Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet (shoe dog free ebook .txt) 📕

—They ran the article in the New Mexican, said Ann.

—Of course they ran it, said Szilard. —We made fourteen papers nationwide. Including the Dallas Morning News.

—I was surprised myself, Oppenheimer told Ann. —Leo’s always so confident.

—I’ve been on hold for forty minutes, said Szilard angrily to the cell phone. —This is unacceptable.

—Forty minutes? said Ann to Oppenheimer. —He just called them a few seconds ago!

He shook his head and ground out his cigarette. She noticed he had changed from Lucky Strikes to Dunhills under Larry’s patronage.

—But worse, said Oppenheimer, as Szilard withdrew to the next room with his phone, —we were approached by a man in military dress who warned us to withdraw the lawsuit.

—You’re kidding, said Ann, and felt her stomach turn.

—He implied they were willing to harm us if we didn’t.

—Harm how? asked Ann, and when he raised an eyebrow she wrapped her arms around herself. The air-conditioning had turned arctic. —What are you going to do?

—We haven’t decided. Would you like to take a walk? I wouldn’t mind seeing Las Vegas again. When I was here last it was nothing like this. You can imagine. It was just a cowtown.

—You deserve a break, said Larry. —Let’s go downstairs and play cards!

—I have to call Ben again, said Ann. —Excuse me.

There was a knock on the door and Larry rose to get it as she dialed.

—Wow! said Larry, and beamed at the room-service guy. —I thought you said forty minutes!

—Did we get the croissants? asked Szilard, re-entering from the balcony. His senses were finely attuned. He hovered over the room service cart as it was rolled in. —What is this, a Danish? A Danish? But there’s no chocolate on it! I ordered a chocolate croissant!

—Remain calm, Leo, said Oppenheimer.

America has always been the world’s leading designer, producer and tester of nuclear weapons, as it is the world’s leading designer of guns. Since 1945, more than two thousand nuclear tests have been conducted worldwide, of which about a thousand were conducted by the U.S.

But the largest single thermonuclear explosion ever produced was a child of the Soviet Union.

This fifty-eight-megaton blast, in October 1961, was set off on the mountainous Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya, inhabited by northern tribes since the Stone Age. It had about six thousand times the force of Little Boy.

The people living on the islands sustained themselves by fishing and hunting. There was also a large herd of reindeer.

—It’s me, said Ann, when Ben picked up the phone. —I wanted to let you know they got to the hotel. The crisis is over.

—Good, sweetheart. But listen. There’s someone here who wants to talk to Szilard, said Ben. —He’s had some problems reaching him. OK?

—Dr. Szilard? said Ted the lawyer, taking the receiver. —Ted here. I’ve been trying to reach you for days!

He waited briefly and then shrugged in Ben’s direction, shaking his head.

—Anyway. We got a problem. So far the DOD’s ignored us, right? Radio silence. But then right after you sent that one fax off to Livermore some spooks in suits came to my office looking for you. They flashed Army Intelligence badges but I think they were full of shit. They could be basically anyone. What? … Fort Huachuca, they said.

He waited while the receiver squawked.

—Anyway I told them you were out of the country. I’m pretty sure they’ve been doing surveillance on me. I think I lost them walking over here, they couldn’t follow me in their car because I kinda weaved between houses and took some back streets, but these guys are on the hunt. I’m not kidding. These guys are scaring the shit out of me. I think you need to go underground, Leo. These people were insinuating you’re a threat to national security. Next thing we know they’ll call you a terrorist and lock you up at Guantanamo … what do you mean, you already know …?

He waited a few seconds and then his face changed and he hit the wall with his palm.

—Next it’s gonna be death threats. And you didn’t bother to tell me this? I got two kids!

—I’m tired of listening to Leo yell into the telephone, said Oppenheimer, and sighed heavily. —Excuse us, Larry. I’m taking this coffee with me. Ann and I are going for a walk.

They went down in the elevator and when she stepped out she was dizzy, as usual. As they wove their way over the carpet and through the crowded labyrinth of the casino, past roulette wheels and card tables, she felt gratified he had chosen her company, chosen it to the exclusion of others. And realizing she was glad she felt like a child in a contest. Being alone with him was a privilege, though it shouldn’t be and to think of it that way was in fact demeaning. She had to shake the conviction that she was in Oppenheimer’s debt, because in fact if either of them was in debt it was he.

—King Tut’s tomb! cried Oppenheimer. —Is it authentic?

—What do you think, she said.

He looked crestfallen.

—I still want to see it, he said.

In the end she was always the supplicant because she was the one who worried about the imbalance, seeking equality.

—This a replica of the Great Temple of Ramses the Second, said Oppenheimer, as they passed out of the casino into the lobby. —If I’m not mistaken.

—Are those jugs on their heads?

—Jugs? They are crowns!

They emerged onto the sidewalk and she was overwhelmed by the bulk of the commerce on the Strip, the massive casino buildings looming in all their cartoon splendor, shining exaggerations. But the heat oppressed and everywhere there were cars, and the smell of exhaust enveloped them. On the pavement they were surrounded by fat middle-aged people in bright clothing, clothing loudly patterned and stretched over broad stomachs and bulging haunches. In the sweltering heat of the low desert tourists sweated and headed doggedly for the indoors.

You were not supposed to be on foot in