Zera and the Green Man (13 page)

“We’re determined to find a success soon,” said the exhausted-looking Albright, his eyes glassy and bloodshot. “This is the three-thousandth and fifty-sixth batch.” Hand trembling slightly, Albright turned the dial and pressed the button. A tiny red light flashed and the contraption made a tiny “POP.”

“Trying to get it in the right spot on the genome is like a blind man trying to hit the bull’s eye in game of darts,” Troy said. He told Albright to keep up the good work.

“Thanks, sir.”

“Now, at long last, it’s time to see the really cool stuff,” whispered Troy.
Really cool stuff?
Theodore wondered.
What in God’s name could that be?
Already it seemed that VCC was way ahead,
dangerously ahead,
of the game in their research already.

Returning to the
clean room/dressing room, Troy secured the door behind them. He searched the dressing areas and bathroom to make sure they were alone and then called Security from a wall v-phone.

“You’ll need to come over and unlock the door,” he said to the guard on the monitor. “We’re going downstairs.”

The guard nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“We’ll call you in about twenty minutes.”

Langston went to the sign next to the mirror that read “ARE YOU CLEAN?” and swung it aside. Theodore saw a secret key pad and scanning device hidden underneath.  Langston took off one glove, punched in a series of numbers and letters, and laid his palm atop the scanning device. A high, whining tone emitted from the scanner and the mirror below slid into the wall, revealing a long, dim, downward-sloping corridor. He extended his arm. “After you, gentlemen.”

Everything’s so cool, and so cloak-and-dagger — now a secret passageway?
Light-headedness came over Theodore. He wasn’t sure if it was elation or dread, but his palms were sweating. For some reason,
Alice in Wonderland
, Alice falling down the rabbit hole in particular, entered his mind.
This is what free falling feels like. All I can do now is wait for the landing.

The trio entered the passage and the mirror-door slid closed behind them as lights along the passageway brightened. Theodore looked up and noticed a tiny camera hovering above them, driven by silent, helicopter-like blades. It was so small that at first he thought it was some kind of insect
. Holy cow.
He could feel the adrenalin coursing through him.
This IS the big leagues.
The camera followed them as they descended. Down they went, at a gentle slope, for about sixty feet. At the end of the corridor, this time uncovered and in the wall next to a set of double doors, Theodore saw a second scanning device. 

“It’s your turn,” Langston said to Theodore. “It’s easy. Just punch in the secret code, Demeter 911, and then place your palm on the scanner. It’s been set up already to
recognize your hand.”

“But how, how did you get this set up so quickly?”

“We’ve had a few days together. I’ve had your prints since that first dinner together.”

Theodore shook his head.
“Again, so very impressive, Langston.”
I’ve never seen anything like this.
“Demeter? Isn’t that the Greek goddess of agriculture, fruits of the harvest?”

Langston laughed. “And of course 911’s the number you call for emergencies. Troy’s got an incredible sense of humor, don’t you think?”

Very funny.
Theodore entered in the code and laid his now-sweating palm against the scanner.

The door opened.

Bright, white light caused the men to squint as they entered the room. The first impression was of an outdoor plant nursery. Rows and rows of overhead fluorescent lights made the place as bright as natural sunlight. Theodore took in the green leafy plant life. There were trees — and humidity. His skin absorbed the warmth, the mugginess. Then he noticed a sickeningly sweet floral smell, tinged with the scent of bleach.  

Theodore’s eyes adjusted, and details emerged. Closest to him, a row of vines on a long trellis held strange fruits. Small and round with filmy coverings, blue,
green, brown, hazel, with black centers and white rims. They hung in clusters, like grapes. But these grapes stared blankly. For a second it didn’t compute. It was as if his mind couldn’t accept what he saw.
They’re eyes,
Theodore thought.
Eyes!
Dozens of eyeballs in a cluster, hundreds of clusters along the row.

His heart thudded, his mouth dropped open in stupefaction. He couldn’t speak. His throat felt closed up, strangled.

Forcing himself to shift his gaze, Theodore saw most of the other plants were trees, growing in large containers in neat rows. A row of gnarled, twisted trees bore huge, garish red flowers, unlike any he had ever seen. Some of them held mature fruits. Theodore’s head swam. These fruits, recognizable even though encased in milky membranes, were
hearts
. Hearts with thick veins — live, beating hearts.
Human hearts.
Over the sound of the fans stirring the moist, sickeningly perfumed air, Theodore heard the slow but unmistakable beatings — thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump — as they pulsated with life. His own heart seemed to stop as he noticed the medical equipment attached to the trees, white, whirring machines with digital printouts and graphs and little red lights
. Like a hospital.

