Beauty in mathematics.

Yes.

Is that a part of its description? Is that what makes it true?

Profound equations are often said to be beautiful. Maxwell I suppose. If you overlook the E and B vector potential in place of the A. If you look into the principle of least action you are likely to be left rather solemnly silent.

Are the equations themselves beautiful?

Not if you dont know what they mean.

Is E = mc² a thing of beauty?

You should see it in color.

Moving on.

Moving.

Was your father a decent person?

I think so. He was kind to me.

He actually worked on the bomb that they dropped on Hiroshima.

Yes. So did my mother.

At Oak Ridge. Your mother.

Yes. At Y-12.

But she didnt really know what she was doing.

Probably not. She sat in front of a meter for eight hours every day. No one was allowed to talk. The day after Hiroshima they knew. If anyone then had a negative opinion about their war work I never heard it. I think they were pretty proud of it. But if you think any of this in turn might have something to do with Edwardian dwarves dancing the Charleston in my bedroom at two oclock in the morning I’d be happy to hear your exposition.

Maybe we should move along.

Okay.

Is it okay?

Sure. You’re wearing your dubious face again. What’s she saying? What’s she hiding? What if it’s worse than I thought?

Is it?

Worse?

Yes.

Probably. We keep coming back to my father. It’s not that I dont know what the issue is. But maybe we should just table it for now. He’s dead and I wish that he wasnt.

How long has your family lived in Wartburg?

Since 1943. We were forced off of our farm by the Project.

Oak Ridge.

Yes. The farm was just outside of Clinton Tennessee. On the Clinch River. We’d been there since the Civil War.

So you would not have ever seen the farm.

By the time I came along it was at the bottom of a lake. My grandmother used to talk about it. The house was the old post and beam construction. The floors were walnut sawed in a streamdriven sashmill that they’d built and she said that there were planks in the parlor—as she called it—that were three feet wide.

So what happened to it?

It was condemned by the US Government. Flattened with bulldozers. In order to build a plant for the enrichment of nuclear fuel.

That’s painful for you.

I suppose. At one time. At one time I could have seen myself living there. It was built by my great-grandfather. I’ve seen photographs of it and it was quite beautiful. They’d never built a house before. I’m not sure they’d ever even seen one built. What if they could have seen eighty years into the future? That’s not very long. The simplest undertaking is predicated upon a future that has no warrant.