the driver of the pickup truck was wearing a straw hat of a type that yeti had never seen except in cartoons and old movies, on farmers.
“are you a farmer?” yeti asked hi.
“no, i am not,” the man answered.
“what are you, then,” yeti persisted, “if it is not too rude to ask.”
“i am a scientist.”
“a scientist! i seem to be meeting a lot of scientists lately.”
the driver nodded, but did not answer.
the rain seemed to have let up but but the fog increased. they passed no lights either on the road or on the sides of the road, and it was hard to see anything else n the fog, but the driver kept straight ahead without changing speed.
“what kind of a scientist are you?” yeti asked.
“the kind that goes his own way,” the driver responded immediately. “the kind that cares nothing for so-called received wisdom, that believes nothing simply because the graybeards in the scientific establishment have declared it to be so since time immemorial.”
“oh.” yeti considered this. “do you have a laboratory, a secret laboratory perhaps, located deep in the woods?”
“i have no laboratory at all, young man, unless you count the laboratory in my head.”
“so then i guess you are not a mad scientist.”
“ha, ha! not at all, young man! i glory in the name of mad scientist! if the name is a finger in the eye of the pompous baboons and and cowardly lizards on the royal scientific committees! ha ha!”
“i only asked,” yeti said, “because i seen to have run unto quite a few mad scientists lately. i was purchased by a mad scientist as soon as i landed on this planet, then helped to escape by another fellow who claimed to have been trained by the mad scientist, and who rather implied that he had been one himself. if i understood him correctly. and now, only hours later, i meet you. that seems like quite a few mad scientists, considering that i never met a single one on my home planet. are there a lot of mad scientists on this planet?” this was quite a long speech for yeti, who was usually a creature of few words, and he fell back against the back of the cab, and closed his eyes.
“i do not know about your planet,” he heard the driver’s voice, “ but there are infinite universes, and in this one there are infinite mad scientists, just as there are infinite sand beetles, and grains of sand.”
“of course,” said yeti, “what was ii thinking?”
“what is your name, by the way?” the driver asked .
“yeti. what is yours?”
“my name is doctor edwardstein, but my friends call me eddie.”
“may i call you eddie?”
“of course not. you are not my friend. i just met you, i do not even know you.”
“i am sorry, doctor, i do not know what came over me.”
“that is all right, people from different universes have different little ways. tell me, are you hungry?”
“yes, very!” yeti liked the turn the conversation was taking.
“i thought i might stop at my friend the countess’s. she lives in a haunted castle just up ahead. her pastry cooks have usually whipped up something tasty at this time of night. would you care to join me in calling on her?”
“yes, i would be honored,” yeti replied eagerly.
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