Dominoes

Last night j^C, That Sprout, and I went to the Halloween party at the office at the apartment complex. There was a Chinese woman there whom I wound up talking to for a little bit. Jake ended up talking to her more than I did because they could talk in Chinese. On the way home from the party I asked Jake what they had talked about and if her husband was in the Army. He said. "No, he does something with atomic energy."

Say what?

I didn't think much more about this until this morning when I googled "Augusta Atomic Energy" and found out about the Savannah River Site nuclear reservation in Aiken, SC. I have a stockpile of plutonium and depleted uranium in my back yard and no one told me about it. This would be no big thing if I had known about it before I started the whole "American Science" thing, but finding out about it now feels a little uncanny. And my neighbor is a nuclear engineer? It's like dominoes falling.

Nice place for a picnic, right? (Source)

So, I did a little research on the place and I found that they have a Citizen's Advisory Board. I thought "I used to be on a board. (It was actually a commission, but whatever.) I should put in an application. Maybe it'll be useful to writing." So, I called the number that was listed on the website and asked a few questions.

At first the man on the phone told me that they weren't taking any new board members until 2018, but then he found out that I was under 65, a military spouse, and a resident of Columbia County and suddenly there was about to be an opening and I needed to submit my application as soon as possible. So, I did. Now, I wait. And I wonder, is my participation on the board in order to learn more about nuclear things to write about (i.e. research) a conflict of interest? I suppose if I find myself on the board I'll just have to ask.

In the meantime, I'm still counting down the days until I can start my novel and waiting patiently for it to be December when I can tour the Savannah River Site. That's right, they do tours and I'm taking one. I'll have to figure out how I'm going to get That Sprout picked up from school on time that day, but that should be the only thing standing between me and the inner sanctum.

Don't judge me. (Source)

There's a part of me that's wondering why I'm doing all this. There's another part of me that feels like I'm just doing what I'm being led to do. The dominoes all seem to fall to this. Then, there's a third part of me that feels like it's some sort of candle I'm burning; some grande gesture I'm making - some attempt to know someone I know I'll never know. Deep down I know this answer has the most truth to it and I wonder what it is about this man that has me so possessed.

Why is it that the other boy geniuses who built reactors don't elicit nearly the same response from me? Is it because Duran Duran wrote a song about him? Is it his youthful exuberance? His reckless abandon? Is it the fact that he tried or the fact that he failed that captures my imagination? What is it about this story that captivates me?

My heart is too unstable. (Source)