A Short Story by Elaine Carlson

 "So you learned one of our ancestors survived the Black Plague," Tony says. "That's not as remarkable as you seem to think. The fatalities from the Bubonic Plague were never one hundred percent."

"Well if that ancestor had died," I say. "A hundred percent in his village would have died."

"And we wouldn't be here," he says. "Do we really gain anything by knowing about him?"

He started to laugh. Tony is my brother and I almost can't stand him. Three months ago I started to do genealogy research. Right away he told me I will be wasting my time "looking into all that stuff."

"Then after he survived he walked a hundred miles to the next village."

"I thought you were going to tell me he went on to become the owner of Sweden's biggest shipping company," he said. "And that shows there are wealthy people in our family tree."

It has been interesting learning little tidbits about our ancestors. I just found out about Lars Petra – the guy who was the only person in his village to survive the Black Death. Soon I'll get out our Atlas and look up the distances between the small towns in Sweden. It is possible he didn't walk a hundred miles. .

The other day I got a letter from a company which does genetic research. They want to question me for a study they are doing. I told Tony and he went wild.

"Swedish Lineage Group," he said. "That is rich."

"They do genetic research on people with Swedish ancestors."

"So they are interested in our family?"

"They will ask me some questions," I say. "It will hardly take any time at all."

Sometimes I just wish it were easier to ignore him. And he did have more to say.

"I bet they are working for the police."

"What?" I say. "They do medical research."

"That's their cover," he said. "Don't you see how the police might have contracted with them to do familial DNA work? You know how important DNA is in modern police work."

"You are crazy."

"No I am not," he says."Soon enough you will know I am correct when the police come here looking for Uncle Robert."

Of course he thought what he said was funny. I waited to hear what more he had to say.

"But you know what?" he asked. "I think it might be Aunt Betty they will be coming after."

This time I laughed too but I never thought what Tony said was as hilarious as he did. I was glad when he said he had to leave so the conversation was over. I went to my room and picked up a novel --- I didn't want to think about DNA or genealogy for a while.

The next day I called Swedish Lineage Group and almost laughed when I realized I was talking to someone named Robert --- Dr. Robert Alan Granit.

:"We are grateful you are willing to participate in our survey," he says. "We are doing a study on heart disease."

"Dr. Granit," I say. "I am happy to answer your questions."

"You can call me Bob," he said. "First did you get a flu shot this year?"

"Yes, Bob, I did."

"And did either of your parents have a heart attack."

"No."

"Thanks for your answer."

And just like that Dr. Granit, or Bob, hung up.

Bob just asked me two questions. He didn't coyly or not so coyly ask me for the names of any of my other relatives. So no police department is going to send someone out to look for Uncle Robert or Aunt Betty based on anything I told the Swedish Lineage Group. It guess it will be hard but I will at least pretend it isn't a let down the way things turned out.