Forever and Ever

by Dan A. Baker

  Jasmine was still completely absorbed in looking at Easton. His tanned, skin was beautiful and shining, and except for the loose skin hanging around his neck, he looked like a very healthy forty. The miracle they had worked so hard to achieve was astonishing to see.

  The phone rang every two minutes with a request for an interview, which surprised Jasmine, as so few people had the phone number at the house. They probably got it from the Nobel committee, she decided.

  Jasmine finally tore away from the party by the pool to shower and gather her thoughts. She looked at herself in the mirror for a long time, and tried pulling the skin back on her face. Her skin was shining and tanned and her hair was radiant, but the stem cells mostly repaired damage in organs and in her skeleton. The back and knee pain she had become accustomed to was gone, but her skin still sagged on her face, and the deep lines in her throat were still there.

  Will came running in with Jasmine’s cell phone. “This thing was driving the dogs crazy,” he said, handing it to Jasmine.

  “I am just frothing with envy for you Jasmine!” Marjorie said. “I looked up all the synonyms for congratulations so here we go: Felicitations! Compliments, Best wishes, Well done, Salutations, and Hats off! We are so overjoyed for you, and Walter wants to fly over this afternoon to take you all to dinner tonight! What do you think?”

  “That’d be lovely. I think Will wants to go out on the lake and have a picnic at our favorite place, but I’m sure we’ll be back by five o’clock at the latest. I have to go Marjorie, so I’ll see you this evening.” Jasmine said, taking the phone from Darla.

  “Way to go Mom! It’s all over the Internet, on CNN, and even Fox ran it. A Nobel prize - that’s like very big!” yelled Malia.

  “I’m especially happy for your grandfather. I’m going to call him right now, and maybe you can help me take him with us to Sweden. Would you like that?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yeah, sure Mom, I mean, like, what else is going on down there?”

  “Everything’s fine. Your father’s patient is doing beautifully, and Will has pretty much wrapped up his work in Phoenix so we’re going to take some time off. Everything is very exciting for me now.”

  “I’m just really happy for you Mom, and we’ll talk when you get up here,” Malia said. “Wait, Koji wants to say something.”

  “And even a snooze snail can get a Nobel it seems,” Koji said. “This is very special and I want to say my congratulations, and tell you how enjoyable it was to work with you,” Koji said.

  “Thank you, Koji,” Jasmine said, dodging another champagne cork.

  “I got my portable hard drive back from Malia. Is it okay now if I erase the satellite bit from Santa Cruz?” he asked.

  “You have that?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yes, it’s unencrypted and looks like data packets.”

  “Please save that for me. I’d like to know what it was transmitting.”

  “Yes, I’ll save it then,” Koji said, “but it wasn’t transmitting; it was in downlink mode while I recorded. See you next week. Bye bye!”

  Jasmine looked at the phone for a moment trying to understand what Koji had said. She started to call him back.

  “Jasmine, it’s your dad!” Darla yelled from the kitchen.

  Jasmine took the phone and looked at Will for a few moments. “Hello Father,” she said softly.

  “Didn’t I say you were the best? I, well, hell, I’m just so proud of my girl, that’s all. We only needed one Noble in the family. You’re mother would be so proud of you today…” he said, his voice weak.

  “Are you okay, Father? I’m coming home in a few days. You sound weak.”

  “I’m okay, but my headaches are still pretty bad. I sure as hell wanted to hang in long enough to see this! I know you’re busy, but I had to tell you I loved you and knew you’d get the Nobel. My girl is the best! Bye now.”

  “Let’s get out on the Lake before it gets hot.” Will said, jumping into the station wagon. “I’ll go to the store while you’re getting ready.”

  Easton sat next to her on the lounge by the pool while she dried her hair.

  “What’s it like, being a Nobel laureate?” she asked.

  “The prestige is wonderful and they always listen to you! That’s the best part,” he said. “They listen to you. You’re a voice, and you’ll be a great one. I’m going to need you.”

  “You’re going to need me?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yes! We’re going to liberate American science! And I’m going to need you,” Easton said, stretching, and breathing deeply.

