Cranberry Red: A Novel

41. Gunnar’s Discovery

173 Gunnar Godson had come to the United States from Sweden when he was a teenager. His family settled in New Jersey, where he grew up attending public schools and then, after winning a scholarship, graduated from Rutgers University. Gunnar, from the time when he was a child, found science fascinating. He enjoyed all his science courses, especially those where the teacher presented a problem and the students had to work out an answer, and there could be more than one solution. From the first time a high school science teacher introduced him to the scientific method, he was hooked. Science not only provided a wealth of subjects to study— from physics to astronomy, from biology to geography—it also offered a rock-solid method for inquiry: identify the problem, collect data by observing and experimenting, develop a hypothesis, test the hypothesis. The process was clean, required careful attention to detail, and depended on objective thinking (keeping one’s prejudices out of the process) and constant testing. Almost all scientific findings continued to be subject to further testing, as new evidence on a topic developed. Gunnar wished more people understood the power of science and made more decisions based on the scientific method. Too often ideology and politics clouded people’s decision-making, leaving science behind, Gunnar thought. For instance, he simply couldn’t understand politicians and other community leaders who treated science and the scientific method as some kind of a cult, rather than a solid, facts-based approach to problem-solving and decision-making. Gunnar’s Discovery 41 Gunnar pulled his Toyota pickup into the parking lot next to the modest building at the Osborne Research Station. A warm, drippy rain, especially unusual for early October, had stopped an hour or so before dawn. The sky had cleared and the morning sun was rising above the tree line to the east of the station. Gunnar, as he did each morning, looked to the west, across the station’s small cranberry marsh, and to the Tamarack River that was shrouded in early morning mist. He’d come to love the river. He watched its moods and appearance change as each day passed. The river was forever a mystery to him. Just when he thought he understood it and could predict what it would do, the river did something different. For instance , this past spring it gouged out a new channel after heavy spring rains, and it flooded acres never before flooded. But with all its quirks and mysteries, the Tamarack River was a constant in Gunnar’s life. It was always there, day after day, week after week. Moving, always moving, its water on a relentless journey to the Wisconsin River, then the Great Mississippi , and finally mixing with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Gunnar felt good this morning. He had a job that paid well and allowed him to do what he wanted to do. As he often did these days, he thought about his years at Rutgers, where he eventually earned a PhD in genetics, found a wonderful woman, and married. He appreciated the position the Department of Horticulture at Rutgers gave him when he completed his graduate work. He became part of the university’s research team charged with developing new varieties of cranberries and seeking new cultural approaches to enhance the production of this important crop. Soon the Godson family included three little girls, the joys of his life. When Gunnar thought he could relax and enjoy his family and his work, New Jersey, like so many states, faced a budget crisis and before you could say “cutback,” Gunnar Godson had no job. When he saw the ad in a national journal for the new position at Osborne University, he immediately applied and was elated when he received a call from Dr. Quinton Foley, vice president for research at Osborne, saying that they would hire him to head up their new research station in Ames County, Wisconsin. 174 Gunnar’s Discovery 175 Gunnar’s Discovery Although the facilities were modest, Gunnar had sufficient equipment, budget, and staff to conduct the kind of research that interested him. He was especially pleased that the station had a small, abandoned cranberry bog, which he and his staff quickly restored. What pleased Gunnar most was Cranberry Red. Soon after Gunnar began work at the research station, he read about the...