Jack's blunder was disastrous, but what he
worried about was: would Einstein have approved?

Dear Mr. Gretch:

Mrs. Burroughs and I are sending your son Jack to you because we do notknow what else to do with him. As you can see, we can't keep him withus in his present condition.

Also, Jack owes us two weeks rent and, since Mrs. Burroughs and I areretired, we would appreciate your sending the money. It has been a dryyear and our garden has done poorly.

The only reason we put up with your son in the first place was becausewe are so hard-pressed.

He saw the sign on the porch, rang the bell and paid Mrs. Burroughs amonth's rent without even looking at the room. Then he ran out to hiscar and commenced pulling out suitcases and boxes and dragging themupstairs.

After the third trip, Mrs. Burroughs saw he was having trouble withthe stuff and he looked kind of worn out, so she offered to help.

He gave her a hard look, as she described it to me when I got home. Hesaid, "I don't want anyone touching anything. Please don't interfere."

"I didn't mean to interfere," my wife told him. "I only wanted to help."

"I don't want any help," he said quietly, but with a wild look in hiseye, and he staggered upstairs with the last of his baggage and lockedthe door.

When I got home, Mrs. Burroughs told me she thought I ought to takea look at the new boarder. I went up, thinking we'd have a littlechat and straighten things out. I could hear him inside, hammering onsomething.

He didn't hear my first knock or the second. I got sore and nearlybanged the door down, at which time he decided to open up.

I charged in, ready to fight a bear. And there was this skinnyred-headed son of yours glaring at me.

"That's a lot of hammering you're doing, son," I said.

"That's the only way I can get these boxes open, and don't call me son."

"I don't like to disturb you, Mr. Gretch, but Mrs. Burroughs is alittle upset over the way you acted today. I think you ought to comedown for a cup of tea and get acquainted."

"I know I was rude," he said, looking a little ashamed, "but I havewaited for years for a chance to get to work on my own, with nointerference. I'll come down tomorrow, when I have got my equipment setup, and apologize to Mrs. Burroughs then."

I asked him what he was working on, but he said he would explain later.Before I got out of the door, he was hammering again. He worked tillafter midnight.

We saw Jack at mealtimes for the next few days, but he didn't talkmuch. We learned that he was twenty-six, in spite of his looking like aboy in his teens, that he thought Prof. Einstein the greatest man ever,and that he disliked being called son. Of his experiment, he didn'thave much to say then. He saw Mrs. Burroughs was a little nervous abouthis experimenting in the guest room and he assured her it was notdangerous.

Before the week was out, we started hearing the noises. The first onewas like a wire brush going around a barrel. It went whisk, whisk.Then he rigged up something that went skaboom every few seconds, likea loud heartbeat. Once in a while, he got in a sound like a creakywell pump, but mostly it was skaboom and whis