  “What are you planning?” Jasmine asked.

  “I’m going to Europe for a year and I think I’ll ask Darla if she wants to go. She’s so much fun and such a good sex buddy. We’re going to get a house in Tuscany. I don’t want to draw attention to myself until we’re ready. Then I’m going to come home, call a press conference, announce my treatment, and announce that American science has a fighter, and I’m a lookin’ for a rematch!” he said, his eyes twinkling.

  “That’s going to be quite a press conference,” she said.

  “Hope you can make it. Then Walter and I are going to kick some ass. We’re working on a political operation now called The Committee to Liberate American Science. Do you like that?” he asked.

  “I do like that,” she said.

  “I figured we’d do a neck tie club, like we did when we were working on DNA in England in the fifties. You’ll be one of the first.”

  “But I don’t wear ties,” Jasmine laughed.

  “You’ll wear this one,” Easton said.

  “What’s Nielsen going to do?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. He treated himself last week. If he feels and looks as good as I do, I think he’ll want to come out and fight. He deeply regrets staying on the sidelines so long.”

  “Did Marjorie treat herself?” Jasmine asked.

  “She did,” Easton said. “If Nielsen hadn’t moved so fast, I would have made a run at her. She turns me on!”

  “She didn’t tell me that,” Jasmine said, as a pang of fear seized her.

  Will returned talking on his cell phone. “I talked to Nielsen. They’re going to set the chopper down at Three Dunes and join the picnic! That’ll be great fun,” he said, excitedly stuffing the beat up coolers with beer.

  “It’s going to get hot today,” the kid at the fuel dock said, as he filled up Will’s deck boat. “You might even put some sun screen on the boat. We hit 122 degrees yesterday. That’s really hot for so early.”

  The trip down the lake was a magical moment for Jasmine. Will turned up the radio very loud and turned the boat to the outlaw country music. Jasmine looked at Darla and Easton as they roared along in the sun. The treatment was working perfectly. They looked like normal 35–40 year old people: in the prime of life, healthy, exuberant, and completely full of hell. Darla kept flashing every boat that went by, so she finally just took her top off. Easton did his best to rock out to the country music, but he seemed a little stiff. “Take off your shirt!” Darla yelled over the motor.

  This is fun! Jasmine thought as she looked at Will, bobbing his head to the music and turning the steering wheel to the beat. We can have fun again! That beautiful gushing exuberance of youth that seemed so impossible and so distant was here. It’s right here! She reached behind her back and clicked the top of her bathing suit, and flashed the next boat that went by, laughing loudly.

  “You have to wiggle them,” Darla said, “like this!” She stood up and shook her shoulders rapidly. Easton shot his fist in the air and roared with laughter.

  They were young again, and young was fun! The world was just one big toy, Jasmine thought, hugging Will, and fighting an urge to go down on him. “I feel like life just couldn’t get any better,” she gushed.

  “Wait till we get to Paris!” Will shouted over the engine.

  “I want to ski!” Darla yelled to Jasmine and Will. They looked at each other for a minute.

 
; “Her last MRI looked pretty good,” he said, slowing the boat.

  “Take it very easy on your arms and shoulders,” Jasmine warned.

  Darla leaped over the side holding hands with Easton. They swam around the boat twice while Jasmine hooked up the ski line and tossed the ski out. Will shut the boat off and dived in. “It’s hot today,” he said.

  They started swimming around the boat in the middle of the big lake. It was a weekday so there wasn’t much boat traffic. Jasmine stopped to look at the incredible scene before her. It seemed like they were on another planet, she thought, as she dived overboard.

  Will swam as fast as he could to catch Darla, but she was slim and very strong. Jasmine closed in behind Will and swam as fast as she could. The damage in her shoulder from the accident had completely healed and she was able to stretch out and stroke with all her strength. Darla finally stopped, laughing hysterically.

  “Do you think I’ll get arrested for skiing naked?” she said.

  “We’ll just tell them to complain to the manufacturer,” Easton said.

  Darla got up on the first attempt and surprised them all with her skiing. She made graceful turns and leaped over the wake in perfect form. Will even pushed the throttle open a little more after she jabbed her thumb in the air, yelling for more speed.

