This is the end…. Part 19
Walter woke to find Laura already awake and staring at him- "Is something wrong?" he asked.
"What makes you think something is wrong?"
"I am usually awake and hour or so before you. It is usually me watching you sleep."
"Nothing is wrong, Walter. All is right in the world when you are next to me."
Walter frowned slightly. "You are…. troubled… something is amiss, your mood is…. different. Did I do something to upset you?"
"Walter, why do you automatically think you are at fault for anything?" she asked. "You have done nothing but make me happy since the moment we met. It's just that I must catch my plane back to Boston this afternoon which is a bummer. Let's take a shower, get dressed and then go somewhere to eat."
"I thought you would be here another day at least," he said. "I can take you to the airport and see you off."
"No, not necessary. I rented the car there so will drop it off there and board immediately. I figure we can go to your hotel, have something to eat at the restaurant there so you can stay there and rest until Richard and Susan get in," she explained. "Besides, you don't like hanging around airports like I do," she added with a smirk.
Walter sat up and looked at her intently. "I am at an emotional dilemma and cannot decipher it….. what am I not seeing? What am I missing and not understanding? I told you social interaction is not my forte, but I have had enough experience of rejection in my life to recognize when someone is distancing themselves from me."
"Walter, Walter, don't fret like that. I am just sad to be leaving, you have done nothing wrong, I am not distancing myself from you in the way you mean and I am certainly not rejecting you. I just have a plane to catch, so come on slug-a-bed, let's shower then go to your hotel have something to eat at the restaurant there and enjoy our time together before I leave." She took his hand to drag him out of bed. Walter still had a frown, but she leaned over and kissed him. "Come, shower with me- that should get your appetite roused," she said leading him to the bathroom and turning the shower on. Stepping in she said "I don't know what you do to me but a hot shower with a hot Walter is a wonderful way to start the day…." As she kissed him while the water flowed over them and he entered her slowly to make things last…
She drove them to Walter's hotel. He grabbed his computer case and they walked to the hotel restaurant and took a table by the window. He opened his laptop, but there was no new mail worth looking through. They ordered and she asked: "have you any more seminars or speaking engagements lined up besides here and Texas?"
"Not as yet. Like I have said, the study of black hole mechanics is a rather esoteric field- mostly theoretical at this point. That is one reason why the mathematics is what generates the most interest."
"And that is what interests and animates you the most, Walter, when you are speaking," she remarked. "That animation in you is what makes your subject so fascinating."
"I don't know about that, but the theoretical is what leads the way- is at the forefront of any scientific endeavor."
"Yes, that is why Richard keeps you close- you lead the way and he follows…. all the way into space. How I envy the youngsters of today and their future."
"I mentor one such youngster- he is the reason why I am sure to be in LA on weekends, that is our time together. He will easily exceed me in time. He may very well be one to put footprints on Mars. He will certainly make his presence known all over the sciences in future."
"Oh! Look at the time!" Laura exclaimed and rose to grab her purse. "No, you stay here. I will return the car and board immediately." She came around to Walter and bent to give him a kiss. "I am going to miss you, my Walter," she turned and rushed out.
Walter sat stunned a moment then rose, left some bills on the table, grabbed his computer case, stuffed his laptop in it and rushed out the door after her reaching the front of the hotel in time to see her car pull out onto the street. He stood there watching the car disappear from view then turned and sat on a bench by the hotel doors. He was sure he had missed some signal, some sign, there was something he did not interpret correct. Again, here he is thirty-four years old with a 197 IQ and still can't get the social interaction right. People came into and went from the hotel while he sat there until the sun was setting. He rose and went to his room to lay across the bed to stare at the ceiling, then to doze and finally to sleep deeply.
He woke early in the morning, but continued to lay there. This despondent melancholy is getting tiresome, but he just can't seem to find the key- why is it things seem to be going so well then crash and burn, over and over. But now, he was totally adrift- he knew Laura did not want to be around him anymore- rejection he knew all too well. But now, he had no one to advise him on how he could improve himself- he did not want to be alone- to be eaten by whatever was around and hungry when he died, but such seemed to be his fate in future.
At seven-thirty, Richard was knocking at his door- time to get to the plane and return to LA.
When Richard and Walter got in the car taking them to the airport, it was apparent to Richard there was a problem. Walter was distant and silent. After boarding, Richard got some coffee and sat across a table from Walter. "The people Susan and I talked with at Kennedy- they are looking to civilian companies for a lot of the grunt work to getting back to the moon and eventually Mars. The government wonks have finally come to the conclusion private business does not do things with the lowest cost contractors who make unrealistic contracts they realistically can't meet. Private enterprise like me and SpaceX have better standards, get things done faster…. Walter, you listening?
"Yes, 'better standards, get things done faster… continue." Walter said but continued looking at the clouds below them.
"Something is wrong, Walter. What is the problem- maybe I can be of help, but, I can't if I don't know the situation. I told you before, you need to open up."
Walter snorted "I 'open up' and end up alone anyway, so what difference does it make? I busted my ass years ago scraping the capital together to start Scorpion. I gave the team a place where their genius would be put to good use, we did good work, and we saved countless lives in the process. One mistake and it blew up and they walked out without looking back. All of them =poof= gone. They made damned sure my business was destroyed, everything I worked for. I still recommended them to you because they are the best, and now like me, they work for you."
Walter then turned from looking out the window. "I thank you for my contract- that first few weeks of travel and assorted jobs to laser focus on probably kept me sane. Added with the seminars at MIT and Florida it all evened out my 'emotional state' when I am not even sure what that means. With this constant barrage of emotional bullshit running through my mind it all seems so bloody pointless. Would that I were back in the robot mode, but even that keeps eluding me. I am 'half baked' as I was told; emotionally a fifteen year old and will never improve. Then stuffed in a cellar to have my brain stuffed down a rabbit hole, but I am expected to just continue on like it is just another day, another job, another situation, no big deal. Gods, I am just tired of everything in general, people in particular, and to be honest would look forward to being in a cellar again just to blot it all out- the constant coding, designs, equations, formulas running behind my closed eyelids." He took a deep breath, "I have no family, I have no friends, no one to 'relate' with- the bane of the 'enabled'. The one who came closest- is the one who had me stuffed in the cellar for seventeen days. You get all this blather dumped on you- you asked, so there it is. Usually I talk with service dog, Rex. He wakes me from the nightmares caused by my programming being used by the government that killed a couple thousand people- my program, my responsibility for untold death and destruction. So, once you really get to know me, you may want to end the contract and like everyone else- leave." He looked out the window again, "this wallowing in melancholy is just so very pointless, and I disgust myself. So now you know." He put the seat back and closed his eyes. Richard sat and looked at him for a while, then reclined his seat and did the same.
"We will be landing in LA in about fifteen minutes," the pilot announced.
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