Rani Drew
The day the double helix was halved
The city is bubbling with scientists
in the flesh. It brings crowds to the doors.
This week it’s the Double Helix.
No tickets, ‘First come first served’ makes
the queues go long, twisting and snaking
in expectation, though not yet
spiralling like the Double Helix itself.
But the hall is small and admission
limited. Academic gowns flow, tasselled
hats oscillate in authority. The gate
is manned, the seats numbered. People
are passed through a bottleneck count.
Some are let in, others kept out. A husband
passed through, the wife didn’t push hard
enough. She pleads, ‘He’s keeping a seat for me;
let me in for a second to signal to him that
I’ll be out here waiting’. No, shakes the tasselled hat.
‘I’ll leave my bag with you, if you like’.
No bags, sorry; security risk, flares the pleated gown.
This is how the city populace learnt about
the Double Helix: with one half in, the other out.
Page(s) 20
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