  Jasmine looked around the boat and laughed long and loud. For a tiny moment she realized what was happening before her eyes. She was flying down a magnificent lake in the bright sunshine with a man she loved completely, towing a 76 year old woman who just months ago had been dying, with the man who had first visualized the DNA molecule, and was also dying.

  “I’m a Nobel Laureate,” she said aloud. Will looked at her and smiled.

  “You’re a Nobel Laureate and a girl who just wants to have fun,” he said.

  “We’ll do Paris, like it’s never been done before!”

  Darla skied all the way down to Three Dunes, which was abandoned. Will made a fast turn past the beach, and she flipped the ski line high in the air, splashing into the water.

  The big picnic table was in the shade, but it was still hot. “We’ll be in the lake all day today,” he said, opening his camp chair and setting it down in the water. Jasmine turned off her cell phone, and put her chair next to Will’s, sitting down in the cool water. “Make sure they keep their sun clothes on. I don’t want any repeat of Darla’s sunburn reaction,” Will said.

  “They’re both behaving for a change,” Jasmine said, as she looked over her shoulder at Darla and Easton. They both had white nylon shirts and baggy pants on, with big sunhats. “I feel like I’m living in a dream, some crazy dream somewhere. Is this heaven?” she asked.

  “It sure feels like it,” Will said. “I can’t wait to go to Europe! I know this little island in Greece where we can rent a Villa for a few months. We’ll go down to the Taverna every night and dance, eat, and then walk home under the stars of the Aegean.”

  “Then I’ll come home and attend Easton’s press conference, and I’ll help him turn American science around,” Jasmine said.

  “And then?” Will asked.

  “Maybe we’ll turn the country around,” she said, kissing Will.

  They all climbed the steep sand dune in a line, laughing and falling in the hot sand. The view from the top of the dunes was majestic and there was a slight breeze from the north, which made it seem cooler. They ran down the steep sand dune to the beach three times, breathlessly running back up each time. Jasmine stood on the top of the dune and closed her eyes. She felt the soft breeze blow over her sweaty body. Will came up behind her, kissed her back, and held her breasts in his hands.

  “Somehow, it’s all going to work out,” he said, leaping up and pulling Jasmine over to the sand dune. They threw themselves down the steep dune, running and laughing.

  In a wild crazy blur, she looked at him. Will’s face was full of fun and happy. He was laughing wildly, and his shiny hair was billowing out behind him. The jade green lake behind him, and the bright sun on his face created an image of the sheer joy of life that Jasmine held in her mind as she tumbled onto the hot sand.

  “Hurry,” Darla said, as Easton ripped the top off the potato salad container. Darla speared her hand in and ate like a starving prisoner.

  “You savage!” Easton said, grabbing a handful and wolfing it down. Will finally got the charcoals hot enough to put the turkey burgers on. The cold beer went down like water in the gathering heat.

  “I never thought I’d be able to do things like this again in a million years,” Easton said, downing the beer in one long gulp. “I didn’t raise this much hell in college!” He suddenly grabbed Will and looked at him intently, “Thank you! Thank you! How can I ever thank you for returning my life and my long forgotten youth to me? I couldn’t even remember what it was like to wake up without pain, to walk, to run, to swim, to have energy and vitality again. God, it’s so wonderful! How can I ever thank you?” he asked, talking excessively too loud.

  “Just do what we ask for now. Give us another year to work before you let the cat out of the bag. That’s all we ask,” Will said.

  “Put a shirt on!” Jasmine said to Darla as she sat in the boat, bobbing her head to the music.

  Jasmine heard it first: the high-pitched whine of the jet engine. Nielsen’s shiny dark blue chopper came in low over the dunes above them, and banked sharply, hovering directly overhead.

  A door on the underside popped open and a torrent of glittering, brightly colored confetti was suddenly blowing all around them. “Hip hip hooray! Nielsen’s voice bellowed from the loudspeaker, as the chopper banked away steeply, picked up some altitude, and sat down on top of the big white sand dune.

