This is the end…. part 11
Monday afternoon Walter flew into Boston. At the arrivals area William Bloant was standing with a sign 'O'BRIEN' though he spotted Walter and called as well.
"Good afternoon, Mr. O'Brien, welcome to Boston"
"Please, Walter is fine," Walter replied shaking hands. "Was beautiful coming in over the city."
"I live off campus and have a spare bedroom waiting for you." William said shouldering Walter's duffle bag leaving Walter to carry his computer case.
"Thank you, William. You are certainly disproving the west coasts attitude about east coast manners. But then it was said when we from the west coast attended the Reinler panel in DC we were expected to show up in jeans, t-shirt, and sandals. So much for preconceived ideas."
The conversation continued in light banter all the way to the MIT campus. Walter was shown around the campus while William informed him that his wife, Mary, was looking forward to meeting him. "Be prepared to be grilled about life in Los Angeles, the UCLA and USC campuses and how they compare to here. She is Boston born and raised and while proud of Boston's educational excellence she has a fascination with the 'young institutions of the wild, wild west' as she puts it."
"She has valid reasons to be proud of MIT's world-wide reputation for excellence, though I must say we are closing the gap." Walter said.
"I have the Emma Rogers room booked for tomorrow afternoon. It seats but fifty and I cannot guarantee all will be filled. I did not expect you to be so readily available, so we did not have much time to get the word out. We will be using the same room Thursday."
"That is fine, the smaller venue allows a more open discourse. I expect to make my opening and take questions. I find that makes for better participation rather than my standing in front of a room full of yawning faces. Plus questions helps to further understanding of the issue. I also saw that the Boston symphony program is Schumann and Mozart Thursday and was hoping to attend. As with MIT, the Boston symphony is world famous."
"As a matter of fact, Mary and I have season tickets but were not going Thursday, you are welcome to fill my seat. Do you know anyone here in Boston? Second seat is available."
"NO, know no one here in Boston."
"Let's go to the house and get you settled in. Boston is known for its sea food restaurants or we can see what Mary has on the home menu."
"Lead on, I am at your disposal until the red-eye flight to LA Thursday night." Walter said with a smile.
The speaking engagement Wednesday was over half full. Most appeared to be students though some were of an age to be faculty. Walter was introduced by William who then went and sat down in the back of the room to watch. Walter went directly into the Reinler theorem and its relation to black hole mechanics. With some of the questions, it was necessary to get into the math which Walter wrote out on the whiteboard. The bulk of the questions were from two men and one woman who kept the evening interesting. After three hours, the discourse slowed down and the attendees rose and left except for the three with the most questions of the evening. One of the men said he had spent a considerable amount of time working on it to no avail, and shook Walter's hand for solving it. The woman asked mostly about his development of the constant and its basis. Eventually the room cleared completely except for Walter, William and the woman still listening to Walter's answer to her last question. William finally said "Laura, Mr. O'Brien will be back Thursday so you can pick his brain some more then."
"Sorry," she replied. "Once getting into the math it is hard to stop- the numbers and symbols just flow along."
"There are not many who fully appreciate the beauty of an equation, Miss…"
"Laura Pinckney, Mr. O'Brien."
"Walter, please, such formality is foreign to my lecture style."
William rejoined the pair to say "You have a full day tomorrow with the second lecture and the concert so we best be going."
The three walked out together when Laura asked "What music venue you going to? Getting the most out of what Boston has to offer while you are here?"
"The Boston symphony tomorrow evening- Schumann and Mozart. One can hardly be in Boston and not take advantage of the symphony here."
"Well, should I see you there I will wave- being a poor student I will be in the 'cheap seats', but the sound is just as good there as the expensive boxes" she laughed.
William interjected "Well, isn't that a bit of serendipity, Walter. You can have both my tickets if you would like to take Laura- save her from the 'cheap seat' crowd and I can stay home to watch a movie with Mary. Definitely a win/win for all involved."
"I'm afraid I'm just in for a short visit and do not have the proper attire to escort….."
