Chapter 9 continued

    Every eye turned toward me.
    “How dare you presume to tell us our business, Mr. Genet,” said Don Brown.
    Mayumi Iwasaki said, “Mr. Genet’s just lost his mother…”
    “That’s no excuse. I’m not interested in his ‘literary’ opinion,” said Brown.
    “Let him hang himself if he wants to, Don,” said Schwartz.
    So I continued. “How can you seriously expect to merge two incompatible descriptions of nature?”
    “We should throw in the towel. Is that your idea?” said Brown.
    “The problem arises because you refuse to privilege either relativity or quantum mechanics.”
    “Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum theory are the two most successful in science. Which one do you propose we throw out?” said Nelson Ulundi.
    “Neither. Let relativity be an approximation of quantum mechanics.”
    “To privilege quantum mechanics is to give up objective reality,” said Eladio Villa.
    “No, you can keep objective reality, but it has to be non-local.”
    “Every event the cause of every other event. How can that be?” said Villa.
    “It goes back to Professor Schwartz’s idea of a non-physical principle.”
    “Really? Werner is clueless, but I suppose a man of letters, like yourself, knows of such a principle,” said Nelson Ulundi.
    “The most ubiquitous…balance.”
    “Balance is nothing but symmetry dumbed down,” said Werner Schwartz.
    “Everything is divided into two worlds, as my friend John Clay says. Instead of merging, those worlds cancel out so that everything and nothing are the same.”
    “Two worlds? What is this, Poetry 101?” said Villa.
    Nelson Ulundi smiled. “Eladio has a point, Mr. Genet. If you’re talking about good and evil, those are hardly scientific concepts.”
    “No, I’m thinking of something neutral—neither good nor evil—but simply equal and opposite, like the opposing triangles of the hexagram.Don Brown leaped to the blackboard. “Here you go. Take a triangle pointing up. Add a triangle pointing down. Cancel them, and presto! Everything equals nothing. Best of all, Mr. Genet’s theory of everything meets our most demanding criteria—it fits on a T-shirt.”
    The distinguished fellows applauded Brown as he took a deep bow.
    Mayumi Iwasaki said, “Sit down, Don. Mr. Genet, we appreciate your coming on Elaine’s behalf. We extend our sympathy to you for the loss of your mother. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have serious matters to discuss.”

Maria expressed sympathy when I called to tell her about mother. Then she asked, “Did you meet with the physicists?”
    “Yes, and I’m more convinced than ever that synthesis of opposites is not possible, but I’m no closer to a Final Story.”
    “Are you coming back to New York?”
    “No, I’m going to New Orleans for the Michael’s ecumenical conference.”
    “Maybe you shouldn’t come to New Orleans, Paul. That may not be the best use of your time.”
    “You’ll be there.”
    “You’re not taking this seriously enough, Paul. Remember, you only have a week and a half left to accomplish what you said was impossible.”
    “Maybe I’ll learn something at the conference.”

One of the distinguished professors called Elaine, and she was furious with me when I returned to Lombard Street.
    “I asked you to read the announcement. Period.”
    “I got carried away.”
    “See? It’s not that you don’t know what you’re doing when you pop off like that.”
    “They were asking for it.”
    “You don’t have the discipline of a four-year-old. When are you going to grow up and accept responsibility for the words that come out of your mouth?”
    “This is about You Are God, isn’t it? You’ve always resented my success.”
    “If you wanted to do anything worthwhile with your life, you would have gone into science.”
    “You’re terminally naïve, Elaine. Physics is a story like any other.”
    “You’re the one who’s naïve…telling the most eminent theoretical physicists in the world they are chasing their tails.”
    “Well…”
    “The only thing you’re successful at is making a fool of yourself.”
    “I guess winning the world’s most prestigious literary prize doesn’t count for anything in your book.”
    “Science has standards. You can’t just say anything that pops into your head.”
    “You’re never going to synthesize the theory of relativity with quantum theory.”
    That did it. Elaine wouldn’t speak to me after that, not even when Karen, Rob, and Sara flew out for mother’s funeral. It wasn’t until we put them on their flight back that she broke the silence.
    “Mother wanted me to pour her ashes into the Bay from the Golden Gate Bridge.”
    “Isn’t that against the law?”
    Elaine was determined to carry out this last wish, and I went with her. However, she seemed to have second thoughts as we stood on the bridge midway between San Francisco and Marin County, and watched a freighter cutting through the cold waters below.
    “Well?” I said.
    Elaine looked at the vase. “I can’t.”
    “It’s okay. Listen, about the other day at the center…”
    “You made a fool of yourself and you embarrassed me. Promise me you’ll quit trying to find a Final Story.”
    “Let’s get off this bridge.”

Chapter 10