by Paul Stein
Although she was initially standoffish, it turned out that their common Catholic Italian heritage was a compelling feature for Sarah. She learned from her father that Ryan’s ancestry and hers were very closely aligned. Ryan’s grandfather, Amerigo Metatucci, hailed from the same Tuscany region of Italy that her own family considered their home country. Sarah slowly warmed to Ryan’s persistent efforts to befriend her, and eventually agreed to their first date— which was regrettable, stemming from the fact that Ryan accidentally stood her up. When asked about it later, Sarah described a vastly different recollection of their first date than Ryan remembered. But at no time following this initial misstep did either of them doubt that they were made for each other. They were engaged by their senior year and married a year later in a social event that resembled the Corleone wedding portrayed in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather.
Ryan still had great love and affection for Sarah and hoped to one day gain her forgiveness. There was no doubt their reconciliation could only happen after a confrontation with Jarrod. Until this mutual hatred was resolved, the peace of mind that Ryan sought would remain ever elusive.
NINE
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
1976
THE TWO BLOND-HAIRED girls were snickering as they watched the boy crawl stealthily between the rows of desks. Most of the students in Sister Domitilla’s sixth-grade class were accustomed to Jarrod Conrad’s audacious behavior, but they simply couldn’t resist his antics. A natural prankster, Jarrod loved to have fun at most anyone’s expense— especially his cousin, Ryan Marshall.
Through the years, Jarrod had entertained his classmates with countless class disruptions, his boundless imagination always on the prowl. It was truly amazing he hadn’t been expelled; some of his stunts bordered on juvenile delinquency and property damage. It appeared that Jarrod was about to commence yet another commotion that would send Sister Domitilla into a conniption, giving the class one more opportunity to shirk their schoolwork.
“Mister Conrad, get back in your seat,” demanded Sister Domitilla. “If I have to correct you one more time, it’s off to the principal’s office with you…again! And I don’t need to remind you that Sister Thea promised that the next time would require your parents’ attendance. Do I make myself clear, Mister Conrad?” she shrilled, her strident voice blistering every eardrum in the room.
“Yes, Sister, I realize the consequences,” mocked the erudite twelve-year-old, his response belying his age. “But would you please tell Ryan to stop flicking spitballs at me and Jessica? It’s really gross.”
“Sister Domitilla, I didn’t do that,” protested Ryan Marshall from two rows away.
“He’s lying, Sister…again,” Jarrod retorted.
“Alright…enough…from both of you!” Sister Domitilla screamed in frustration. “Get to the principal’s office immediately! I’m calling your parents at the break. We’re getting to the bottom of this misbehavior once and for all,” she fumed, slamming her hand against the blackboard, a cloud of chalk dust exploding all around.
Many of the students doubled over, holding back their laughter, but each of them knew this had been brewing for some time. The cousins had never been friendly, their ill will seemingly growing worse with each passing year. But lately their mutual dislike had become even darker, the unruly cousins taking pleasure in getting each other into increasingly serious trouble—which now, apparently, bordered on expulsion.
Jarrod Conrad was a brilliant student. From an early age he was recognized as extremely intelligent, with an IQ that placed him in the top two percent of all children tested for a gifted intellect. Unfortunately, there was nothing in a parochial school curriculum that could challenge him. He never seemed to study and yet he scored perfectly on all of his tests. He was so gifted intellectually, in fact, especially in math, that at times he would dispute calculations on the blackboard even before the teacher caught the mistake. Because there was so little to challenge his phenomenal mind, boredom drove his mischievous behavior. There wasn’t a teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes that could report having had a good experience with Jarrod Conrad.
Even though Jarrod was a few months younger than Ryan Marshall, his cousin became an instant nemesis from the very start. They shared an extraordinary rivalry initiated by their mothers, who were fraternal twin sisters. Each sister was super-competitive and uncommonly dedicated to besting the other, despite what it might entail. This seemingly innocuous tendency, however, was somehow passed to their offspring. The young cousins’ competitive rivalry, which at first was thought quizzical, turned exceedingly bitter over the years as each boy concocted ever more dangerous challenges and foolhardy risks to upstage or embarrass the other.
