This is the end… part 18
They woke up Thursday morning looking forward to two whole days of being together. No meetings, no classes, talks, nothing- just simple togetherness and enjoyment of themselves. They got good seats for the Boston Symphony evening program, sat in the sun in a park, watched the river flow along from various vistas. Throughout the day of listening to Laura's chatter of the history of the city and surrounding areas, Walter would interject some scientific fact or give specific distances which she would at times question, ponder and continue on. A pleasant dinner then on to the symphony and a walk to the hotel to further enjoy themselves with wanton abandonment and awoke Friday morning wrapped in each other's arms. As usual Walter awoke long before Laura to ponder the emotional ties that are binding him to her…. that he is actually content- physically without doubt, but even more surprising- emotionally as there is no turmoil in his mind when she is close.
This, recognized as the last day together, was spent in somewhat muted tones. Walter would be boarding the plane to LA at ten o'clock that evening and every minute was closer to his departure. Over dinner Walter broached the topic: "I have checked with the New York group a couple times over today and all is well. Barring any problems that may come up, there is no telling when I may be needed back on this side of the nation…. there are times when the size of the US is problematic. Richard did say that there was a possibility that the London and Berlin affiliates may be interested in my program and security system, but that remains to be seen."
They sat silent for a bit then left for the hotel. They made love and just laid together until it was time to shower and get ready to go to the airport. Shortly before he had to board, for once in his life, he gave no thought to 'public displays of affection' as he kissed her long and deep as she clung to him until he turned to board his flight. The entire flight Walter looked out the window into the darkness.
Getting into LAX, Walter got an Uber to the house, dropped his stuff in the bedroom, gave Rex a cookie as he bounded around, grabbed the Ferrari keys and took a long, meandering drive around the city to finally pull into the garage. Once there, he put his laptop on his desk and checked mail to see a new message:
Walter- I miss you already. Good night- Laura
He hit reply:
Laura- just got in from a long drive around LA. Thinking of you every mile- Walter
With that, he put his mind on filling the whiteboard with equations and problems for Ralph. Got the coffee set up for the morning, took a shower, to finally settle at his desk in boxers and towel over his shoulders. While he was looking forward to spending the weekend with Ralph he did recognize there seemed to be a void in his consciousness, a dark spot and came to the realization that this is how it feels to truly miss someone's presence. Interesting revelation. He climbed the stairs and went to bed.
Waking up Saturday morning, he dressed and went to his desk after starting the coffee. He sat at his desk looking at a blank screen until the door banged open and Ralph yelled "Walter!"
"Hey, buddy- good to see you." And the weekend of fun and math with Ralph began.
Sunday afternoon sitting on the roof sharing a pizza, Ralph looked at Walter and said: "You seem preoccupied and quieter than usual, Walter. Is something wrong?"
"No, buddy. I just had a very long and tiring week. Did not sleep well last Sunday, Monday flew to New York to take care of some business, then over to Boston to meet and have a talk with a bunch of MIT professors and post grads." He looked at Ralph with a smile. "I must admit, they really put me through the wringer. Very diverse questions from all sides on different subjects- lasted a couple hours. Then getting back here late, and I have been having a hard time sleeping lately so my mind is a bit fogged this weekend."
"Maybe you should lighten your schedule so not to be so stressed. So much to do plus flying from one end of the country to another- all that isn't good for you. As you said, you're not getting any younger, so can't keep this kind of pace going for long without your health getting compromised. You have to start taking care of yourself. " Ralph said with concern. "You scheduled for any more talks at colleges?"
"Been trying to line some up. While one, here at USC won't be a problem, the others are at University of Florida and NASA in Houston. But nothing is scheduled as yet. If I do go to Florida, I may take a run down to the Kennedy Space Center to check things out…. but would depend on how much time I have."
"Well, let's see if you can top my score this time. Going to have to be sharp, those last few hundred points are a bear to get."
Walter still had the high score when Ralph left. While the competition was still noisy, both seem to unconsciously keep aware of the time so when the car pulled in, Ralph grabbed his backpack and headed for the door to ensure whomever came to pick him up did not have to come in the garage. "Bye, Walter. See you next Saturday!"
Walter started the Sunday evening ritual of powering everything down in the garage, pulling the car out and closing everything, locking up and setting the security system. Tired as he was, he drove straight to the house. Pulled the car into the garage and, with Rex getting in his way every two steps dropped his laptop case on the kitchen counter and went straight to bed.
He woke up late Monday morning, but was refreshed from the good, deep, night long sleep. He showered then went to the kitchen to start the coffee. Pulled his laptop out of its case and checked mail to see a message from Richard.
