the stars above us (medtech series #2)

3

"Lula?" Napalingon ako sa gilid nang marinig kong may tumawag sa'kin. Tipid lang akong ngumiti no'ng makita ko si Sergio. Ang bilis ng pangyayari. Pagkasabi ko kay Dean na okay lang na kagrupo ko si Sergio, pinatawag niya kaagad. Buti na lang walang klase 'yung tao. Nakonsensya tuloy ako... kaso sayang din naman 'yung oras kung ipapabukas pa namin 'yung meeting.

Ngumiti naman si Sergio at itinuro 'yung upuan sa tabi ko, "Can I sit here?"

Tumango ako. Shuta. English speaking pa yata siya.

"Sorry kung madalang ako mag-Tagalog ha. I'm not really fluent with the language, but I can speak and understand, so just talk comfortably."

Natawa ako, "It's not really a problem with me," sambit ko. Aba siyempre kaya ko namang makipagsabayan! Hindi ko gamay mag-English kapag casual talk... parang ang weird kasi buong buhay ko, Ilokano-Tagalog lang talaga ako casually pero maayos naman ako mag-English! Best in English kaya ako lagi!

Napangiti naman si Sergio, "So... Have you thought of an IP for the fair already?"

"Siguro more on Microbio tayo?" I uttered looking at him. "Last year kasi they focused more on experiments using lab rats and I really want to avoid that, kaya mas okay na lang din siguro if we focus on bactericidal activities of extracts?"

Sergio nodded at saglit na napatingin sa taas habang nagta-tap ng daliri sa lamesa.

"How about Hibiscus Sabdariffa leaf extract? I once read about its antibacterial properties sa folklore medicine. We can try to work on that."

"Oo nga ano," sagot ko at isinulat 'yung sa notebook. Tangina. Kahapon pa'ko nag-iisip kung ano'ng pwede gawin, tapos siya dalawang minuto lang nag-isip? "So bactericidal activities ng Hibiscus Sabdariffa... Possibly siguro against E. coli, 'no? Para familiar din."

Sergio nodded, "Okay," he uttered. "Dean told me they'd provide us with all the materials so let's just wing the lab."

Natawa ako.

"Start na tayo sa Introduction?"

"Now?"

I nodded, "Sayang oras," natatawa kong sabi. "As for the procedure kaya?"

He took out his phone at nag-fiddle saglit do'n. Understandable naman kasi wala pa nga kaming Microbiology at hindi ko rin alam kung ano'ng pumasok sa utak ko para mag-Microbio kami sa SciFest. Papaturo na lang siguro kami sa profs or sa upper years. "Broth microdilution assay? I heard that in PMLS back then, too."

Tumango ako, "Ah, 'yung may Minimum Inhibitory Concentration tsaka Maximum Bactericidal Concentration 'yun 'di ba?"

He nodded, "Yup," he uttered. "We can do that to get the MIC and MBC values tapos we can just use agar diffusion test so we can see the antibacterial activity if E. coli would be resistant or not with different concentrations."

"Okay... Agar diffusion," I murmured. "Ano na nga 'yun? Kirby something? I forgot."

"Kirby-Bauer," natatawa niyang sagot. "We can ask professors naman daw to help us with the experiment."

Grabe.

What the hell.

Ang lala ng lalaking 'to. Feel ko walang bagay na hindi niya alam.

"Bookworm ka ba?"

Napakunot ng noo si Sergio habang nakatingin sa'kin pero nakangiti pa rin siya tapos bigla siyang natawa at umiling, "On an academic scale or fiction scale?"

I shrugged, "Both?"

"Fiction, yes. I think? I tend to splurge on a lot of science fiction and crime fiction novels. Academic, not much. But I always read in advance... since we're already in college."