Chapter 23

"Hello! Where are you" she heard David on the other side of the phone. "I am on my way" she replied as she hurried to the lab. "You got to see the results," he replied quickly. "Don't say anything. I'll be there in a minute." She hung up the phone and rushed to the lab, where David was holding a piece of

paper. He folded it as he saw Amelia coming. To her surprise Olivia and Peter were also standing there. She looked at them with quizzical eyes. "Don't worry we are here to help you." Peter blurted as he saw her bafflement. He was a short and chubby boy. His silky hair was parted in the middle and set with a gel that made flaky appearance with too much application. He was wearing a black wide rimmed glasses that gave him a nerdish look. She was not sure how to respond because they had kept it quite a secret. They made certain that no body gets a hint of what they were doing. In their opinion it might jeopardize their efforts. Yet Olivia and Peter's presence was a bit of relief. Amelia and David knew that they would need other people to execute their experiments. It wasn't something they could do alone. They needed more brains that too could contribute.

"How is it?" Amelia seized the paper from David and glimpsed through it. "There is nothing much about it. Simple HAV and HEV found in the water sample." Olivia said as she looked at her anxious glances on the paper. Her hands were shaking and her fluttering heart broke her rhythmic breaths. For the first time she was uncertain if it was the stress that made her short -winded and shaky or it was the gravity of situation that took her breaths away. Her usually luminescent and gleaming eyes bulged as if they would fall on the paper that she was holding with her trembling hands.

"Why are you so worried?" Olivia who too was peeking into the paper from the side held her hand tightly to stop the quivers. "I have never seen you like this?" she stared at her. "What were you expecting?" Peter asked as he saw her condition. "I don't know." She replied looking blankly at him. "But I was not expecting this. That I am sure of." She said still engrossed in the depths of her thoughts. "I thought it would not be A or E alone that worsened their illness." she continued after a pause, "there would be something else possibly leading to that horror." She disclosed her fears. "They weren't just the symptoms of A or E." she looked at David.

"Your analysis is thought provoking and logical. But the results are here in front of you. And you are the judge." Peter replied pointing at the paper in her hand. She rolled it gently with a heavy heart unsure if it was a matter of joy or grief. Olivia patted her on the back and said, "We need to use our scientific knowledge to make a better treatment strategies. The disease is already identified." she declared with guarantee.

"Maybe there is something in their environment... Maybe in their food... Or the air that they inhale... or maybe something else... something invisible...that has changed their bodies," David said in pauses putting strain on his brain as if he was forcing whatever suspicions he had out of it. "Maybe that invisible thing has changed their bodies in such a way that they are asymptomatic initially but their immune response to HAV or HEV exhibited those dangerous symptoms." he continued. "What do you mean?" Amelia asked furrowing her eyebrows. "I mean maybe it is only the people in that community who are manifesting those horrible signs. It may not occur in other people." David said in a consequential manner.

It made Amelia curious. "You mean their bodies do not respond to that invisible thing or you can say it is dormant even if it is present in them for a long time unless it is coupled with A and E virus?" she asked flabbergasted. They were giving words to their presumptions which partially made sense but Amelia thought they deliberated in a preposterous way. "Yes I assume so?" he said doubtfully. "How can we be sure if we don't test their blood or body fluids?" "You are absolutely right. For that we need a test. Right now we are sure that the water sample contains only HAV and HEV. It doesn't show anything else besides them." Peter said casually.

"But how do we test them? It's not possible." She said incredulously. There was a silence for few minutes. They looked at each other and tried to figure out their next step. "Amy?" David suddenly asked. "How is the rat doing?" They all gaped at him with penetrating eyes. "Ow it's fine. It's doing absolutely well." she smiled. Amelia knew what David was trying to say. "I know what's in your mind." "But mom is very sensitive about our intentions regarding the rat. She has grown a bit fond of it." She laughed. Peter and Olivia looked at them inquisitively.

Their conversation suddenly took a turn that became off track for for them. "Listen to me all of you," David leaned in and lowered his voice. They all brought their heads closer to listen to him. "We know that the water sample has nothing else besides the A and E. So why don't we test it on the rat. I mean if it only shows the HAV or HEV symptoms and nothing else it would confirm our hypothesis that the problem is something else." he said conclusively. "And if it shows the symptoms we are fearing then? Then what do we do? We play a dangerous game." She disclosed scaringly. "I am sure it will not. Because you are holding the results. There is no other explanation besides that."

Amelia knew he was right but there were fears in her heart. Putting an innocent animal's life at risk was one thing but dealing with the consequences were another. She was certain that they were not only finding a solution for their suspicions rather giving a window to the spreading illness. Just in case the animal developed those symptoms would put them and the entire community in real trouble and that was something they couldn't afford. However, they had no other option. They needed to carry out experiments and for that they required a medium. For Amelia there was no other way than to make her mother support her. And she was well aware of her ability to do that.