The Invention of Everything Else (2 page)

I returned to my pine-tree laboratory and set to work. First, by constructing a simple system of gear wheels, I made an engine in need of a power supply. I then studied the insects in the jar and selected those that demonstrated the most aggressive and muscular tendencies. With a dab of glue on their thorax undersides, I stuck my eight strongest beetles to the wheel and stepped back. The glue was good; they could not escape its harness. I waited a moment, and in that moment my thoughts grew dark. Perhaps, I thought, the insects were in shock. I pleaded with the bugs, "Fly away!" Nothing. I tickled them with a twig. Nothing. I stomped my small feet in frustration and stepped back prepared to leave the laboratory and hide away from the failed experiment in the fronds of breakfast, when, just then, the engine began to turn. Slowly at first, like a giant waking up, but once the insects understood that they were in this struggle together their speed increased. I gave a jump of triumph and was immediately struck by a vision of the future in which humans would exist in a kingdom of ease, the burden of all our chores and travails would be borne by the world of insects. I was certain that this draft of the future would come to pass. The engine spun with a whirling noise. It was brilliant, and for a few moments I burned with this brilliance.

In the time it took me to complete my invention the world around me had woken up. I could hear the farm animals. I could hear people speaking, beginning their daily work. I thought how glad my mother would be when I told her that she'd no longer have to milk the goats
and cows, as I was developing a system where insects would take care of all that. This was the thought I was tumbling joyfully in when Vuk, a boy who was a few years older than me, entered into the laboratory. Vuk was the urchin son of an army officer. He was no friend of mine but rather one of the older children in town who, when bored, enjoyed needling me, vandalizing the laboratory I had built in the trees. But that morning my delight was such that I was glad to see even Vuk. I was glad for a witness. Quickly I explained to him how I had just revolutionized the future, how I had developed insect energy, the source that would soon be providing the world with cheap, replenishable power. Vuk listened, glancing once or twice at the June bug engine, which, by that time, was spinning at a very impressive speed. His envy was thick; I could nearly touch it. He kept his eyes focused on the glass jar that was still quite full of my power source. Vuk twisted his face up to a cruel squint. He curled the corners of his fat lips. With my lecture finished, he nodded and approached the jar. Unscrewing the lid he eyed me, as though daring me to stop him. Vuk sank his hand, his filthy fingernails, down into the mass of our great future and withdrew a fistful of beetles. Before I could even understand the annihilation I was about to behold, Vuk raised his arm to his mouth, opened the horrid orifice, and began to chew. A crunching sound I will never forget ensued. Tiny exoskeletons mashed between molars, dark legs squirming for life against his chubby white chin. With my great scheme crashing to a barbarous end—I could never look at a June bug again—I ran behind the nearest pine tree and promptly vomited.

On the ledge the birds are making a noise that sounds like contentment, like the purr of the ocean from a distance. I forget Vuk. I forget all thoughts of humans. I even forget about what I was searching for in the wall of drawers until, staring out at the sky, I don't forget anymore.

On December 12, 1901, Marconi sent a message across the sea. The message was simple. The message was the letter
S.
The message traveled from Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada. This
S
traveled on air, without wires, passing directly through mountains and buildings and trees, so that the world thought wonders might never cease. And it was true. It was a magnificent moment. Imagine, a letter across the ocean without wires.

But a more important date is October 1893, eight years earlier. The young Marconi was seated in a crowded café huddled over, intently reading a widely published and translated article written by me, Nikola Tesla. In the article I revealed in exacting detail my system for both wireless transmission of messages and the wireless transmission of energy. Marconi scribbled furiously.

I pet one bird to keep the chill from my hands. The skin of my knee is visible through my old suit. I am broke. I have given AC electricity to the world. I have given radar, remote control, and radio to the world, and because I asked for nothing in return, nothing is exactly what I got. And yet Marconi took credit. Marconi surrounded himself with fame, strutting as if he owned the invisible waves circling the globe.

Quite honestly, radio is a nuisance. I know. I'm its father. I never listen to it. The radio is a distraction that keeps one from concentrating.

