Another Day In The Corn

A slight breeze stirred the tails of Trevor's coat, and once more he instinctively reached for his pocket. This time, he actually drew the document out, silently reading the words to himself as he walked.

The already ascending sun began to cast a golden glow over fields as it rose behind him, warming the back of his neck with its light. Slipping the document back inside his pocket, Trevor opened the corner gate of the south field and entered with Tracks and Hunter straining at their leads, closing it behind him. He paused there for a moment, surveying the rows with an emotionless grimace as the beagles stared expectantly up at him. Another day in the corn. Just like yesterday, and probably just like tomorrow; I wonder, he thought, if what is, was worth the risk, for the chance at what might have been.

Shaking his head suddenly, as if to clear it of any wistful or sentimental thoughts, he softly hummed the opening bars of Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, and strode down the length of the first row, the dogs bounding joyfully ahead of him. His working day had begun.

* * *

The three scientists raised their glasses in yet another toast, a salute to just about anything or anyone they could think of. They had already toasted Louis Pasteur, Alexander Fleming, Hippocrates, Alfred Nobel, of course, and even Dolly the sheep, to name but a few. As any patron of the bar passing within earshot of their table would testify, they had been in audibly high spirits for some time.

This was understandable; after all, it wasn't every day your team won the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine.

Unlike their aforementioned toastees, the discoveries and developments of this group of scientists could not easily be explained in layman's terms. It tied together the stem-cell research of the eldest scientist, Prof. Tom Friedson, and the metabolic accelerant drugs developed by Prof. Lee; on their own, these discoveries would have represented the high points of both of their careers, but it was the third and youngest scientist, Dr. Clint Solvorre, who had drawn the two together. From here, the explanations become indecipherable to anyone who does not have an iron grip on both medicinal and biochemical theory, but the end result can be summed up thusly: Solvorre, Friedson and Lee had invented a drug, christened "Gestide" that, when given in the correct dosage, could reduce the gestation period of any pregnant mammal, reptile or bird by up to 70%.