Читать книгу Real Life - Adeline Dieudonné - Страница 15

-

I HAD TO begin building this machine to go back in time as soon as possible. I went to see Monica, certain she could help me.

Her house was still there, down in the claw mark, with the sun’s hand upon it. She opened the door, wearing one of her long dresses—all bright colors, flowers, and butterflies. Inside, there was that familiar cinnamon smell. I went in and sat down on the banquette covered with a sheepskin. It was like the ivory in the carcass room, soft with something powerful behind, as if the animal’s spirit still dwelled inside and could feel my caresses.

Monica gave me an apple juice. In her face, too, something was missing since the death of the ice-cream man. I didn’t dare tell her it was my fault, that it was I who had asked for whipped cream. Nobody must ever know that. I told her about Sam and my time-travel idea.

“In the film, you see, there’s this car and it needs a vast amount of energy. They use plutonium. And when they don’t have any plutonium, they make use of lightning. I can get hold of the car and cobble it together a bit, but I don’t know how to create lightning. Do you know if it’s possible to bring on a storm?”

She smiled slightly, her sadness wandering off outside for a while.

“Yes, I think it’s possible. It won’t be easy, far from it, it’ll take a lot of work, but I think it’s possible. I’ve already heard of it, at any rate. It’s a combination of science and magic. I’ll take care of the storm if you like. For the science part, you’ll just have to learn as you go, but you’ll get there if you really want to. It will take time, more than you think, but you’ll get there. Like Marie Curie.”

I pinched my lips together.

“Shit, you don’t know who Marie Curie is? What do they do with you at school all day? Marie Curie, for fuck’s sake! C’mon! Real name: Maria Salomea Skłodowska. She became Curie when she married Pierre Curie. First woman to receive the Nobel Prize. The one and only woman in the history of the Nobels to receive two: the Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband, in 1903, for their research on radiation; then, after Pierre died, boom! another Nobel, but in chemistry this time, in 1911, for her work on polonium and radium. It was she who discovered these two elements. Polonium she named as a homage to her country of origin. You’ve never seen a periodic table either, I bet?”

I shook my head.

“Dear me … She worked like a maniac all her life. Have you ever broken something? An arm? A leg?”

“Yes, my arm when I was seven.”

“Right. Did they x-ray you to see the fracture?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Marie Curie.”

“You think she could help me? Where does she live?”

“Ah, no. She died. From radiation. But what I mean is that if you work really hard at something, you can get there.”

“So if I cobble together a car, you’ll help me with the storm?”

“Cross my heart.”

* * *

I returned home reassured: I had a solution and I was not alone. So I started the next day. I got hold of all the documentation I could find on Marie Curie, as well as the Back to the Future trilogy. I knew it would take time, but every day Sam’s state called me to my duty.

Summer ended and the school year passed, bland and boring, as always. Every moment of my free time was spent perfecting my plan.