The Journey begins
The familiar feel of the comfy leather chair was a luxury he looked forward to every time
he could steal a few minutes to get off his feet. He kicked off his shoes and plunged in
deeper and stretched to relieve his aching joints. These days, the aches seemed to have
intensified. Sometimes he wondered if it was age or sorrow. Every time he spent alone,
he found himself wandering through paths he had travelled through so many times. Paths
that led him into the warm embrace of familiar sights, sounds and smells. He found himself
enraptured by the little dimple on her left cheek when she smiled, her one crooked tooth
peeking out. It was the one flaw she constantly obsessed about…the one feature on her
beautiful face that he loved the most. In these moments, he could stare into her blue eyes
that gleamed with hope and strength that had been forged through the many battles she
had fought. He took her in his arms, his hand on the small of her back and felt the
prominent scar – another testament of the battle she was fighting. She stared at him as
his countenance fell and gave him a reassuring smile. It was difficult to watch her suffer
such pain with such grace. Between the two of them, it seemed he carried the weight of
sadness and sometimes he felt it was unfair to her. She needed so much support yet she
was the one giving him support in these times.
He was rudely awakened from his reverie by a knock on the door. Rubbing his eyes, he
got up to open the door while complaining under his breath. His eyes grew wide as he
stared at the petite woman with a crown of golden-brown hair with freckles that danced
around with careless abandon at the slightest movement. “Good morning, Dr. David
Anderson. Aren’t you going to let me in?” she asked jolting him back to the present. Still
unable to utter a word, he stepped aside awkwardly to allow her in and closed the door.
“Please sit down,” he said awkwardly. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence where
he just stared at her, she spoke. “My name is Dr. Sarah Rodriguez. I am here in response
to your letter.” The pretty woman sitting across from him needed no introduction. Who
did not know Dr. SR as she was fondly called? A renowned botanist and the youngest
professor at the best research institution in the country, Dr. SR had led many teams in
groundbreaking research in the use of plants to find cures to various diseases that were
considered incurable for a long time. David had come across some of her research a few
months ago and had been taken in by the brilliant work she was doing. When the idea for
the project he was about to embark on, he knew she had to be on the team. So, he wrote
her a five-page letter telling her why she needed to drop everything she was doing and
come on a wild goose chase with him- at least that was what his friend Tony called it when
he shared the idea with him.
For the next two hours, they spoke at length about the idea he had. In that time, she
shared with him why she had come. Propped on a sofa with a book on the use of written
by her mentor and longtime idol, she struggled to concentrate on the words. They seemed
to dance around like the inexperienced tango dancers she enjoyed watching on channel 7.
Finally, she dropped the book in frustration and got up to make a cup of coffee hoping it
would calm her racing mind and still her shaking nerves. Three cups later, she was still as
shaky as the trees outside her window dancing to the tune of the wind. She thought about
taking a nap and quickly dismissed the idea because every time she closed her eyes, she
was haunted by his ashen faced look, his sunken hollow eyes that were once alive with
laughter and his bony body with tubes passed through every inch of it. While the monitor
that told the story of his heart that got weaker and weaker every day. For the umpteenth
time, she wondered about how fleeting life was and felt that surge again. The surge she
had been feeling for three weeks now. She couldn’t tell if it was anger, pain or desperation
but she knew she needed to do something. At that moment, a knock interrupted her
thoughts. It was the mail man. Dear Sam in his well ironed well uniform had in his hands
a letter from David Anderson. She would come to find out five minutes later as she perused
through the content that this was no ordinary letter. This was an answer to prayer.
Over the next two weeks, Sarah and David worked rigorously to put together a team and
get sponsorship for the wild goose chase - a trip to the Amazon Forest in search of a cure
for cancer, heart disease and diabetes. She had even managed to get Dr. Tom Chen who
hated hiking with every fiber in his body to join in. David’s best friend since college, Dr.
John Lee would also be joining them. Everything seemed to be going as planned until one
Saturday evening when David’s nap was interrupted by a rude knock on the door. He
dragged his drowsy, tired frame to the door and was greeted by three men all donned in
black suits and dark shades. The man in front handed him an envelope at the same time
lifting his jacket so he could see the black side piece attached to his belt. All three of them
then turned away, hopped into a black SUV and drove off with neck breaking speed. The
letter had just one word, ‘stop’ and was signed with the letter J. Anger welled up in David.
Josh Green of big Pharma had come to his office to convince him to cancel the trip because
a cure would run his company out of business. He had refused and asked him to leave. If
Josh thought he could intimidate him, he clearly did not know how determined he was. He
looked at his bags packed in the corner, shrugged and went back to sleep.
Tomorrow…tomorrow their adventure would begin.