The 2007 holiday season came and went without the present they were all hoping for. Reporters, struggling to keep the story alive, searched far and wide for institutions, universities, and pharmaceutical companies that were working on serums that might just be the worth three billion dollars. After weeks had turned into a few months without a prize claimant, life in Atlanta returned to a relatively normal pace as winter slowly gave way to spring.
On a crisp, sunny March morning, Shelly answered her phone to find Dr. Barry Hayes from the University of Florida on the line.
“Hi, Barry,” she said happily. “Nice to talk to you instead of email.”
“Hi, Shelly. You, too. Hey, I have a request. I had this guest speaker for next month’s Gator Mixer cancel on me, and I thought you might want to come back to the old Gator Nation and speak to the young medical minds of tomorrow.”
“I thought we were the young minds of tomorrow?” she teased. “Yeah, well, these are the latest ones. So, what do you say?
They’d be thrilled to meet you if you could squeeze it in.”
Shelly thought for a moment. “Would you mind if I brought Nick along?”
“Not at all! I’d love to meet Nick in person.”
“Great! Tell me the date, let me check my schedule, and I’ll let
you know by the end of the day,” she said. “By the way, have you