Luke turned his gaze on Ash, and they could see the pain and frustration in Luke’s eyes. “Only if you’re sure you don’t mind prepping reagents.”
Ash gave Luke a reassuring smile. “Of course, I don’t mind. As much as I love molecular modeling, holding a pipette every once in a while can be fun. Give me the calculations and tell me what to do.”
Luke explained the process to Ash, and it was simple. Ash helped Luke gather all the solvents, solutes, and glassware and got to work. Ash hadn’t used a sterile balance in a long time, so when they had to scoop the white powder into a little plastic dish inside a glass box, they spilled some on the balance and overpoured once or twice. When they went to scoop the powder back into the bottle, they were under the required weight. Once they finally had the right weight, they slowly poured it into the solvent. Ash put a magnetic stir bar inside the flask, placed it on the stir plate, and turned it on. After ten minutes, Ash pulled the flask off, added another five hundred milliliters of solvent, and set it back to stir for another fifteen minutes. They poured the reagent into a plastic bottle and stuck it in the fridge.
“Can I help with any of the others?” Ash asked.
“I’m almost done, but thank you, Ash,” Luke said, taking his flask off the stir plate. “I wasted the whole day. I feel like I’m setting us back.”
Ash put a tentative hand on Luke’s arm. “It’s just one day. We have plenty more to make up for it. I’m sure there will be days when we are ahead of schedule and days when we fall behind. It’s just the nature of research.”
Luke let out a long sigh. “I know, but it’s just so frustrating. I feel like I’ve been having more days of setbacks than of successes.”
“I’m sure one day, we will have more successes than failures. We’re still in the beginning of research.”
Luke placed his two reagents in the fridge and took off his lab coat. “Why can’t that day be now?”
Ash hung their lab coat on its hook, saved the results from their computer, and shoved it back in their bag. “Come on. Let’s go do something so we don’t feel like we wasted the whole day.”
Luke ran a hand down his face. “I don’t think I’m going to be good company.”
“Humor me? If you’re not having fun in an hour, you can go home to drink a beer and fall asleep on your couch in your underwear.”
Luke’s laugh filled the lab. “How did you know that was my plan?”
Ash smiled. “Come on, Luke.”
Ash led Luke down the stairs and out of the science building towards their car. While they normally walked to campus, Ash had the urge to drive today, and they were thankful they had. Ash pulled open the door of their Toyota Camry, slid in the driver’s seat, and waited for Luke to buckle up.
“Where are we going?” Luke asked.
“We’re going to the Binghamton Zoo. The red panda just had a baby, and I think you need some baby animals to cheer you up.”
The drive to the zoo was only about five minutes on the back roads of Vestal, through trees that were starting to change color. The trees changing was Ash’s favorite part of fall; they admired the red and orange leaves topping the trees as they drove to the zoo. Luke stared out the window in silence as Ash drove. Ash allowed Luke the space he needed to come down from his frustration. After Ash’s breakdownyesterday, they understood Luke probably just needed a few minutes to cool off.
Luke was right. It was extremely frustrating not to succeed as often as desired. Ash felt like they were letting their cousin down. Ash wondered why Luke was being so hard on himself. Did Luke have someone he felt like he was letting down? Why did Luke go into thyroid cancer research? There had to be something driving him if he was this upset.
For a Tuesday afternoon, the zoo was surprisingly crowded. And by “crowded”, there were six cars in the parking lot. Maybe there was a celebration for the red panda babies. Red pandas were Ash’s favorite animal; when they learned there were red pandas at the Binghamton Zoo, they made sure to come here whenever they needed a pick-me-up. Sometimes, just watching them play brought a smile to Ash’s face and helped them forget their worries.
Luke was still silent as they walked into the zoo. Screams of excited children, squawking birds, and chittering animals filled Ash’s ears. The paved path was starting to become littered with brown leaves. The distinct smell of animals was unmistakable. The warm air felt good on Ash’s skin as they soaked up the vitamin D from the sun.
As soon as the red panda exhibit was in view, Ash picked up their pace and felt their heart start beating faster. They hadn’t seen the red panda since she was pregnant, and while she was adorable, Ash had never seen a baby red panda. Ash raced to the exhibit, got as close as they could, and watched as the cutest little red panda scurried along the ground. Ash couldn’t contain their excitement and let out a little sigh. The mother lay on the tree, watching her babies scurry around; she looked exhausted. The two babies rolled around, playing with each other, before going to snack on bamboo.
“Oh, they’re so cute,” Ash cooed. “I think they’re only three months old. They took them out of the exhibit for a couple of months after she gave birth.”
“They are pretty cute,” Luke said in agreement.
“What’s your favorite animal?”
Luke’s lips quirked up for a second. “I like penguins. What’s yours?”
Ash pointed to the red pandas. “When I was eight, my dad went to the Bronx Zoo with his elementary students, and he brought me back a red panda stuffed animal. From that day on, I declared red pandas were my favorite. My favorite thing is when I scroll through Facebook and see videos of red pandas. It just brings me so much joy.”
Luke finally let out a little laugh. “They are adorable, you’re right.”
Ash looked over at Luke, who was already looking at them. “Are you making fun of me?”
“Never. I think it’s cute how much you like them.”
