...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 2: Ryan and Rosita

"When do you think Ryan and Rosita will get here?" Dema asked her mother.

"They'll be flying out of Veracruz tomorrow, and will probably be in Washington for several days, maybe a week or two. Then they'll come here. It all depends on how the visit goes, of course. We'll hear from them before then, I'm sure."

"I can tell from the way you talk that you like them both."

"They are friends of you and Juan. How could I not?" The way Naga looked at Juan as she said this told Dema that their relationship was maturing. Dema shared a similar look with Cern as she had this thought.

Naga advised them all not to pump Rosita or Ryan for too much detail when they called, because they were under some pressure to keep what they were seeing confidential. So when they did call everyone exchanged happy hellos, noted the arrival date, and left it at that. Soon enough that date came and they were all gathered once again in the family sitting room, this time with Rosita and Ryan in the favored seats.

Of course Dema had greeted them both with big hugs. Cern and Ryan quickly hit it off. It was obvious to Cern that Ryan was thoroughly in love with Rosita, and he told Cern confidentially that he still could not believe his good fortune in the way that Dema and Juan had brought them together. Cern could only hint at the way Dema had turned his own life upside down, or, more truly, rightside up.

But by now what was on everyone's mind was the mystery of the research facility, which Ryan had already several times casually referred to as the WBI.

Finally Dema asked him, "WBI? Washington Biological Institute?"

"Close. Actually it stands for 'Walden Biodiversity Institute.'

"Walden?"

"From Thoreau, for his interest in both nature and humanity."

"And civil disobedience?"

"Perhaps some of that too. It's perhaps the reason for the secrecy. There is no government money at WBI, no political influence."

"Sensible, I'd say, but why?"

"People at the Institute have a tendency to color outside the lines."

"What lines?"

"Exactly. They don't need the government or popular opinion polls telling them where the lines are. They want to draw their own lines."

"Lines for what?" Cern chimed in. "Biodiversity? How controversial can that be?"

"Well, that label is kind of a cover for something bigger."

"How so?" This was Naga. Ryan seemed to be hinting at a story she hadn't heard before.

"Everyone knows that the Gates Foundation funded efforts to defeat polio in Africa, right? Then the local infrastructure developed for that effort turned out to be crucial in fighting an outbreak of Ebola."

"I remember something about that."

"Expanding on this serendipitous success led to the idea of assembling a team devoted to the study of biodiversity."

Cern looked puzzled. "I don't get the connection."

Rosita said, "Some of the medical workers in Africa took an interest in traditional medicinal uses of local plants in the places they visited. The new Institute team recruited some of these same workers. Following up on those studies, they became interested in our work through the paper, which my Institute had made available on line."

Ryan added, "But now we know that WBI's interests are much broader than that. They are studying every new or little-known technology they can find, anything that could in time prove crucial to dealing with the impact of climate change on the quality of life."

Rosita nodded at that, and said, "And they mean all life everywhere, globally, no matter what forms the local climate changes may take."