Walter- I got hold of my old mathematics prof at U of Florida. She, Professor Susan Leahy, said she could set up a conference for you for Wednesday this week if you would like. I am flying in to watch if you agree, then Susan and I plan to take a jaunt to Kennedy for a meeting with some people there. Return to Gainesville and return to LA from there. Sound like a plan? Let me know and I will tell Susan to get the ball rolling. Richard Walter hit confirm.
He then figured he had better get on that Reinler solution program geared for students so he could make it available to the professor for publishing. While working on it, he got another message:
Walter- Got to thinking of you. You not being here to liven my life I feel like I am turning into an Old World staid and stuffy no fun person. What you doing? Laura
He hit reply and wrote:
Laura- Just got notification that a talk is set up at Univ. of Florida at Gainesville for Wednesday. Richard's old mathematics prof set it up. Much as I would like, I won't be able to make it up to Boston, but I will be thinking of you as I have been since I left. Walter
Walter returned to his computer room to finish the student handout. Once completed, he put it on a flash drive so the professor could make it available either on-line or print out hard copies. He then received another message from Richard:
Walter- Car will pick you up Tuesday morning at nine. Have hotel rooms booked, and Susan will be taking us out for dinner. She is more looking forward to meeting you than seeing me- go figure. She will let you know the set up for your talk over dinner. Richard
He hit confirm then padded through the house, gave Rex a cookie, went out to the patio and jumped in the pool to do a few laps. When he came back in there was a message from Laura:
Walter- Florida, such a lovely place- you should enjoy it. Sleep well. Laura
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The car arrived and shortly after boarding they were in the air.
"Still have heard nothing from New York- I was sure the bunch there would need babysitting for a while at least- they have surprised me. But then it has been a lot longer with the Australians and all is well with them, too. Everything is flawless." Richard said while sipping coffee.
"That isn't surprising as I made that a very robust, multi-layered security program. However, as I said before, monitoring is critical." Walter said, "So be sure to remind them."
"You don't mind my sitting in on this talk you are giving? I admit, I was lost when I went through your original submission- that was some very deep science and math- certainly beyond my abilities" Richard said, "maybe I can grasp the concepts this round- this WILL be geared toward students, right?"
Walter chuckled. "Why should I mind if you sit in? Going to lower my wages if you don't like what you hear? As a matter of fact, I spent yesterday putting together a program your professor can make available on-line or print hard copies for students interested in studying the theorem. Have it on a flash drive for her. I fully understand the necessity of having different levels of information. What is given to degreed, pure scientists and mathematicians as opposed to students without the necessary foundations of the science."
"You should like Susan, Professor Leahy, that is. She was surprised to find I know you. She was also surprised that years ago I went into full business mode rather than research."
"The work you are doing in your enterprise is making, and will continue to make, more of an impact in many more fields than work in a research lab, I think. Not denigrating research, but your diverse interests are helpful in making inroads in computers, finance, security, as well as space." Walter said. "That is highly commendable to say the least. How have you maintained a friendship with an old prof?" Walter chuckled, "Most of my professors were more than happy to see me out the door as I was, shall we say, less than 'politic' with them."
"Susan has a great interest in getting into space." Richard said. "She ended up in Florida because she wanted to get into the astronaut training program back in the day. She didn't make it- don't mention that, by the way as it is a sore spot. She has great hopes for my space division and its future."
Susan met them at the airport and took them to dinner. During the general conversation, she thanked Walter profusely for taking the time to give the talk and for the flash drive. She said she will be sure to make it available to students on the university library system. They can make hard copies themselves if needed. She said transportation would be provided to the university and asked if Walter would need anything. The room has a stage and would seat a hundred, though there may be some standing. He said one or two whiteboards for the math as seeing the numbers should make things easier for people to understand.
She dropped Richard and Walter off at their hotel, they got settled into their rooms and asked for a wake-up calls at nine so they could have breakfast and be ready to go when the car got there to take them to the university.
Wednesday afternoon the car came to drive them to the university where they were met by Professor Leahy. She, Richard and Walter were seated at the back of the stage between two whiteboards. By three o-clock the room seating was filled and more were standing in the back so there was approximately a hundred twenty or so present. Professor Leahy rose and the room quieted. She announced that Walter had produced a program of the information that would be gone over in his talk and that it would be available on the university's library under 'Walter O'Brien seminar'. She then introduced Walter who said questions were OK at any time during the talk. He then explained the Reinler theorem and its relation to black hole mechanics. An hour into the exercise, as he was explaining the solution he was putting the formula and math on the board. At one point, he had his hand pointing to the section of the formula, partially turned while explaining the section of the formulas formulation while scanning the audience in case anyone had a question when his eyes passed over the people standing in the back of the room, his eyes snapped back to Laura standing by the door. His eyes widened and he stood frozen to a totally silent room. Then he frowned, blinked and snapped "Excuse me," he said while she gave him a smile and little wave of her hand at her waist. "Ahem", he cleared his throat then said "there are times when, swept up in the…." he glanced at Laura, "beauty of pure numbers, even an old, tried and true formula will spark something."