"HooEEEhoo?" There is no answer.

I'll have to go find her. It is getting dark and Bryant Park is not as close as it once was, but I won't rest tonight if I don't see her. Legs first, I reenter the hotel, and armed with a small bag of peanuts, I set off for the park where my love often lives.

The walk is a slow one, as the streets are beginning to fill with New Year's Eve revelers. I try to hurry, but the sidewalks are busy with booby traps. One gentleman stops to blow his nose into a filthy handkerchief, and I dodge to the left, where a woman tilts her head back in a laugh. Her pearl earrings catch my eye. Just the sight of those monstrous jewels sets my teeth on edge, as if my jaws were being ground down to dull nubs. Through this obstacle course I try to outrun thoughts of Marconi. I try to outrun the question that repeats and repeats in my head, paced to strike with every new square of sidewalk I step on. The question is this: "If they are your patents, Niko, why did Marconi get word—well, not word but letter—why did he get a letter across the ocean before you?" I walk quickly. I nearly run. Germs be damned. I glance over my shoulder to see if the question is following. I hope I have outpaced it.

New York's streets wend their way between the arched skyscrapers. Most of the street-level businesses have closed their doors for the evening. Barbizon Hosiery. Conte's Salumeria, where a huge tomcat
protects the drying sausages. Santangelo's Stationery and Tobacco. Wasserstein's Shoes. Jung's Nautical Maps and Prints. The Wadesmith Department Store. All of them closed for the holiday. My heels click on the sidewalks, picking up speed, picking up a panic. I do not want this question to catch me, and worse, I do not want the answer to this question to catch me. I glance behind myself one more time. I have to find her tonight.

I turn one corner and the question is there, waiting, smoking, reading the newspaper. I pass a lunch counter and see the question sitting alone, slurping from a bowl of chicken soup. "If they are your patents, Niko, why did Marconi send a wireless letter across the ocean before you?"

The question makes me itch. I decide to focus my thoughts on a new project, one that will distract me. As I head north, I develop an appendix of words that begin with the letter
S,
words that Marconi's first wireless message stood for.

1. saber-toothed

2. sabotage

3. sacrilege

4. sad

5. salacious

6. salesman

7. saliva

8. sallow

9. sanguinary

10. sap

11. sarcoma

12. sardonic

13. savage

14. savorless

15. scab

16. scabies

17. scalawag

18. scald

19. scandal

20. scant

21. scar

22. scarce

23. scary

24. scatology

25. scorn

26. scorpion

27. scourge

28. scrappy

29. screaming

30. screed

31. screwball

32. scrooge

33. scrupulousness

34. scuffle

35. scum

36. scurvy

37. seizure

38. selfish

39. serf

40. sewer

41. shabby

42. shady

43. sham

44. shameless

45. shark

46. shifty

47. sick

48. siege

49. sinful

50. sinking

51. skewed

52. skunk

53. slander

54. slaughter

55. sleaze

56. slink

57. slobber

58. sloth

59. slug

60. slur

61. smear

62. smile

63. snake

64. sneak

65. soulless

66. spurn

67. stab

68. stain

69. stale

70. steal

71. stolen

72. stop

stop

stop.

Marconi is not the one to blame. But if he isn't, I have to wonder who is.

About ten years ago Bryant Park was redesigned. Its curves were cut into straight lines and rimmed with perennial flower beds. Years before that a reservoir, one with fifty-foot-high walls, sat off to the east, filled with silent, still water as if it were a minor sea in the middle of New York City. As I cross into the park I feel cold. I feel shaky. I feel as if it is the old reservoir and not the park that I am walking into. My chest is constricted by the pressure of this question, by this much water. I look for her overhead, straining to collect the last navy light in the sky. Any attempt to swim to the surface is thwarted by a weakness in my knees, by "Why did Marconi get all the credit for inventing radio?" The reservoir's been gone for years. Still, I kick my legs for the surface. My muscles feel wooden and rotten. I am only eighty-six. When did my body become old? My legs shake. I am embarrassed for my knees. If she won't come tonight the answer will be all too clear. Marconi took the credit because I didn't. Yes, I invented radio, but what good is an invention that exists only in one's head?