While Ryan was not averse to accepting dares that endangered his own personal safety, he was never as mean-spirited as his cousin. Jarrod used this to his advantage, always on the lookout for new ways to torment or humiliate Ryan. On one occasion, Ryan foolishly accepted Jarrod’s dare, wading barefoot into a brackish slough near the Rio Grande known to be full of pincer-wielding crayfish. Jarrod sat on the bank and howled as Ryan struggled from the water, screaming, with dozens of crayfish clinging to his toes and fingers.
Neither did Ryan share Jarrod’s proclivity for torturing helpless creatures. As the two boys grew older, Jarrod developed a mean streak that included deliberately maiming small animals. One especially vivid recollection of this perversion came from when Jarrod was about six years old. He had been painfully stung on his bare toes by some large red ants. When he finally stopped crying, he tracked the ants to a sandy mound and, armed with a magnifying glass and a length of lead pipe, methodically destroyed every last ant in the colony. He would intermittently hammer on the mound and the ants would pour out, charging headlong into the focused beam from the magnifying glass, instantly burning them alive. At the end of his demented mission, there were thousands of dead ants lying all over the backyard. With a trickle of sweat on his brow, and a wicked smile on his face, Jarrod proudly proclaimed: “None of those ants will be stinging anyone ever again.”
Later on, Jarrod’s aberrant behavior escalated into mutilating lizards, horny toads, and the occasional garter snake he would find in the mesa near his parents’ house. All of these horrible actions cemented the disgust that Ryan developed for his cousin.
No one in the family could figure out what drove Jarrod to become such an odious child. There was no other example in the family to suggest where this behavior originated. Jarrod was clearly in a class by himself, both intellectually and psychologically.
Ryan Marshall and Jarrod Conrad were the offspring of the Metatucci family, a highly respected Italian family that immigrated to the United States to pursue the American dream. They were similar to countless European families that passed through Ellis Island in New York City near the turn of the twentieth century. The cousins’ grandfather, Amerigo, first arrived in America at the age of eleven, accompanied by his older brother, Tulio, age thirteen. Their parents sent them abroad in search of a prosperous life. Before boarding the ship, their mother, Louisa, cautioned the boys: “Voi siete bravi ragazzi, forte ragazzi. Consultare dopo uno un altro. Stick inseime…e Tulio vegliare sul tuo fratello” (“You are good boys, strong boys. Look after one another. Stick together…and, Tulio, watch over your brother”).
With that simple instruction, the youngsters boarded the ocean liner with nothing more than a satchel containing a few handmade clothes and enough bread and cheese to make the two-week-long journey to America. Tulio wore a sign from his neck proclaiming that they were Italians. This was the family’s simple attempt to keep the boys from straying too far from their own kind once they reached the clearing area at Ellis Island. Unfortunately, the sign didn’t last even halfway to their destination. Upon entering the customs area, the boys were hopelessly adrift in a mass of humanity without knowing any English beyond: “Going to America.”
When the emigration officer recognized the size of the boys’ hands and feet, he figured the youngst
ers would grow to be large-sized men. But unable to discern their intended destination, he sent them to the coal mines in upper New York with the emigrants from Finland. It was only by this happenstance that the boys spent their first five years in America with the Finns. Both brothers became fluent in Finnish while working with these kindhearted people, all the while believing they were learning English.
It was also during this time in the coal mines that each brother grew uncommonly strong. Tulio, especially, was of exceptional strength and took to earning money by wrestling other miners and enlisted men that learned of his unbeatable reputation. No one ever bested the handsome young Italian.
