MAY 1, 2012
I’M LEAVING HOME
Where do I begin? I’m Jamie. I’m
22 years old. I train horses for a
living. All my life I’ve lived in
Maine, but in exactly two weeks from today, Jao Institute (they’re a
multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company that hired me) is sending me by
ship to a small island somewhere between India and Indonesia. They don’t tell us exactly where for
security reasons, and this is very frustrating.
Jao hired about 20 people to conduct
biological research on this island.
My job will be to train the horses that are indigenous to the island (so
they don’t have to fund roads and ship jeeps). There’s only a five-man research team there. They’re the only ones involved in the
biological testing. The rest of us
are doing other things — there’s a doctor and two nurses, an administration
staff of three people, a computer expert who's supposedly this super techno
genius, two cooks, and two maintenance guys. There’s even a three-man security team there… as if
anything’s going to go wrong.
MAY 2, 2012
I NEVER LEFT HOME BEFORE
I’m a bit nervous about leaving home. I’ve never been outside the United
States before, unless you count Canada.
It’s not like I’m leaving much behind, though. My parents were killed in a boating accident when I was
nine. My uncle Calvin and Aunt
Priscilla took me in on their farm, and I didn’t exactly “feel the love,” I
should say. He never beat me, but
he shook and pushed me. And she
looked the other way. Nope, I
won’t be missing the two of them, but I will miss the horses. And my dogs. And Melinda and Jack from the stables. Other than that, I don't really have
many friends.
MAY 3, 2012
I TAME HORSES
I tame horses. That's what I do.
I grew up on my Uncle's farm after my parents were killed in a boating
accident when I was nine. I have a
feel for horses. As a child, I started
training dogs for neighbors and school friends, and was surprisingly adept at
it. I was the girl who could not
only get their dogs to do tricks, but to behave and listen. Training dogs led to training
horses. As a teen, articles were
written in the local paper about my abilities. I hope this doesn't make me sound like I'm bragging. After a while, the articles switched
from the local news to a couple of articles in the national news. I even had a television appearance
once. I believe that's how Jao
Institute found me. I am wounded
inside and thus can sense when other animals are, and I soothe them.
MAY 4, 2012
10 DAYS
I board the ship towards India in 10
days. Nervous. Jack and Melinda wonder why they
don't just fly me to India, then get a ship there; it'd be a LOT shorter. The answer I got from Jao was
"security reasons."
What's the huge secret with this research project???
MAY 5, 2012
CONTACT
I'm thinking on emailing someone who's
already on Jackel Island. I got
their contact info from the Bio Sheet on Employees that Jao Institute
gave. All of them (except for me)
(I was the last one hired) are already working on the island, and have been
there for a year and a half. I
will be the new-comer. It's a
two-year biological research project, and I'm coming in on the last 6
months. I'll be back home for
Christmas. Woop-dee-doo. It may
give some comfort to talk to one or two of them before I arrive on the
island. Otherwise, meeting 20
strangers at once on the day I arrive may feel too weird. I'm told that any email I send will be
under scrutiny for "security reasons." I honestly don't know what the huge secret is.
MAY 6, 2012
EARL
I started to send an email to Earl. Earl is head of the Equestrian
Department, which sounds bigger than it is. Earl is a one-man operation. They hired me to help him train the horses on the island.
Earl's a 52-year-old man from Colorado.
What do I say to him? I
want to know about the horses, what they're like, and at what stage of training
they're at. I want to know what
the paddock is like, what life on the island is like. But all I wrote was "I understand I'll be working for
you..." and I stared at the email for 20 minutes. I never sent it.
MAY 7, 2012
TOM
I decided not to send an email to Earl,
who's to be my boss once I reach the island (see yesterday's entry). I started to send an email to Tom, who
heads the Administration Department.
He's everyone's boss, the "head guy", our leader of
sorts. I started writing what a
pleasure it will be working for him, yada yada yada, but that's as far as I
got. I fear that this Tom guy is
too above my head for me to write to.