"Nonsense. The stuffy tux wearing crowd need something to talk about. Anyone say anything to you, just tell them you are the picture of 'haute culture' for Los Angeles," William laughed.
"I would love to go with you, no matter your attire. I can pick you up and talk math on the way and maybe over coffee after. I promise not to wear my floor length royal robes…. but won't be in jeans, either. Have to show SOME decorum. Looking forward to it- love me some Mozart!" Laura said as she parted from them to her car. "See you after the lecture tomorrow."
William and Walter left for home to see what Mary had for a late snack.
Thursday morning, Mary had a good breakfast on the table waiting. William and Walter left for the campus, Walter toting his duffle as he would be leaving for the airport right after the symphony. Walter spent the day cruising around the campus and sitting in on Williams classes.
The second lecture had the room full with some standing in the back. Obviously word had gotten around and was attended by more of those with math proficiency. While Walter had his laptop open and available, William was, as with the Reinler panel he sat on, struck that the entire meeting, with questions fired from so many around the room, Walter had every answer without hesitation, and while explaining verbally put the math on the whiteboard.
When everyone filed out, Laura remained in her seat. When she rose to join them, Walter said "I have my duffle bag and computer case as I will be going to the airport after the symphony I can leave them in your car and transfer to a taxi when we get out. My return flight leaves at one."
"I can take you to the airport, more time to talk until your plane boards…. unless you want to just hang around the airport alone….."
"Your company would be welcome. And you look very nice. I doubt anyone will notice my lack of a tux with you by my side."
"Yes, we best be going- the conductor won't wait for us," Laura said.
Walter turned to William and shook his hand. "It has been a real pleasure, William. Thank you for the invitation and tell Mary I thank her for her splendid hospitality."
The drive from campus to the symphony was tedious as traffic in any large city was. The conversation easy as comparisons were made on drivers of Boston versus LA. Walter opined that the crazies were pretty equal except that it was faster in LA when the roads were not clogged.
"So it is faster paced out there?"
"The need for speed. Even I got into street racing- ended up hanging off a cliff thanks to Mother Nature."
Laura laughed, "What did Mother Nature do to get you hanging off a cliff?"
"Too fast on a curve when a coyote decided to cross the road"
"You seem to have survived it OK- did the coyote?"
"The coyote was just fine. I, however punctured my spleen and was worse for the experience for a while"
"Was this before or after you came up with the Reinler solution? Should you have totally crashed and burned would your furthering scientific progress have been your crowning achievement or would the world have to wait another thirty-seven years or more?"
"Would have had to wait, I'm afraid. Long before the circumstances causing the solution to become apparent."
"How long had you been working on it to have finally had the EUREKA moment?"
"I had read up on the theorem years ago but did not sit in place to think on it until a couple months ago. Took the Reinler prize organization longer to review, understand, form a panel to question my finding and make a decision," Walter smirked.
"So, how long from sit down as you say and think on it to find the solution? From sit down to Eureka?" she asked.
"Seventeen days" Walter said in little more than a whisper.
Laura looked at him while parking the car. His jaw was set and posture had stiffened- obviously was not a topic to pursue further. She took the hint and left the subject. "Oh boy, we just have time to get to our seats and settle in for a great musical experience. The Boston symphony is the best!"
After the 'great musical experience' they had coffee at a little shop along the river. The discussion of mathematics was started up again, then Laura asked about his accent. "It is so slight, but just a hint comes out when you get cranked up on a subject."
"O'Brien, so pretty obvious I'm not Spanish. Irish, but a naturalized American the past couple years.
"Only a few years but your accent is practically nonexistent. What brought you to the US?"
"As everyone says, the land of opportunity is America. However, when I got here at a young age I was not taken seriously due to my age and accent. I put a lot of effort into speaking 'American' and for the most part succeeded…. as long as I keep my head and pay attention to myself. But, as you say, once I get wrapped up in something it may appear… slightly. How about you, American born or an import, too? Your black hair and striking blue eyes are unusual."