But through it all, the teenagers worked hard and dutifully sent their paltry earnings back to the family, building a stake for the return trip to claim their wives. Both succeeded in the year 1919. The young brothers, who six years earlier had boarded a ship to follow the American dream, now returned to their hometown of Lucca as fully grown men. Their return fulfilled an obligation to collect their wives for marriages previously arranged by the family patriarchs—a custom still prevalent in the Italian culture at that time. Even though neither of the young men had met their future spouses, the family’s honor was at stake. After a brief chaperoned courtship, the brothers were married in grand style and given dowries to start a family. It was only months later that the four newlyweds returned to America to follow their dreams.
Upon their second landing in America, the two couples were, this time, sent by emigration authorities to Michigan. Many Italians were conscripted to work in the burgeoning automobile industry at the height of the Industrial Revolution. The brothers found work with the Ford Motor Company, and because of their extraordinary size, were ordered to work in the foundry. Work in the smelter was terribly hot and dirty, but the brothers thrived and were recognized as men capable of astonishing strength and endurance. They handled huge ingots of molten iron used to forge the steel frames and other miscellaneous components of an automobile. It was in these environs that the young Metatucci brothers excelled.
During this era of the Industrial Revolution, a systemic manufacturing problem developed around casting certain durable parts of the vehicle. The first pressure clutch was an especially thorny problem because the one-piece clutch would crack during manufacture. The prevailing method was to cast the clutch in two pieces and bolt them securely together, but even the two-piece clutch rarely lasted beyond the expiration of the limited warranty offered by Ford. It was costing the company thousands of dollars exchanging deficient clutches throughout its many nationwide dealerships.
It was Amerigo who unlocked the mystery of fabricating a mold to cast the clutch in one piece. Because the men worked close to the molten iron poured into the molds, they learned that the iron could be made into stronger alloys by adding select ingredients at specific temperatures. In this way, Amerigo designed a one-piece mold that resisted cracking as it cooled—the common problem in trying to fabricate a one-piece clutch. He discovered the perfect alloy: a combination of iron with a mixture of molybdenum and tungsten to keep the clutch intact as it cooled. This was a valuable discovery for Ford, which patented the process and claimed it as a proprietary invention.
Throughout this period of history, any new invention developed on the job was automatically the property of the employer. Without unions to protect workers’ rights, a laborer’s discovery might be recognized in the form of a bonus or a promotion, but the patent rights and royalties would remain the domain of the company. Nonetheless, Ford Motor Company did recognize the huge savings Amerigo’s discovery would confer, and offered him a bonus of $3,000—an unimaginable sum in the mind of the young immigrant. The only stipulation for paying the bonus was his signature on a multi-page document granting exclusive rights of his discovery to Ford, something he naïvely but eagerly signed. Never did he suspect any entitlement from his discovery, completely enamored by the princely sum of money he was offered.
It was near the time of Amerigo’s windfall that his wife, Davina, contracted tuberculosis, a virulent disease prevalent during the Industrial Revolution. TB flourished during this era mostly from the bilge of heavy coal smoke that spewed from factories in the Northeast. Davina’s persistent cough grew worse during the winter of 1921, and despite her reticence to draw from the couples’ limited budget, she was finally convinced to seek medical advice for her cough. Ultimately the doctor made his diagnosis and recommended that Davina be sent to a sanitarium in New Mexico, relocation to a warm, dry climate being the most effective treatment to cure the disease. With this unwelcome news, the brothers pulled up stakes and used Amerigo’s bonus and their scant savings to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Davina’s sickness and the families’ compulsory relocation to New Mexico were later hailed as the best thing that ever happened to the immigrants from Lucca. Within months, Davina showed remarkable improvement and her debilitating cough finally subsided. While she convalesced with the help of her sister-in-law, Theresa, the brothers made a down payment on an oil distribution business and began construction of the first of two houses they would build on property adjacent to the new business.
Davina regained her health after a six-month stay in the sanitarium, but almost relapsed upon discovering she was moving into a brand-new home, freshly furnished and ready for her arrival. How the family managed to keep this a secret from her was a miracle in itself. She finally recovered from her shock and they spent the first of many blissful nights in this little house on the outskirts of the developing town of Albuquerque.