So again, I stared at the screen and didn't send the email.
MAY 8, 2012
EVAN BRONTE
Melanie, my friend from the stables, sent
me an article in NEWS AND SCIENCE magazine that Dr. Evan Bronte wrote. Dr. Bronte is on the island, and he's
head of research for our project.
Fat chance that I email him!
He's Mr. Big Shot who's world known in the science world, with two
Ph.D.'s -- one in neurophysiology (did I spell
that right?) and the other in biochemistry. He's written tons of books which sold millions and are in
many languages. When I was
interviewing at Jao Institute, one of the staff members told me that it's
rumored that Dr. Bronte had bodyguards on the island, illegally, but Jao
couldn't do anything about it because Dr. Bronte could easily just up and
leave. It was all hush-hush. Now, why would this man need
bodyguards???
MAY 9, 2012
DARCY
I did it! I actually wrote to someone on the island! I wrote to Darcy. I don't know her, but she's not a
department head so she's more in my league, and she's female. Besides Darcy, the only other women on
the island are two nurses and an Administrative Assistant named Sheila. Darcy is about ten years older than I
am, and is Tom's assistant in the Administrative Department. I wonder if we'll become friends....
MAY 10, 2012
DARCY WROTE BACK!
Darcy from the island wrote me back! She said she can't wait to meet me, and
that the other girls on the island on Main Campus are catty and clique-ish, and
only cling with each other. She
says there are two other women on the island, but they're in the Research
Department which is 3 miles away, and no one from Main Campus really sees the 5
people on the Research Team. That
seems strange.
MAY 11, 2012
I LEAVE FOR INDIA IN 3 DAYS!!
Oh my God, I leave for India (or Indonesia)
(or whereEVer this secret hush hush island is) on Monday! That's in THREE DAYS! I'm laying out everything I'm going to
bring in the guest room. The Jao
instructional handbook recommends what to bring and what not to bring. I will miss my dogs and horses
intensely. I'll miss Melinda and
Jack at the stables. I will NOT
miss Uncle Calvin or Aunt Priscilla.
I'll miss the Maine coastline.
I imagine the tropics will be quite different from Maine, the only life
I've ever known.
MAY 12, 2012
COZY CABINS
Darcy and I have been writing back and
forth. The Jao handbook spoke
about our "adequate living quarters that meets all our needs" but
didn't give much detail other than that.
Darcy says we each have our own little cabin and it's cozy and cute...
just one room though. No one has
their own bathroom except for the research staff on the other side of the
island. We all eat at this large
main lodge. Sounds like Girl Scout
camp. Darcy was telling me about
all the people on the island. She
started seeing Tom a month or two after they arrived. They kept it "hush-hush" but everyone knew within
a week. There's a little boy on
the island, the Computer Guru's son.
She says one of the security guy is a real jerk, always hitting on all
the women on the island. She tells
me to beware.
MAY 13, 2012
I SAIL OUT TOMORROW!
I leave TOMORROW!! By ship. I'm pretty much all packed, got the mail stopped, will have
the water turned off, and Melinda will periodically check on the house. Can't believe I'm leaving all this
behind. Talk about changing your
life!!
MAY 14, 2012
EMBARKATION
I am in a waiting area, ready to board the
ship. I thought it'd be like a
cruise ship, but it's more like a cargo vessel. There aren't many passengers. The mood isn't cheery like it is with cruise ships... it's
more a mood of "business only" with people walking around all
serious. They had me detained in a
separate room where they thoroughly checked
through my luggage, and then they did a detailed body search, much more
detailed than is done at airports.
Thank God it wasn't a strip search, but almost. They downloaded all the info from my
computer. I think what they'll
find will bore them. Then they
took a blood sample. Another
one. They took a sample of my
blood two times during the interviewing process that lasted about 3
months. I'm starting to wonder
what I got myself into.
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