The Laptev Virus

Sarah sat hunched over her laptop, scrolling through numbers on a spreadsheet. “Yeah, I’ll be right there. Give me just a few more minutes to wrap up these notes.” Her work was an unapologetically huge part of her life and when a new project got started, it filled her with so much energy that she often found it hard to disengage herself even after she left the lab. Luckily, her husband, also a professor at the university, was equally dedicated. His area of expertise was different, and that meant they often had a lot of things to share with each other.

Sarah finished reading the reports that Riesigoil had sent, jotted down a few quick notes and closed the laptop. Then she stood up and stretched. She was wearing her faded yellow pajamas, the ones with little blue kittens running up the side of the pant legs. Her husband had given her these pajamas when they had first started dating, twelve years ago. They were her favorite ones, not only because they were silky and had lasted so well, but also because of the story that had come with them. John had explained, after they were married, that they had been quite expensive for his grad student’s budget, and he had felt both embarrassed and bold as he strode through the aisles of the small shop whose shelves were filled with everything pink, fluffy or lacy. Sarah could easily imagine him blushing as he looked at the endless rows of undergarments and instinctively turned the other way, toward the less intimate apparel.

“I saw all those hangers standing tall with flowing gowns, and little lacy things so I looked around to find a safer shelf, piled high with folded pajamas,” he said. The kittens had right away reminded him of Sarah and he had reached for them gratefully, anxious to abort the shopping experiment his best friend had suggested.

Sarah walked over to her husband, who was sitting on the bed holding a journal in his hand, the soft cover folded back and around the pages like a small cylinder. John raised his glasses to his forehead and smiled at her. “Tea?”

“Yes, please,” she said, and almost felt like purring when he reached out and began massaging her shoulders.

Then, by adjusting the pressure on her shoulders, he turned her around to face him. Sarah loved the way he looked at her, always apparently pleased by the sight. It made her feel attractive. Luxuriating in his admiring stare, she pulled her hair loose from the ponytail she always wore, and shook her hair out. It was dark and curly, and hung quite far down her back.

John winked at her as he rose from the bed and headed toward the kitchen of their small apartment. Sarah followed him there, though more slowly. Her leg was always more painful at night.

“This Laptev Virus project is going to be a real challenge. We’ve been working on the AIDS project for so long and we’ll have to shake things up a bit to change gears.”

“It does suck, but you always love a new challenge,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “Weren’t you getting bored with that other virus?”

“Bored? John, we were finally starting to make real progress.”

“Seems to me that that’s the perfect time to begin doing something else.”

Sarah made a hrmph sound and rolled her eyes. She knew that her husband was teasing her. “Well, I just hope Rhonda’s confidence in my team is well-placed and that we can figure something out, you know. Six weeks is such a short window of time. It’s almost laughable. You can barely begin to sink into a simple research problem in six weeks, let alone find answers to what’s killing those people up there in the Arctic and how to stop it. It’s going to be a tough nut to try to crack.”

“Is your whole team going to be working with you?” he asked, handing her an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Sarah sighed and took a bite, then held it out, inspecting it. She was always interested in how many raisins had made it into her cookie. The poor ones averaged less than five raisins, and the really good ones had more than ten, guaranteeing several in each bite. Hers had eight. She chewed slowly and then said, “Yeah, though that’s another bone of contention. They were none too happy about the change in projects, you know. But, they won’t be that way for very long. We’ll get the lab all ready to go and get the new tissue samples and everyone will be off and running.”

“Everyone except you, sweetheart,” said John, motioning to her propped leg.

Sarah smiled. “Yeah, sheeze, I’m ready for it to stop hurting so much.”

She watched as he poured the steaming tea into matching cups, added honey to his, and milk to both, then carefully stirred.

“Well, I think it’s a compliment,” he said, now reaching over and touching Sarah’s face softly. She felt herself relaxing again with his touch and the tightness she had felt all afternoon began dissolving.