He Defied Physics

“Mom? Who invented the water clock?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the Egyptians?”

“No, Mom. I mean the modern water clock.”

Puck zoomed around the house on rollerblades in his pajamas. Oxbear was still at Globalhack at the Chaifetz, and I was trying to get both boys ready for church. But the ever-inquisitive Puck’s curiosity had to be satisfied, so I paused for us to do a little research.

“There aren’t that many water clocks left, apparently. There’s one in Germany… and Indiana…”

“Well, Mom, they don’t know what they’re talking about then,” Puck sighed. “Because you can buy them on Vat19. So they’re everywhere.”

Somehow, we still made it to Sunday School on time.

During the sermon – Yali hung out in the nursery with Gloria – Puck leaned over to me, busy with a stack of paper and a pair of borrowed scissors. I know he still hears the preacher, because he’ll make commentary, or whisper questions. But this time, he had a different thought for me.

“Mom? Can you get me a scissors and duct tape for Christmas?”

After church, the boys and I took a quick trip to the store for a birthday gift, and hand towels (because I’ve realized lately that it’s been over twelve years since we’ve had new ones). And then dropped Puck off in Ballwin for a pizza-birthday-cake-City-Museum birthday party.

Yali and I hung out at the house for awhile where everyone lounged on the front porch in the mild autumn afternoon.

“So, is there some prize for this Globalhack?” Carrie asked.

“I don’t really know…” I said, realizing that I didn’t know anything about Globalhack at all. “Oxbear’s team just made it to the second round though.”

“I think it’s like a ten thousand dollar prize,” said Rose. “Something like that. My company sent a team over there, too.”

“Yeah, and I think if they won, the money would go to their company,” I added.

Clearly, I had no idea what I was talking about. Much later back home, Oxbear texted me: “We won.”

Not just their division, but the whole competition, against 150 teams from around the world. And with two giant checks to split amongst the five members of their team.

Later, Puck tried to process what had just happened. “So what was the chance that Dad would win the competition?” he asked.

I pulled out a calculator. “Looks like about .7%.”

Puck grinned. “And yet he defied physics, and won.”