Dangerous Dreams: A Novel (94 page)

“No, Doc. I really want to look it over this afternoon before I head out. Won’t take that long.” Her eyes and look suddenly brightened. “You know, maybe we should do genetic testing on my mom, too. What do you think? She’ll do anything to help me through this.”

“Great idea. Why don’t you ask her when you’re home.”

“I will.”

“So when are you leaving?”

“Late this afternoon.”

“Then how ’bout a beer?”

She looked at her watch. “Actually, I better get going. Got a lot of stuff to get together, and I really want to get through this genetics stuff . . . but I’d love to take a raincheck if I can.”

“Absolutely.”

She started to stand but hesitated, looked into his eyes. “Steve, can I ask you a personal question?”

He looked instantly uncomfortable, cautious, spoke warily. “Sure.”

Allie blushed. “Why . . . why did you get divorced?”

“Whew! I thought you were going to ask something scary.” He took a deep breath, sighed. “I got divorced because my wife, quite rightfully, could no longer tolerate my total immersion in my work. I . . . I think we were both still deeply in love, but I left her no choice—totally my fault.” His eyes saddened; his entire persona suddenly embodied the essence of remorse.

“I’m sorry. That was tacky of me. I shouldn’t have asked.” She reached across the table, touched his hand. “I’m really sorry, Steve.”

“Don’t be. It was all my fault.” He put his other hand over hers, smiled. “Live and learn.”

They stared deeply, meaningfully into each other’s eyes until Allie smiled, stood. “Thanks for helping me, Steve. I really, really appreciate you letting me do this, and I . . . I . . . I better get going. Have a good weekend. See you Tuesday.”

He smiled. “Have a good
R
’n’
R
, Allie. It’ll feel kind of strange not having you here, and I can’t wait to get started next week. Have fun.”

“Until then.”

As Allie packed her belongings for the ranch, she wondered about Emily—what she’d decided to do, whether she’d submitted to Tayler’s will, sacrificed her life for Virginia’s. Damn, if she’s really my ancestor, then her baby and Tayler may be my ancestors. Her look saddened. What a jerk he is. That would suck. She thought of Dressler, her intensifying but necessarily restrained feelings for him. She felt a sudden wave of guilt over her drug deceit. If I keep this up, I won’t be able to look him in the eyes . . . like Emily with Isna. She grimaced at an unsavory thought. Emily didn’t create
her
problem, but I created mine. She sighed. Gotta get to the ranch, get my mind right before I lose it. After she zipped up her suitcase, set it by the door, she realized she’d forgotten her pills, retrieved the two bottles from the nightstand, paused to stare at them in the palm of her
hand. You’re a fool, Allie. She shook her head, placed the bottles in the side pocket of the suitcase, then looked at her desk. Better look at genetics before I go.

She walked to the desk, sat, picked up Dressler’s genetics paper, and commenced reading.

Molecular Biology & Genetics—Top Level Overview (Note to Allie: We’ll need to dig very deeply into this in the near future.)

        
1.
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)
—
The material of genetic inheritance— carries the actual genetic code (heredity) of a living organism

                
-
Genetic code is made up of 4 chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T)
.

                
-
The 4 chemical bases combine in multiple ways to make 3-letter “words” that orchestrate protein production—like letters of the alphabet combining to make words, and words combining to make sentences that direct certain actions
.

     
2.
Proteins

                
-
Do different things, but regulatory proteins are like switches that direct metabolic responses—how cells look, grow, and act

        
Yup. Seen that before.

                
-
The epigenome (see below) helps decide which genes are active, and accordingly, which proteins a given cell produces
.

        
Now that’s a new one for me.

        
3.
Genes

                
-
Units of the material of genetic inheritance (DNA)

                
-
Short segments of DNA that carry the genetic sequence and information (the 3-letter “words” responsible for the production of proteins)

“So genes are
segments
of DNA that are the
units
of genetic inheritance, while the DNA they carry is the actual
material
of genetic inheritance. Got it.”

                
-
Segments of a chromosome that code for one protein

                
-
If DNA is a “how-to” book, then genes are the individual “how-to” instructions for the various tasks encompassed by the book = the instructions that, via the proteins they encode, tell cells what to do and what traits they should show
.

        
“Okay.”

        
4.
Chromosomes

                
-
Structures in a cell that hold the genetic code passed on from one generation to the next

                
-
(See “genes”) An individual gene, with its bundle of DNA, is a short length of chromosome that codes protein to create a particular characteristic of an organism
.

        
Knew that.