Over the years that followed, the resourceful Metatuccis built their oil distribution business into one of the most successful companies in New Mexico. They entered a contract with Standard Oil (precursor to Chevron Oil) for exclusive distribution rights and developed dozens of service stations throughout the state. Tulio ran the distribution arm of Standard Oil and Amerigo developed the service stations. When the brothers finally retired and transferred their respective interests to their offspring, the value of their oil empire had grown to well over $13 million. The American dream had become fully manifest in this hard-working and determined immigrant family.
Throughout the remainder of his life, when anyone was facing adversity, Amerigo would often advise: “The hardest steel passes through the hottest fire,” a favorite saying born from his days in the foundry. This metaphor was a poignant reminder of the incredible hardships and wonderful achievements of the brothers from Lucca. They had succeeded against incredible odds on their way to prosperity, and their shared qualities of honor, determination, and persistence were instilled in their offspring.
Amerigo and Davina had three children in the course of their lives together. Their oldest son, Diego, ultimately took over the service station business and continued to build the empire he inherited. Twin daughters, Regina and Gemma, were born into the family next. The twins were two of the most competitive sisters imaginable. Regina’s son was Ryan Marshall; Gemma’s oldest was Jarrod Conrad. It is from these humble beginnings that the intense rivalry between Ryan and Jarrod was born.
TEN
JARROD CONRAD was raised in a household dedicated to academic achievement. His father, Richard, was a math teacher at a community college, and although brilliant, he lacked the ambition to teach at the university level, content with schooling students not quite capable of a more rigorous curriculum. His mother, Gemma, was also a teacher and more devoted to the discipline and success of her students than she was of her own son. The relationship between Jarrod and his mother was anything but typical. The only thing that mattered to Gemma was that Jarrod was smarter and better than her sister’s son, Ryan— which was true from the time the cousins were born.
Jarrod basically raised himself, detached from his parents and with very little supervision. He had no academic peers, and believed the world was his for the taking. Never lacking in confidence, he discovered early that he could use his superior intellect to bend people to his will.
; Jarrod was the spitting image of his father. He had the same wispy blond hair, gray eyes, and lanky build that made them look nerdy. Jarrod, however, inherited oversized hands and feet from his mother’s family, which made him look rather misshapen. He was not plain-looking, but neither was he handsome; really the only thing ordinary about Jarrod was his looks. He also developed the characteristics and beliefs of his father, including a more liberal philosophy, which irritated Gemma, who was decidedly more conservative. This divergent ideology was a source of continual friction in the Conrad household.
Through his formative years, much of the trouble Jarrod instigated was due to his parents’ inability to restrain his naturally malevolent temperament. It became very uncomfortable to cross him, and because he was extraordinarily brilliant, they mostly ignored his behavior and left him alone. In nearly all regards, Jarrod was head of the family, and his parents catered to his every whim.
Jarrod became a brilliant physicist who inherited his grandfather’s inquisitive nature and thirst for knowledge. But where Amerigo Metatucci only tinkered with ordinary labor-saving devices after his early success at Ford, Jarrod aspired to much loftier goals. His burning desire was to unlock the intricacies of gravity in the universe—a solution which the likes of Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking had simply given up on. He knew the answer was attainable; it was simply a matter of rearranging the four fundamental laws in a way that had never before been done.
Utilizing his brilliant aptitude for quantum physics, Jarrod became obsessed with finding the solution to the super unified theorem. To succeed, he would need heretofore unresolved mathematical equations to bring gravity—the fourth fundamental law of the universe—into alignment with the other three forces. Gravity was considered the weakest of the fundamental forces, but it also exhibited the most far-reaching influence in the universe. It had eluded even the renowned theoretical mathematician Albert Einstein, who offhandedly dismissed the SUT as “unavailable to discovery” because gravity would not yield its secrets. Resolving this daunting enigma was the challenge of Jarrod’s professional life.