The Memory Painter

“I can’t explain it right now. It’s complicated.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left.

Conrad went back to his desk, looking as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Ignoring the flashing light signaling his conference call, he picked up the phone and made another one.

*

Linz took the elevator back to the tenth floor. As she walked down the long glass corridor to her lab, she saw Dr. Parker through the window of the Genome Department. This time, when he gave her his usual friendly wave, Linz decided to stop. As she entered his lab, he turned to her with excitement, as if they were already in the middle of a conversation. “We have pinpointed the melanoma lineage specific enhancer”—he waved the printout in his hand as he continued—“with clear inducible chromatin looping!”