papers for me, in the event of Henry’s death. Next day, I got Henry’s death report and took it to the lawyer, and-and...well, here’s the shocker.”
Hazel and Sonia looked at each other.
“Henry’s last will and testament left his estate to me,” Frank said.
“You’re kidding!” Sonia gasped.
“No. He left me the cabin and the ten acres of land it’s on, for one thing. That could be worth a lot of money, but he also left me the fifty grand in his checking account, plus some stocks and certificates. The lawyer’s not sure exactly how much it’s all worth, but it’s at least another couple hundred grand.”
What a guy, Hazel thought.
Sonia had her hand to her chest. “I’d say it’s wonderful but of course, not under these circumstances. Still, what a shock.”
“You’re telling me,” Frank said. “I don’t inherit anything until the will’s out of probate, but I honestly can’t see Henry owing people a lot of money. Whatever it’s all worth, I’ll finally be able to get my father out of that shit-hole assisted living place in Concord and move him into something primo.”
Sonia was stunned. “Oh, Frank, I don’t know what to say.”
“I know. It sucks to have a family friend die in order to make out like a bandit. I’m more pissed off than anything. I’m pissed off that he killed himself.”
“It was probably something that had been brewing in him for a long time,” Hazel offered. “That’s the modus for most suicidals.”
“Not in this case, I don’t think so. It’s all that damn storm. He never recovered from that. Dad talked to him a few times since May, said that Henry wasn’t himself anymore.”
“It’s understandable,” Sonia reasoned.
“Sure,” Hazel added. “He goes to Florida for a vacation and winds up witnessing one of America’s worst natural disasters . ”
Sonia: “And surviving when so many others were killed. That would damage anyone’s psyche.”
Another pause on the line, then Frank said, “But there was one more thing that Henry left me through the lawyer: instructions.”
“To finish his work, the side project you, he, and your father were working on,” Sonia said.
“No, no, that’s what he told me on the phone when he invited me up, but remember, that was ulterior, just to get me up there. The instructions said he wants me to destroy all of his papers and files. He said the theory is unworkable, and he didn’t want it ever released to the public because he’d be regarded as a crackpot.”
“How strange,” Sonia said. “It was something you were working on for years.”
“For me, yes, it was years, but for Henry and my father it was decades,” Frank said.
Hazel had to ask, “What exactly was the nature of the work?”
“Non-Euclidean geometric patterns, but—” Frank chuckled. “You girls are lit-heads. It’d be useless for me to explain.”
Sonia didn’t have a clue. “Non-Euclid...”
“I may be a lit-head, Frank,” Hazel admitted, “and a great many men I’ve dated think of me as something else that rhymes with that, but I took enough math to know that all geometry is Euclidean. It has to be ‘cos Euclid invented it.”
“Did he really invent it, Hazel?” Frank queried, “or was he merely the first to understand the measurability of angles, planes, and points well enough to give it a name? Did mathematics exist before someone contemplated the equation one plus one equals two? Did plasma-physics exist a half-million years ago when the only proto-humans were awkward primates who didn’t have the sense even to use sticks for tools?”
Sonia and Hazel stared through a pause.
Frank began to spout, “Sure, the hypothesis of non-Euclideanism is considered gimcrackery, but only because it relies on assumptions that can’t disprove Euclid’s Ten Elements and all the laws of geometry that followed them. But in our theory—well, it’s mostly Henry’s—we’ve all but proved the existence of inconstancy
Hazel and Sonia looked at each other.
“Henry’s last will and testament left his estate to me,” Frank said.
“You’re kidding!” Sonia gasped.
“No. He left me the cabin and the ten acres of land it’s on, for one thing. That could be worth a lot of money, but he also left me the fifty grand in his checking account, plus some stocks and certificates. The lawyer’s not sure exactly how much it’s all worth, but it’s at least another couple hundred grand.”
What a guy, Hazel thought.
Sonia had her hand to her chest. “I’d say it’s wonderful but of course, not under these circumstances. Still, what a shock.”
“You’re telling me,” Frank said. “I don’t inherit anything until the will’s out of probate, but I honestly can’t see Henry owing people a lot of money. Whatever it’s all worth, I’ll finally be able to get my father out of that shit-hole assisted living place in Concord and move him into something primo.”
Sonia was stunned. “Oh, Frank, I don’t know what to say.”
“I know. It sucks to have a family friend die in order to make out like a bandit. I’m more pissed off than anything. I’m pissed off that he killed himself.”
“It was probably something that had been brewing in him for a long time,” Hazel offered. “That’s the modus for most suicidals.”
“Not in this case, I don’t think so. It’s all that damn storm. He never recovered from that. Dad talked to him a few times since May, said that Henry wasn’t himself anymore.”
“It’s understandable,” Sonia reasoned.
“Sure,” Hazel added. “He goes to Florida for a vacation and winds up witnessing one of America’s worst natural disasters . ”
Sonia: “And surviving when so many others were killed. That would damage anyone’s psyche.”
Another pause on the line, then Frank said, “But there was one more thing that Henry left me through the lawyer: instructions.”
“To finish his work, the side project you, he, and your father were working on,” Sonia said.
“No, no, that’s what he told me on the phone when he invited me up, but remember, that was ulterior, just to get me up there. The instructions said he wants me to destroy all of his papers and files. He said the theory is unworkable, and he didn’t want it ever released to the public because he’d be regarded as a crackpot.”
“How strange,” Sonia said. “It was something you were working on for years.”
“For me, yes, it was years, but for Henry and my father it was decades,” Frank said.
Hazel had to ask, “What exactly was the nature of the work?”
“Non-Euclidean geometric patterns, but—” Frank chuckled. “You girls are lit-heads. It’d be useless for me to explain.”
Sonia didn’t have a clue. “Non-Euclid...”
“I may be a lit-head, Frank,” Hazel admitted, “and a great many men I’ve dated think of me as something else that rhymes with that, but I took enough math to know that all geometry is Euclidean. It has to be ‘cos Euclid invented it.”
“Did he really invent it, Hazel?” Frank queried, “or was he merely the first to understand the measurability of angles, planes, and points well enough to give it a name? Did mathematics exist before someone contemplated the equation one plus one equals two? Did plasma-physics exist a half-million years ago when the only proto-humans were awkward primates who didn’t have the sense even to use sticks for tools?”
Sonia and Hazel stared through a pause.
Frank began to spout, “Sure, the hypothesis of non-Euclideanism is considered gimcrackery, but only because it relies on assumptions that can’t disprove Euclid’s Ten Elements and all the laws of geometry that followed them. But in our theory—well, it’s mostly Henry’s—we’ve all but proved the existence of inconstancy
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