I manage a "HooEEEhoo?" and wait, floating until, through the water overhead, there's a ripple, a white-tipped flutter. "HooEEEhoo! HooEEEhoo!" The sight of her opens a door, lets in the light, and I'm left standing on the dry land of Bryant Park. She is here. I take a deep
breath. The park is still and peaceful. She lands on top of Goethe's head. Goethe, cast here in bronze, does not seem to mind the intrusion of her gentle step.

We're alone. My tongue is knotted, unsure how to begin. My heart catches fire. "I watched for you at the hotel" I say.

She does not answer but stares at me with one orange eye, an eye that remembers me before all this gray hair set in, back when I was a beauty too. Sometimes it starts like this between us. Sometimes I can't hear her. I take a seat on a nearby bench. I'll have to concentrate. On top of Goethe's head she looks like a brilliant idea. Her breast is puffed with breath. Agitation makes it hard to hear what she is saying.

"Perhaps you would like some peanuts?" I ask, removing the bag from my pocket. I spread some of the nut meats out carefully along the base of the statue before sitting back down.

She is here. I will be fine. The air is rich with her exhalations. It calms me. I'm OK even when I notice that the question has slithered out of the bushes. It has settled down on the bench beside me, less a menace now, more like an irritating companion I long ago grew used to. I still my mind to hers and then I can hear.

"Niko, who is your friend?" she asks.

I turn toward it. The question has filled the bench beside me, spilling over into my space, squashing up against my thigh. The question presents itself to her. "If they were Nikola's patents, why did Marconi get all the credit for inventing the radio?"

"Hmm," she says. "That's a very good question indeed" She fluffs her wings into flight, lowering herself from Goethe's head, over the point of his tremendous nose, down to where I'd spread a small supper for her. She begins to eat, carefully pecking into one peanut. She lifts her head. The manifestation of precision. "There are many answers to that question, but what do you think, Niko?"

It seems so simple in front of her. "I suppose I allowed it to happen" I say, finally able to bear this truth now that she is here. "At the time I couldn't waste months, years, developing an idea I already knew would work. I had other projects I had to consider."

"Yes, you've always been good at considering," she says. "It's carrying an idea to fruition that is your stumbling block. And the world requires proof of genius inventions. I suppose you know that now."

She is strolling the pedestal's base. I notice a slight hesitation to her walk. "Are you feeling all right?" I ask.

"I'm fine." She turns to face me, changing the subject back to me. "Then there is the matter of money."

"Yes. I've never wanted to believe that invention requires money but have found lately that good ideas are very hard to eat."

She smiles at this. "You could have been a rich man seventy times over," she reminds me.

"Yes," I say. It's true.

"You wanted your freedom instead. 'I would not suffer interference from any experts,' is how you put it."

And then it is my turn to smile. "But really." I lean forward. "Who can own the invisible waves traveling through the air?"

"Yes. And yet, somehow, plenty of people own intangible things all the time."

"Things that belong to all of us! To no one! Marconi," I spit as if to remind her, "will never be half the inventor I am."

She ruffles her feathers and stares without blinking. I tuck my head in an attempt to undo my statement, my bluster.

"Marconi," she reminds me, "has been dead for six years."

She stares again with a blank eye, and so I try, for her sake, to envision Marconi in situations of nobility. Situations where, for example, Marconi is being kind to children or caring for an aging parent. I try to imagine Marconi stopping to admire a field of purple cow vetch in bloom. Marconi stoops, smells, smiles, but in every imagining I see his left hand held high, like victory, a white scarf fluttering in the breeze.

"Please," she finally says. "Not this old story, darling." Her eye remains unblinking. She speaks to me and it's like thunder, like lightning that burns to ash my bitter thoughts of Marconi.

Bryant Park seems to have fallen into my dream. We are alone, the question having slithered off in light of its answer. She finishes her meal while I watch my breath become visible in the dropping temperature.