"Yup, natural born American, a whole mix of genetic material, so no telling where the blue eyes came from. Some Swede in there somewhere mixed in with the usual blend of everything after generations in the 'melting pot' of America. So you think my eyes are 'striking'. Thank you very much for the compliment, Mr. O'Brien. And I think your dark brown eyes are striking- very intense."
Walter lowered his eyes to check the time. "Best I get to the airport- would you prefer I call a cab? Driving to an airport is never fun."
"No, I will happily take you like I said. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I know I did a couple times tonight and I so wanted your visit to Boston to be a good experience, sorry."
"The fault is mine. I am not the most socially adept individual as I am sure you have figured out. Unless I am discussing the sciences I tend to put people off, so let us stick with the math."
"Walter, in a very short time I have found you interesting, charming, and very pleasant….. but, we will stick to the sciences forthwith."
After a long conversation encompassing astronomy, black hole mechanics, and the reaction of light to black hole forces, it was time for Walter to board his plane. "Needless to say, Laura, should you ever happen to come to the LA area, let me know- I will show you the best LA has to offer. You have my contact information, feel free to keep in touch at any time for any reason. It has been a pleasure spending time with you."
"Good-bye, Walter. I already have some formula to ask about so you will be hearing from me before you know it. Have a safe flight."
Landing at LAX, Walter got a taxi to the house. Peaches, Cream, and Rex there to greet him. Rex following him into the house where he unceremoniously dumped his duffle bag, grabbed the Ferrari keys, pulled it out and drove to the garage. He no more than dozed on the flight so he was more than ready to take a shower and get some sleep before Ralph showed up in the morning.
Saturday morning Walter awoke refreshed. Got up, got dressed in jeans and t-shirt, went downstairs to get the coffee brewing then went to the chalk board. He erased what was still on it from last weekend and started another set of problems for Ralph to solve. After he got his cup of coffee he opened his laptop to check mail. First was a message from William thanking his for his time to visit MIT and giving his talk. He added that Mary looked forward to his visiting again in future. Second was from Laura, surprisingly. She wrote her thanks for a pleasant evening and good conversation and added that her next e-mail would be all math- promise. He chuckled at that and powered up his desktop computer, then Proton Arnold. He has time as it was early so he sat at his desk going through some coding he had done on speculation. He was focused and lost track of the time to realize it was after two when Ralph usually showed up around ten. He checked mail and there was nothing from Ralph so he opened a new message:
Ralph- are you OK? Though you would be here by now as per usual. Have some good equations awaiting on the board. Walter.
Walter roamed the garage, looked at the board full of equations, solved a couple in his head then once again checked his mail. He sat at his desk to type out another e-mail message to Ralph.
Ralph- Getting concerned, let me know you are OK- Walter
Walter then did a search on traffic, then hacked hospital admissions and police. He was about to send another message when he has the signal of a new message.
Walter- I'm OK can't come this weekend, will contact later- Ralph.
Walter sat at his desk staring at the message. He was stunned, read the message again, then sat up and hit reply.
Ralph- What is wrong, buddy? Short terse note, something is wrong. Let me know, let me help- Walter
He waited a few minutes then wrote again: Ralph- Talk to me, buddy. What is the problem, what did I do? Tell me what is going on, I can't lose you too. Talk to me, I can fix whatever it is- Walter.
Nothing came back, just an empty screen He sat staring at it, then pushed back his chair, grabbed his laptop and went to the roof- he needed some air, but being on the roof didn't help. He leaned on the wall looking over the city without seeing it, then returned to his laptop on the picnic table. He stared at the screen willing it to pop up a message….. nothing. He sat there staring at the screen until the cool breeze gave him a chill. He then closed the laptop and went to stretch out on the bed but sleep eluded him and his eyes burned a hole in the ceiling. By four AM he pulled the car out of the garage, powered everything down, closed, locked up and set the security system. He started up the car and sat for some minutes then drove to the beach where Megan's rocket was launched. Sat until sunrise and people came out to walk the beach, some couples holding hands, some adults with children playing in the water…. Sunday, family time at the beach. He got up, got in the car and drove to the house. Sue was out with the dogs and saw him pull into the garage. God, she thought, he looks devastated.
. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX