May 23, 2002

• One Small Universe <part II>

  
  

   

  
  

  The steady sound of the desk clock began to annoy Zinc’s father..

  
  

   

  
  

  “You can’t be serious! You’ve read my report, the results are obvious!” it HAD to be him sweating, because he noticed dampness on the back of his hand as the phone almost slipped out of his palm as he just stopped himself from hurling it into the fireplace…well that, and he hadn’t paid enough for this phone to get one with a ‘sweating feature’, he was sure of that.

  
  

   

  
  

  “Arnie listen to me. I’m going to be frank with you on this because we were roommates, and because you were the only reason I passed Dr. Youngblood’s theoretical physics class. They think you’ve lost it, big A. Using the experimental drugs on your son was one thing, but the rituals for God’s sake, what were you thinking?”

  
  

   

  
  

  A sound…a quiet one, began just between his ears, toward the back of his head. That same one he used to get when he was a kid…a soft, prickly, static-electricity-trapped-in-a-feather-pillow sound…just before he got his allergy shot. He had to get those shots for two years. His mom had tried to make it fun by making a calendar with a different type of coin for his collection taped to each Friday in a small envelope…where WAS that collection? “You know dam…you KNOW the human race has a history of science and technology proving the tenets of faith, religion, and myth. I thought you understood that, Richard! And don’t go talking about ‘drugs’ as if I was giving Zinc Haldol or Thalidimide…it was a synthetic form of his own serotonin, not some designer drug made from nasal inhalers and brake fluid…..”

  
  

   

  
  

  “Exactly. And using a synthetic process that YOU invented, and that YOU have not gotten approved, blind tested, or even certified for fire safety by Underwriter’s Labs! You can insist on doing things your way Ryan…but don’t start getting indignant when people begin thumbing their noses at you when you ask them for money.”

  
  

   

  
  

  The sound in Dr. Arnold Ryan’s head began to give off heat…the long pause on the other end of the phone meant he was supposed to say something, but his earlobes were starting throb and he literally had nothing else to say; except to perhaps remind his old friend that he still had pictures of…

  
  

   

  
  

  <sigh> “Look, most of what they had objections about was rumor anyhow, I’ll try to see what they’re really worried about. In the meantime, would you PLEASE get that FDA paperwork completed? We’ll call it a show of faith…you know about faith right?”

  
  

   

  
  

  “Don’t start patronizing me! You know this is important, no matter HOW I got here, you know what this means. I…..can’t…..I can’t let it all be for nothing.” He looked down at his hand and he was holding the desk clock against his chest, like a rosary; he examined the face….”I’ve got to go, it’s Zinc’s bedtime.”

  
  

   

  
  

  “Right. Muss his hair up for me will ya?”

  
  

   

  
  

  “I need you on this one Richard.”

  
  

   

  
  

  “I know. I’ll call you on Thursday; I should know something by then.”

  
  

   

  
  

  “Ok. Love to Meagan and Josh”

  
  

   

  
  

  “G-night Dr. Frankenstein.” <click>

  • 12:05 am
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