“Second of all, this place doesn’t buy blood they just take donations” he added crossing his arms over his chest. “I know because I tried last year,” he said as he watched the butt drift and roll down the street, further extrapolating “but I did get a cookie and an ice cream cone out of it so guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time.”
“You tried selling your blood last year?” Austin asked trying to sound casual and not too prying. “Were you goin through a rough patch or…” he left the last part of his question hanging like sneakers from a telephone wire.
“Hmmmph… Yeah, you could say that,” Brian said. “You could also say it’s been a patch thats lasted for seventeen years.”
“I thought you said you were eighteen, though?”
“I gotta figure the first year or so couldn’t have been too bad. Ya know, just eatin’, sleepin’, and shittin,” Brian said with a shoulder shrug at the end.
Austin wondered for a brief moment about what all his new friend has gone through in his life. Compared to his own relatively easy life he figured he was luckier than he thought. Again he didn’t really know just what to say.
He seemed to be in the middle of another awkward moment, and was wishing he was somewhere else right now. Speaking of which…
“Well, if we can’t sell our blood here then what are we doing?” Austin said looking back up at the sign. Austin Blood Center, just sounds oogey, he thought as a shiver swept down his spine.
Before Brian is able to answer, Austin’s right front pocket starts to buzz. As he digs his phone out with his right hand, he lifts his left hand in the air and gestures as if he was pointing out a particular cloud he wanted to show Brian, letting him know he needed a second. He turns away from Brian and cradles the phone in both hands, and lets slip a one sided smile seeing the alert notifying him of a text from Mia.
3:46pm Mia: plz tell me ur not one of those douches that has to wait a day or three before getting back to a girl?!?!?
3:46pm Austin: and what if I am?
3:46pm Mia: ain’t nobody got time for that
3:47pm Austin: well it’s a good thing im not a douche then
3:47pm Austin: jus couldn’t think of anything that didn’t sound horny as hell
3:47pm Mia: and to think… I thought you were a prude
3:47pm Austin: ?
3:47pm Austin: ugh, I meant CORNY as hell, sorry, stupid a/c!!
3:47pm Mia: lol
3:47pm Mia: Corny is ok, goofball!
3:47pm Mia: Corny is better than nothing
3:47pm Austin: maybe you got a point there, wrud
3:47pm Mia: nada, wbu
Austin looked up from his phone, craned his neck around and saw Brian tap his wrist and give him a twirl with his pointer finger begging him to hurry.
3:47pm Austin: not real sure yet lol
3:48pm Austin: can I get back to you in a bit?
3:48pm Mia: I guess, but Im not txting you first again
3:48pm Mia: a lady has her limits
3:48pm Austin: and what a beautiful lady you are
3:48pm Austin: gimme an hr
3:48pm Mia: :) the clock is ticking Mr
Austin clicked the button on the side of the phone, rendering the screen blank and stuffed the phone back into his pocket, and walking back to Brian beaming ear to ear. Now filled with a tad more confidence and a bit more pride he asks “So, what the hell are we doing here man?”
Brian brings his foot down off the wall and reaches into his back pocket. He slides out a folded piece of paper, and handing it to Austin he says “Ever heard of the X Prize?”
Austin starts unfolding the crinkled, tattered paper and mumbles in return, “Yeah it’s one of those contests to see who can build a better rocket or space suit or something like that and whoever does it first gets like twenty million bucks right?”
With the paper now completely unfolded, judging from the rip at the top, Austin can tell this is the flyer Brian tore off the corkboard earlier.
“That was one of the first ones, but now there are hundreds of ‘em,” Brian says. Then adds, “Ranging from landing a robot on the moon and having it send back video, to building a real life tricorder device like they used on Star Trek.”
“What’s a tricorder?” Austin asks while getting a smarmy look from Brian, “What? I’m more of a Star Wars guy.”
“Dude, don’t you have Netflix? A tricorder is basically like a handheld device that scans a person’s body and in about three seconds, bam, it’ll tell you what’s making em sick,” replied Brian.
“Sweet, so then why does this thing say Earn cash and Help us win the K Prize? What’s a “K Prize”?” Austin asks making the air quotes with his fingers while saying it.
“X prize is just a brand name, this K prize is basically the same thing just not as much money. Think of it as Pop tarts vs Toasted Pastries, basically the same thing just cheaper,” Brian says as he pulls his own phone out of his pocket. This phone has seen better days compared to Austin’s but seems to still work fine as he starts tapping and swiping the shipping tape covered screen. “I googled all about it during World Lit,” Brian looks up in disgust, “I mean don’t those assholes know the Iliad gets covered in high school?”
Every minute that passes while in Brian’s company, Austin realizes more and more that he couldn’t have been further off the mark in his first impression of his new friend. To say you can’t judge a book by its cover is a gross understatement as far as clichés go. It’s almost better to compare the likes impressions and meeting people to getting into a pool. Doesn’t matter if the pool is shallow or deep, you only go in as far as you’re willing to dip you toe. Unless you get shoved in of course.
