Bio Balm.(Kevin Hughes) Author’s Note:

I was taught to rub petroleum jelly on my feet when I was in the Army. It helps prevent blisters from growing larger, and sometimes from even forming. I do a long walk every day - which means I have to put the petroleum jelly on my feet. I wipe the excess off on my calves. And that was when the “lightbulb” went off. My creativity and imagination hooked up for a bit- and this is the result.

*****

Mike didn’t notice at first. It took weeks before he did notice. It took another week for his subconscious mind to bring it to his attention. It took another two months of twenty hour days before he could confirm it. The rest, as they say…is History.

*****

Darlene (Doctor D to most) tapped Mike on his shoulder. Mike leaped up in surprise, knocking over most of the stuff on the Lab tray in front of him.

“Jesus, Darlene, what the hell? You scared the crap out of me.”

Darlene had stepped back, Mike’s unexpected reaction almost clearing from her mind why she had tapped him on the shoulder.

“Mike, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to. I don’t think I have ever seen a startle response like yours. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Mike was not as shaken as he was embarrassed.

“Yeah, well, when I am working on something I tend to drown out the rest of the world.”

Darlene laughed.

“Mike, everyone knows that when you are working…which is all the time…the rest of the World doesn’t exist for you.”

This time Mike blushed a bright neon color…almost making his freckles disappear.

“Yeah. I guess. So why did you scare me?”

This time it was Darlene who blushed. She had been the Director of Research for a long time. Mike had only worked under her for a year or so. She thought (silently, of course- no need to fuel egos in her Lab, or cause jealousy among them) that he might just be a true Genius. Everyone that worked for her had at least a Masters Degree in a Hard Science like Chemistry, Biology, and even a Physicist. A good two thirds of her Researchers had their Doctorates already, or were in a Ph.D program. Mike was the only one (besides herself) who not only had multiple Ph.D’s, but was also a licensed Medical Doctor. Maybe that is why she had such high regard for Mike’s abilities. They were close to (or equal) to her own. She kept that to herself.

“I did not mean to scare you. Boo!”

She shaped her hands into claws, made the ugliest face she could (which might have reached cute, but not anywhere near ugly) and screamed “Boo!” Mike laughed so hard he had to hold the edge of his Lab Bench to stay upright. That dissipated any left over cringe factor from Mike’s earlier scare.

“So, what’s up oh Scary Monster of the Lab?”

Darlene smiled gently.

“Mike, I have a Project for you. I just got the Green Light from the Board. I think it should belong to you.”

“What is it? Another dam Project to make people smell attractive?”

Darlene heard the bitterness in Mike’s tone. She knew he hated working for a Cosmetics Company…especially in research. He just didn’t have the ability to leave the pain behind, so he had to drop Medicine. Too many nights during his Internship, he took it personally when he couldn’t save, repair, or heal a patient. That same stubbornness that made him such a good Researcher was a handicap in the Field of Medicine. Mike left Medicine for good when he worked Pediatrics and lost a seven year old patient to leukemia.

Darlene had hired him on the spot. Skipping the three other Interviews that the Board normally required. When the Chairman of the Board asked Darlene if she was certain he was a good hire, she responded with:

“When you made me CEO all those years ago…were you certain?”

And that, was that.

She returned her thoughts to the Project at hand…and Mike.

“No Mike, this should be right up your alley. We want to create a cream that rehydrates and rejuvenates skin.”

Mike stared.

“Darlene (and he was one of the handful of people on Earth she let skip her honorifics)…we already make hydrating creams and gels. Moisturizers, well, we must have a dozen different products in that line.”

“No Mike, you misunderstand me, we want a cream that can make new, brand spanking new, young skin grow to replace not rehydrate the skin.”

Mike stared again.

“Wait…what…are you talking about some kind of stem cell replacement strategy to grow actual new skin?”

Darlene beamed.

“No, not entirely. We think that Stem Cells would be dead end. We think though, there might be a cellular chemistry pathway to stimulate the mitochondria to up their game. Or perhaps a genetic pathway that can be reengaged by outside stimulation.”

Mike’s mind was already working on several ways one might explore either of those ideas, plus a few other ideas of his own.

“I would need to be brought up to speed on what Medicine and Skin Doctors already know.”

Darlene nodded with approval. Mike didn’t say “Yes.” He just accepted the Project in his own way…by figuring out what he needs to know. Dr. D was ready.

“I know Mike, that is why I am giving you this.”

She handed an envelope to Mike. In it was a ticket to Augusta, Georgia, a Hotel Reservation, and a Rental Car receipt.

“What’s all this for?”

