Read Online Mr g by Alan Lightman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Alan Lightman
Tags: Fiction / Literary
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plural. All right, one mountain, said Aunt P. You admit it. So why can’t I have a few galaxies and stars if you can have a mountain? What do you say, Nephew? Can you see your way clear to bringing back one mountain for your uncle and a few galaxies for me?
I refused to get caught in the middle of squabbles between my aunt and uncle. Let me think about this, I said. I’m not sure if … You are always thinking, said Aunt P. You think about this, and you think about that, and then you think some more about this. Why can’t you just
do
it. Go fetch me some galaxies. I want to make a dress. I am tired of this nothingness here. Tired, tired, tired. All we have is a bunch of nothing here. I want
something
. You shouldn’t order Him about, said my uncle. Deva, I’ve had quite enough of your butting in, said Aunt P. You are beginning to tire me yourself, just like the Void. You are empty. You are full of nothing. If you had a bit more ambition, you could have … You’re going too far, said Uncle. You’ve gotten yourself into one of your states. No I have not, said Aunt P. I’m just beginning to see things as they really are. I don’t like the way you are acting right now, said Uncle. You need to calm down. Don’t tell me to calm down, said Aunt. That is condescending. Do not condescend to me. My uncle reached out in an attempt to caress Aunt. Don’t get near me, said my aunt. And don’t expect to sleep with me for a long long while. Don’t flatter yourself, said Uncle. I don’t know who would want to sleep with a nag like you.
Please, I interjected. Don’t fight with each other. He started it, said Aunt Penelope. At that, both Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva went stomping off in different directions. I never followed them in these kinds of altercations, preferring to let them wander about on their own and recollect themselves. I watched them as they went away, becoming fainter and fainter as they slipped behind accumulating layers of nothingness. Finally, they both disappeared. Presently, the Void grew calm again and began to resonate with soft music.
Aalam-104729 had been left on a gentle outcropping of nothingness, not far away, and it was expanding as always. The universe was off to a good start, with galaxies, stars, and planets, and I found myself wondering what other objects I could make. I wanted a lot more matter, a lot more energy, a lot more everything. The one universe was very nice, but as I stood looking at it now, it seemed rather small. Other potential universes were flying about the Void, throbbing and spinning but empty. Some of them might become far grander than Aalam-104729. What wonderful new things might I fill them with! All I had to do was decree a few more organizational principles, specify a few parameters, and they too would burst forth with matter. I wanted to make galaxies a hundred times larger than the ones I had seen in Aalam-104729. I wanted to make stars as big as galaxies, planets as big as stars, solid oceans. And I just wanted more.
At that moment, there were at least 10 189 empty universes careering through the Void, all beckoning with their possibilities and potentials. I reached up for one as Aunt Penelope had done. I will start with this cosmos, I thought to myself. It was a fat spheroid, not silky on the outside as some of the others but mottled and tough. This one has ambition, I thought. It will challenge me. As I prepared to enter it, Aunt Penelope called out to me from wherever. What are you doing, Nephew? I was going to begin working on another universe, I said. What for? said Aunt P. She appeared in the distance and marched towards me at a brisk clip. I wanted to try something bigger, I answered. And better. Aren’t you happy with the universe you’ve made? asked my aunt. Yes, but … You haven’t finished it yet. Yes, but … Nephew, you are impatient. Didn’t we talk about that before? You are too much in a hurry. You will not do good work that way. And, if
I refused to get caught in the middle of squabbles between my aunt and uncle. Let me think about this, I said. I’m not sure if … You are always thinking, said Aunt P. You think about this, and you think about that, and then you think some more about this. Why can’t you just
do
it. Go fetch me some galaxies. I want to make a dress. I am tired of this nothingness here. Tired, tired, tired. All we have is a bunch of nothing here. I want
something
. You shouldn’t order Him about, said my uncle. Deva, I’ve had quite enough of your butting in, said Aunt P. You are beginning to tire me yourself, just like the Void. You are empty. You are full of nothing. If you had a bit more ambition, you could have … You’re going too far, said Uncle. You’ve gotten yourself into one of your states. No I have not, said Aunt P. I’m just beginning to see things as they really are. I don’t like the way you are acting right now, said Uncle. You need to calm down. Don’t tell me to calm down, said Aunt. That is condescending. Do not condescend to me. My uncle reached out in an attempt to caress Aunt. Don’t get near me, said my aunt. And don’t expect to sleep with me for a long long while. Don’t flatter yourself, said Uncle. I don’t know who would want to sleep with a nag like you.
Please, I interjected. Don’t fight with each other. He started it, said Aunt Penelope. At that, both Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva went stomping off in different directions. I never followed them in these kinds of altercations, preferring to let them wander about on their own and recollect themselves. I watched them as they went away, becoming fainter and fainter as they slipped behind accumulating layers of nothingness. Finally, they both disappeared. Presently, the Void grew calm again and began to resonate with soft music.
Aalam-104729 had been left on a gentle outcropping of nothingness, not far away, and it was expanding as always. The universe was off to a good start, with galaxies, stars, and planets, and I found myself wondering what other objects I could make. I wanted a lot more matter, a lot more energy, a lot more everything. The one universe was very nice, but as I stood looking at it now, it seemed rather small. Other potential universes were flying about the Void, throbbing and spinning but empty. Some of them might become far grander than Aalam-104729. What wonderful new things might I fill them with! All I had to do was decree a few more organizational principles, specify a few parameters, and they too would burst forth with matter. I wanted to make galaxies a hundred times larger than the ones I had seen in Aalam-104729. I wanted to make stars as big as galaxies, planets as big as stars, solid oceans. And I just wanted more.
At that moment, there were at least 10 189 empty universes careering through the Void, all beckoning with their possibilities and potentials. I reached up for one as Aunt Penelope had done. I will start with this cosmos, I thought to myself. It was a fat spheroid, not silky on the outside as some of the others but mottled and tough. This one has ambition, I thought. It will challenge me. As I prepared to enter it, Aunt Penelope called out to me from wherever. What are you doing, Nephew? I was going to begin working on another universe, I said. What for? said Aunt P. She appeared in the distance and marched towards me at a brisk clip. I wanted to try something bigger, I answered. And better. Aren’t you happy with the universe you’ve made? asked my aunt. Yes, but … You haven’t finished it yet. Yes, but … Nephew, you are impatient. Didn’t we talk about that before? You are too much in a hurry. You will not do good work that way. And, if
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