Altered Genes: Genesis Read Online Free Page A

NYC
    Mei wearily closed the door to her locker. It was late, nearly midnight. She was exhausted from her double-shift, sixteen straight hours without a break.
    Every night at Bellevue was busy with the homeless and hypochondriacs, but tonight more so than ever—a couple of shootings, three stabbings and a handful of overdoses.
    Her route out of the hospital took her past the isolation rooms. She stopped to look at the Englishman’s chart. It had been eight hours. He was still unconscious with no improvement in his condition.
    She scanned the chart for his meds—250 mg of metronidazole, four times a day. The antibiotics will help…should be an improvement by tomorrow. She put the chart back and headed home for a frozen dinner and a few hours of sleep. She’d check in on him again in the morning.

4
    The sari
    March 23rd, 11h30 GMT : Ahmedabad, India
    S aanvi cringed as her aunt moved to the front of the dark brown wicker chair. I’m going to look ridiculous , she thought, anticipating the worst.
    "Hold still, dear, I’m almost finished,” the older woman said.
    She felt her aunt’s finger press against her forehead as the older woman touched up the bright red bindi she had applied.
    “You look like a true Hindu girl now, come see.”
    She stood and followed her aunt to the mirror, wincing with each step. She didn’t feel well. The stomach ache and embarrassing trips to the toilet had started just after she arrived in India.
    “What do you think?” her aunt asked as she tilted the stand-up mirror forward.
    Oh…not too bad after all. The red dot didn't look as silly as she thought it would, but the blue sari trimmed with garish gold thread was another story. It was two sizes too big. I look like I’ve been draped in a giant blue bed sheet.
    As she moved, the gold hoop earrings that hung from her ears glistened in the sunlight. She flipped her long black hair to the side to admire them. The earrings were an arrival gift from her aunt and uncle. I hope they didn’t cost too much.
    She reached over and touched her aunt gently on the arm. "Thank you so much, Tayi.”
    The older woman beamed at her and pulled at the sari’s loose fabric. “It fits perfectly. You look beautiful. Let me get you a purse, the sari has no pockets.”
    As her aunt left, her uncle stepped into the room and spoke. “You look wonderful, but we should go, they'll be waiting for us at the restaurant.”
    She had tried to argue her way out of the dinner, but they had ignored her pleas. Her visit to India was as big an event for them as it was for her.
    “Come, we can’t be late, you’re the guest of honor,” he said, taking her by the arm. She followed him out the front door.
    The suffocating humidity from the late afternoon rain slammed into her like a hot damp blanket. She wrinkled her nose at the unbearable stench that accompanied it.
    “What’s that horrible smell?
    “The garbage dump. They burn it every day. You’ll get used to it.”
    Not likely. It stunk of wet ashes and burning plastic, unlike anything she’d every smelled before. She forced herself to breath through her mouth.
    A flurry of impatient honks came from a red taxi cab.
    “Come, we must hurry before he leaves without us,” her uncle said impatiently. He motioned her and her aunt towards the cab.
    After a short drive on the ring road that surrounded Ahmedabad, they arrived at a nearly empty restaurant to find a handful of guests milling about in the lobby.
    She opened her purse and glanced at her cell phone. They were twenty minutes late. Where is everyone?
    Her uncle saw her and mistook her look for concern. He glanced at his watch and reassured her. “Don’t worry the traffic was light, we're early.”
    She smiled. That's India , twenty minutes late, but still early .
    It didn’t take long for the other guests to arrive and the restaurant filled quickly. Everyone was interested in meeting the young woman from England. A crowd grew around her and she found