Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [25]
"Sure," Tim said. Why the hell did Pat have to bring that up? His mother would, before the night was over. Timmy, why aren't you married yet?
One day I'll answer, Tim told himself. One day I'll say it. "Because every time I find a girl I think I could live with, you scare her spitless and she runs away, that's why."
"I'm still hungry," Penelope Joyce announced.
"Good Lord." Jill patted her stomach. "Where do you put it? I want your secret. Only don't tell me it's your clothes. Greg says we can't afford your creations."
Penelope took Tim's hand. "Come on, show me where the popcorn is. I'll shake. You get the bowls."
"But—"
"They'll find their own drinks." She led him to the kitchen. "Let them talk about you while you're out here. They'll admire you even more. After all, you're the star tonight."
"Think so?" He looked into her eyes. "I can never tell when you're putting me on."
"There's luck. Where's the butter?"
The show was great. Tim knew that when he saw his family watching it, watching him on television.
Randall had gone all over the world, showing amateur astronomers staring at the sky. "Most comets are discovered by amateurs," Randall said. "The public rarely appreciates how much these skywatchers aid the big observatories. Of course, some amateurs aren't amateur at all." The scene cut to Tim Hamner showing off his mountain observatory, and his assistant, Marty, demonstrating equipment. Tim had thought the sequence would be too short, but when he watched his family watching him and it ended with them eager for more he realized that Harv Randall had been right. Always leave them wanting a little more …
"And," Randall's voice said, "some are more amateur than others." The camera zoomed in on a smiling teen-age boy with a telescope. The instrument looked competent, but it was obviously home-built. "Gavin Brown, of Centerville, Iowa. Gavin, how did you happen to be looking for comets at the right time and place?"
"I wasn't." Brown's voice was not pleasant. He was young, and shy, and he talked too loud. "I made some adjustments to the setting circles because I wanted to look at Mercury in the daytime, only you have to have everything adjusted right to find Mercury because it's so close to the Sun, and—"
"So you found Hamner-Brown by accident," Harvey Randall said.
Greg McCleve laughed. Jill gave her husband a sharp look.
"Tell me, Gavin," Randall said. "Since you didn't see the comet until well after Mr. Hamner did, but you reported it almost at the same instant—how did you know it was a new comet?"
"It was something that didn't belong there."
"You mean you know everything that does belong there?" Randall said. The screen showed a photograph of the sky around Hamner-Brown. It was full of stars.
"Sure. Doesn't everybody?"
"He does, too," Tim said. "He stayed here a week, and I swear, he can draw star maps from memory."
"He stayed here?" Tim's mother asked.
"Sure. In the spare room."
"Oh." Tim's mother stared very hard at the set.
"Where's George tonight?" Jill asked. "Another date? Mother, did you know that Tim's houseboy has been dating Linda Gillray?"
"Pass the popcorn," Penelope Joyce said. "Where is Brown now, Tim?"
"Back in Iowa."
"Those commercials sell much soap?" Greg asked. He pointed at the set.
"Kalva does all right," Tim said. "Twenty-six point four percent of the market last year—"
"Jeez, they must be better than I thought," Greg said. "Who's your advertising man?"
Then the program was on again. There wasn't much more about Tim Hamner. Once discovered, Hamner-Brown Comet was the world's. Now the star was Charles Sharps, who talked about comets and the importance of knowing the Sun and planets and stars. Tim wasn't disappointed, but he thought the others were. Except for Pat, who watched Sharps and kept nodding. Once, Pat looked up and said, "If I'd had a science professor like him in my freshman year, I might have discovered a comet myself. Do you know him very well?"
"Sharps? Never met him. But I've got more of him on the video recordings," Tim said. "There's more of