Theodore gaped at another row of trees. They were also gnarled and ugly — and covered with pairs of lungs! Breathing in, breathing out. One word echoed in Theodore’s head.
Alive
. There was more medical equipment, and then, across the room.
My God, livers?
Theodore’s stomach churned at the site — big, dark, and sloppy wet-looking
human organs
. 

Theodore’s gaze fled, only to land on a long three-foot-high tank-like structure filled with soil. White trellises rose from the structure with white, ghostly vines scrambling to the top, vines with super-thick hairy stems and huge, pale leaves. The stems needed to be thick in order to bear the weight of the large fruit. They weren’t thick enough. Around each big bowling
ball-sized fruit globe was a net of mesh tied onto the trellis support. Through the mesh, Theodore could see the hair of the fruit poking out. Long hair. Human hair. No faces, just
hair
.

“Welcome to Fort Knox,” said Langston.

“Now
this
is cutting edge, baby!” exclaimed Troy.

Theodore’s knees buckled and everything went dark.

* * *

He awakened to the overwhelming sensations of his nostrils on fire and his sinuses filled with an icy wind. His eyes flew open
and he gasped. Above him hovered a very overweight
woman with pretty brown eyes. Eyes that looked familiar. She peered down at him where he lay on a couch. 

“The smelling salts worked. How are you feeling, Mr. Green?” While the words were kind, her tone had a definite undercurrent of disdain.

Where am I? Do I know this woman?
The nurse wore white scrubs and had her dark hair pulled back severely with a trio of bobby pins on each side. The slightly wrinkled and softer flesh of her face revealed she had to be at least forty. For a second she looked familiar but no, he didn’t know her. Everything seemed scrambled and he struggled to remember.
Where am I?
He saw Langston and Troy sitting in chairs at a nearby table. They looked at him with concern, tinted with a trace of amusement.

“You’re in the break room, near the lab,” said the nurse matter-of-factly. “You’ve been out for a couple of minutes.”

It all came back to him.
A nurse, of course there’s a nurse. It’s like a hospital.
The blood drained from his face.

The nurse said, “If you feel sick, I’ll help you to the bathroom. It’s right around the corner.”

“I’m okay,” Theodore said, sitting up.

The nurse looked back at him with an expression of barely-concealed annoyance, as if the idea of a grown man fainting, let alone vomiting, over some emotional disturbance disgusted her. Theodore cleared his throat, turned to the men at the table. “I . . . I knew you were running some computer programs, checking out the theories, the data I’ve been sending you from work I did in college. I was just fooling around, coming up with wild ideas. I had no idea that you were implementing this work.”

“I think you’re done here now,” Langston said to the nurse. Troy walked to the door and held it open. The nurse quickly packed the contents of her medical bag and left.

Langston stood. “There’s been a small team on these projects for years. We started checking out your theories way before you sent them to us as, well, your computer system did
not prove much of a challenge to hack into. Everything you hypothesized has been an incredible success,” said Langston. “Everything has worked! Every single man/plant combination you came up with, the protein mixtures, anti-rejection formulas. Everything worked just like it was meant to work. This is success beyond all expectations.”

Theodore, still reeling in disbelief, reached for his glasses on the table next to him and put them on. “You hacked into my files? This is all illegal on so many levels, Langston. How could you do this? It’s one thing to examine an idea and quite another to make it a reality.” He rubbed the back of his head, where he had a bump from the fall. “Those balls of hair. Good
God, that must have been my melon-hair idea. I never meant for these things to be created!”

“Every bald man, and woman, is going to be beating a path to our door,” Langston said, his voice flat. “Now you know why we had to have you. You are a genius. An Einstein, an Edison, a Luther Burbank times ten! But those men didn’t have the backing of a powerful multi-national corporation, or the money Void Chemical Corporation has to grease the wheels with the politics of it all. When word of what we have done gets out, mankind is not going to worry about the legality. We’re going to save lives, Theodore! The money will be astronomical! With us, all your dreams will be realized.”

“We also had to have you, once we started testing these theories,” Troy said, “or you would have sued us.”

“Yeah, I would have.” Theodore stood up. He felt wobbly, but his anger steadied him. The disgust crashed through him in waves.
Maybe I still can.
Langston repulsed him.
I trusted him and all he wanted to do was steal from me.

“But you would have had a hard time winning,” Troy said. “With the holdings VCC has, we would have kept you in court forever. You would have had a hard time proving
anything
.”