5.
Genome

                
-
All of an organism’s hereditary information

                
-
Total set of DNA in a cell

                
-
Inherited from parents

                
-
Contains 2 copies of every gene—1 from mother & 1 from father—can mutate

        
“Getting interesting.”

                     
o
For some genes, only the mother copy switches on; for other genes, only the father copy switches on. (Note to Allie: possibly why only women have the dreaming gift)

                     
o
Can skip generations (Note to Allie: possibly why dreaming gift is every 4
^th
generation)

Real
interesting,
really
fits. Wonder what makes the mother’s or father’s copy switch on?

                     
o
Human Genome project said 20,000 genes define human biology
.

                        
^
Those 20,000 genes = less than 2% of the total human genome
.

“Whoa! Are you kidding?”

                        
^
The other 98% of the genes were previously called “ junk DNA.”

                        
^
But new data indicate most of the “ junk” isn’t actually junk
.

                        
^
Large sections of DNA actually contain several hundred thousand regulators that help activate or silence genes. (Note to Allie: possible lead to how the dreaming gift calls up specific dreams and plays them like movies)

“Cool. So
regulators
activate or silence
genes
that, through the
proteins
they code for, tell
cells
how to function and what
traits
to express. Now we’re talking.” Now that word up above I hadn’t heard of . . . what was it? There it is—
epigenome
—down on the next line. It must be what
tells
the regulators in the genome to activate or silence certain genes. Gettin’ good! Read on, Allie.

6.
Epigenome

                
-
Epigenome = above the genome (much of this from Sheldrake)
.

                
-
Comprised of “chemical compounds” that alter, or annotate, the genome in a way that tells it what, where, and when to do something (Note to Allie: perhaps plays in the dreaming gift being only in women and every 4
^th
generation, as well as why not all women in the family dream)

“Hmm. Never thought about that last part.”

                
-
Helps decide which genes are active and which proteins get produced in a particular cell (See “genome,” above—role of regulators that help activate or silence genes) (Note to Allie: perhaps plays in the dreaming gift being only in women, and every 4
^th
generation)

Just what I thought.

                
-
Chemical marks not part of DNA itself

                
-
But they can be inherited—genome’s chemical marks conveyed to next generation via egg and sperm
.

Oh my God. Makes great sense! Gotta be how the gift happens.

7.
Epigenetics

                
-
How the epigenome works

                
-
Study of heritable alterations in gene expression—caused by different mechanisms than changes in the underlying DNA sequence

                
-
Talks to alterations of the genome without a change in genes, change only in gene expression (i.e., which genes are turned on or quieted by genomic regulators marked by the epigenome)

                
-
Epigenetics permits past mutations to be inherited as part of normal gene transfer for a family, without present alteration or mutation of the underlying genes. (Note to Allie: This is huge—perhaps how the dreaming gift has been transferred within your family for maybe thousands of years.)

I was thinking of the gift as a
present
mutation, but this makes a lot more sense. “So the gift mutation probably happened way back when, and epigenetic inheritance passed it down to me with no further mutation or change in the underlying genes or DNA. Wow! Just wow!”

8.
Mutations

                
-
Random alterations of DNA sequence, the number and organization of chromosomes, and the quantities of proteins produced by genes

                
-
Over many generations, mutations may have caused slight differences in the base sequences of the genes in different individuals (the 3-letter words)
.

Different individuals
. . . like my ancestors . . . before Emily . . . before Tryggvi’s girl. Bingo!

        
-
Responsible for continuous changes in certain traits

She reread the last line. “That really fits. So what does Steve think?”

9.
A Couple Thoughts

                
-
Sheldrake says when certain mutations occur, epigenetic inheritance can pass them to succeeding generations of a “kind,” or family
.

                     
o
“Neo-Darwinism” said there could be no modification of passed-on genes save for scarce, almost-accidental mutations; but epigenetic inheritance, which Darwin never knew about, allows mutations to be inherited without present gene/DNA mutation
.

                     
o
Atavisms (where traits that disappeared generations before, suddenly reappear) can occur when genes for certain previous but currently quiet features, held in genes/DNA, show themselves via a mutation (inherited via epigenetics) that permits the old traits to dominate new ones
.
(Note to Allie: could explain why only women, 4 generations apart, have the gift)

10.
Steve’s Integrated Theory

                
-
Formative causation, through morphic resonance, places ancestral memories, feelings, and emotions in each person’s personal memory, and in the collective memory

                
-
Way back in time, a mutation, or more probably a series of mutations (perhaps 1 for the basic gift of dreaming the past, 1 for women to be the dreamers, & 1 for the gift to be active only every 4
^th
generation) occurred in Allie O’Shay’s ancestors and have been carried forward by epigenetic inheritance ever since
.

“Gotta be it.”

        
-
So, the dreaming gift:

                     
o
Acts like an alarm clock (the genomic regulators) that sounds every 4
^th
generation to command a woman in the family to dream the past

                     
o
Some sort of trigger then activates the gift to send the right access credentials to find a specific story in the personal and collective memories and play it, like a movie, to completion, without pause; but it fast-forwards when not dreaming
.