Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation by Jen Haeger Read Free Book Online Page B

but windowed room. It was this room that Kim and David were standing in when Evelyn came down the stairs.
    “This is interesting, don’t you think, Evie?” said Kim.
    The room was a bastion of tile in the sea of carpeting of the basement and had ornately styled windows that looked into both the office area and recreational area of the basement. The room stood devoid of furniture, and Evelyn was a bit baffled as to its original purpose. “I suppose it could have been a kind of fancy kennel for dogs at one time, but with some counters, cabinets, and a bench, it would make a great home laboratory.”
    “It’s like a conservatory, but only without the plants…or access to natural light,” David mused.
    “Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe it was a marijuana grow room,” offered Evelyn.
    Kim looked at Evelyn, eyebrows raised and a frown weighing down the corners of her lips. “Do you really think so?”
    “Oh, I’m not sure, but with some UV lamps, anything is possible.”
    “How are the bedrooms?”
    Evelyn leveled an unhappy look at David. “Few.”
    David quirked an eyebrow, and Kim perked up her ears.
    “What do you mean few?” he asked.
    “I mean that there are less than would be ideal. Come see for yourself.”
    David and Kim followed Evelyn upstairs and then to the second story where they all bustled from one bedroom with two twin beds to the other with a single double bed. David’s things were in the room with the double bed and Evelyn’s belongings were stacked and hung in the closet of the bedroom with the twin beds in it. None of Kim’s belongings were present, but since she lived in Tennessee it would be more difficult to transport them up.
    Kim glanced from one bedroom to the other with a forlorn expression, her eyes moistening. Evelyn felt bad for the girl. Kim had been having an awful few weeks and now she probably felt like a squeaky third wheel, so Evelyn spontaneously turned to Kim and gave her an enthusiastic hug.
    “Roomies!”

10
    In truth, Evelyn wasn’t at all thrilled to be sharing a bedroom with anyone, let alone Kim, but she consoled herself with the idea that she would be spending most of her time at the lab. The other slight complication was the single full bathroom for the three of them. It was a large bathroom, but it was still a strain to only have one shower. There was significant discussion of contacting Roberto for additional accommodations or attempting to convert the basement into a bedroom for David. But in the end they all agreed that they should all sleep upstairs, leaving Evelyn and Kim to be the obvious choice to bunk together. Once that was settled, they took turns showering and changing into more familiar and comfortable clothing with Kim borrowing her wardrobe from Evelyn in the short term, although Evelyn promised to go shopping with Kim in the very near future if her own clothing was much longer in coming.
    Evelyn wanted to head down to the office area and go through some of her files as well as check her e-mail to see if she had replies from different viral researchers whom she’d queried in the past few weeks. It was around two-thirty in the afternoon and none of them had eaten anything since breakfast, so David offered to make some macaroni and cheese. Kim wandered down into the basement as Evelyn was going through files.
    “Can I help you with anything?”
    Evelyn didn’t look up from her sorting. “I don’t think so.”
    “Listen, Evie, I’ve been thinking. I have a lot of lab experience. I mean I’m not a viral or genetics expert, but I know which end of the pipette is up and I’m a fast learner.”
    Evelyn was distracted by a missing printout that she couldn’t locate in the shuffle of papers. “Uh huh.”
    “What I’m trying to say is, I want to help you in the lab.”
    This got Evelyn’s attention and she set down the files carefully and turned to Kim. Her immediate reaction was that the idea was a terrible one. They were already going to be