“Anyway, I sent you the link, you can check it out while we wait but for now let’s get inside and cool off.”
Brian opened the closest door to them, turned to Austin and said “cuz I got about a hundred drops of sweat runnin down the crack a my ass right now,” and walked in.
Austin rolled his eyes with eyelids closed hoping no one in the lobby heard that last comment. Considering all eyes were on them walking up to the counter, he imagined there were few that didn’t hear it.
He does have a point though, Austin thinks as the cool gust of air conditioned wind came blowing down from the ceiling giving much needed relief.
Before Austin got to the counter himself, Brian was already on his way back holding two clipboards, each with pens attached by small beaded chains and papers clipped to the face.
“Come on, I’ll tell ya more about it while we fill this shit out” he said handing Austin his clipboard.
K prize
Fifteen minutes in to the paperwork, Austin leaned to his left a little and leafed through the remaining papers clamped to his board. At this point he still seemed to be only half way through. Brian looked like he was almost finished even though he had been talking most of the time barely jotting down a word here or a checking a box there.
Austin sat up straight in his chair, stretching out his back and heard several micro pops along his spine doing so. He held the pen in his left hand for a moment while he shook out his right hand for maybe the fifth time since he started writing his life story. As Austin wrote down what seemed to be every number that had ever been attached to him throughout his life, Brian filled him in what he found via the link he sent earlier.
Apparently the “K” in K prize stood for Kassie. A few Google searches showed Brian that she had been a phenomenal high school soccer star, who then became a star at Penn State, also making the Dean’s list freshman year. A sure bet for a spot on the Women’s national team, giving Mia Hamm a run for her money for USA’s next it girl.
Basically the quintessential dream of any parent. However, for some undisclosed reason or another, the summer between freshman and sophomore year at Penn State, she took a break. Not just from soccer but from school as well, and for what Brian could tell, she dropped off the face of the internet. Then again, this was nea
rly twenty years ago so that wasn’t all that unheard of. Before the days of Facebook, smart phones, and 24/7 social media lives weren’t as ever present online like they were today. From there he had to rely only on what information the K prize website offered.
Austin finally finished his paperwork and handed it to Brian who walked it up to the lady behind the window at the front counter. Brian stood there watching the nurse/receptionist go through each page to check for missed segments.
Austin already had his phone out from looking up contact info for the papered interrogation, so he used it to check out the website that Brian forwarded to his cell earlier. The About page had a full screen picture of Kassie as she was kicking a soccer ball with the inner part of her right foot. Long blonde hair pulled tight into a pony tail, with a rogue clump of strands drawing a curvy line down her face. Her baby blue eyes shined bright with youth and determination. Under the picture sat a few small paragraphs of information.
While living with her parents, just before her 19th birthday, Kassie was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The news hit her and her family hard, and left Kassie battling for months before finally succumbing to the disease.
Outliving your child is and always will be a parent’s worst fear. A year after Kassie passed, her parents still found it difficult to take a breath without seeing their baby girl lying in that hospital bed fighting to hold on. Grasping for find a way to grieve and mourn in a way that would memorialize and honor her properly, her father started the foundation in her name. The “Kassie Foundation” was established in 2000, in the hopes of finding better and faster ways to diagnose and treat Breast Cancer.
In 2016 the board members decided to take advantage of the new X-Prize phenomenon in hopes of meeting this challenge sooner. With the name changed to the “K-Prize Foundation” and a new marketing theme, they were able to garner more attention and support in the last four years than they had in the first twelve. With the winner of the K-Prize receiving 5 million dollars and a fully stocked lab (donated by proctor and gamble) to continue their amazing work. Click on the links below for more information or contact us at 1-800-KASSIE-K to learn how to enter the contest and for rules and eligibility.
Austin thought it a bit strange that there was little information on the girl in the picture, the girl the entire ordeal had been named after. There were more words on the parents dealing with the tragedy and information on board members than there were about the child.
Besides the picture of the way she was before the prognosis there was absolutely nothing detailing her life.
I am surprised they don’t have a before and after pic side by side to garner more sympathy, he thought sarcastically, then almost immediately felt bad for thinking it, realizing the tragedy this family had to endure.
He clicked on one of the blue links at the bottom that said “How to enter”, this second page was taking longer to load, ugh I need some Wi-Fi, stat. Austin jerked his head up from his Hunchback of Notre Dame phone holding posture, and moved his head on a swivel searching for the elusive free Wi-Fi sign.
Scanning every square inch of wall space, finding doctor’s names and exit strategies and “children must be supervised at all times” signs galore, but no shape that resembled a curved baseball diamond to be found. That was until Brian adjusted his weight to his other foot while talking to the lady behind the sliding glass window. Once his huge noggin moved out of the way, he finally found his relief hung on the window with clear tape framing the edges.
