The Neutron Show

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 4:

As the rest of the class and Miss Fowl talked quietly amongst themselves Jimmy silently read the words on the blackboard again. The truth is out there? What truth? And out where? he wondered. There was no obvious connection between the cryptic message and the other odd events that he had already witnessed this day, but he had a sudden and irrational belief that this message was intended for him and somehow vitally important for him to understand. Try as he might, however, he could not make sense of the words or what they might be trying to tell him.

"Jimmy!"

He started at the sound of his name. "Yes, Miss Fowl?"

"Do you have anything to say about this?" his teacher asked, pointing to the message.

"Uh…no, ma'am. Why do you ask?"

"You were staring at it so hard. It looked as though you might know something about it."

"Well, no," Jimmy admitted. "Actually I was just trying to figure out why someone would want to leave something like this on the blackboard." He looked pensive as a new thought came to him. "Although it occurs to me that this might be some teaching technique you devised to get us curious about a new topic you intend to cover. Maybe the nature of truth as defined by the Socratic or Platonic schools of philosophy?"

Miss Fowl looked intrigued. "Interesting idea," she said. "Totally wrong…but interesting nonetheless." She scribbled something in her teaching journal. "Thank you, Jimmy. I was wondering how to introduce some philosophic topics into this year's curriculum. Thanks to you, your fellow students have some fascinating and excru-u-uciatingly time-consuming assignments to look forward to."

The other students groaned. "Nice going, Spew-tron," Cindy commented in a low aside. "As if we didn't have enough schoolwork to do already. No matter how messed up things are you always find a way to take it to another level, don't you?"

"Sorry," Jimmy mumbled as Miss Fowl erased the enigmatic message from the board and he took his seat. Once the mysterious words were gone class resumed its normal afternoon routine. For the rest of the day Jimmy did his best to concentrate on the lessons, but found his mind invariably returning to the various unusual events of the day. The odd situations in his kitchen, in the lunchroom, and now in his classroom seemed like pieces of a puzzle that were mocking him because he couldn't put them together.

At length the bell rang to signal the end of the school day and the students streamed from the classroom. Jimmy, deep in thought, trailed along behind them, hardly aware of Carl and Sheen walking beside him.

"Well, this is it," Sheen finally said when Jimmy said nothing.

"Is what?" Jimmy asked.

"Your date with Betty," Carl replied.

"What?" Jimmy had almost forgotten about that. "Leaping leptons! You're right!" He looked at his watch. "I have to get those flowers and get ready for the concert. Let's see, it's just after 3 PM now, so I have about 4 hours before it starts. Will that be enough time? Maybe I should use my quantum replay device to give me a couple extra hours. Or I could –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sheen cried, stopping Jimmy in mid-rave. "Just take it easy there, Jimmy. People have prepared for dates before and survived the ordeal."

This aroused Carl's curiosity. "Anyone we know?"

"That's not the point. Look, Jimmy, you have plenty of time. Right? Nick told you what to do. Right? And you have us to help you. Right? So what's the big?"

Jimmy took a deep breath. "You're right. I guess I'm panicking about nothing."

Sheen patted Jimmy on the back. "That's my boy. Okay, Carl, you get over to the flower shop, pick up those flowers, and bring them back to Jimmy's house while I go over to the Candy Bar and reserve a booth for Jimmy and Betty. Jimmy, you go home and factor some 128-bit numbers into their composite primes or do whatever it is you usually do to relax."

Jimmy nodded. "Thanks, I'll do that. I –" He suddenly looked suspiciously at Sheen. "Wait a minute, Sheen! What's going on here?"

"Yeah, Sheen," Carl agreed. "You thought I wouldn't notice either, did you?"

Jimmy stared at Carl in surprise. "What? You caught that, too?"

"What are you talking about?" Sheen asked, shifting about nervously.

Carl pointed an accusing finger. "We're talking about you getting to go to the Candy Bar while I have to go to the flower shop, that's what!"

"No, Carl," Jimmy said. "I'm talking about Sheen talking about factoring numbers into their composite primes." He looked suspiciously at Sheen. "Since when do you know about that sort of thing?"

