Sophie's World_ A Novel About The History Of Philosophy Part 59

"What was that?"

"I think I've just been stung by a gadfly."

"It was probably Socrates trying to sting you into life."

Sophie and Alberto had been sitting in the red convertible listening to the major tell Hilde about the universe.

"Has it struck you that our roles are completely reversed?" asked Alberto after a while.

"In what sense?"

"Before it was they who listened to us, and we couldn't see them. Now we're listening to them and they can't see us."

"And that's not all."

"What are you referring to?"

"When we started, we didn't know about the other reality that Hilde and the major inhabited. Now they don't know about ours."

"Revenge is sweet."

"But the major could intervene in our world."

"Our world was nothing but his interventions."

"I haven't yet relinquished all hope that we may also intervene in their world."

"But you know that's impossible. Remember what happened in the Cinderella? I saw you trying to get out that bottle of c.o.ke."

Sophie was silent. She gazed out over the garden while the major explained about the Big Bang. There was something about that term which started a train of thought in her mind.

She began to rummage around in the car.

"What are you doing?" asked Alberto.

"Nothing."

She opened the glove compartment and found a wrench. She grabbed it and jumped out of the car. She went over to the glider and stood right in front of Hilde and her father. First she tried to catch Hilde's eye but that was quite useless. Finally she raised the wrench above her head and crashed it down on Hilde's forehead.

"Ouch!" said Hilde.

Then Sophie hit the major on his forehead, but he didn't react at all.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I think I've just been stung by a gadfly."

"It was probably Socrates trying to sting you into life."

Sophie lay down on the gra.s.s and tried to push the glider. But it remained motionless. Or did she manage to get it to move a millimeter?

"There's a chilly breeze coming up," said Hilde.

"No, there isn't. It's very mild."

"It's not only that. There is something."

"Only the two of us and the cool summer night."

"No, there's something in the air."

"And what might that be?"

"You remember Alberto and his secret plan?"

"How could I forget!"

"They simply disappeared from the garden party. It was as if they had vanished into thin air . . ."

"Yes, but..."

"... into thin air."

"The story had to end somewhere. It was just something I wrote."

"That was, yes, but not what happened afterward. Suppose they were here . . ."

"Do you believe that?"

"I can feel it, Dad."

Sophie ran back to the car.

"Impressive," said Alberto grudgingly as she climbed on board clasping the wrench tightly in her hand. "You have unusual talents, Sophie. Just wait and see."

The major put his arm around Hilde.

"Do you hear the mysterious play of the waves?"

"Yes. We must get the boat in the water tomorrow."

"But do you hear the strange whispering of the wind? Look how the aspen leaves are trembling."

"The planet is alive, you know ..."

"You wrote that there was something between the lines."

"I did?"

"Perhaps there is something between the lines in this garden too."

"Nature is full of enigmas. But we are talking about stars in the sky."

"Soon there will be stars on the water."

"That's right. That's what you used to say about phosph.o.r.escence when you were little. And in a sense you were right. Phosph.o.r.escence and all other organisms are made of elements that were once blended together in a star."

"Us too?"

"Yes, we too are stardust."

"That was beautifully put."

"When radio telescopes can pick up light from distant galaxies billions of light-years away, they will be charting the universe as it looked in primeval times after the Big Bang. Everything we can see in the sky is a cosmic fossil from thousands and millions of years ago. The only thing an astrologer can do is predict the past."

"Because the stars in the constellations moved away from each other long before their light reached us, right?"

"Even two thousand years ago, the constellations looked considerably different from the way they look today."

"I never knew that."

"If it's a clear night, we can see millions, even billions of years back into the history of the universe. So in a way, we are going home."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You and I also began with the Big Bang, because all substance in the universe is an organic unity. Once in a primeval age all matter was gathered in a clump so enormously ma.s.sive that a pinhead weighed many billions of tons. This 'primeval atom' exploded because of the enormous gravitation. It was as if something disintegrated. When we look up at the sky, we are trying to find the way back to ourselves."

"What an extraordinary thing to say."

"All the stars and galaxies in the universe are made of the same substance. Parts of it have lumped themselves together, some here, some there. There can be billions of light-years between one galaxy and the next. But they all have the same origin. All stars and all planets belong to the same family."

"Yes, I see."

"But what is this earthly substance? What was it that exploded that time billions of years ago? Where did it come from?"

"That is the big question."

"And a question that concerns us all very deeply. For we ourselves are of that substance. We are a spark from the great fire that was ignited many billions of years ago."

"That's a beautiful thought too."

"However, we must not exaggerate the importance of these figures. It is enough just to hold a stone in your hand. The universe would have been equally incomprehensible if it had only consisted of that one stone the size of an orange. The question would be just as impenetrable: where did this stone come from?"

Sophie suddenly stood up in the red convertible and pointed out over the bay.

"I want to try the rowboat," she said.

"It's tied up. And we would never be able to lift the oars."

"Shall we try? After all, it is Midsummer Eve."

"We can go down to the water, at any rate."

They jumped out of the car and ran down the garden.

They tried to loosen the rope that was made fast in a metal ring. But they could not even lift one end.

"It's as good as nailed down," said Alberto.

"We've got plenty of time."

"A true philosopher must never give up. If we could just... get it loose . . ."

"There are more stars now," said Hilde.

"Yes, when the summer night is darkest."

"But they sparkle more in winter. Do you remember the night before you left for Lebanon? It was New Year's Day."

"That was when I decided to write a book about philosophy for you. I had been to a large bookstore in Kris-tiansand and to the library too. But they had nothing suitable for young people."

"It's as if we are sitting at the very tip of the fine hairs in the white rabbit's fur."

"I wonder if there is anyone out there in the night of the light-years?"

"The rowboat has worked itself loose!"

"So it has!"

"I don't understand it. I went down and checked it just before you got here."

"Did you?"

"It reminds me of when Sophie borrowed Alberto's boat. Do you remember how it lay drifting out in the lake?"

"I bet it's her at work again."

"Go ahead and make fun of me. All evening, I've been able to feel someone here."

"One of us will have to swim out to it."