Читать книгу Ventoux онлайн

39 страница из 86

‘But what good is it to you, if it can’t be explained?’

‘Do you remember we used to sing something like “We see Thy Glory, but we cannot fathom it?” It’s the same with string theory. Fathoming it is no sinecure, and sometimes we can’t even see a thing. That makes it nicely complicated.’

I gave up.

‘It’s another world. One in which time and space no longer exist, with nine, ten, or perhaps even eleven dimensions. We’re thinking about something we can’t imagine.’

‘So you just sit at your desk all day, thinking?’

‘That’s what it comes down to. Pen in hand, though. Beer? Yes, beer. Drink up a bit, you’re being a real girlie.’

We had completed the update. Joost was still married to the American woman he had met when he was studying at Yale. I remembered the wedding card, with a saxophone on the front. One of his daughters was studying chemistry, the other planned to go to art school.

I told him that I never saw my ex-wife anymore and that my daughter was studying Dutch.

‘Chip off the old block. She’ll soon drop out and become a journalist, I assume. Messy divorce?’