| General Fiction posted September 4, 2024 | Chapters: |
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The 4th of July party
A chapter in the book DUEL with the DEVIL
DUEL with the DEVIL - Chapter 34
by Jim Wile
| Background A brilliant young chemist creates a new painkilling drug with unknown benefits and pitfalls. |
Recap of Chapter 33: Brian’s surgery for the spinal cord stimulator is scheduled for eight days hence, and in the meantime, he gets a TENS unit from a physiatrist to tide him over. The surgeon sends him a note to show his professors as to why he will miss class, and he talks to Dr. Rieke about it in his office.
Dr. Rieke is able to get Brian to open up about his troubles, and Brian shares the entire story with him. Dr. Rieke tells Brian that his own nephew, with whom he was very close, died just the previous year of an Oxy overdose, so it has made Dr. Rieke want to reach out and help Brian by offering him a summer job working with him in his lab. He also sets a condition that Brian must attend a support group for addicts. Brian is overwhelmed by his kindness and will start work in the lab and attend the support group right after his last final.
Chapter 34
Raleigh, North Carolina
Summer, 2010
Summer, 2010
The operation to insert the spinal cord stimulator, or SCS, went off as planned. The SCS sends electrical pulses into the spinal cord near the area of pain. It is believed that these pulses interfere with and prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. During the operation, a thin wire lead is threaded through an epidural needle into the space surrounding the spinal cord. Electrodes at the end of the lead wire create the pulses that stimulate the nerves and block the pain signals.
The relief it gave me was pretty good—not complete—but definitely an improvement. My pain went from its current level of 6-7 down to 2-3, which is considered mild on the pain scale. Better than a low dose of Oxy and definitely bearable.
I made my professors well-aware of the surgery, and because I would be staying and working on campus this summer, some of them allowed me to delay taking the final exam in their classes by a week. I appreciated this and used the extensions to catch up on much of the work I’d let slip during the latter part of the semester. I ended up doing well on most of my finals and was able to bring my grades back to acceptable levels.
Having gotten over their initial awkwardness with each other, Daniel and Kimi were a regular couple now. Both planned to stay in the states over the summer to work. In fact, the three of us decided to rent an apartment together off-campus for the summer and the following school year. We ended up signing a one-year lease. It was a three-bedroom apartment, and we each had our own room.
This arrangement was perfect because Julia visited me almost every weekend that summer, except for a two-week period when she attended a summer music program in Washington, D.C. The arrangement offered us some privacy.
During the times we spent together, the four of us became very close, frequently eating together, watching movies, playing games, and just talking. The normally shy Julia and Kimi were very comfortable together and laughed a lot, often at Daniel’s and my expense. Once, they put on a skit in which Julia imitated me trying to teach Daniel, played by Kimi, how to tell a joke. Kimi’s impersonation of Daniel’s formal way of speaking was hysterical.
As soon as I had taken my last final, I began working with Dr. Rieke in his lab. His research focused on using gene editing technology, which is an important tool for understanding how, for example, genes may be altered to effect a cure for a disease. I learned to use many advanced research and data collection techniques with specialized equipment to perform and document his lab experiments. Always the patient teacher, he spent a lot of his time explaining his research to me in terms I could understand. I found this work so fascinating that I now knew biochemistry would be my declared major.
We also talked about all kinds of things besides work. He enjoyed playing chess, and we would occasionally play a game together. I beat him every time, but he was interested in improving his game, and I taught him a number of techniques and strategies. He was a good sport about losing, and enjoyed the lessons.
Paul Rieke became more than just my professor and boss. He became a father figure to me—someone who understood me and who I could confide in. My own father’s life was cut short when I was 12, but I certainly welcomed the growing closeness that was developing between us in his place.
I told him about Julia and how accomplished she was on the violin. He was very interested in this because his own high school aged daughter was a musician who was thinking about pursuing music as a career.
I also told him about my roommate, Daniel, and how he and Kimiko were now dating.
One Monday at the end of June, he said to me, “Brian, my wife and I are throwing a little 4th of July party this coming weekend, and we would like to invite you and Julia, Daniel, and Kimiko over for an afternoon barbecue at my house. If you’d like to join us, it will just be some members of my extended family and the four of you. I’d like you to meet my brother and his foster son.”
“Well, that sounds great. Let me touch base with the rest of them, and I can let you know tomorrow.”
