Schizogenesis [chapter 13]

Just as the Asian nurse began her story, the phone rang.

“Hello.” Dora listened for a moment. “That’s okay, Grace. You and Cindy can go ahead and leave. Anything else, we’ll take care of it in the morning before we open. Let Cindy know that I thank you both for helping get through today.”

As she hung up the phone, she glanced at Tina then looked back at Ming and Mia Flower.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Please continue.”

“First, my name isn’t Johnson, that’s the name of my foster parents. I came to America after my parents were killed senselessly by young nationalists. The Johnsons raised me, put me through college, and gave me all the love and support I needed to begin a new life and regain hope.”

Ming paused to look at Mia, who smiled shyly at her mother.

“I became a research assistant,” she continued, “to Dr. Kirland. That helped pay some of my college and living expenses, and it was part of my internship in the study of atoms.”

She stopped at a noise from the dining room.

“That’s just my waitresses leaving,” Dora said. “Please go on.”

“Well, anyway, the professor was a brilliant man and found a way to modify and accelerate certain atoms within rats then monkeys. To my surprise, the experiments…