  Marjorie and Nielsen came bounding down the sand dune to the beach, laughing, carrying magnum champagne bottles. Marjorie fell into Jasmine’s arms with a long squeal. “Yipppeeeeee!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, hugging Jasmine tightly, and stabbing the bottle in the air.

  “I knew you’d get it!” Marjorie said, pushing back to look at Jasmine. Jasmine froze when she looked at Marjorie. Her face was shining and her skin was soft and radiant. Her hair was full and shining. The lines on her neck were almost gone, and her hands were beautiful. Jasmine held her soft hands and looked at her arms. All of the aging spots and freckles were gone.

  “How does it feel?” she asked.

  “I feel like a kid on a long, long water slide!” Marjorie gushed. “I thought the stem cell treatment was great, but this, this is…”

  “Paradise,” Nielsen said, turning to Jasmine. She looked closely at his face, and was stopped cold again. Nielsen had regressed about thirty years, and she could see the vibrant, handsome man he had been. She saw the bearing of a born leader in him for the first time, and actually felt herself attracted to him. As she hugged him, she felt his muscular back through his silk Aloha shirt.

  “How…how are you going to…,” Jasmine stammered, still shocked.

  “We’re going to Europe for a year. We’re leaving next week, and we’ll be in Sweden, of course,” Nielsen said. “We’ll look forward to your help when we all return from the continent,” he said, feigning a sophisticated air.

  “Here! Here!” Easton said, walking behind Nielsen and shaking his hand.

  “Burgers are ready!” Will shouted from the grill, starting a stampede to the picnic table. Nielsen and Easton walked off together, talking rapidly. Easton’s hands went up in the air every few minutes as he made a point.

  Will was shocked at Marjorie’s appearance. “I see you’ve been fooling around with Mother Nature,” he said, looking at her closely. “How many days has it been from treatment?”

  “One-twenty-seven and counting,” she said.

  “Are there any corrections in expressions?” Will asked.

  “None, I did have to dramatically up my calcium intake, but that was about it,” Marjorie said.

  “What about estrogen levels?” Will asked.

  “Slightly elevated,
but then I’ve always been that way,” she said, shaking her hair out and putting on a sun hat. “I brought our MRI scans. “We’re doin’ all right, we’re getting good grades, our future is so bright we have to wear shades.” Marjorie sang the Timbuktoo lyrics and broke into her absurd Go Go dance.

  “Let’s go for a run on the lake to swim and cool off!” Will yelled, blowing the horn on the boat. Easton and Walter came back around the point, and Marjorie and Jasmine waved from the top of the big sand dune.

  “I haven’t been out on a boat for years,” Walter said, stepping on Will’s new boat. “This is a beauty.”

  “I got it last year. It’s a great boat,” Will said, starting the engine. “Lots of deck room and it’s really fast.”

  “We’ll go back with you then. I wouldn’t miss this party for anything in the world! I’ll tell the chopper to go refuel and wait at the airport,” Nielsen said.

  They roared out into the middle of the lake. The breeze had stopped and the water was like a huge sheet of green glass. The boat slowed down in a particularly scenic spot on the west side of the big lake.

  “A toast,” Walter said, waving the big champagne bottle.

  Will stopped the boat and shut off the engine. He quickly flipped up the big table and spread the bright yellow Bimini awning back in one motion.

  Marjorie pulled plastic stemware from her bag and passed them around. Will loosened the cork and aimed it at a boat going by. It sailed surprisingly close to the boat. “Strike your colors and we’ll let you keep your swords, you bastards!” he yelled at the people in the boat.

  Marjorie quickly filled their glasses and turned to the group “A toast! A toast to courage, and a toast to knowing! A toast to science and a toast to Jasmine, our brave colleague, who had the courage to say we don’t need these stinking diseases!”

  “And we don’t need any stinking aging!” Darla seconded.

  “And we don’t need any stinking religious fanatics!” Easton boomed.

  Jasmine beamed as they downed their glasses. Recognition was such a wonderful sensation she thought. Being recognized by your peers is the ultimate in fulfillment. She looked at Will who smiled as he stood up.