Being an art teacher was a messy business and Kari’s unique brand of teaching and inspiring art students made her classes an exceedingly popular choice. Her classes were always completely full of ambitious freshmen.
Kari focused on the kinetic nature of painting, making a performance art out of the act itself. It was fun, frenzied, and undeniably Kari.
Right now, though, Kari looked more vengeful than fun, and Amara admitted to herself that she appreciated the support. She hadn’t realized how much she needed it right now.
Kari leaned back, settling her hands over the apron. “I’m all ears.”
Amara nodded, bracing herself to tell the story. “Frederik and I … you know we broke up a little while back. The whole fiasco in Nigeria was pretty much the end for us. He treated it like a vacation and left me with all the work. I’ve told you that much before.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Kari murmured, looking thoroughly disgusted.
“It wasn’t the first time he’d let me down or half-ass undermined me,” Amara continued, “but I really thought he was above the kind of thing he’s done now. I gave him co-researcher credit for God’s sake, so you’d think he wouldn’t want to sink something that has his name on it. Besides, he’s got plenty of experience and name recognition in the Ag-Science community, so I figured it would help my credibility. It did, but …”
Amara paused, slowly shaking her head in regret “… in all the ways I hoped it wouldn’t. I haven’t told you this part. By the time I had my results from the field work, I received a buyout offer from a very popular corporation. I didn’t want to sell out. Their reputation goes against everything I believe in. They make farmers pay them for the benefit of growing ‘their’ crops, use horrible pesticides that harm the environment, all sorts of things. I could never do business with them for those reasons alone. But even if that weren’t the case, I didn’t develop this strain for money, you know?”
Kari nodded hard. “Of course. You’ve always said as much. I was so proud when you got back and told me how well it went. And, I’ll admit it, I was glad you’d broken up with the overbearing ass. Then everything kinda went quiet, I figured you were just hard at work. I didn’t want to bother you. I’m sorry I didn’t get in touch sooner. Really.”
Amara consoled her. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t you, it was me.”
The absence of her friend certainly hadn’t made the ordeal any easier, but Kari could hardly be blamed for that. Amara hadn’t been ready to share the devastation yet. She’d been hiding out, wallowing in uncertainty and near despair.
Contributing to their lack of communication was Kari’s recent admission that she feared she’d been intervening in Amara’s affairs too often. Kari rarely held back when offering advice and in pushing Amara to heed it. Amara wasn't sure how she felt about Kari stepping back lately.
Kari sighed hard, shifting in the chair as she studied Amara. After a long moment of silence and searching, she asked, “That was the reason for the break-up, wasn’t it?”
Amara was quick to answer. “No. No, I mean, it was the catalyst, but it wasn’t the only reason. Not by far. He was controlling, dismissive, arrogant, insensitive … and to be honest, in retrospect, I’m not entirely sure what I saw in him in the first place. The confidence, maybe.”
“Damned sure he’s got that spilling over the brim,” Kari said.
“You know I’m a sucker for older men, too,” Amara said. “Not too much older, but 35, 40, experienced guys who know what they want. I guess I’ll have to re-examine that preference, because Frederik’s been acting like a maligned child.”
Kari looked like she wanted to say something but kept her lips tightly sealed.
Amara rushed on. “I broke it off when he tried to pressure me into selling out and splitting the profit with him. He even got Dean Wilson involved, who assured me of all the good things that the university could do with its share of the sale. I refused.”
The image of an outraged Frederik flickered through her mind. “I guess that pissed Frederik off even more than I thought it had, because now he’s telling everyone lies about what happened during the trials. I’ve got everything properly documented, but no one will look at it. Samples of the product, blood tests from before and after crop adoption, growth-rate comparisons … nothing. I’m completely alone on this, academically speaking.”
“It makes no sense,” Kari said. “How could Frederik have this much pull?”
Amara shrugged ruefully. “I thought I had more allies in the department. Apparently I was wrong because they’re backing him up without question. I should’ve paid more attention to the sponsors for his past work. Getting in bed with big time agri-businesses gets you all the grant money you could possibly need, but you have to compromise yourself and your work to further the agenda of a corporation that doesn’t care about you or the people you’re trying to help.”
“They’re interested in one thing. Profit,” Kari said.
“Exactly. Just like Frederik. He’s probably been accepting money on the down low for a long time, the slimy bastard. Come to think of it, he’s a perfect fit for that kind of thing, isn’t he? I was so naive. I can’t believe I ever trusted him.”
“We all make mistakes, and he’s a smooth talker, a charmer when he wants to be.”
Amara smiled weakly at her friend’s attempt to explain and excuse Amara’s mistakes.
“I mean, what can we even do?” Kari asked briskly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no problem just getting some straight-up revenge on his ass. He deserves it. Ready for war, here.” Kari’s wide, rosy lips curled into a vengeful promise.
Amara nearly smiled at that. Kari was always quick to come to her defense when she needed it most. “Oh, that’d be fun, wouldn’t it? A little creative chemistry with his morning coffee, maybe?”
Kari’s wide-set, pretty eyes gleamed. “I could have a little ‘accident’ with my buckets of paint the next time I walk past him. I’m clumsy enough as it is. Nobody would fault me for it.”
Both women paused to consider the image of him covered in the vibrant primary hues Kari favored. Good, but nowhere close to good enough.
“Ah … no,” Amara said. “I just wish people wouldn’t take him at his word. I’ve lost every single grant except FoodFirst, and they’re on the fence. They said they’ll be carrying out an independent investigation, so I’m sure they’ll come to me for the actual data.”