by Nelson Lynch
a corner. He turned back to Jerome. “What are you going to do now?”
Jerome was leaning back in his chair, still grinning widely. “I’m going back to our room and crank up my computer. When Irving calls on me in our next class, I’m going to be two hundred percent ready.” He stood and shoved his chair under the table. “I’ll see you whenever you get to our room.”
Bill walked into their room and turned on his desktop computer before saying a single word. He waited until the browser came up. “OK, where is this Membrane or Branes theory? What have you found?”
“A lot of information. Most of it sounds crazy. They think there are multiple universes only a proton’s distance away.” He paused and sipped his soft drink. “They throw around huge numbers, like trillions of years and quadrillions of cubic light years of empty space. It really boggles my mind just to think it could possibly be true. When the galaxies fly so far apart that space is nearly empty, another universe will collide with ours and create a new universe. According to them everything is recycled.”
“Do you have enough to satisfy Irving?”
Jerome held up two sheets of print out and waved them around. “Enough to satisfy him and to please Janet.” He grinned at Bill. “Don’t you think it nice of her to share her knowledge with me? I think she is ready to go out and have a beer with me. What do you think?”
Bill leaned back studying the screen. “She might. It seems like she is more religiously inclined than Irving. Can you add God, the Old Testament, Noah and a few other biblical terms into this Branes theory? Then she’d fall all over herself to go out with you.”
Jerome nodded briefly. “I’m going to do more than just the Branes theory of creation.”
“Oh, oh, what are you going to do?”
“None of these theories of creation satisfy me. The Branes and Strings theories are way out in left field. The Cosmic egg isn’t much better.” He grinned across the desk at Bill. “So I’ve decided to create my own theory of creation.”
Bill scratched his head. “How are you going to do that? Most people who dream up these theories have doctor’s degrees. You don’t even have your masters degree.”
“I’ll add your name to it. How’s that? Women will swarm around us.”
A smile formed on Bill’s face. “Are you sure about that?”
“Absolutely. Women go crazy over men with original ideas. Go to any computer show and you’ll find beautiful women wandering around hoping to meet men with ideas.”
“Count me in!”
Mr. Irving wasted no time. As soon as the bell quit ringing, he nodded at Jerome. “What do you have for the class today?”
“First I have the Membranes or Branes theory. It basically says that there are multiple universes that sometimes collide and creates a new universe.”
Jerome talked for ten minutes to the class.
Mr. Irving cleared his throat. “Very good, you have surprised me no end. What is your second creation theory?”
Jerome nodded at Bill. “My room mate and I don’t like any of the scientific theories at all. They are all too far fetched to be true.” He paused and glanced over at Janet. “We decided to write our own theory of creation.”
“Really, this sounds interesting. What is the title?” Mr. Irving had a slight look of disbelief. “Let’s hear it, by all means.”
“We call it the ‘Jerome/Bill theory of creation or for short, the JB theory. Jerome talked for ten minutes. He stopped and paused near the end. “What Bill and I are saying is that the universe is shaped like a gigantic cosmic table top with a hole in the center. When a galaxy gets roughly 15 billion light years from the center, it falls off the edge. The galaxy is broken down into elementary particles, nothing bigger than a proton. Then all these particles are pushed back into the universe through the hole in the center. Our universe is in a constant state of dying and rebirth.” He stopped and nodded at Bill.
Mr. Irving rubbed his chin for ten seconds and then smiled. “It sounds just a plausible as the others. You two have just passed the course.”
Bill looked around the food center and sipped on his coffee. “Mr. Irving surprised me. I didn’t think he would like it, but of course you did a masterful job in presenting it.” He lowered his voice a notch. “Here come Janet and she’s smiling.”
Janet sat and moved the chair under the table until her knees were touching Jerome. “I loved your theory. A mixture of religion, mysticism and science.”
Jerome smiled at Bill and then Janet. “Thanks Janet. That means a lot coming from you.”
“Call me JJ. Why don’t you come over to my apartment tonight and we can study the next chapter.
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