FREE WI-FI
Network: Austin_Blood_Center
Password: ABC123
Austin selected the network in settings and tapped the password in. Almost immediately the page loaded onto his screen. I’ll be damned. He apparently had spoken, or thought, too soon. There at the top of the page were the words “Help us find a way!” in big bold letters. Underneath this was the same picture from before, of Kassie about to jettison the soccer ball off the side of her foot, looking like the cover of a Sports Illustrated, full of life and action. This time though it only took up the left half of the screen. On the he right side was a grimmer, more chilling representation of certain death. Kassie had been reduced to a pale, wafer thin stand-in where a robust and healthy young woman stood on the left.
Instead of an action shot of her on a sun lit field, the right one was taken under a dim fluorescent light that seemed to make her skin not just pale, but almost translucent. Laying in her hospital bed with the rails down, tubes slithering like slender snakes up and down her body diving into her arms and mouth and nose.
Even the flowers and teddy bears that filled every horizontal space imaginable, and the glittery mylar balloons hovering above wasn’t enough to combat the despair that rested in that bed. Her eye lids were parted just enough to let you know she was awake, but the brilliance and vivacity that shined from them in the picture on the left was long gone. It was like looking into doll’s eyes, trying to seem real but no life behind them.
Austin couldn’t tell if she was trying to smile and just didn’t have the strength, or if it was a grimace desperately trying to hide the pain. Kassie still striving to be the strong person her parents raised all the way to the end. Austin sat there staring at the picture on the right, the after picture, wondering if he had the strength to endure something that wicked and all encompassing.
Paying for Dates
Brian nudged Austin’s shoulder with the back of his hand bringing him out of his deep thought coma as he plopped down into the barely cushioned chair beside him and said “Well, it’s all just a waiting game now, Sundance.”
“And just what exactly are we waiting for here, Butch?” Austin asked urging a straight answer out of him.
After all of the reams of paper he read, initialed, and signed he still didn’t have the foggiest idea of what these two new “paid volunteers” would actually be doing. It made him think of what his dad used to say about volunteering, that “the NAVY stood for Never Again Volunteer Yourself,” telling him to make sure he always knew what he was getting into before signing on for something. And here he was literally signing up for something not knowing a damn thing about it. Way to heed the fatherly advice, dummy. Hopefully I won’t regret this.
Austin had an eerie feeling that he hadn’t been able to shake since they came in, that he soon would be regretting this new venture. Not a for sure feeling, but a nagging one nonetheless. It was kind of like getting into the car with a friend who may or may not have had one too many, but you make it home safe and sound and tell yourself never again.
Until the next time, that is, when you do it again.
Or maybe it was like when you were taking out the trash after dark and once the bag crashes inside the dumpster you turn and run back to the gate. Not necessarily because you’re scared of the dark, but because of some primal remnant of evolution told your spine that something was behind you about to reach out and grab at your legs any second.
Then once the gate is shut and locked behind you, walking back to the house you start laughing at yourself for being such a baby. Also hoping no one saw you make a mad dash away from nothing but a half-empty dumpster.
Sometimes though, friends don’t make it home safe and sound from a night out. Sometimes there is a monster, human or otherwise, lurking just beyond the streetlight’s dome of relative safety. Maybe a monster that has a bad habit of making kids disappear.
Austin hoped this eerie feeling nagging at the back of his neck was of the former sort, the kind that lets you laugh at yourself later for being so childish.
“I’m not sure exactly,” Brian answered after a few seconds looking as if he was trying to either word it correctly, or trying to come up with something on the spot.
“But, after talking to nurse Ratchet up there I gotta lil inside info. Ya know how I said they don’t pay for blood here?”
Austin nodded in response.
“Well, there’s a small group of doctors using one of the lab suites here trying to win this K-priz
e, and these peeps are paying people to give blood.” Brian said.
“Why?”
“Apparently they are looking for a certain type of gene in a certain type of blah blah blah, that theoretically will help them in finding a better way to diagnose some yada yada yada, possibly lead them to finding a cure for it.” Brian said as he plopped into the seat next to Austin.
“A cure for what?” Austin asked confused at the whole conversation.
“No clue, those were her words, not mine.”
“Ok but that still doesn’t tell me why they are paying for it when everyone else is getting it for free.”
“Same shit I said amigo, and she said that the way they are having to test the blood looking for these markers… again her words, it uses up more than just the normal drop or two. So since they need so much for each test they don’t want to, slash,” Brian makes a diagonal slicing motion through the air with his left hand as he continues, “aren’t allowed to dip into the already dwindling supply.”
Brian said this acting like he was about to become the world’s foremost blood donation expert.
“Anyway, Ratchet also said that barring natural disasters or terrorist attacks and shit, it’s virtually impossible to get people to give up the red juice. So they pay for it, makes it almost ten times more likely that people actually will show up, like us.”
“And just how much are they paying us?”
“She said they are doling out bouta hundred bucks a pop, which is way more than any other place is handing out for sure.”
“Yeah but dude, that’s still only a hundred bucks, that will be gone in a week… tomorrow if we take Mia and Ashley out again.”
The Heart of It All (HeartSick Series Book 1) Page 6