Someone in the audience quipped "you just flash on a new cosmic constant?"
"No," Walter said, "but a possible new direction of inquiry that may prove to be interesting. However, that is for another time. I apologize for the hiccup, so will continue to this known end result. While the black hole will fade due to the Hawking radiation emitted, the equation for the rate of fade is determined by (he turned and wrote the formula on the second board). Are there any questions?"
The questions/answer session lasted more than an hour and more math was written out to make a point clear. The questions came to an end and Professor Leahy again stood up and reminded everyone the information was available on the library system under Walter O'Brien. She then turned and shook Walter's hand to light applause as people filed out of the room.
Walter stood on the edge of the stage looking for Laura to see her standing by the door as people went past her to leave. He then went to the side of the stage and down the steps to join her. "What are you doing here in Florida? Why didn't you let me know you would be here?"
"I am happy to see you, too, Walter," She said.
"I'm sorry, seeing you really threw me off. I was paranoid I was hallucinating. Why didn't you let me know you would be here? I would have met you, assuming you flew; my turn to play shuttle service though I do not enjoy hanging around airports as you seem to."
"I must say, you recovered masterfully on the stage 'The beauty of pure numbers', indeed." She laughed. "I am sure everyone is sure you came up with another breakthrough. So, are you happy to see me?"
"That goes without saying, I am exceedingly happy to see you. Where are you staying… how long you staying. I don't know any good restaurants to take you to dinner, I don't know anything here." Looking over her shoulder he saw Richard and Professor Leahy walking toward them. "Laura, this is Professor Leahy and Richard Elias."
"I suppose after the past few hours you could use a good dinner, Walter. Don't know how you do it- my head is spinning and all those numbers are falling out my ears. Susan here says she knows an excellent steak and sea food place in town if you two would like to join us?"
"I have a car and can follow you- if I am dressed well enough." Laura said.
"Don't worry, Laura," Susan said. "Great food and typical Florida informal setting. Let's go- all that math made me hungry."
After orders were taken, the conversation went into space exploration, the possibility of man living on the moon or Mars. The hazards each posed and the engineering that was needed to overcome those hazards. When the meal was over and the conversation slowed Richard perked up like he remembered something and turned to Walter, "That reminds me. Walter, what was the 'new line of inquiry' that popped into your head when you were working that equation on the board?"
Walter looked at Richard, then glanced at Laura who was trying desperately to keep from laughing aloud.
"As an Americanized Walter," he said glancing at Laura again, "I cannot tell a lie. I had spotted Laura in the audience when I was sure she was at least a thousand miles north of Florida. Her being here was a bit of a shock."
Laughing, Laura said, "and I thought he handled the shock quite well up on stage in front of a hundred or so people. Obviously he did as you bought his 'line of inquiry' story. Walter is not only smart, but certainly quick thinking."
Laughing, Susan added, "you got me, too. I was sure you were on to something. You are a sly one."
"Well, Susan and I will be leaving for Kennedy in the morning, so we will be saying good night. Should you want to join us, we will be boarding in the morning at ten o'clock sharp. If not, Walter I will see you at the hotel here Friday morning and we will head for LA by nine Friday evening."
"If I am not there, I will be seeing the sights around the university." Everyone rose to leave. Outside the restaurant they said their good-byes and parted to their respective vehicles.
Watching Richard and Susan drive away, Walter turned to Laura. "Where are you staying? Are you staying or catching a plane back to Boston?"
"Not until later. My hotel or yours?"
"Wherever you want to drive. My hotel is across town."
"Mine is closer according to my GPS, shall we go?"
As she drove, Walter glanced at her, then turned in his seat to look at her. "Why are you here in Florida?"
She gave him a quick look and said, "if you can come twenty-six hundred miles, surely I can come a thousand… and I wanted to see you since you were so close." She pulled into a parking space, turned off the ignition, leaned over and kissed him. "Are you happy to see me?"
"Exceedingly happy."
"Ahhh, there is my Americanized Walter. Come, show me how happy you are to see me," she said getting out of the car. Walter got his computer case and followed her to her room. When she closed and locked the door, she turned and kissed him then removed his tie. She kissed him again while unbuttoning his shirt. "When you messaged me that you would be on the same side of the country all I could think of was seeing you," she whispered while removing her dress and unclasping her bra, "I want you to carry me to the bed again and fill me up…again and again. I don't want anything but to feel you… all night long."
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