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See the World: Part 8

See the World (An Easy English Story): Part 8

Neil sits down in the brown leather chair next to Dr. Chen’s desk. He can’t stop looking at the red-spiked germs spilling out of Dr. Chen’s mouth as she talks.

“Neil, you know that today’s patient has a very serious disease.”

“Yes, cancer,” Neil whispers.

Dr. Chen nods. “The lenses work well on diseases like HIV and Ebola, but they do not work well with cancer. But the patient doesn’t want to do chemotherapy, so the lenses could help him.” Dr. Chen leans closer to Neil. Neil leans back. “Neil, this is the first brain cancer surgery with the lenses. If the surgery fails, please remember: It’s not your fault.” Dr. Chen smiles and grabs Neil’s hand. Neil and Dr. Chen have been coworkers and friends for ten years, and she often grabs his hand when she knows he is nervous. Neil is nervous about the surgery, but he has a stronger feeling than nervousness. Disgust. A sick feeling in his stomach. A few of Dr. Chen’s cold cells are on her fingers from when she coughed. When she takes her hand away, Neil looks down at his hand. Neon green and red circles dance on his skin.

Neil quickly pulls his hand back. He wants to wash his hands, but he doesn’t want to be rude.

Dr. Chen continues talking about the cancer surgery, but Neil cannot think.

He feels frozen in his chair.

He tries not to look at his hand, but every time he does, he sees the green cells buried in the hair on his knuckles. He wonders if there are still cells on his face from Dr. Chen’s cough. More cells float around them as Dr. Chen talks.

I’m fine. It’s just a cold. I’m fine. It’s just a cold. Neil repeats these words in his head, but he doesn’t feel better.

“Neil?” Dr. Chen waves her hand in front of his face. “Are you ready for the surgery?”

Part 9>

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See the World: Part 7

See the World (An Easy English Story): Part 7

Neil uses the lenses for two months, and he feels like a pro. The HIV of Neil’s first patient was cured in just five days. Because the surgery was so successful, Dr. Chen asked Neil to do twenty more surgeries. All twenty patients got better quickly.

Neil feels excited to look at the patients’ new healthy cells. Before the surgeries, their bodies look like Neil’s bedroom wall when Leila drew on it with crayons two years ago. After Neil spent an hour cleaning the wall with mayonnaise it was a smooth light blue again. Genome editing with the lenses is like mayonnaise for their too-colorful cells.

The diseases all look different with the lenses, and all of them are uncomfortably bright. Ebola is Neil’s least favorite. It looks like thousands of neon blue worms. These little worms seem to eat through the healthy cells, squirming in and out of them.

On the morning of Neil’s twenty-first surgery, Dr. Chen asks Neil to meet with her in her office to talk about the surgery. Neil already started getting ready for the surgery, so he is wearing the lenses.

Neil opens Dr. Chen’s office door and immediately feels sick. Bright green circles with red spikes float in the air around Dr. Chen. As she says, “Good morning,” the spikes fly towards Neil. He jumps to the left, but some of the green and red still hit his face. Neil wipes his face with his sleeve, and then he remembers: This is what a cold looks like.

“I see you’re wearing the lenses,” Dr. Chen says. She laughs at Neil’s reaction.

Neil tries to laugh, too. “I forgot that I put them in.”

Dr. Chen laughs louder and begins to cough. More frog-green circles fly towards Neil, and he holds his breath.

Part 8>

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The Cold: Part 5

The Cold (An Easy English Story): Part 5

My phone buzzes, and I wake up. It is 2:45 a.m. I don’t know the phone number, but I answer the call.

“Hello?”

“I need your help.” It is a man’s voice. He is whispering.

“Who is this?” I ask.

“I can’t tell you. April gave me your number. She doesn’t want to talk to any reporters. But I do.” He sounds scared.

I quickly get out of bed and turn on my desk lamp. I open my notebook and say, “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

“I saw an ice body.” He pauses. “And I saw where it came from.”

I begin writing down his story.

“Do you remember the news about the ice body behind the shopping mall?” he asks. I remember. It was a 30-year-old man. Trash collectors found him in the dumpster behind the mall. As usual, he was naked, and parts of his body were frozen. His hands and feet were purple, and his ears were black with frostbite. “I walk my dog on the street by the mall every morning. Four people came out of the back of the mall. They were carrying a large metal box. It looked heavy. They dumped the box into the dumpster and carried it back inside.” The man on the phone begins speaking quickly. “I didn’t know it was an ice body! I thought that the metal box was strange, but…”

“Did you see the faces of the four people?” I ask.

“No, I was too far away, and they were wearing face masks.” He pauses. “But when they went back into the mall, one of them opened the door. The back door of the mall is locked with a password. Those people know the password.”

“Did you see them leave the mall? Did they have a car?”

“No. They only went to the dumpster outside the mall, and then they went back inside.”

I have one more question. “Why doesn’t April want to talk to reporters about the ice bodies?”

“She thinks that news stations are killing people… so that the news stations can make more money.”

I roll my eyes. “What do you think about that idea?”

“Well,” he says. “It’s not crazy. The CEOs of WRN and NewsAmerica are both $50 million richer now.”

“Then why are you talking to me? The Observer is a local news station, but we’re still journalists.” I expect him to get angry. When people believe all news is fake, they believe that all journalists are liars.

“I think the CEOs are bad, but I don’t believe you’re bad. You saw an ice body, right? Maybe my story can help save people.”

I need to get to the mall.

There is still a lockdown. The mall is not closed, but the news says that people shouldn’t go out. I can’t drive, and Mom and Dad will definitely not take me to the mall.

I remember Ms. Sato’s words: “We are a news station. We report real news. We can’t write an article that says, ‘Maybe the ice bodies are real, but maybe they aren’t.'” She will not be happy with my online research. And the man’s story about the mall body isn’t enough for a full news story. I need to give Ms. Sato a good news story. Or a great one.

I text Priya and Carlos. Can one of you take me to the mall?

Carlos replies quickly. WTF? There’s a lockdown. Why do you want to go shopping?

I reply: It’s for a news story. I’ll explain later.

Priya replies a few minutes later: let’s go!!!!!

And then she sends another message: …but my dad probably won’t let me go…

And then another: but who cares! we’ll find a way.

Priya lives with her father. It’s different from my situation. I live at home because I don’t have enough money to move out. She lives at home because her father was paralyzed last year. He can’t move his legs, so Priya helps with housework.

We both want to move out.

Carlos sends another message. I don’t want to go inside the mall, but I can drive you, Ari. Unlike me and Priya, Carlos has a car and an apartment.

Thank you!!!!!! Is tonight okay? I still don’t know if my parents will let me go, but I make plans anyway.

Carlos will pick me up at 7 p.m., so I go downstairs to tell my parents, thinking of a reason to go. They are watching TV in the living room.

“So I need to go to the mall tonight for work,” I say strongly.

“Your boss wants you to go to the mall?” Dad asks.

“Yes,” I lie. Ms. Sato didn’t ask me to go, but I’m going for work. Close enough. “I know you’re worried. So I asked Carlos to go with me.” Mom likes Carlos. He likes to bake and brings a pie or pastries every time he visits.

“Well, if Carlos is going…” Mom says.

Dad frowns. He stands up and walks upstairs. “Do whatever you want.”

I didn’t get a “yes” from Mom or Dad, but I didn’t get a “no” either. I’m not going to argue.

Part 6>