Genius

by Clare Nonhebel

CHAPTER 70

  They reached a compromise. Louise would set up a meeting with Herr Wolfmann and one of his colleagues. Eldred would be there, and Edgar. Mildred would not be required to attend. ('It’s your turn,’ she told Edgar.) Eldred would have a chance to talk about his invention and hear Herr Wolfmann's proposals on how to promote and market it, without the press being there. It would not, Louise promised, be anything like a chat show.

  'A private business meeting,’ she said. 'All right, Eldred?’

  'All right,’ he said. He was sorry he had been dismissive on the phone, and surprised at how pleased he was to see her when she arrived.

  The press would be invited to come only after the meeting, when everything had been finalized. They would be free to ask questions of Eldred and Herr Wolfmann and, if everything had gone smoothly, photograph the senior European executive and the schoolboy inventor signing the contract together and shaking hands.

  'That will be acceptable,’ Edgar consented. 'But when that's all done and finalized ...’

  'I'll let you get on with your lives,’ Louise promised. 'Are you looking forward to starting at the new school, Eldred?’

  'I think so, yes. I expect I'll look forward to it more when I've met some of the people who'll be in my class. I feel moderately apprehensive about the prospect of approaching a whole class full of unknown faces,’ Eldred said solemnly, 'though recently I have made a couple of new friends, quite easily as it happened, so perhaps my apprehensions are unfounded.’

  'Perhaps so,’ said Louise. 'Who are the new friends, Eldred?’

  'Lulubelle and Keith. She's an acrobat in a circus; he's a boy who's had fifteen operations. And believes in God,’ he added.

  'The children from the TV show? You got on well with them, then?’

  'Yes. Possibly because we are all a bit peculiar,’ Eldred said.

  ‘Aren't we all?’ said Louise with a laugh. 'You, me, Lulubelle and the human race.’

  'You're not obviously peculiar,’ observed Eldred.

  'Thank you, Eldred,’ said Louise. 'I hide it well. Now, I'd better let you good people have some peace. Thanks for inviting me, Mr Jones. Mrs Jones, thanks for the coffee and cake. You're quite happy with the arrangements for this meeting then, Eldred? No questions you want to ask me before I leave?’

  'Well, there is one,’ Eldred said.

  Edgar groaned. 'Wouldn't you know it,’ he said. His eyes strayed longingly towards the television screen. One of his favourite programmes was about to begin.

  ‘About the meeting?’ asked Louise.

  'No. About whether you've heard God speak.’

  She laughed again. 'I wasn't expecting that one! Yes, I suppose I have, once or twice. Not a booming voice from the sky or anything. An inner voice, I suppose you'd call it.’

  'What did he say to you, Louise? If you don't mind me asking?’

  'Oh, it was once when I wasn't sure what to do with my life, whether to marry someone I liked very much but hadn't known very long. He was waiting to hear whether he'd been offered an overseas job, when I first met him, and when he heard that he had and would have to leave within a month, he asked me to go with him and marry him. I was almost a hundred per cent certain I wanted to and it was right but to be on the safe side I prayed.’

  'And God told you something else?’ Eldred prompted.

  'Yes. I felt it was him, because it was actually the opposite of what I was telling myself, and I did hear a voice that time, quite clearly.’

  'What sort of voice?’ asked Eldred.

  'Eldred, these are very personal questions you're asking,’ Mildred chided. But she had put down the TV Times and was listening. Edgar, embarrassed by this open talk about God, was fiddling with the volume-off button on the remote control but, intrigued despite himself, was keeping an ear open for Louise's answers.

  'A calm voice,’ Louise said. 'Very reassuring, very certain.’

  'And what did he say to you? Did he say, "Don't marry him"?’

  'Not exactly, no. He said, "Where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be too."’

  Eldred frowned. 'What does it mean?’

  'It's a line from scripture, from one of the gospels. Jesus actually said it in the context of telling people not to hoard possessions in this life, because they'll keep you earthbound and prevent you from being free to enjoy the real treasures of heaven. But in the context of what was going on in my life at that time, what the word "treasure" conjured up in my mind was my heritage in the church. I'd had good experiences of growing up in my church and this man I was thinking of marrying had had quite negative experiences of church people, so he was quite negative about my involvement in it.

  'And I realized that if my heart still treasured the church that had given such a lot to me, and I was giving my heart to him in marriage, then my heart would be divided, wouldn't it?’

  'Wouldn't he have let you still go to your church?’ asked Eldred.

  'Oh, I expect he would; he wouldn't have considered it his business to tell me whether to go or not to go to church on a Sunday, but it involved much more than that. I had a whole set of values and priorities, taught to me by people within that church, which on the whole I still agreed with and wanted to live by. If his view of the church was so negative, then sooner or later his reaction to me would be negative too, because he couldn't treasure what I did. His heart would be in a different place from me.’

  'Oh,’ said Eldred, thinking. 'And I expect you might have discovered this, maybe after a couple of years, but you didn't see it then because you hadn't had time to get to know what he thought about lots of things that might be quite important really but hadn't come up in conversation yet?’

  'Precisely,’ said Louise, smiling.

  'So God gave you a shortcut, like a glimpse into the knowledge you would have found out for yourself but not in the time available to you to decide?’

  'You could put it that way, Eldred, yes.’

  'Would he talk to me, do you think? Do you have to have faith?’

  'If he would create you, Eldred, why wouldn't he talk to you? You take a continuing interest in your inventions, don't you? And they're just machines. Human beings are much more interesting to have a relationship with than machinery. Of course your Creator wants to stay involved in every detail of your life.’

  'But only if you have faith?’

  'No. He's equally interested in everybody. But to enjoy a relationship with him, you have to - maybe not have great faith but give him the benefit of the doubt, at least. You can't get to know someone if you've convinced yourself he isn't worth knowing or doesn't exist.’

  'No,’ said Eldred. 'I can see that. But is he more interested in some things than other things? I mean, whether one of his children marries the right person for them is obviously important to him, isn't it, if he's meant to be the Father, like Jesus says? But what about, say, if somebody invents something and doesn't know who to trust with it, or someone goes to a new school and doesn't know which person might want to be friends with them?’

  Louise smiled at him. 'Eldred, if it's important to you, it's important to him.’

  'Oh, is that how it works? I didn't know that.’ He thought for a moment, frowning. 'Yes,’ he said. 'That is consistent.’

  'I'll see myself out,’ Louise said. 'Herr Wolfmann told me to tell you, by the way, Eldred, that he's not sure his English is up to the challenge but he's very much looking forward to meeting you.’