Langston shot a menacing glance at Troy, and then turned to Theodore. “That would never happen, Theodore. We’re friends now. We care about the same things.”

With friends like you . . .

Langston walked over to the cooler and pulled out two bottles of StrongMan Rejuvenator. He opened them and brought
one over to Theodore. “You’ve signed the contracts. We don’t want to turn this into something negative, put the false word out that you’ve been leaking this technology for years. We’re one of the major corporations in the world already, Theodore. Soon, we’re going to be
the
major corporation.
Your
work is our crowning achievement. Do you know what all this means? It’s The Golden Rule. You know, ‘Those with the gold, rule.’ We will have it
all
.” He paused, taking a drink from the bottle. “Though, I will make a confession. To me, the power, the money, pales in comparison to the actual work. This is the most exciting step mankind has ever made. Bigger than going to the moon, bigger than the atomic bomb.” His green eyes flashed. “For the very first time we are gaining absolute power over nature. And we’re getting closer to immortality, Theodore, thanks to your brilliant mind. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“No.” Theodore didn’t.
It’s too much.

“It means we are there. We can do anything we want!” Langston’s voice turned soft, soothing. “I know it’s a bit much to take all at once. We should go now, take you back to L.A. and let you get some rest. After all, we’ve had a lot of time to get used to the idea of what we’re doing. You’ve only had today. I
certainly understand.”

“Yeah, it’s some heavy stuff, Theodore,” added Troy. “You need
time to soak it all in.”       
.

Friday,
June 6

Sitting on the edge of a flower bed, Hattie picked up a four-pack of garnet-hued snapdragons. She turned over the container, gave the sides a squeeze, tapped the bottom, and scrunched one plastic cell. A single plant, along with its root ball and soil, plopped into her hand.  

“Now what you do,
Zera, is try not to disturb the roots. In most cases, even though they may look all twined together, they’ll be fine. When they go into the ground they’ll spread and grow.” She showed Zera the plant, gently cradled in her hand, her glitter-orange fingernail polish contrasting against the natural colors. Hattie placed the snapdragon in one of the holes she’d dug, gently backfilled the dirt, and then plopped out another “snap” as she called them. “Some folks take out all of the plants at once and leave them lying on the ground while they dig the holes,” Hattie’s brow wrinkled in disapproval, “but always try to imagine yourself as the plant; your roots have been protected and often damp since germination. Would you want your roots lying there exposed to the wind and sun?”

“No.” Zera winced, imagining that it would probably feel like an exposed nerve. She remembered when she’d once chipped a tooth and how sensitive it was. Even a cold drink hurt.

“Here you go, baby,” cooed Hattie to the young plant. “You’re going to like it here.” She planted the others and sprinkled them with warm water from her watering can.

Hattie, Zera and Ben had arrived that morning at Elsie Mayfield’s garden. Elsie was one of Hattie’s wealthy clients in the nearby ski resort town of Pinyon. Ben was working in the front, weeding a huge rock garden and pruning rose bushes that wouldn’t be ready to bloom for at least two more weeks.

When Zera saw the roses, she couldn’t help but think about the ones at Nonny’s. They had bloomed so beautifully that day, but by the next morning, all the blooms were brown and withered, as if someone had sprayed them with herbicide. The sight had left her confused and upset. Hattie came by to see them but could think of no explanation, except maybe it could be a fast-acting and deadly virus that she’d never seen before. Zera had seen Nonny staring at the dead blossoms a few times. Once she looked at Zera like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself. Uncle Theodore still hadn’t called. He had sent them a short text saying they got to L.A. okay, and that was it. Zera didn’t want
to think about it. The possibility of leaving Ute Springs in three short weeks and moving to Los Angeles was even worse than the ghost with clunky boots.

Other than the phantom of leaving her home haunting her thoughts, things were going well. It was Zera’s second morning out as a part-time professional gardener-in-training. Ben worked with his mom, too, so they had spent half the day together yesterday as well. That second night home, Zera realized she had a crush on Ben. It felt strange; Ben was a childhood friend — they had played together as toddlers! But she couldn’t deny her feelings; every time she saw him her heart would beat faster and the palms of her hands would get moist with sweat. She was pretty sure he liked her, too — she caught him looking at her all the time.

Zera found she could concentrate on the plants as she toiled beside Hattie. It wasn’t so easy when Ben was around. As they planted snapdragons and weeded, Zera thought about how much she enjoyed digging in the dirt. She loved the soft soil, the rich, earthy smell of it. Being outside in the open air, surrounded by living creatures (green and otherwise) was her idea of bliss.

