The dirty Rain

THE REVELATION

Chloe walked hurriedly down the corridor that leads to Professor Bast, professorial suite which doubles as his office and private laboratory the sound of her shoes echoed through the corridor as she made her way up the steps that directly lead to the office, knowing that a minute later than the set time might have consequential effects on the final results of the experiment been conducted. .

Prof Bast have been giving her a lot of works lately in his laboratory which involves administering some phytochemical extracts from some selected herbs and plants on Wistal rats. Before she started administering those plant extracts, they had earlier given some chemicals to the rats through their drinking water for some numbers of days after which they took some samples from the rats for analysis the results of the analysis was only known to Prof Bast as he had not given Chloe much information on what the experiments is all about.

She unlocked the door of the office and proceeded straight to the animals housing section of the laboratory where the animals we're kept under regulated conditions. She first checked the wall thermometer to confirm the room temperature which she noted on the laboratory manual she had I her hands. She then proceeded to where the animals were housed in metallic cages, checked their feed and water which seems okay.

She moved to the fridge, took out some labeled bottles which contain the plant extracts and walked straight to the rat cages placed the extracts bottles on the table and waited looking at the wall clock for the scheduled for the extracts administration.

"I came in time it is 6:55am just five minutes before the administration time" She thought in her mind.

As the time reached 7::00am, with the aids of an oropharyngeal cannula, she started feeding the rats with the extracts group by group. When she got to the last bottle the labels read "Onion extracts" as she opened it, the familiar odour of onions filled the air. She wandered in her mind what could be the effects of onions in particular on the rats been fed.

As she continued feeding the rats with the extracts, the lingering odour of the onions reminded her of her mother. Nina can be said to be an onion addict. She has been a lover of onion as far back as when she was just a kid. Her love for onions was so much that she would eat fresh whole onion together with the bulb and leaves first thing in the morning before she brush her teeth. This has been her early morning ritual as far back as Chloe could remember.

Because of her mother love for onions, Chloe decided to assign the largest portion of the garden which she planted in their backyard for onions cultivation so that her mother will have unlimited supply of fresh onion within her reach. Her mother love for has rubbed off on the rest of the family and friends alike. Anyone that came visiting their house will first be entertained with onions before any other food will be offered.

Her mother also choose to displayed fresh onions and other vegetables on items for sale in her grocery stores.

As she administered the extracts to the last group of rats, she heard movement on the office door and before she could turn to know who it was, the door flew opened and Prof Bast walked into the office.

"You are welcome sir" Chloe said in greetings.

"Thanks dear, are you through with the extracts administration?" Prof Bast asked her "I was just finishing the last group when you came in sir" Chloe replied

"That's very good" Prof Bast responded in acknowledgement.

Chloe moved to the washing area, she removed the disposable hand gloves she wore to protect her hands, opened the tap and rinse her hands with the running water from the tap after which she wipe the water from her hands with napkin after which she moved towards Prof Bast table and sat down in the chair facing him.

"" I have a question sir "she said raising her right hand in the process.

Prof Bast looked up momentarily at her face but when he saw how serious Chloe expression was, he dropped his pen on top of the text books lying on the table test and straight at Chloe.

" Okay I am all ears "he said

" Sir, this work, why did you first fed the rats with water from the city water supply before we started giving them the extracts "She asked

" the city water supply is not as safe as you think. It contains some impurities that their purifying system can not detect "

Chloe eyes widening as a result of the revelations made by her lecturer

"what type of impurities sir? Why can't their system detect it? Why don't you just tell them so that they can get rid of the impurities?" She said as she threw all the questions to her lecturer all at once.

Prof Bast shook his head and smile "which of your questions did you want me to answer first hmm? " he asked apparently referring to how she asked several questions all at once

"my apologies sir I was just terrified with what you said because we have all been drinking from that water supply" she said

"I have been to informed them of my findings and right there in my presence, they took samples of the water for testing but no impurities above normal level was found after series of testing" He said

He paused a little and smiled then continued "You can't imagine the level of embarrassment that I felt that day. In fact I also took samples into this office for testing but found nothing of such. But I know I had found something with above recommended level in that water"

He went on "anyway to be sure of what was going on, I set up that water impurities detection system" he said as he turned and pointed towards the set up attached to the tap and guess what? I was right. So I took the samples from that water supply for further investigation. That is what I have been working on all these while. The strange thing there is that it is not every time that the level of that impurities do move above normal level. So to know when and how it happened is part of the purpose for this research So do I answered your questions to your satisfaction? "he asked

" Oh yes sir! And I guess I will have to be more committed to the work sir since it something that may benefit we the inhabitants of the city" She replied

Another question sir "among those extract been administered to the rats, I saw one labelled onion extracts, can onions be useful in getting rid of the impurities in the water? Because I can't imagine how much onions will be enough to purify all the water in that dam" she asked

"Are we putting the extracts into the water or feeding it to the animals?" he asked

"to the rats sir" Chloe replied sensing the reason for Prof question

"Oh! My apologies sir, the extracts is meant for the people not the city dam" She said

Prof Bast nodded his head in approval and said "okay so now you know more than before about the research work right? So be more focused and let's solve the mystery once and for all"

"Okay I will do that sir" she said as she got up from the chair in preparation to leave the office.

"You are ready to go?" Prof Bast asked

"yes sir am already through for the morning administration, I will be here for the evening administration sir" She said

"okay have a nice day" Prof Bast said as Chloe took her bag and walked towards the door and opened it.

"You too sir, she replied as she gently closed the door behind her.