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"There’s
no doubt in my mind that Nancy had
been slipping in her job since January at the very least, and probably
because
of some home related stress that eventually lead up to what happened.
It’s
unfortunate, yes, but not unheard of."
Although there has been an
outpouring of support from the local denizens of the city there are
still a
number of Nancy’s
former colleagues who refute the findings of Dr. Yin. One of Nancy’s
workmates who agreed to be interviewed refused to be named in fear that
they
would suffer harassment from Rochester
citizens. “After what happened we took samples from all of
the plants that Nancy worked
with and
didn’t find anything close to what Dr. Yin claims to have
found.” What they did
find was a repeating pattern of failure to proliferate new hybrids
which Nancy
had been doing for
several weeks. As a result, the plants were all discarded.
“They simply were
not useable, and they were dying. There’s no doubt in my mind
that Nancy had
been slipping in her job since January at the very least, and probably
because
of some home related stress that eventually lead up to what happened.
It’s
unfortunate, yes, but not unheard of.”
The case has yet to go to trial for
a number of months, but for Nancy and Brent the horror of that night
will
replay itself continually long after the fight is over. Brent talks
plainly
about Dr. Yin’s discovery and about the upcoming court
battle, but speaks in
minute whispers when he describes the awful picture of his wife sawing
through
her fingers. “I remember thinking that she must be cutting
some ham or something
even though I knew that wasn’t true because every time I
heard that horrible
grating sound I saw something black hit the kitchen wall.”
If
Nancy
could go back,
knowing then what she knows now, would she still have done it? She
finally
looks at me with the same sterile blue eyes that she uses when
discussing the
recombinant DNA of exotic hibiscus plants, “It felt so good
to finally scratch
that damn itch. There’s not a doubt in my mind that you would
have done the
same thing. You would have scratched it until there was nothing left to
scratch. Anyone would.”
Whether
or not
demodex pacis exists, and if it does whether it’s an
evolutionary fluke or a
manufactured weapon has yet to be answered. In time, new evidence may
reveal
those answers, but already the monster is being woven into the folklore
of Rochester.
“I tell my
kids to wash their hands extra good every day,” says Weiss,
“and I do the same.
You just never know.”
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