"We were introduced by a mutual friend abouttwo months ago. We haven't been together all that time because mytravel for work has created some gaps in us seeing eachother."
"You should be very careful with her: she isvery vulnerable," she cautioned.
"Vulnerable? I don't understand. Is she weak?Do people take advantage of her?"
"We probably should have stayed to hearHerondus for the whole weekend. That was one of the things he istalking about. Men, particularly, need to understand the idea; itcomes naturally to most women.
"I should have said emotionally vulnerable.Being emotionally vulnerable, for women at least, means beingwilling, or able, to put themselves out there emotionally and gointo the depths of feeling, It is like playing Texas Hold'em pokerand being able to go all-in. They are willing to bet all the chips,except they are emotional chips."
She saw the confused expression on my face andsaid, "Next time Herondus does a workshop we will have togo."
Back in my office, Monday, I had an email fromDore saying that she had contacted Candice Montgomery, and shewould be giving me a call.
****
At mid-afternoon Zaza buzzed me and said,"There is a Candice Montgomery calling. I don't know which one sheis."
I picked up the phone and said, "Hello, this isDavid Willard."
"Mr. Willard, I am Candice Montgomery, aconsultant for the Colson Foundation. Dore Hamilton asked for me tocall."
"Pleased to meet you," I replied. "I am workingfor them also. I will be representing them in a civil caseinvolving remote sensing. Are you familiar with remotesensing?"
"Yes, I did a paper with one of the formermembers of the CIA remote sensing program a couple of years ago.That paper resulted in me being called on by the Colson Foundationto do some more work. We have had a nice relationship."
She sounded rather formal, possibly defensive,so I explained, "They seemed in awe of your work. I have spent mostof my career as a patent attorney working in the high tech area.The only thing I know about remote sensing is what I read in a bookby Steve Manteo. Colson said they wanted me because they thoughtstarting with a clean slate on the subjects would allow me not tobe prejudiced by other beliefs on the subject. They said talking toyou would be a good starting point. I am your student. I also maywant to use you as an expert in the civil case."
"That is good to know. I find it hard to dealwith some people who have made up their mind that quantum mechanicsis the explanation for remote sensing and ESP. But, I don't think Ican do a good job talking about my research on the phone, without ablackboard, or visual aids. It is quite a way for you to come uphere beyond Pasadena. I have some other business in your area firstthing Monday morning. Can I meet you at your office aboutten?"
"That's fine with me. Let's make it a lunchtoo," I replied.
She agreed and said she would send me the webaddress for her paper on remote sensing. She would be at my officeat 10:00 tomorrow.
I downloaded her paper and thought, 'Teacher isassigning me homework.'
****
I spent the early morning studying her paper.It explained eight–dimensional space and gave an abbreviatedtheoretical treatment of how it pertained to remote sensing. Itgave a general description of the CIA's remote sensing program. Ilooked at the references. She had been writing papers abouteight–dimensional space for over a decade.
I spent time refreshing my memory onmathematical concepts with Wikipedia. I tried to read somethingabout Relativity until my eyes glazed over.
I googled Candice and found that she had beenborn in Louisiana and lived with, or was raised by, Native Americanrelatives. It didn't show her personal history, but somehow sheearned her PhD in math from Tulane University.
At 10:00, Zaza buzzed me and said, "Yourvisitor is in the conference room."
Candice is of average height and a rather frailbuild. She was wearing a long black, pleated dress, matching herlong straight black hair. Her bronze complexion betrayed her mixedracial heritage. She had amazing light blue eyes.
"Candice, how nice to meet you in person." Isaid. "I saw you present a talk on Statistical Optics last fall ata conference at Disneyland Hotel."
She reflected a minute and brightened as sheremembered the conference. "Did we meet there?"
"No," I said. "There were only about fivehundred people there. I don't know why you don't recallme."
She laughed and said, "I kind of go somewhereelse when I lecture,"
"And you take your audience with you. I reallyenjoyed the lecture. Statistical Optics has never been the same forme since your lecture."
When Candice looked at me, it was as though Iwas the most amazing person she ever met. Her wide light blue eyesseemed to portray a mix of great curiosity and admiration. I hadseen that look when she lectured at Disneyland, and had wondered ifit was the result of overzealous plastic surgery. She lookednatural in person. She was radiating curiosity and interest, asthough something unknown and good were about to happen, somethingmystical.
While opening her eyes even wider she said,"Tell me about your science and math background to give me a frameof reference. Also, tell me about the case you are workingon."
I complied, described my undergraduatescientific education, and described my more technical patent cases.Then, I described the Colson case and mentioned that the trialwould be in a court in Rocky Butte County.
"It sounds like another Scopes Trial to me,"she observed.
"We call it The State of Tennessee vs. Scopes,"I joked.
"Well, in Tennessee, Scopes was guilty ofchallenging a belief system, creationism as described by the Bible,with a belief called Evolution. The Sheriff, who sounds like aredneck, probably has a high school science education, except forsome forensic stuff in whatever sheriff's academy he attended. Youare challenging his conventional belief system derived from what helearned in high school and has observed in his three-dimensionalreality.
"They will probably throw some technicallyobsolete scientists at you in the trial to show that 'there is noscientific evidence that....' Instead of a contest between theBiblical beliefs and science, as in the Scopes
