Safe and Sound

Chapter 3

“Mugged, huh? Do you need one of the nurses to look you over? You look a little pale.” Mr. Stark comments. “Long sleeves in the summer? Those went out of style when they started giving people heat strokes.” he comments. Isn’t that what Wade said earlier? “Alright weirdo, let’s get going. I’ll show you the ropes.”

    “Bye, Peter!” Wade runs off down the hall and I follow Mr. Stark back into the elevator.

    “I didn’t think I’d be meeting you in person.” I write.

    “Do you want someone else? I can arrange that I guess.” he shrugs.

    “No I didn’t mean that! I’m sorry.” I scribble.

    “Easy kid, I’m just messing with you, you’re okay.” his tone is softer now as he looks me back over. “Mugged you say? You look like your gonna fall over. You want some ibuprofen or something?”

    I shake my head.

    “I imagine injuries like that would keep you up at night.” I look down when he makes eye contact. That’s disrespectful. “We’ll keep it light today. I have a few things I want you to look at and we can talk. You can grab a chair while we do it, I don’t like the look of your knee.”

    “Floor 80.” Friday announces.

    “Thank you Friday.”

    “Of course, Mr. Stark.'' The doors open and we step out into the lab. I stare at the tools and equipment in awe. It’s a mix of a science lab in a machining tool room. Holographic blueprints are everywhere, tables lined with parts and papers…

    “You like it?” he asks.

    I nod, still staring around.

    “Glad you like it. Come sit down and look at these. I need new eyes on it.” I make my way towards him, staring at the blueprint and equation in front of us.

    I nod, sitting slowly, carefully, in a foldable chair he set out for me, afraid he’ll pull it, yell at me to stand up, something. But he doesn’t. Okay, it’s fine. This is fine. You’re helping one of your idols with math, in his lab, unable to speak like a normal person. This is fine.

    I take the pen and a piece of blank paper and start scribbling. Mr. Stark watches me for a moment before setting a calculator in front of me and turning to work on something else, nodding his approval. I let out a deep sigh and sink into my thoughts.

    This wasn’t carried right, and if he just used Cramer’s formula, he wouldn’t have had to do these things at all. I cross out equation after equation, writing them down in order and scribbling it out each time I eliminated a figure, rearranged it, or needed to move on to the next step. The blueprints were clear, I just had to work my way though, one step at a time.

    Math isn’t a whole problem, it’s lots of little ones, all foiled up and crammed into one equation. You just have to peel back the layers one step at a time until you get to the one you need. It took a good ten minutes to unravel whatever the hell he tried to do, but I did it.

    It looks like he got frustrated and took a wrong turn somewhere. That’s okay, sometimes you just need a break. A pair of new eyes, as he called it.

    I tap him on the shoulder with the pen, and he turns to stare at me for a moment, as if he’s forgotten I was there. Should I go? I can leave. I need to find a new job anyway, it’s fine.

    “You’re already done?” he asks. I nod hesitantly. He nods too, looking skeptical once again.

    “Alright…” he picks up the paper and looks it over, his eyes rolling from one side of the paper to the other. I wait anxiously as he looks over the paper. Then he starts over, scanning it from the top again. Oh gods I messed up, I did something wrong, I scribbled it out as I went. I lost all his progress, I can’t believe I did that, I didn’t think this through at all! He’s gonna be so mad!

    “Great job kid! This is perfect! I can’t believe I missed that.” he grins at me. I sigh, but give him a small smile in return, my heart still pounding. I did good, it’s okay. This is okay.