The Gene Genie
The sun was setting slowly over the mountains at the far side of the bay, painting the sky with burning red, orange and yellow. The day’s wind had dropped down and, while waiting for the changing of the guard that would bring on the offshore evening breeze, it was windstill and quiet. Joe was strolling along the beach happily, absentmindedly humming tunelessly to himself and enjoying the feeling of wet sand under his feet. He had had a great surfing session only a few hours before, and was now just quietly passing the time of day while waiting to go home and cook dinner. Life was beautiful. All of a sudden he stubbed his toe on something hard, and his bubble of contentedness burst. ‘Ow! Fucking hell!’ He reached down, grabbed the big toe of his left foot and started rubbing it vigourously, thereby encouraging a greater flow of blood to the affected area and making any potential injury significantly worse. ‘What the fuck was that?’ He looked down. There in fron...