Perry Portly and the Fake DNA Results, by Gary Gocek
Perry Portly and the Fake DNA Results, by Gary Gocek
Mysterious emails notwithstanding, Perry had decided to investigate the disturbing DNA test results connecting Fairport and Pittsford. He pulled his laptop from his backpack and spent the afternoon at the coffee counter with Della providing caffeine and a pre-packaged chicken salad sandwich.
Perry already had accounts for web sites providing DNA testing services. He had had his personal DNA analyzed, and there were no surprises, and these are the sorts of accounts that Perry didn't use regularly since nothing much ever changed, except for the occasional appearance of a cousin in his list of relatives. Therefore, Perry was surprised to see a notice in his personal DNA inbox announcing that updates had occurred, and his report now showed he was descended from Pittsford-ites.
Using his technical prowess, Perry dug into the electronic routing information of his DNA results, and the results strangely showed a route through an IP address assigned to the area of State Street in the village of Pittsford. Indeed, this routing suggested the DNA results passed through the Pittsford Community Library's local area network.
Eventually, Perry exhausted the bits of information he could get from the internet. He would need to visit the Pittsford library in person.
Perry decided to take a quick walk around the village before setting off on his quest. He turned left out of the Fairport library and crossed the lift bridge. He approached the multiple sets of railroad tracks just north of the bridge. The gate was up and the signals were quiet with no trains in sight in either direction as he walked across the first set of tracks. Suddenly, the signals began ringing and to either side on two side-by-side tracks, Perry saw the fronts of locomotives pulling trains and racing toward him, whistles blaring.
Perry felt all he needed to do was stand still and let the trains pass. It would be loud and scary between the two trains, but safe. Then he saw that the eastbound train, traveling from the Pittsford area toward the eastern hinterlands, had a train car loaded with rocks; a broken loading door had swung open, and rocks were dropping into the space between the two tracks. If Perry stood still or lay down, either the broken door would hit him or the falling rocks would crush him. Perry was doomed.
©2020, Gary Gocek, https://gary.gocek.org/, @garygocek, gary@gocek.org