new age, and at times whatever was popular on the radio, and they would take breaks from studying and gaming to watching favorite educational and science fiction shows together. As Amber and Sarah grew older they became more interested in scientific documentaries that dealt with health, space travel and astrophysics, and well-being-related advancements. While they appreciated science fiction, it was disappointing to both of them that technology seemed to be shown in a bad light far too often. For them, the answer to resolving misfires in the genome lay in technology and would lead to understanding our existence even further; overcoming disease and unnecessary suffering would give humanity more time and promise within the Universe.
Together they would watch the Nature, Travel, or Science Channels in the background while listening to their upbeat yet soft and even compassionate music, and then do jumping jacks, push-ups, and stationary jogging while monitoring them digitally, keeping track, and attempting to hold conversations despite the plastic barrier. Even though they were both raised with home-schooling they were both very brilliant and well-informed. While Amber could have gone to public school she wanted to be around her sister to help her with her education and give her social and moral support. Oh, they would get out of the house each day, weather permitting, to enjoy nature, but it wasn’t without the hassle of getting Sarah geared up and ready to go with the medical paraphernalia, the clean oxygen, and plenty of disinfectant wipes.
Amber loved her sister, Sarah, dearly and she felt her love was reciprocated in every way, knowing full well that it was. It was heart-wrenching and difficult for Amber when Sarah passed away at the young age of thirteen—Amber had barely turned fifteen. Those who had visited Sarah from the local community had always done so separated by the plastic barrier, yet those who had visited her were far too few, and Sarah’s funeral was attended by a sparse crowd as well. Only her parents, Amber, and three neighborhood friends, who Amber and Sarah had met and made while on frequent trips to the park, were there the day of the service and burial ceremony. Amber remembered being awash in tears that day and for quite some time after that.
As time went by, Amber progressed through her high school-level studies, since her parents had sent her to public school to help her to take her mind off of the loss of her sister. While she felt the loss deeply, especially since her peers in high school had already formed their own clicks, had established their friendship circles, and despite the lonely nature of going from one class to another, she stayed strong. She knew in her heart of hearts that it was important to hold on, despite the occasional tears, with fondness to the good moments with Sarah. One could do that, she believed, while moving forward in life. It was okay to understand what happened, and maybe find a way, a means, or a cure, a positive focus along the way so that no one else would have to go through the loss of their little sibling, child, or friend in the way she had lost her sister. It was through loss, the anguish of losing Sarah to those wretched ailments that Amber was driven to focus on a better way while maintaining a well-balanced life, studying for cures.
If she could have her way, she would have the drive, the ingenuity, and the creative spirit needed to come up with cures so that no one else would ever have to live trapped like her beloved sister had. While Amber excelled in public school in academics, sports, and even the arts, she missed the time spent alongside and studying with Sarah. Life would never be the same without her, in her room, each with their own armchairs, singing together, thinking out loud, sometimes seeing her lay there in silence, she was always determined to keep Sarah in her heart and in her memories—thinking of the good times shared rather than giving up in sorrow and loss. Depeche Mode’s lyrics, vocals, and music for their songs, “In Your Room” in her younger years and later “Precious” were what reminded her of her sister, and they took on a whole new meaning, given her experiences. Listening to them soothed her in her own way. Sarah had a legacy that was worth being preserved, so Amber would do everything she could to honor that.
~ * ~
Now, here she was, going to meet the one other person who she felt a connection with, despite the fact that they had never ever met. Through reading her book, she knew that Dr. Eliza A. Williams had expressed a deep compassion for those that were suffering and was very passionate about the sciences that could prevent unnecessary misery and inspire the senses toward hope and creative clarity.
Eliza’s passage burned in Amber’s mind, “The young and innocent, the kind and those that care should never know sorrows so deep as those they have known through centuries of mistreatment, inherited disease, or an environment that breaks them down.”
As Amber stepped into the rather large bookstore, she thought about what she had read, and clinging to her paperback book, she thought about how her sister had suffered yet endured her pain so gracefully, all the way until her body could no longer handle what was too difficult for even the mightiest of people to bear. Her emotions welled up inside and when she had arrived at the front of the line and it was her turn to step up and introduce herself; it was as if she had woken up from a daze. Eliza seemed to see right through Amber, and smiled the kind of smile that says, “I understand.”
Eliza then told her, “you have a
dazzling charm about you; I can tell there is something going on—despite loss and tragedy you have a fire burning from within. You’re a wonderful person; I can tell already. It is so nice to meet you, please call me Eliza.”
To Amber, perhaps an introduction like that might have been followed by a melted heart, tears, and unbridled sobbing, but the way Eliza spoke was calming, genuine, kind, and her eyes glistened with tears as they seemed to well up from within but did not fall. Her blue eyes reflected the light from the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling above in the bookstore, which added to everything Amber had already believed about Eliza.
Eliza, with ease, grace, and swiftness, made her way around the table, pulled a chair out and put her arms out to give Amber a comforting and healing hug. Amber reciprocated. Eliza then kindly asked, “Please, have a seat?”
Never had Amber known someone to be so polite, so kind, so genuine, and there she was, beckoning her to relax and spend a little time with her. Amber could have seen herself as an emotional wreck, with so much welling up inside that was so instantaneously understood, but something in Eliza’s voice soothed her pains instead. As Amber sat down she thought, “How can someone be this gifted? Why do I feel my heart swell with joy rather than sorrow? Here is a lady, notorious for having completed seven Ph.Ds. in the same year; she has the mind of seven geniuses all rolled into one, and yet she has gracefully and genuinely put me at ease. She knows there’s more to me and she actually wants to hear it.”
As if time was standing still, she humbly placed her ragged paperback copy of “Pathway to the Stars” on the table between herself and Eliza and looked down as if in shame. Amber hadn’t purchased the hardcover copy, because she couldn’t afford it at the time. She was saving everything she could, so she could start a biotech and biogenetics company after she finished her schooling. Any penny she spent, she felt as though she was borrowing against a future of helping others, so she was thrifty. Notwithstanding, Amber appreciated her investment in this book and had idolized Eliza for the last few months, and now everything Eliza did merely prove what she conceived of her as true. Trying to snap out of it, she thought to herself, “Alright, Amber, she’s a human being just like everyone else. Yes, perhaps she is a good human being, but she breathes, has hopes and fears, just like every human on the planet. I think what she would want me to do is to quite simply relax.”
Further than Before- Pathway to the Stars Page 37