“Do you think Julia would be willing to play for us? I, for one, would love to hear her play. I’m sure my French horn-playing daughter would too.”
“I’ll ask her, but I know she would. She loves to perform for people.”
I talked to Daniel and Kimi at dinner about the invitation, and they liked the idea. I called Julia and told her about the party. “Dr. Rieke is eager to meet you, Jules. I’ve been talking you up quite a bit, and if you can come, he was also wondering if you might like to play a few violin pieces. He mentioned that his high school daughter, who plays the French horn and is considering a career in music, would be interested in meeting you. What do you think?”
“That was nice of him to invite all of us. Sure, I’d be happy to play for the group too. Maybe I could put together a patriotic medley for the occasion.”
“Thanks, Sweetie. I think we’ll all have a good time.”
It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon and evening. Julia hit it off with Rieke’s daughter, Michelle, who peppered her with questions about Juilliard.
Daniel was very excited to be there. He was a friendly guy, and when I introduced him, he said, “Greetings, Dr. and Mrs. Rieke. I am delighted to be invited to your party, and I am most happy to make your acquaintance.”
Dr. Rieke’s brother and sister-in-law were fostering an 8-year-old boy. When he heard Daniel speak, he said, “Man, you talk funny!”
Daniel smiled, kneeled down in front of the kid, and said, “I am pleased to make your acquaintance too. I am Daniel Molebatsi. What is your name?”
“Damien.”
Daniel offered his hand to shake, and they soon became fast friends.
Kimi, who was very shy around strangers, just nodded when I introduced her. To help put her at ease, Dr. Rieke said to the group, “Kimiko was one of my best students last semester, and I hope to see her again later in my third-year class.”
The food was outstanding. The Rieke’s served baby back ribs with a sweet barbecue sauce. Corn-on-the-cob, a variety of salads, and potato chips completed the meal. Because everyone was too full, we waited on dessert until after the music program.
As Julia had suggested to me, she had put together a patriotic medley of tunes that she wove together seamlessly to celebrate the 4th of July. The piece finished with a rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” She also decided to do the crowd-pleasing, “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and everyone was amazed by the speed of it.
As she was about to put her violin away, I shouted out, “How about ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia,’ Jules?”
Daniel and Kimi both chimed in, urging her to play this encore, and she consented. I had memorized the spoken part of the song in which the devil challenges Johnny to a competition to see who was the better player. I narrated the song as Julia played both the devil and Johnny’s parts. Everyone really got into it, clapping and tapping feet to the music. When it was over, I clasped Julia’s hand, and we took a bow together.
On the way back to our seats, Julia said, “I’m having such a good time, Babe. I’m finally getting an idea of how a family is supposed to operate. Families can actually have fun together. What a concept!”
I smiled and nodded. By this time, we were ready for dessert, and Mrs. Rieke had made a warm peach cobbler, which we ate with vanilla ice cream. It was fabulous.
The party continued on into the evening. There were games of badminton and cornhole that occupied many of us, and when it got dark, we sat down to watch a fireworks show put on by the town in a park across the street from the Rieke’s house.
After quite a traumatic end to the previous semester, this was exactly the kind of start to the summer I needed. It served to stand me in good stead for the rest of the summer and, for that matter, the remainder of my undergrad years as well.
(End of Part 1. Part 2 will begin on Saturday.)
Book is 72% complete
 Recognized |
CHARACTERS
Brian Kendrick: The narrator of the story. At the beginning of the story, he is 12 years old and in 6th grade in Kernersville, North Carolina.
Francine (Fran) Kendrick: Brian's older sister. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and goes to junior college, where she studies law enforcement.
Rafael Ortiz (Raffi): Youth therapy group leader at the rehab facility.
Julia Entwistle: One of the six members of the youth therapy group at rehab. She is 16 when we first meet her, plays the violin, and is addicted to barbiturates.
Robert Entwistle: Julia's father.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother.
Mike Pekarsky: Fran's boyfriend who she met on her Caribbean cruise.
Daniel Molebatsi: Brian's undergrad college roommate. He is from Botswana and is a business major.
Dr. Paul Rieke: Brian's organic chemistry professor.
Kimiko Yamada (Kimi): Brian's organic chemistry lab partner. She is from Japan and also resides in his and Daniel's dorm.
Jerry Avery (Scorch): Brian's resident drug dealer from whom he buys Oxy.
Dr. Eppig: The attending physician who treats Brian's overdose at the university hospital.
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