“You are going on Sabbatical. You are going to the Largest and Best Burn Center in America. It is in Augusta, at Doctor’s Hospital. Burn people know more about skin than anyone else. They have to. You are going there. Don’t come back until you have learned all you can.”

Mike left the next morning.

Six months later he came back. His admiration for both the Burn Patients, and Burn Doctors, was beyond measurement. He had learned. A lot. he had learned about some weird things: like using the skin of Squids to keep things hot or warm in a flesh like container.

That intrigued him, but it was not what he wanted. He wanted to help people who had been burned.

He wanted to help those poor disfigured people recover their outer beauty, their inner beauty was on constant display. As was their quiet Heroism. The most determined people Mike had ever seen, were the Burn Patients in his Ward. Every day they faced pain, both physical and psychic, and continued to fight for their lives, and to have one again. He was as determined as they were to find a way to heal skin properly.

He saw the marvelous technologies and innovative medical techniques used to help replace skin. Artificial skins grown on nano skeletons, pressure bandages that reduced scarring, and meshes that acted like sod for a lawn. But none of those things really made the skin look “natural” or removed the scarring and rope like Keloids formed as Nature tried to heal on its own. Often time, the Keloids were larger than the original burn, or injury. No one had licked that problem yet.

Mike went to work. After a few weeks he had come up with a jelly like substance. It clung to every thing, including his hands. He kept rubbing it on his legs as he worked. He wore shorts at work. One of the little quirks that made other Researchers and Lab Techs giggle. Doctor D didn’t care how you dressed, she just wanted results. Mike usually got results…so she ignored his loud board shorts (while secretly admiring his legs. She might be a Director, but she was still a Woman).

And this is how it happened. Like most Revolutionary advances in Medicine, it happened by accident. Or observation.

“Nice legs, Mike.”

Mike turned to give an awkward smile at Darlene. If he had made that same remark, he would have been called on the Carpet, or lost his position. One of the few things he hated about his job was the constant lectures from Human Resources about Sexism in the Work Place. His Social life consisted of a plant he called Gertrude that he had managed to keep alive for over five years…and a stuffed rabbit he called: Buddy. He had won Buddy at a State Fair when he was eleven…and kept it ever since.

So he had no real idea how to handle a compliment, let alone an unexpected one in the work place. And from Dr. D too?

Mike blushed. So did his legs. And that caught both their attentions. Nobody had seen that reaction of flushed skin below the neck before. Mike took a hard look at his legs. His eyes widened. Where he wiped his hands on his legs was fresh new just got into High School level skin. No skin damage from sun and exposure to the elements. The kind of Keratosis found on people with too much sun, or harsh climate exposure…and very common on older people, was now gone from Mike’s legs.

His skin was smooth again. Supple. Stretchy. Clear.

“I do have nice legs…but I didn’t before!”

Darlene raised an eyebrow…when that arched, it meant you better have an answer to her unspoken question.

Mike caught the look.

“No, Darlene, I am not kidding, here look!”

He got up off his Lab Bench and turned the front of his calf towards her. The back of his calves, the part she could see when she made her comment, were smooth, youthful, supple, curved muscles with clear skin over them. The front of his calves…looked like old leather. He always wiped the jelly on the back of his legs…and they were noticeably healthier looking.

Mike ran his hands over the different textures of skin. Soft, smooth, young, where he rubbed the jelly. Rugged, rough, and wrinkled were he didn’t rub jelly. Doctor D came over and gently rubbed his calves. Marveling at the differences. (And enjoying the contact too- for her Social Life didn’t even include a plant or stuffed animal…just more work.)

She smiled at Mike.

“Mike, I think you are onto something.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

Six months later and the most remarkable Jelly ever produced was released. One product was for the General Population and became the best selling cosmetic Jelly ever. The other Product was for Medical Purposes - specifically designed for burns and wounds. It had industrial level healing properties that kicked in to expedite healing and reattaching skin and fascia to work in concert.

Both products shared the same name:

“Bio Balm”


Epilogue: Mike thought how lucky he was. He thought it almost every day now. Ever since Darlene had moved in (about a year after the most successful Product Launch in History: Bio Balm) he couldn’t believe a woman as smart and beautiful as her, would choose him to love. She saw that look in his eye every day…and thought the same thing back.

Darlene purred and stretched as Mike’s strong hands caressed her calves, rubbing out the tension of standing all day long at work. Her skin was smooth, supple, pliant, just like it was twenty five years earlier when she was still a teenager. Now, well, her skin was smoother and healthier than ever. She heard Mike hum as he rubbed a light coat of Bio Balm over her calves. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the massage. Later, she would do his legs too.

Then…well, it is none of our business.

---