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Tuesday - September 14

"I hope you're right, John," Monica says, with an unsure tone.

"I hope so, too," Ted concurs.

"Come on, you guys! This is a breakthrough for us! Don't you see? All of the files, all of them, are, or will be at our fingertips! Doesn't that excite you to know that we'll be able to look at files of previous researches, and also, to see if anything we find can be related to our current situation? This is great!" I rejoice, as I pick up a piece of bacon and take a hefty bite.

Ted begins to show some excitement, but Monica appears to be holding back. I go to her, crouch down, and gaze into her blue eyes, and ask, "What's wrong, Monica? Is there something bothering you?"

Monica looks at Ted, and then she looks back at me, and quietly replies, "I've been thinking about our friends in the lab. I don't know what killed those people, but I'm damn sure about one thing. If we don't find answers, and soon, I'm afraid we're going to have a pandemic on our hands, and many people may die. Have you guys thought about that?"

I stand up and pat Monica on her shoulder and reply, "Of course we have, Monica. But we can't dwell on that. We're scientists. It's up to us to find out the cause so that it doesn't become a pandemic. I know that our friends suffered an unpleasant death, but we just have to hope that no one else does. Don't you two agree?" They each give affirmative nods, but I still sense uncertainty from Monica.

I go back to my desk to locate a legal pad and pencil. I finger through the legal pad until I find an unused sheet. I check the pencil and notice that it doesn't need any sharpening.

"Okay, you two, let's make a list of the most important things that we need to locate when we search through the files. Of course, we have the normal stuff that doesn't need to be noted. So, let's pull our brains together and think of the unusual. Shall we?"

Ted hollers, "Hell, yes! Let's find out what this bitch is!"

Chuckling, I reply, "Yes, Ted. Let's find out. How about you, Monica? How do you feel about this?"

Ted and I wait for her answer, but it doesn't come quickly. I set aside the paper and pencil, and lean forward in my chair, clasping my hands together, letting Monica know that her thoughts are just as important as Ted's and mine.

"Well, Monica, any thoughts?" I ask.

"I agree with you, John. But we have to look at the files that were cancelled by the CDC. A lot of research has gone on here, but not all research had a positive conclusion. Many of them were dismissed. I think that will be our best bet; besides looking at your dad's files as well," she adds.

"Great! Then it looks like we're all aboard and ready to get down to business. So, Monica, your task is to get a spreadsheet from the research department showing all of the cancelled researches from now back to, let's say, back to the year 2000."

"Okay," she says.

"Ted, once Monica has that spreadsheet, you and she will have to go through each research to see if anything can be related to our current situation."

"You got it, John," Ted says, with a mouthful of something.

"I'll get permission from Julie to unlock my dad's files. Once I have that, I'll go through everything he did. I don't know if he had anything cancelled, but we can only cross our fingers and hope."

The three of us look at each other acknowledging what our new assignments are. I push my chair aside, and with a pleasing grin I say, "Well, I think breakfast has gone cold. Let's go back to the cafeteria and start over with a warm one. Shall we?"