Submitted by Natasha Irving
on January 03, 2024
** QUANTUM SHORTS 2023/2024: HONORABLE MENTION
Lucille stood in front of her open refrigerator wondering how her life had become such an incredible waste. She was a scientist, a quantum physicist, but instead of working at a lab she was working in her kitchen, making dinner again as she did every night for the last six years. It was when she would start dinner, 4:00 PM, that she most loathed her position in life. But above all else, she loathed her husband, Karl. In another universe Karl would be making dinner for her, would loathe her, and she relished the thought.
Lucille had a PhD in quantum mechanics. It had been her sole passion, her greatest dream to be a physicist. It was never her dream to be a mother, let alone a mother who didn’t work outside the home. She made as much clear to Karl when they were dating. Only after she was trapped in the bonds of holy matrimony had he demanded all the conventions of a respectable family life, one in which Lucille didn’t have a career. Karl had tricked her. But from the moment she laid eyes on him, Lucille fell completely in love with her little Vinny . It was against her will, really. He certainly hadn’t made it easy with the morning sickness, the sleepless nights, the 12 hour labor. “Of course I can be a mother and a scientist, Karl.” No, she couldn’t be both, and she was a mother now, he explained. Besides, this way she could support him in making real leaps in the field, especially now that he was leading the quantum teleportation research at the Institute. Lucille wasn’t working in a lab, and Karl was, and she resented him for it.
Lucille, whose intellect eclipsed Karl’s, had been duped. So she set that big brain of hers to the problem, and concluded that Karl was most certainly jealous of her because she was, without a doubt, a better physicist than he was. But Karl’s fragile ego would not allow that. Now he had one less competitor for greatness, and the realization of this hit Lucille like a tidal wave. But she never resented Vinny, not for a moment, no matter how hard it was. “Nobody said this was going to be easy.” Karl would say during those first few months when Lucille found herself in the depths of exhaustion and depression. It was certainly easy for Karl. She stood in front of the refrigerator with his words pulsing through her head.
But that’s when Lucille’s world changed. Karl didn’t come home. 6:00 PM rolled around, and she decided to call him. No answer. At 7:04 PM she heard a knock at the door. It was Dr. Danzig and Dr. Wong, the Institute’s lab directors.
She walked the men into the kitchen and they sat nervously while she plunked Vinny in front of the TV. “Lucille,” Dr. Wong sighed with dread in his eyes, “Karl is….gone.”
Lucille’s face was simultaneously grieved and perplexed. “Gone?”
“Lucille, the experiment he was conducting today went terribly wrong, and Karl just isn’t here anymore.” Dr. Wong explained.
“Well, where is he?”
The men looked at eachother, both holding their breath. “We don’t know. Another dimension, a parallel universe. Your guess is as good as ours, maybe better.” Dr. Danzig said. “As you know, he was working on quantum teleportation, had been making breakthrough after breakthrough. A truly gifted thinker. We knew there were risks, but he was so confident, so certain. The…tragedy…took place when we measured the distance your husband traveled this afternoon.” The men looked at Lucille, bracing for the reality of the situation to hit her.
“I understand.” She said, staring at her tightly clasped hands.
“Yes, I’m sure you do, Lucille. You understood his work better than anyone.” This was accurate. You see, Lucille never gave up thinking long and hard about the field she loved. In fact, Lucille was conducting an experiment herself. Or maybe an experiment within an experiment. The thought of raising her son with that loathsome man was untenable, so she thought it was time to play a trick on Karl. She planted the seeds of her theories in his head, helped him along with the math. Of course, Karl wouldn’t only take the credit for her work, but think it was his all along.
The experiment today was really hers. Unfortunately for Karl, he didn’t have the mind for it that Lucille did, and he didn’t realize the risks. Lucille fully appreciated the risks, and perhaps contributed to Karl’s inflated sense of security.
“Gentlemen,” Lucille cleared her throat, speaking slowly, “this is catastrophic. I’ve lost my husband, Vinny will grow up without a father. He’s our sole income earner, what are we going to do?”
“Lucille, we know how hard this is. We at the Institute will make this right, we will provide full compensation.” Dr. Wong said as he awkwardly reached for Lucille’s hand, then just as awkwardly decided against it.
Lucille sat silently for just long enough to make the men begin to squirm. “That certainly means so much.” Lucille trembled, became eager, determined. “But, his work, his legacy, it has to be carried on, this loss can’t be in vain. I know his work, I can finish what he started.” The men looked at each other, whispered a few words to each other in agreement.
“We have an opening on the team, Lucille, and we cannot think of anyone better to fill Karl’s capable shoes.”
“Thank you gentlemen.” Lucille considered both experiments to be an astounding success, and she nodded her head gravely at the men in acceptance. “Nobody said this was going to be easy.”
About the Author:
I am the District Attorney of a rural mid-coast district of Maine, mother of two little girls, and happily married.
