Amelia slumped against the back of the seat,

Amelia slumped against the back of the seat, head turned slightly to face the car window. Her eyes glazed over as she stared outside at the passing streets. Everything had begun to

get darker as night creeped in. Amelia wondered why her mother had been in such a hurry to pack up and leave the house, but she would not speak or take her eyes off the highway.

Amelia glanced at mom nervously driving down the dark highway. Something must be wrong, there's no other reason for us to rush out the house like this, she thought.

"What has happened to dad," I asked fearing the worse. The knuckles of her hands on the sterring wheel went even whiter. "Your father has left us to go live with an exotic number."

"An exotic number?" I spooled those words around in my head over and over, trying to make sense ofthem. What makes a number 'exotic'....? And why was this the point?

Dr. Sardonicus helped me out with this one. I had to write a paper about it. There were books I found at the library. My own academic career at the same university depended on it.

When it comes to a pressing academic situation like this, I do what I do best: get in a group with the smart kids. They did all the work and I got all Dr. Sardonicus's praise.

I took it for granted the nerds' altruism was out of love for science, but then they asked me to attend an orgy. It turns out their idea of it is to hit each other with slide rules

wearing nothing but pocket protectors taped to their pale and flabby bodies. Look, I'm a believer in science, but amount of bleach will rinse that vision from my eyes. No, sir.