Captain Stellar by R J Sorrento

Author:R J Sorrento [Sorrento, R J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: R.J. Sorrento
Published: 2019-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Dr. Ted Foyle sat still in his small office at Almighty Labs. The air conditioner unit buzzed, providing relief from the August heat. He’d finished signing the final documents for his latest medical grant. Genetic research was much more respected now compared to thirty years ago and he’d earned many important contacts over the years, despite his humble and lonely beginnings.

He turned in his plush office chair to look at the back wall covered in photos, diplomas, and certifications in gold-plated frames. His lips curled up into a small, satisfied smile as he thought of his many achievements. His eyes stopped on a photo of himself as a young man standing beside his Uncle Declan. Tears stung, remembering a conversation they had shared during that pivotal moment in his life.

“They laughed at me, all of them. They laughed me off the stage,” Ted told his parents between quiet sobs at dinner as he recounted his dissertation presentation earlier today. There had been an opportunity for the best proposal to earn a generous grant, which Ted had prayed for with all his soul. What had cut him deepest was the laughter from his peers and professors. Such blatant rejection.

“Well, I don’t understand half the mumbo-jumbo you go on about.” His father’s eyes fixed on a plate of mutton and potatoes. He shoved in another sloppy bite and Ted knew he was savoring the reminder of Ireland, which his father’s family had left behind for Chicago when he was a young boy.

“They don’t understand how my experiments could change the world forever. With genetic modification-”

“There it is. There’s that nonsense again,” his father interrupted, displaying a chewed up mixture of meat and carrots when he spoke.

“Without their approval, I can’t do my research. I was counting on this grant,” Ted sighed.

“You need a bit of money?” Uncle Declan looked over at his nephew’s tear-stained face. A rare dinner guest in the Foyle home, welcomed by Ted’s mother due to the recent loss of his wife.

Ted had been unaware at the time of the sibling rivalry between his uncle and his father. It was an unspoken competition since childhood to see who had more than the other. Declan had married an older widow since he had trouble finding a woman his own age, mostly because he was odd and homely. Matthew, Ted’s father, was blessed with good looks and had married a beautiful woman. Declan was without an heir, and Matthew boasted about his young boy. After Declan’s wife had died from pancreatic cancer, he received her entire estate. Declan was the wealthiest man in the Foyle clan, and Matthew had an outcast of a son.

Blissfully ignorant to the competition, Ted accepted the generous donation. He spent his days and most of his nights toiling over his genetic research studies, alone but happy.

Declan obliged all of Ted’s financial requests. But with his sudden acquisition of wealth, Ted would later find out that his uncle became drawn to high-stakes gambling. Declan lost money by the day.

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