[This is another time where there has been a gap in the Willson text. It has not been too long though because the election he has been writing about has not happened yet. Editors.]

These have been chilly mornings as I go into the Wing early. This week I have been making parts on the machines for my project. It will take me a good day today to finish the last of these. I go back out to the University when I start the next work days. Then I will have the parts to take with me.

I walked in past the blast furnace as it was starting up and stop to warm my hands. And then over to my workbench along the wall across from the machines. As usual the metal stock I ordered for today is on a wheeled cart next to my bench. I start the machine I am going to use first so it will be ready. After tying on my leather apron I look over my notes and make some more drawings.

I start machining the day’s most complex part first. It is always a surprise to me to see how my skills come back. When I think about making parts I am never sure how I will do it. But when I start it is like coming home again. I am well along on the first piece as I see that Wing is filling up and the day is on its way.

There is a group of engineers gathering over by the front door now. They wait there for some time. In a little while Jaemes comes in carrying the large backpack he brings sometimes. The group applauds and cheers and surrounds him. I go over and join them and soon understand that he has a new project now. All in the Wing are happy again. I also wish him well and start to go back to my machine. Jaemes comes through the crowd and calls to me before I get very far. He motions me to come over to his office. We go in and he closes the door.

He tells me that I have to ‘go up the hill’ again this morning. After he places the backpack on his desk he takes a new bottle of spirits out of the top and puts it in his desk drawer. From the way he tells me it does not seem so serious this time. He hands me the familiar ‘meeting request’ Form and adds that I better leave my apron back on my bench. “Some of them up there lose control if they see anything that reminds them of work.” He asks me to meet with him in his office again at the end of the day. “I want to tell you about my new project.”  

So I left off my leather apron and made the familiar path back up the hill. No, I will not tell you all about that journey again. As for the meeting I had this time I would understand if you did not believe what happened there.

I will say one thing that was different this day. I decided to remember the Cottonbaugh motto. So for one of the few times in my life I did not say anything. This was a smart decision.

I find I only had to see Pity Woman. The usual wait and so on. As I enter her narrow office there is no attempt at a smile to greet me. He face is on full pity. The cat pictures on the wall look at me. ‘Please sit down.’ I quickly sit and she looks at me and jacks up her seat a little bit. ‘I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.’ There is a long moment of silence. ‘You were very close. You almost made it.’ There is another long moment of silence. ‘We know how much you wanted the job.’ ‘What job’, I think. ‘I have a job.’ I think. More silence, then ‘we have decided to keep Jaemes as head of The Wing.’ She stops and looks at me closely. It is very hard not to say anything. She reaches across the desk to me with a box of the kind of light paper used to wipe away tears. ‘We know that you are very disappointed.’ No I‘m not! Another pause. ‘But we have decided to stay with Jaemes.’ She is going to enjoy this as long as she can. ‘This is our final decision.’ She still looks at me and I still stay silent. If I would have said anything I can imagine the conversation.

‘You know that position you did not apply for?

Yes.

You cannot have it.

I did not apply for it!

Well you can’t have it anyway.

But I did not apply or it!

That does not matter; you still can’t have it.

I never wanted it!

We do not permit that!’

After more waiting she is impatient ‘do you know why you cannot have this job?’ I don’t answer. ‘I’ll tell you why.’ Pause. ‘It’s because you are unhappy.’ Unhappy? When I have to talk to people like her I am. Pause. ‘We need a happy person for this job. Jaemes is always happy.’ She ends by saying ‘if you would like to talk about this I am always here to listen.’ I can wait for that! She offers the box of ‘tears’ paper again. ’And ‘trust in what tomorrow might bring.’

I think of another entry for my Dictionary: The word for ‘you can’t have it even if you don’t want it.’ Or ‘even if you don’t want it, you can’t have it.’ Oh, I don’t know how to say this. It doesn’t make any sense.

I get back to Wing and wave and smile at James as I walk by his office. He waves back. I spend the rest of the day machining the parts I have left to make. A good way to spend a day. I wish there were more of these. As I am finishing the last one Jaemes walks up to my machine and says “where are you stacking them?” I ask him to give me a few minutes. I sweep up the metal waste, wipe the oil off the machines, and take the finished parts over to my bench. I wash up and walk over to his office. The Wing is pretty much empty now. He motions me in, closes the door and brings out the bottle of spirits and two small glasses.

‘A toast to new projects. And we will have another toast to those who approve my ideas for new projects.’ Jaemes smiles. We both take a sip. After a moment of silence Jaemes adds ‘when you get your chance never propose a simple project.’ Now I will find out what he means. ‘We are going to expand the scope of our deep space probe. Now we are going to verify the number of parallel universes.’ Now I really don’t have anything to say. “Parallel universes?” I ask. ‘Yes, which we define as similar universes that occupy the same space as ours does.’ I better not drink any more for a while so I can understand all this.

