Christopher
Twelve years later – Los Angeles, California
'Is it very much farther?' Hope Hawthorne asked her father as they drove down the exit ramp of I-605 in Northern Los Angeles. 'No, Babe, just a few more miles,' Decker answered.
Hope turned on the radio just in time to hear an announcer report the current temperature, 'It's 78 degrees; another beautiful day in Southern California.'
'Seventy-eight degrees! Is this heaven or what? It was thirty-seven and raining when we left D.C.,' Decker commented as Hope tried to find some music. They had flown in that morning from Washington, D.C. to visit Professor Harry Goodman, who was about to announce a major breakthrough which could prove to be a cure for several types of cancer. The discovery was a result of research with the C-cells (as Goodman had come to call the cells from the Shroud) and, in accordance with the agreement they had made twelve years earlier, Decker was to be given an exclusive report on any C-cell research two weeks prior to any formal announcement and press conference. To this point the research had not been nearly as successful as Goodman had hoped.
Decker had seen Goodman only once since their initial discussions about the origin of the cells. The other time had been in the summer of 1996 when Goodman believed he was close to developing an AIDS vaccine. What he found was a dead end. Most humiliating was that Goodman had discovered the error in his research two days after Decker's article reached the newsstands. The article had gotten national attention for Goodman's work and Decker's newspaper, only to be followed the same week by embarrassment.
Decker turned the rented car down the narrow street and stopped in front of Goodman's house. They were greeted at the front door by Mrs. Goodman. Decker politely reintroduced himself to the woman who smiled warmly at her two guests. 'Oh, I remember you,' she said brightly. 'And this must be Hope.' She reached over to give Hope a grandmotherly hug. 'Harry said you were bringing your daughter with you. Such a pretty girl!' she continued. 'How old are you, dear?' she asked.
'Thirteen,' Hope answered.
'We decided to mix pleasure with business,' Decker said. 'We're going to drive up to San Francisco this afternoon and visit my wife's sister for a few days. Elizabeth and our other daughter, Louisa, flew out there three days ago.'
'Yeah, but I had to stay in Washington and take a math test,' Hope interjected.
'In the news business things are very mercurial. It seems that our vacations have never worked out as we planned, so we just try to take a few days whenever we can. Sometimes that means that the kids have to miss a few days of school,' Decker explained.
Mrs. Goodman looked at Decker with disapproving puzzlement on her face. 'Your daughter is in school in Washington? I thought you lived in Tennessee. Do you really think that a boarding school is appropriate for a girl Hope's age? Especially so far from… '
'Hope's not in a boarding school,' Decker interrupted. 'We moved to Washington two years ago after I sold my newspaper in Knoxville and went to work for NewsWorld Magazine.'
'Oh, forgive me. I didn't realize. It's just that, well, my parents sent me to a boarding school when I was 12 and I hated it. Anyway,' she said, changing the subject and turning her attention again to Hope. 'I'm glad you were able to come along, dear.'
'Harry is out in the back yard playing with Christopher. They probably didn't hear you drive up. I'm afraid the professor's hearing is not what it used to be. I'll tell him you're here.' Decker and Hope waited as Mrs. Goodman went to call her husband.
'He'll be right in, Mr. Hawthorne,' she said as she returned and then excused herself to the kitchen.
A moment later Professor Harry Goodman appeared. 'How are you, Decker? How have you been?' he continued, not waiting for an answer. 'You look like you've put on some weight and lost more hair.' Decker cringed a little at Goodman's recognition of what was obvious to everyone but himself.
'And you must be Hope,' he said, looking in her direction. 'I'll bet you'd like to meet my grandnephew, Christopher.' Goodman turned toward the back door where a young boy was standing with his nose pressed against the screen, looking in. 'Christopher, come in here and meet Mr. Hawthorne and his daughter Hope.'
Decker had never seen Goodman so animated or in such a good mood. 'I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr. Hawthorne,' Christopher said as he extended his right hand.
'It's very nice to meet you as well,' Decker responded, 'but we actually met about four years ago when you were seven. You've grown quite a bit since then.'
Martha Goodman emerged from the kitchen with a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. 'Oh, good, I love chocolate chip,' said Professor Goodman.
'They're not for you,' teased Martha. 'They're for the children. Hope, would you and Christopher like to come out in the backyard with me and have some cookies and milk?' Hope – who didn't like being thought of as a child but who did like chocolate chip cookies – nodded and went with Christopher and Mrs. Goodman to the backyard.
Decker and Goodman settled in for a long conversation. 'Professor, you look great,' Decker began. 'I swear, you look ten years younger than the last time I saw you.'
'I feel great,' Goodman answered. 'I've lost twenty-four pounds. My blood pressure is down. Hell, I'm even regular most of the time,' he added with a chuckle.
'That's another thing,' said Decker. 'You seem… well, almost jolly. What's going on?'
Goodman looked toward the back door. Christopher was standing there with the screen door part way open, watching as Hope and Mrs. Goodman inspected some flowers. Certain he wouldn't be missed, Christopher ran into the living room to his granduncle. From his shirt pocket he pulled two chocolate chip cookies. Goodman took the cookies and accepted the hug that came along with them. Christopher put the side of his index finger to his lips to signify a pact of silence, and then went over to Decker and reached back into his shirt pocket. As he did, he saw the results the hug had on the two remaining cookies. Looking at the badly broken cookie remains he offered them apologetically to Decker. Decker accepted graciously as Christopher gave the same code-of-silence signal and ran out the back door before he could be missed.
''What's going on?'' Goodman said, repeating Decker's previous question. 'That's what's going on.' Goodman nodded toward where Christopher had made his exit. 'I may look ten years younger, but I feel like I'm forty again.' Decker knew from his last visit with Goodman that Christopher's parents had been killed in an auto accident. His closest surviving relative was his grandfather, Goodman's older brother, who was unable to take care of him because of his failing health. So Christopher had moved in with Harry and Martha.
'Originally, I thought we were too old to take care of a child, but Martha insisted,' Goodman continued. 'We never had any children of our own, you know. Christopher has been the best thing to ever happen to Martha and me. But, I was right – we were too old. So we just got younger.'
Decker smiled.
'Well, let's get down to business,' said Goodman. 'This time I think we've really got something. Let me go get my notes.' Goodman left the room for a moment and returned with three over-stuffed notebooks. Two hours later it was clear to Decker that Goodman was right. Goodman had developed a vaccine for treating many of the viruses which can cause cancer, such as Rous sarcoma and Epstein-Barr. Further testing was necessary to determine if the vaccine development process was universal, and there would have to be actual testing in humans, but all of the tests to date had been remarkable, proving as much as 93% effective in lab animals.
'So what you've done is to grow and support massive cultures of the C-cells, and then introduce the cancer virus in vitro,' Decker said. 'In that environment, the virus attacks the C-cells, which respond by producing antibodies, resulting in the complete arrest and ultimate elimination of the virus.'
'In a nutshell, that's it,' Goodman concluded. 'And if the vaccine development process proves out, it will probably be just as successful with any other virus, including AIDS or even the common cold. Admittedly, those will be a little tougher because of all the mutations of the AIDS virus and all the varieties of cold viruses.'
'This is fantastic! I think I can guarantee you a major story on this. I'd be surprised if my editor doesn't put your picture on next week's cover.'
'So, we'll go with the same plan as before to explain the origin of the C-cells?' Decker asked.
'There's no reason to change it that I know of. I'll say that I developed the C-cells through genetic engineering
