Saul turns on him, but Tom holds up a hand. He has started to giggle. He is waving vaguely at Saul. \u201cStop it,\u201d he says. \u201cYou win.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is an edge of hysteria in Tom\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
Saul\u2019s fist clenches.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou win,\u201d Tom says. \u201cYou win. No stomping. This boot isn\u2019t coming down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saul frowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho am I to stomp such a boot?\u201d says Tom. \u201cWhy would I do that? I am building a hammer of science, Saul. I showed it to you. When it is finished I will bring down this boot to smash things into the desired configuration. You think I have time to stomp a wolf?<\/em> And what then? Do I stomp some immortal ant that goes on a power binge? A vampire? Volcanoes? Bacteria? The sun?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTom,\u201d says Saul, softly.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s only one way to bring this baby down,\u201d says Tom, \u201cand that\u2019s to push that button over there.\u201d<\/p>\n He waves at the button.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that button,\u201d Tom says, \u201ccan\u2019t actually be pushed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh,\u201d says Saul.<\/p>\n Tom is laughing again. He can\u2019t help it. He\u2019s having a breakdown.<\/p>\n \u201cYour nose is all snotty,\u201d says Saul.<\/p>\n \u201cCannibals can\u2019t throw stones,\u201d says Tom.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a serious design flaw,\u201d <\/em>protests Saul, in shock, before realizing that Tom is just turning a phrase.<\/p>\n After a moment, Tom concedes, \u201cYes. My nose is snotty. I don\u2019t have any tissues, because I am in space.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a major oversight,\u201d says Saul.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n Tom glares at him. Then he sighs.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you going to eat me or not?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was my intention,\u201d says Saul. \u201cBut now I am having second thoughts. Have you been crying?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d says Tom. \u201cNo. That\u2019s ridiculous. I don\u2019t even have tear ducts. I\u2019m Tom Friedman.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom scratches at the edge of his hat. A marvelous face-concealing veil unrolls.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you can see,\u201d Tom says.<\/p>\n Saul stares at him in perplexity.<\/p>\n After a while, Tom mutters, \u201cStupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n He laughs. Then he howls. Then he laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you know, Saul? I\u2019ve always been.\u201d<\/p>\n Saul tilts his head. \u201cIs that so?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought,\u201d says Tom. \u201cI thought, if I took everything I was, if I took everything and I showed it \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n He sits down at his Tom-bench.<\/p>\n He blows his nose on his marvelous face-concealing veil, looks at it unhappily, and tugs it and releases it to retract it back into his hat.<\/p>\n \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want it?\u201d says Tom. \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want dreams and purpose? What wouldn\u2019t want to be like me, to have something that it\u2019s for? Why wouldn\u2019t the world take that and run with it, why wouldn\u2019t \u2014<\/p>\n \u201cI was going to put the world<\/em> in a hat<\/em>, Saul.\u201d<\/p>\n Saul looks down. Saul looks up.<\/p>\n Saul sighs.<\/p>\n \u201cOh,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n And he sits by Tom on the bench. He pulls Tom over and Tom rests his head on Saul\u2019s shoulder and Tom cries.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t want it?\u201d says Saul.<\/p>\n And Tom laughs. He can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n And a little bit later: \u201cWhy did I have to be Tom?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHm?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf all the things in the world,\u201d he says, \u201cthat I could have been, why did I have to be Tom?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saul turns on him, but Tom holds up a hand. He has started to giggle. He is waving vaguely at Saul. \u201cStop it,\u201d he says. \u201cYou win.\u201d There is an edge of hysteria in Tom\u2019s voice. Saul\u2019s fist clenches. \u201cYou win,\u201d Tom says. \u201cYou win. No stomping. This boot isn\u2019t coming down.\u201d Saul frowns. \u201cBecause?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"series":[50],"class_list":["post-6837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vidars-boot-chapter-20","series-vidars-boot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Vidar-Boot-Semifinal-e1435794342570.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6838,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6837\/revisions\/6838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6837"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=6837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}