Ask Not For Whom The Panther Prowls Read Online Free PDF Page B

carries it, but it's a restricted chemical. You need a
special license. I have some because it's a great way to modify
nerve responses.”
    “ Really?”
    “ Didn't you
know? That's why Martin was so interested in toxins. The
interesting ones block different parts of the nervous system. There
isn't a neurobiologist worth his salt who doesn't have his little
box of poisons.”
    “ Damn. I
suppose you keep good track of them?”
    “ You bet. I
have a log book and the chemical safety office requires that we
keep records with them too. Don't want to lose any students because
we're sloppy.”
    He showed me
his log. He was right, every time some toxin was used, it was
signed for. The dates and the amounts used were all there. There
didn't seem to be any discrepancy. That was until he said, “That's
odd.”
    “ What?”
    “ I thought
we ordered 20 mg last year.”
    “ 20
mg?”
    “ More than
enough for our needs. Trouble is we only received ten. I'll have to
ask my lab tech what happened.”
    “ Is that
bad?”
    “ It's not
cheap, and the sale is restricted.”
    He found his
lab manager, and she reminded him that they had given half of the
order to Dr. Roger's group. It's in the chemstar
database.
    “ That's
right. He was going to develop some slow-release and time delayed
preparations, so we could try some less invasive approaches to
measuring neural activity. We were hoping to find a way to study
how channel blockers affected behavior. The panel at NIH even
thought it was a good idea, though we needed some more preliminary
results to be funded.”
    “ You
wouldn't know, by any chance, if that material is accounted
for?”
    “ No, Dr.
Roger's lab manager should know.”
    With the PI
on extended medical leave, Dr. Roger's lab was sort of on extended
life support. The graduate students and postdoc's pursued their
research while looking of new supervisors and preparing their
resumes. We wandered over, via the complicated maze of corridors
that connected the science annex with the natural sciences
building. What we found was chaos. The EMT's were leaving, and they
were carrying a body on a stretcher.
    I turned to Craft, “Looks like another one has
been stung.”
    He whitened in shock, “Who?”
    We asked, it
was Dr. Roger's lab manager. He'd been found slumped over at his
desk by a student. She was in the corner, nearly in hysterics,
despite being calmed by her friends. Dr. Craft walked over, saw
that there was little he could do, so he called the campus mental
health line. She was going to need counseling.
     

6. Flaws in the Hood.
    “ To have and
to hold, say I do”
    “ I
do”
    “ You may
kiss the bride.”
    We'd done
it. For better or worse Laura and I were going to give married life
another try. Though this time it was with each other, which could
only be an improvement over our past choices. With the service
over, it was off to Jamaica for a honeymoon. Despite having Danny
in tow we had fun. My cell didn't work, I stayed unplugged from the
Internet, and nothing happened. Well at least nothing I would tell
you about.
    Eventually
something did happen. On the way back to Atlanta, transferring
through Miami, we ran into an old acquaintance on his way to a
scientific meeting. Dr. Qieng Li, in the physics department at
Bejing University was both a friend and a rival in the world of
sensor physics. “So Will,” he began as we waited for our bags,
“What brings you to Miami?”
    “ On the way
back from my honeymoon.” I introduced him to Laura and Danny. He
joked with Laura, “You have to watch this one, keep him busy and
out of the lab so I have a chance to publish first.” They laughed.
He then turned to me and said, “One thing, though, Will, would you
tell the TOEFL-tutoring team at GSU how well they are
doing?”
    “ How well
they are doing?”
    “ Yes, our
students have been using your service and it's made a huge
difference for them. It's been well worth the money.”
    “ Money, I
suppose they