Hello Readers,

The I Remember Geneva book is almost finished. I might add another chapter in the near future.
But in the meantime, even though it has nothing to do with Geneva, I thought I might add a very short story that I recently wrote.
Since the weatherman says the temperature should drop below zero tonight, I thought it would be fun to read this story. It's titled Sunny, Hot and Humid.
As always, your comments are most welcome, kind, instructive even nasty.

Thanks for reading!

John

Sunny, Hot and Humid

“Oomph!” Jack uttered a gasp of pain as Doctor Schramer inserted the anoscope.

“Looks like you have several internal hemorrhoids here, Mr. Neeson. I see a large, juicy one here,” he said, peering through the scope

“Thought so!” grunted Jack.

“A simple banding procedure is what’s needed. I can perform the procedure now, if you wish.”

“Sure, doc, let’s do it now.”

Schramer quietly spoke to his assistant. She nodded and left.

Just then Jack’s blackberry buzzed, an incoming call.

“Neeson here, what is it?” Jack perched his elbow.

“What that? Another one? Where? Who was it? Related? How? Oh, I see! Okay, call me when you know more.”
Jack cut the call short; the doctor’s assistant was wheeling in a flat tray containing various surgical tools. He noted the syringe and shuddered; its needle was longer than any he had seen.

Dr Schramer appeared. ‘Let’s go Maria,” he barked. “Mr. Neeson, you’ll feel a slight prick as I deaden the first candidate.”

Candidate? Ouch!” Schramer had inserted the needle.

“Jesus Doc, that was no prick!” complained Jack.

The cell flickered and came to life.

“Neeson here,” it was Greene, Jack’s partner. What’s that? They found it where? Ouch!” The doctor was slipping the band over the first candidate.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little procedure I’m having done. Hurts like hell though!” Jack glared at the doctor, Maria smiled.

“Greene, can you take my calls until I’m finished here? What’s that? I’ll let you know dammit!”

“You know Mr. Neeson, you should conduct your police business after I’m finished,” admonished Schramer.

“Sure, Doc. I’ve just told my partner to take my calls. You know, it’s the strangest case,” Jack shook his head.

“Really? How?” asked Schramer.

“A few weeks ago, a body was found near the Field Museum.”

“What happened?”

“We’re not sure. But the strange part was, the body was found half way up a tree.”

“What, just laying on a branch?’

“No, it was as if it was hugging the tree trunk. The person who called it in was walking their dog. Birds were squawking. She looked up and saw it. She said she called to it. No answer. So she called the police. They brought in the fire department. That’s when they figured out the subject was dead. The fireman said its teeth and fingernails were dug into the tree – embedded really - like a death grip almost. Had to break the corpse’s jaw to remove it. The coroner was pissed.”

“How strange!” Schramer had finished the procedure.

“Take the instruments Maria. Mr. Neeson, Jack, you’ll want to eat soft foods and watch for bleeding and infection. See me in a week’s time for follow-up and a second banding, if necessary.”

“Oh, sure.” A second trip for this, not good, thought Jack.

“You said something about a second body.”

“Yeah, its strange. I wouldn’t even have thought they were related but for the same manner, or death grip, that the second body was found and who it was.”

“Really!” What do you mean? Who were they”

“The second one was found in Lincoln Park, in the branches of a Dogwood bush. Hands clenched to the largest branches, fingernails dug into the wood, teeth anchored into a branch. They had to cut the branches, couldn’t release its grip.”

“Interesting. But you said something about who the body was. A friend of the first deceased?’

“No, he was the assistant coroner. He did the autopsy on the first body three days ago.” Jack stood up and hitched his pants.

“Okay Doc, see you in a week,” Jack gingerly made his way to his car. As he stepped out into the late afternoon sun, the heat and humidity hit him like a wall. Whew, another hot muggy day, he thought starting the old Chevy. Thank god for AC!

The week passed. Two more bodies were found. The first was the fireman, in a city park, two miles from the station. He was clinging to a tree, his nails dug into the wood, his teeth embedded into its trunk.

The dog walker was found later that day, near the same spot as the first body, high up in a tree, her nails dug into its woody trunk, her teeth were splintered from the force of her bite into the tree’s trunk. In her apartment, her dog was dead, its teeth in a death grip on the wood frame of a kitchen cabinet.