‘We are permitting three.’ I carefully set the small glass down on the desk. ‘Three is the largest number we can see in our mind as a whole. Any more we have to add up. So four is two and two or three and one and so on. If we believe that we here are in the image of a greater intelligence in the Universe it would follow that this greater intelligence would also see three as the largest whole.’ I nod. ‘And so if the greater intelligence allows parallel universes there would be three. Any more would be difficult to keep track of and that would be irresponsible. And we can’t believe the greater intelligence is irresponsible can we Willson?’ Jaemes smiles again.  

I offer that in Engineering we say “you can’t mess up a triangle.” Jaemes looks at me, ‘that’s another way of looking at it’ then continues.

‘That will be our working hypothesis. We remember that one of the universes would be the one we are in. For the purposes of this project we will assume that we exist.’ He smiles. ‘That leaves two more to find. These would be the two Alternate Universes. This is the way we will proceed. Right now all we can do is preliminary. We have to wait for results from the Hunter project. If the results are only transmissions from other planets with intelligent life that is one thing.’

‘But if we see truly alternate versions to things that have happened here, that is, confirmed by geography, units of time, and so on, then we will know we are on to something quite beyond intelligence on other planets. As we recover transmissions we will consider major events and trends in our history. Summarize these. Then we will examine the text for evidence that the counterpart had a different outcome. We have the funds to hire historians and students to help us with the narratives. If we find one other universe we cannot assume that is the only one. If we find one more than that our hypothesis is confirmed. If we find any more after that then we will assume there is an infinite number. And we would abandon our hypothesis. That would mean the universe is absurd. And we will not believe that. The universe is not absurd Willson’. “Oh no” I say. I pick my glass back up and take another sip.

‘Think about what I have described and if you are interested you can join me after you have finished the project out at the University.’ He smiles takes another sip himself and adds “This will all take some time to do Willson.” I tell him “yes; for sure.” As I get up to leave he adds, more to himself, “You can’t argue with an abstract concept. Remember that.”

This was an interesting way to end a work week.

***

Tomorrow I need to work on my old wooden furniture. Projects like that give me time to think about stuff. Like Alternate Universes. I wonder if Professor ever thought about those. He has a lot of other interesting things like that in his notebook. I lie down on my favorite place on the floor and open to where I stopped reading the last time. I pick it up to turn to that place. But two more pieces of paper come out from the back of the notebook onto the floor. One is another clipping from the Foothill newspaper accusing Grndee of being a ‘socialist.’ The other is a folded typed document, like a school paper. It is labeled as a “working paper.” It is about ‘Minders.’ What is that?

Minders; Notes towards an understanding thereof.

My research into the role, and indeed the very existence, of the Minders has not yielded me much that is useful. I have read everything I could find, which turned out to be nothing more than the same repeated rumor and speculation. Nor did I find any primary documents or records in the libraries and archives I examined. I have spoken with anyone I could find who knew, or claimed to know, anything about the Minders. One description goes something like “They don’t have to do what they do to do what they do.” Or “If you knew what they did you would know that you already knew what they did.” Similarly “you know it; you just don’t know you know it.” “Their influence is obvious and at the same time unnoticed.” To this point I have found no evidence about the Minders that would withstand rigorous academic review.

There is “said” to be a Minders Institute, often referred to as being located in the Minders’Keep. It is difficult to find anyone who can tell you where the Minders Keep is. Most residents of the Foothill area claim not to know about it at all. Questions typically cause suspicion and discomfort. Much like ‘there is no such thing’ and ‘how do you know about it?’ Or ‘it doesn’t exist’ and ‘why do you want to go there?’ Any reply is in a very low voice. I am going to find it though; I think I know where it is*

 

Nevertheless, the influence of the Minders is unmistakable. Because of the Minders: You cannot be in any way unsettling. You must be bland, that is, behavior or expression must be excessively bland. You can never be sad. And, most importantly, you must be strictly conventional. Therefore, you must know what the current conventions are. Nobody is going to tell you. But because of the Minders you will experience the consequences of not behaving correctly.

*I think Minders Keep is the large mansion on the estate the other side of the undeveloped lot of land next to my house. 

 

He added a handwritten note that “Only one of my students has ever been interested in this subject but he transferred over to Basin.” I wonder if the Professor maybe was not ‘quite right’ when he reached old age. That old overgrown estate across from me is probably just another old overgrown estate.

Please Note: To read the conclusion Stained Glass Murals is available in full on Amazon.com. In Paperback and as a computer file. Thank you.

Thomas McDonald, Arroyo Country, 2016 © 
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