“Dang, it’s hot out here.” Hattie untied the scarf from around her neck and dabbed her brow. A few long strands of her tawny, gr
ay-streaked hair had come out of her ponytail and she pushed them from her face. “It’s about time to break for lunch.”

Ben came around the corner and joined them in finishing the planting. When Zera caught him looking at her again, both of their hands in the soil, side by side, the tension in the air became almost palpable. She avoided looking at him directly; she was sure that her feelings would show.

As the three of them hand-watered the rest of the snaps, Elise Mayfield opened the back door of the immense house and strolled out on the verandah. “Hello, Hattie! Everything looks wonderful!” The small, older woman had short blonde hair and wore elegant clothing: black pants, a white silk blouse, pearl necklace, black mules. Elsie picked her way down the steps. “I was wondering if you had a moment, Hattie, before you leave.” She lowered her voice to a smoky almost-whisper. “I want to show you what is going on in the vegetable garden.” 

The mysterious way she said this piqued Zera’s curiosity.

“Sure.” Hattie introduced Zera, and while Ben stayed to load the truck with their tools, Hattie and Zera followed Elsie around the side of the house to her vegetable garden. The narrow patch ran the length of her six-car garage and was filled with rows of lettuce, chard, radishes, kohlrabi, chives, beans, carrots, and a patch of mint. Newly planted tomatoes in black plastic containers were interspersed among the herbs and veggies.

Zera saw immediately why Elsie Mayf
ield was alarmed.
Those poor little lettuces. The outer leaves look like Swiss cheese.

“I’ve discovered that we have a terrible slug problem.” Elsie said. “I need you to apply some slug killer.”

“This
is
terrible,” Hattie said, “but I think what you have here is a duck deficiency problem.”

“A what?”

“If you had a pet duck patrolling the grounds, they’d gobble up those slugs in no time.”

“Oh, really!”
Elsie Mayfield reacted as if Hattie had just said the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

Zera stifled a smile.

“Don’t you have
something
we could use?” Elsie frowned at the lettuces. “If you don’t have anything in your truck, I’m sure I could find something in the potting shed. I think I saw something in there a while back labeled ‘slug bait.’”

“Now, you know I don’t believe in using poisons,” Hattie said good-naturedly.

“Well,” said Elsie, “I don’t believe in using
ducks
.” 

Zera scratched one dirt-stained knee and looked down at the vegetables.
Awkward!
  

Hattie explained to Elsie a couple of other, non-toxic, slug control solutions — beer in saucers to attract the slugs (who
would climb in and drown), or boards for the slugs to crawl under during the day (so they could be easily gathered and destroyed). Elsie fidgeted with her string of pearls.

“We can deal with the problem without poison,” Hattie said, “but it’ll take a little time, a little work. Now, do you want to do something good for the ecosystem, or have instant gratification?”

“Instant gratification,” Elsie said without a moment’s hesitation. She smiled sweetly at Zera. In spite of herself, Zera smiled back. She couldn’t help but find Elsie’s swagger impressive. Elsie continued, “I know what I want. I want those slugs dead. And I don’t have time to mess around with beer and boards and such. I’ll have Juan try to find the slug bait.”

“Don’t have him do it. I’ll look, Elsie.” said Hattie.

After Elsie left, Hattie mumbled to Zera that it was a lost cause, at least for now. “I think I’ve got a length of old, damaged garden hose in Ladybug we can use.” Hattie went to the truck, returning with the hose she’d saved. She showed Zera how to cut it into six-inch lengths and then Hattie put the bait into the pieces, and placed them just outside the garden area. 

“At least if we do it this way there’ll be a little better chance of not harming beneficial insects. If you just put this stuff on the ground it’s going to get into the soil, and into the food, even if it’s in minute particles. This way, you can just throw away the lengths of hose when they’re filled with dead slugs.” Her expression clouded even more. “Damnit, they’ll still be in the landfill, but . . . I wish she’d listen.”

“At least you tried,” Zera said.

“I always will.”

Elsie seemed quite pleased that things were done her way.

The three left and headed off to lunch. 

* * *

At a tiny park across from a convenience store, Hattie parked Ladybug. They washed up at the store’s restroom, bought drinks and a few food items, then trekked back across the street, grabbing their sack lunches from the truck and finding a picnic table. 

Eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich and playfully protesting as Ben “stole” from her container of strawberries, Zera listened to Hattie talk about Elsie’s “groovy” salmon-pink and lemon-yellow
Primula denticulata
, or drumstick primroses, which were in full bloom. Then Hattie informed them she’d purchased a mobile v-phone the afternoon before.

“Ha,” said Ben to Zera. “She swore she’d never get one.”

“I know I did,” Hattie said, “but with Grandma Wren getting up in age — she’s ninety now, you know — I worry about her. I want her to be able to call me if she needs me, and it’s impossible to find regular cell phones anymore. Besides, some of my clients have almost insisted on it.” She mimicked a hoity-toity voice: “‘Hattie, you can
see
what plant we’re referring to if we
need
your
advice
, and you’re not
here
’ — as if nothing could wait a day or two. It’s solar-powered. I’ve had it for a week and still haven’t used it. I tried last night, and it didn’t work; I’d forgotten to keep it sun-charged!”

Zera and Ben laughed. “What’ll be next, Mom?” teased Ben. “A home theatre, with three walls covered with LCD flat screens?
Maybe a computer in Ladybug?”

“Never!” said Hattie.

“What’s the big deal now?” said Ben. “After all, you do have a
mobile-v
.”

As they finished their food, Ben told Zera that he’d caught two garter snakes while at Elsie’s.

“In the rock garden?” asked Hattie. She picked up a potato chip and popped it into her mouth as her silver bracelets jingled. When Ben nodded, she said, between chews, “Thought so. They like it there.” She took a long chug of water and explained to Zera, “Elsie’s terrified of snakes, and we told her we’d remove any we found. I don’t like doing it because they’re a valuable part of the ecosystem, but she said that if we didn’t, her boyfriend would kill them.”

“That’s awful,” Zera said. “They’re completely harmless!”

“Well, that’s the way it is,” Hattie said. “Did you put them in a bucket?”

“Yeah,” said Ben, “They’re in the shade so they’ll be okay. They were freaked out after I caught them and kept trying to slither out. After I put some weeds over them they calmed down.”

“We take them to our garden,” Hattie told Zera. “Would you like to see them?”

“Sure,” Zera said. She imagined Ben capturing the snakes and
a lightness filled her chest. She had never even touched one.

They finished their lunches, and while Hattie went to her truck to make her first mobile-v call ever, to a nursery to check on a flower order, Zera followed Ben to the back of the truck. Ben pulled out a large weed-collecting bucket that was now covered with a work shirt and a bungee cord. He hauled it to a shady spot underneath a tree and partially uncovered it. 

Zera got down on her knees and peered in. She reached in and gently pushed the weeds aside, and Ben crouched down next to her. She could detect the scent of Ben’s shampoo and a slight sweatiness, a combination that made her pulse race. It mixed in with the smells of the wilting plant material, fragrant and green. The weeds felt cool and moist as they brushed her skin.

She spied them. Two snakes, around a foot long, were lying next to one another on the bottom of the white bucket. They were black with thin, almost luminous yellow stripes running down the length of their backs. 

“Oh, look at them,” Zera murmured. She leaned in, keeping the shirt over the top of the bucket as much as possible. She smiled at Ben. “They’re so pretty. They’re ribbon snakes,
Western
ribbon snakes.” To the snakes she said, “Poor things, taken from your home. Don’t worry, Ben and Hattie will take good care of you.”

“Ribbon snakes?” said Ben. “Are you sure?”

Zera nodded. “Yeah. Garters are mottled, more irregular.” Zera blinked. She wasn’t sure how she knew this, but she was certain. She’d never studied snakes before and yet,
she
just knew
.

The snakes, who would normally seek shelter when exposed, stayed still and calm. She touched one with her finger and it stretched out its body. Without thinking, she stroked its back with her finger, and it did not move. It felt cool, smooth. Its eyes closed drowsily. The second snake looked on, lying still. Zera watched them, mesmerized. She’d never touched a snake before, yet it seemed natural to do so and natural for them to respond without alarm.
So beautiful
.

Ben started to put his hand into the bucket and then pulled
away, eyes huge. He quickly got to his feet. “Mom!” he yelled in the direction of Ladybug. “Come quick!”

He gaped at Zera. The snakes had slithered up her hands. Each had wrapped itself tightly around a wrist, twice, ending with its tail in its mouth. These double circles were stretched taut but motionless. The snakes’ eyes were open and staring up at Zera. Zera sat still and tranquil, seemingly oblivious. Her lips were parted with a slight smile, and a faraway look shone in her eyes, as if nothing out of
the ordinary was happening.