Jack returned for his follow-up with Schramer.

“Looks good Jack. Continue a regimen of fiber and good eating habits,” instructed the doctor.

Relieved, Jack looked up, “will do Doc.”

“There was something else I wanted to mention, Jack,” continued Schramer.

“What’s that Doc?”

“The case you were working on last week. Those two bodies.”

“Yeah. There have been two more similar deaths. The feds are getting involved, you know the CDC. They think maybe it’s some type of flubug or something,” Jack shrugged his shoulders. “Some of us who worked on the case had to have blood tests. Haven’t found anything though.

But, I’ll tell you something Doc, there was something funny about those reports.”

“What do you mean?”

“The first body they found. In the tree? She worked at the Field Museum. Her co-workers said she had been acting strangely, babbling almost. They sent her home. Lives over on the North Side. Seems she got up in the middle of the night and walked back to the museum.

And then the assistant coroner.”

“The second body?”

“Yeah, he was acting funny. He went home after his shift. But then he walked all the way over to Lincoln Park. Someone saw him. They said they thought he was on a drunken tear.”

Jack thought for a minute, “what were you gonna tell me Doc?”

“Last week, coincidentally the same day you were here, I had dinner with an old friend, Evelyn Price. She’s an entomologist, you know insect study. She’s doing some research, writing a paper on ants”

“That’s interesting, but what has that got to do with anything?”

“Over dinner, I told her about your case.

Evelyn was interested. She said that while studying Thai carpenter ants she came across a very odd disease they carried. It was similar to your victims.

The odd look on Jack’s face stopped the doctor.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh nothing. Go on,” urged Jack.

“Evelyn explained that she had found that there was a parasite, a fungus. It manipulates the infected ants into dying where the fungus prefers to be.

The fungus turns the Thai carpenter ants into zombies, walking dead if you will. It somehow gets them to die in a spot that's perfect for it to grow and reproduce.

Somehow it takes control of the ant’s brain.”

“Go on,” Jack was intrigued.

Dr Schramer continued, “The nest of the carpenter ants is high in the canopy of the Thai forest. To forage, they leave their nest and travel to the forest floor. Apparently this fungus needs to live on the undersides of leaves that sprout only on plants that grow on the forest floor.

Evelyn believes this is where the temperature; humidity and sunlight are perfect for growth and reproduction. The added benefit is that it can infect more ants as they search for food.

Here is the most interesting part. It made me think of your case:

When the fungus infects it, the ant becomes compelled to climb down from the canopy to the low leaves, where it clamps down with its mandibles just before it dies.’

Evelyn says, ‘it as if the fungus manipulates the infected ants into dying where it (the fungus) prefers to live, by making the ants travel to the optimal growth area.”

“After the ant dies, the fungus continues to grow inside of it.

Evelyn has dissected many of the infected ants. She and her colleagues found that the fungus converts the ant's insides into sugars that help it continue to grow. But it leaves the muscles controlling the mandibles intact to make sure the ant keeps its death grip on the leaf.

At the same time it also preserves the ant's outer shell, growing into cracks and crevices to reinforce weak spots, fashioning a protective coating that keeps microbes and other fungi out.

After a few days, spores from the fungus fall to the forest floor. Then other ants become infected.

Evelyn believes it’s the heat and humidity of the Thai forest that allows the fungus to grow and perpetuate. She sees no present way to stop its growth other than dryness and cold.

Doesn’t it sound very similar to your case? Of course, there are many differences, I suppose.” Schramer smiled and looked at Jack.

Jack Neeson’s face had gone deathly white.

‘What is it?” asked Schramer.

“Doc, the first body was the researcher working at the Field Museum.”

“Yes?”

“She was dissecting Thai carpenter ants. Seems they had found them stuck to strange places where they are not usually found.”

The doctor held his finger to his chin in pensive thought.

“What is it doc?”

“Evelyn said she was doing her research with a group at the Field Museum. I wonder if she knew the first victim?
You don’t think?”

“Gotta go Doc!’

Jack hurried to the old Chevy. As the engine spun to life, the radio came on.

“Looks like no letup in sight said the weatherman. Sunny hot and humid.”

Just then Jack’s cell came to life. It was Greene.

“Jack, we found three more.”