Milind Padki
POETRY
SCIENCE FICTION
● What Frank Saw in the Parking Lot
OTHER
OBITUARY
(remove spaces)
The Molecule from Parsippany, NJ:
A tragedy in three parts
Citing increased stiffness in the heart muscle
as the cause
We die of, Scientist devised this wondrous chopper of the stiff links, a small
Molecule: a slap in the face of Nature. “Hey, You up there
Grand Saboteur, See this and
despair!”, He declaimed, raising the vial to
Light. Tale is told in The Proceedings of the
National Academy Of Sciences of how
He injected the molecule into seventy-human-years-old rabbits,
Dogs and mice, and how they had changed
Into eighteen year olds, supple, nubile and grateful. What is not documented, but belongs to lore is as follows:
As Scientist lifted Al Moussa, the mouse, by his thick
Neck pad, Al Moussa spoke with a grave, bearded dignity:
It’s not the syringe that I mind, the hour or
Two of pain of an intra-peritoneal injection, or the chow
Designed for rabbits: a slower, slothful species. Bulbs in this Lab are
Radiant enough, though I did discern a vaster globe the other day. My primary
Objection is to being rejuvenated, having this, this thing done
To me all over again: The muscles slowly aging, sexual powers fading,
Macular degeneration setting in a second time.
I have walked my own narrow razor sharp path. I was well
On my way to the radiant. Isn’t it time I went home?
Scientist, equally bearded and grave, pressed the syringe plunger
home and responded thus:
“The earth is home and radiant enough. I recognize no other. As to
Your query of ‘Is this necessary’: Yes, we hawk these things. There are those
Among us who want this thing to continue. Some want it infinitely for
Reasons best known to themselves. Sex, probably.
Or even better and better chow. I don’t know. Some love their
Children, others: the oxygen-laden air. They will buy. Juvenon, Inc. will make
Money. Even I will make money.” Al Moussa, wincing with the pain of injection, fell silent. Dreams of Ali Khargosh, the Rabbit:
Vast flat land, the grass succulent, green and alkalizing. Millions
Of my tiny white children swarming across. None of them age,
None have stiffening heart muscles: these are
Supple forever with Scientist’s injections. The kids keep frolicking,
Frolicking. This rocks. Soliloquy by Al Moussa, rejuvenated: I
Have been here before: The air breathes more intense. Each
Bite of rabbit chow is heaven. DNA crud gone from muscles. To
Ride this wheel: What a trip, even with the Chinese post-doc
Stopwatching me. Oh for some females, even quasi-young like me
(Mentally Mature is better, actually). This is how it always was, and will
Be. Help! Am I turning into a steady-stater? Was always a
Big-banger [Not what the females said, but we will let that pass].
I could get used to this. And thusly, there were great revelries amongst the DNA-and water-based creatures. Alas: the latest arrival on the scene, the most efficient killer and the animal
Hoarding all gold: Homo Sapiens, had this creaking multi-cellularity, fraught
With plumbing problems, and anything entering his blood, he first
Tended to burn for food - better uses notwithstanding.
Also God, in His Infinite Mercy and Wisdom, did not want him to burn in
Unstructured lust forever: Thus the FDA,
A deus ex machina if ever there was one, frowned
upon the human trial,
Citing low probability of meeting the clinical end-points(!),
The stock fell and the company folded. But lore also maintains that
Three thousand radiant vials sit in the vaults of a Financial
Institution and during the trial, entire sections of
Route 80 over which vials of the molecule passed glowed
For weeks on end. (03/09/06, Elmwood Park, NJ)