Sheen looked relieved. "That? It was on the Ultra Lord show the other evening. Ultra Lord needed to break into Robofiend's database to uncover his latest nefarious scheme, and this computer guy told him that he'd have to factor some 128-bit number into its composite primes which only a super-genius could hope to do in time. So I just thought that maybe that was something you did. I mean, you can do anything."

Suspicion faded from Jimmy's mind. "Oh…okay. I guess that makes sense." At least as much as the other Ultra Lord episodes, he added to himself.

"It still doesn't explain why I have to go to the flower shop instead of the Candy Bar," Carl complained.

Jimmy began walking home, leaving Sheen and Carl to argue amongst themselves. He preferred to walk rather than ride the bus, as he had yet another thing to think about and needed time alone to do it. Why had he reacted as he had to what Sheen had said to him? He had known Sheen almost as long as he had known Carl, and yet had actually suspected some sinister meaning in a casual remark. Maybe it wasn't the world that was odd. Perhaps he was becoming paranoid and delusional.

That thought worried Jimmy considerably. He had read that people with exceptional intellects often walked a fine line between genius and insanity, and that many had fallen into the depths of madness. Was he going insane? Were the things that had troubled him only the products of his disintegrating hold on reality? Was that the truth?

The truth is out there. The sudden thought comforted him. Whatever else might have been his imagination the message, at least, had been real. Miss Fowl and the others in his class had seen it and Miss Fowl had discussed it with him. And if that odd message had been real then it was quite likely that everything else he had noticed had also been real. What they meant was, for the moment, beyond him, but in time he felt sure he would understand. Until then he could put them out of his mind and concentrate on his date with Betty.

He arrived at that conclusion about the same time that he arrived home, and he spent the next few hours carefully preparing for the evening. Carl arrived with the flowers (a bouquet of pink roses and baby's breath) between his second and third showers and Sheen made a momentary appearance to confirm the reservations at the Candy Bar while Jimmy was deliberating on his choice of attire. He had not thought to ask about whether to wear casual or formal attire for the concert, so on the advice on his mother he compromised by wearing his best blue suit with a turtleneck pullover in place of a shirt and tie. The rest of the time he spent checking his watch, imagining all the worst-case scenarios that might happen during his evening with Betty, and pacing the floor. While doing so he convinced himself Einstein's assertion that time was relative was indeed true, as he was absolutely convinced that the last thirty minutes of his wait was at least three hours long.

At length the time to leave arrived and he set out for Betty's house. The walk there was about four blocks, and he was thankful for the chance to work some of the nervous energy out of his system. At the door he paused to take a deep breath and straighten his jacket before ringing the doorbell. Although the door opened after just a few seconds it seemed much longer to his feverish mind.

It was good that Jimmy had taken a deep breath, because the sight of Betty made him forget to breathe for at least a minute. Her outfit of burgundy velvet and white satin seemed to be more suited for a movie star than a grade school student, and her earrings and necklace were more elegant than most of the jewelry Jimmy's mother owned. What caught and held his attention, however, were her welcoming gaze and warmly inviting smile.

"Hello, Jimmy," she said in a voice that seemed almost musical. "You're right on time."

Jimmy could speak a number of lanuages, but all he was able to get out was, "Hi."

She gave the forgotten bouquet in his hand an admiring look. "Are those for me?"

Jimmy nodded dumbly and handed her the flowers, and she thanked him with a gently kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush and lose control of his voice again for the several minutes she took to place the flowers in water. Having done that she turned and gave Jimmy another smile. "Are we ready to go?"

Jimmy nodded dumbly. "Go," he squeaked. With a major effort of will he regained his normal speaking voice and went on, "We should get there just as the concert starts. I'm really looking forward to this."

Betty's smiled widened. "So am I," she replied.

With her right arm linked in Jimmy's left they turned and headed down the street to the park as the last rays of the setting sun turned their surroundings into liquid gold. Although Jimmy didn't consciously realize it at the time it was the most perfect late afternoon he had ever seen. Almost too perfect, if such a thing could be.

End of Chapter 4.