User:Xxrub

XXRUB: THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME

SO HERE IT IS...WHY XXRUB? THIS IS JUST THE SYNOPSIS OF THE NOVEL CALLED "THE RUB", TO BE FINISHED WHENEVER IT FINISHES.

The Rub Written By Robert Calixto Book/Movie Synopsis - Copyrighted January 2007

My name is Robert Taylor, and I have quite an interesting story to tell… I was born into an upper middle class, conservative family in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both my very Catholic parents, John and Christine Taylor, worked for the United States Government as nuclear physicists in a nuclear facility nearby. My older sister, Patty, grew very protective of me as we were growing up. It was because our parents were always being sent to various "secret" places for weeks at a time, for work-related assignments. They were very secretive about where or why the government would send them, and why they were not allowed to take us with them. On average, they would leave us with a child-care agency about one week every other month. Neither of our parents had brothers or sisters, nor did they have any real close friends, so it was always a childcare institution for us when they would leave. As years went by, we just got used to it and we stopped inquiring. When Patty and I reached our teens, our parents stopped the mysterious traveling completely. It took both of us at least three to four months to realize that both our parents had not gone anywhere! But something had changed about them. They became very reserved, very protective, and bordered on paranoid. They did not let us have too many friends and didn't allow us to get too close to anyone. Our parents, for some odd reason, suddenly became very devoted to the local Catholic Church, and made sure that both Patty and I went to church regularly. We studied catechism, got confirmed, and got very educated about the Bible. During this time, there was always news about escalating "anti-Americanism" happening in the world. News about countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, and countless others, always testing for nuclear and biological weapons filled the airwaves. In light of what happened in 9-11, terrorism was always in the back of everyone's minds. I was always so curious about what the political agenda of these countries were and both my parents spoke openly to me about the implications of these "war games" around the world. Around the dinner table, politics and religion were always discussed. Even though I was just a teen, I knew a lot about both. Even my sister Patty, although not as curious, was always fascinated about my very "inquisitive" mind. One evening, I questioned my mom about how "Jesus can truly be God", and the discussion lasted all evening. Another after-dinner topic included the role of the US as the "world police", and again, the discussion lasted way past midnight, with me being the primary interviewer. These discussions were very healthy, as it brought me closer to my parents. During high school, news about North Korea being an isolated, uncooperative, super-power country dominated the news. Talks about biological and nuclear testing to "ready themselves for a possible war" with any threatening country, especially the United States, took on a major issue in the news. During this time, both my parents worked especially long hours at the government facility. The discussions around the dinner table happened less and less. One evening, I heard them talk about a "preventive" formula they were working on. One afternoon right after school, I received an untimely call on my cell phone. It was my father. He told me that I was to come home immediately to discuss a very important "possibility", as he put it. When I got home, both my mother, father and Patty were all there, with concerned looks on their faces. My mother explained to us about who they were, what they were working on at the government facility, and that under any circumstances we were not to tell anyone about this conversation! (I really thought I knew my parents well, until this very moment!) She spoke about a drug, a "preventive" rub that she and my father had been working on, even before they got married, that could fight, or maybe even prevent, the effects of biological chemicals. She also spoke of a possible "cure-all" rub they had secretly worked on at the government facility. I asked many questions, and many of them could not be completely answered, even though many past events about our childhood were clearly answered. Patty was more reserved and even seemed worried. She took the "I'd rather not know" approach. Towards the end of the conversation, my mother spoke about an unfinished formula. A formula that only her and my father knew about, and she called it the "xxrub". I asked them why they were telling us all these things, and she simply said: "It was God's gift to us!" She promised us to never talk about any of this again, and that if we did, it could put the whole family in danger.

Months went by and the news about the North Korean threat died down. The fear somehow lessened as I readied myself for the college life. I decided to go to a major college in New York, unlike Patty, who a year earlier settled for a small mid-western university, eventually graduating with a degree in Theology. I would eventually graduate from college myself. Like both my parents, I would obtain a degree in Physics. But unlike my parents, I would have a very troubling life ahead. Shortly after college, Patty got married and immediately had two children of her own. She chose to have a very quiet and simple life, teaching at a small, private elementary school and settling with her husband and kids in a small town just a couple of hours away from where we grew up. I, on the other hand, was on the opposite extreme. I decided to move to New York permanently, to experience as I called it, a more "sophisticated" lifestyle. I ended up with one broken relationship after another. I got involved with so-called "socialite" friends who were drug and alcohol abusers. I eventually became addicted myself and had to check into a rehabilitation program. In the program, I became friends with various types of members, from a young guy who worked as a security guard, to an older statesman who was a former real estate broker. But it was Lewis Stevens who would become my closest friend. Lewis was an older fellow who actually used to work for the government at a nuclear facility somewhere in the east coast. But he told me that he grew up in Boston and that he'd never been to New Mexico. The truth remained untold. Lewis truly struck my interest as we both liked to talk in a very "philosophical" sense, questioning everything about religion, politics, history, and that very big topic: "man's purpose here on earth". One day, news broke out that it has actually happened…North Korea, after numerous nuclear testing on various small islands and the ocean, decided to send a rocket with biological agents to a small island off of Borneo, near the Philippines and Indonesia for testing. Unfortunately, there was a building storm nearby, and coupled with the overabundant amount of biological agents in the rocket, the airborne agents spread throughout the nearby islands, including Indonesia and the Philippines. Soon after, news began to spread about many people dying and getting sick as a result of the strong air currents. Within a few days, the news reports hundreds dying and thousands getting sick as a result of the testing. As the crisis builds, the United States declares North Korea as a "terrorist" state and threatens to retaliate if their testing didn't stop. As a result, the eccentric leader of North Korea sends a rocket towards the United States! Fortunately, the rocket gets intercepted on time and explodes midair in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. As the news spreads critically, the US President makes an inspiring public announcement about a drug that could help "prevent or fight the effects" of the airborne chemicals. News spreads that the "rub" comes from New Mexico, and that the government has been working on this drug for at least thirty years. Many rumors sprout, mostly through the internet and emails, that not only is this rub going to prevent the chemical's poisons from the explosion, but also that it is a wonder drug, a "cure-all" of sorts, that it can also cure the common cold and many various ailments. It is the "new and improved" antibiotic! On the internet emails, and soon enough on the evening news, it is coined the "xxrub", worked on by a team of scientists headed by a husband and wife team, from New Mexico! The president, upon making the announcement about the explosion in the Pacific Ocean, informs the American public, primarily the west coast, about the "rub", and that they can obtain it from their local Red Cross. The mobilization moved quickly as time is of the essence. The airborne chemicals spread towards the west coast of North America, Canada, Alaska, Northwestern Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea as well. Thousands die, as not everyone is able to hear the news, and because many people refused to take the rub as they question the effectiveness of it. Upon being truly informed of the facts, the North Korean people stage a revolution against its communist leader and he is murdered in the country's capital building. America does not retaliate as they hear about the revolution. The world gathers as they vow to create a true, policing "United Nations", because of this lesson learned. XXrub becomes a household "rub" primarily as a preventive drug, but eventually a cure for the common cold, cough, fever, and the flu. As for cures for other diseases? "I'm sure someone's working on it", my mom says.