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(Jenny took another bite of her sandwich. She had an idea where this might lead, but it was fascinating to her that she hadn’t been the only person somewhat blindsided by an unexpected opportunity.
She realized already that she and her aunt had a number of personality differences. She would have never spoken up to a professor or someone in authority in that way during her college years, and she had been very wrapped up in getting good grades.
She flipped a page....)
Lizzie spent the next couple of weeks moving out of her dorm room into the studio apartment above Professor Cormier’s workshop. The space was in a large, two-story, industrial-style metal building in a warehouse district. The parking lot was huge, meant to handle employee’s vehicles and delivery trucks, but the only car in the parking lot belonged to Professor Cormier. It was a two-toned Chevy Bel Aire with a black top and white body.
Lizzie had expressed surprise at such a nice car for a man on a professor’s salary, and she said so.
The professor’s eyebrows had shot up in surprise, and then he grinned. “You don’t think this property is cost free? No, Lizzie, this is all mine. Science, done right, can pay very well. Teaching is more a very entertaining and satisfying hobby for me.”
He began by showing her where she would live during the apprenticeship. The small apartment had its own entrance on the outside of the building, stairs leading up from the side of the building, just off of the parking lot.
At the front of the main building, she noticed two large metal garage-type doors that would allow pretty much anything smaller than a dump truck to enter the space. Lizzie wondered if the building just came like that or whether the professor ever actually had projects that were large enough to require the use of the big doors. To the right of the large doors on the loading dock, there was also a regular glass door with a deadbolt lock that led into the office area of the space. You could use that door to go through to the workshop/lab.
Lizzie didn’t own a car, so she was glad she would have a short commute from the little apartment down the flight of stairs and through the office door. She owned a bicycle, and that would do for her. Any trip that she couldn’t handle on her bike meant she would use the “yellow cars” as the electric trolleys in the Los Angeles area were called, or the bus lines. All in all, however, other than trips to a local grocery store, Lizzie had neither the time nor the inclination to go “gallivanting,” as her father was fond of saying.
The little apartment was small but didn’t feel cramped. The small living area included a couch, a desk, a little kitchenette, and a furnished bedroom that led into a simple bathroom, with a shower stall instead of a bathtub. Since she had been living in the dorm up until now, she didn’t have much in the way of possessions to arrange in the space.
When she had finally moved all of her things into her place, she went to the downstairs office to report to the professor, who had returned from the university. “I’m in, professor.” she said to him briskly. “When do we start?”
“First, you need to know the rules. Have a seat.”
Obediently Lizzie sat, eager to begin, but unwilling to get off on the wrong foot with this man she would be working with for at least a year.
“You have signed the nondisclosure agreement and the contract as an apprentice. This means you follow instructions immediately and with exactness. Often times, for safety’s sake, there will be no time for lengthy explanations. At the completion of each project, we will review the process and discuss what you have learned.
“You will keep a study journal and always have it easily to hand. This is a separate document from any personal journal you may already be writing. This journal will be made available to me at my request, so I can correct any misunderstandings or incorrect conclusions you may have drawn, as well as discuss your thought processes as you go along. This will be absolutely required as part of your training.
“Secondly, you will be working much of the time on your own when I am away at the university. This means you will need to be very aware of the safety protocols I have put into place within these walls. We will be building discipline and training your body to quickly respond to your mind. Within a month or two, these protocols should come naturally without thinking. This is vital for your safety and mine, as well as the successful completion of the projects we will be pursuing.
“Finally, everything you see here—everything—is confidential. You are not to speak of it to anyone, ever. Even something that may seem insignificant to you may be more than it appears to be. Am I clear?”
Lizzie nodded. “Yes, sir. Clear as glass.”
Professor Cormier handed her an essay notebook and a pen. “Come with me.”
He led her through the door that led into the workshop. Just outside the door, he reached for a lab coat hanging on a wooden coat rack. “Put this on. There is a pocket protector in the breast pocket for your pens, and the large front pockets below will accommodate your notebook.”
Lizzie did as she was told as the professor donned his own lab coat. As she turned away from the little nook just outside the office door, she gasped. She had expected a real laboratory atmosphere, white, sterile, and organized. This was not at all like that. This was more like a haphazardly curated museum with no apparent theme.
From the metal beams of the two-story ceiling hung a disparate collection of things, from a small aircraft to the assembled skeleton of some huge flying creature she didn’t recognize. The main room was divided into various sections with different tool sets and assembly areas. Some of the areas had the traditional beakers and Bunsen burners, but most of them looked a lot more like a crafting area with contraptions of many kinds in various stages of construction, most of which were puzzling to her.
He led her over to an area in a far corner, which held what appeared to be woodworking tools. “Over time, you will be introduced to the various ongoing projects in the lab, but for now we will start with the necessary disciplines to graduate you to more intricate projects. In this process, you will learn a great deal about physics and will be able to employ your prodigious math skills. I imagine this all looks like an eclectic jumble, but I assure you that every space of the lab has a specific purpose related to the sciences and invention.”
At this point, Lizzie was beginning to wonder if signing that contract was a big mistake. But she decided to withhold judgment for the moment. She had made the commitment, and she wasn’t one to go back on her word.
“Do you know how to use basic carpentry tools? Saws, hammers, sanders, and the like?”
“I’ve worked with my dad on some projects around our home, professor, but I wouldn’t consider myself a craftsman, if that is what you mean.”
“No, no, that will be more than adequate. For your first project, you will build a simple frame loom. I have typed out instructions for you.” And he handed her a one-page document.
“All the materials you will need are in the cabinet behind you. Safety goggles in the drawer of your workbench and tools hanging on the pegboard above the workbench. Assembly table is next to the workbench. Please take notes of your thoughts as you work. Be honest in your notes. Also note any thoughts that come to you about how to improve the process. Once this part of the project is complete, you will be using the loom to create a number of weavings.
“I want you to speculate as you go and to journal about your conclusions and the overall experience. Some of the questions you may want to consider are: Why is he having me do this? What am I learning about physical mechanics? How would I have done this without the instructions? How is weaving relevant to the sciences?
“I will be in and out of the lab, as my schedule permits, and you can ask any questions you might have. At the end of this part of your project, when you are satisfied with the quality of your work, leave me a note in the office on my desk. I’ll arrange for us to sit down and discuss it and get you started on the next step in your process. After that, you will begin the actual weaving process. Any questions?”
Lizzie shook her head numbly. At this point she didn’t have a clue why this was relevant or what this had to do with science, but Professor Cormier’s classes had always been insightful and interesting, and she had never known him to be prone to any eccentricities that would make her doubt his sanity, nor did he seem to be a prankster. Undoubtedly this was a test, and she wouldn’t make a snap judgment, as she might normally have done.
“I’ll leave you to get on with it, then,” he said, suiting action to words and turning towards the office, but then he turned again. He tossed her a key-ring with several jingling keys on it.
“You’ll need to be able to get into the lab when I am not here, which is most of the time. The small key is the key to the cabinet. Each cabinet in the lab has its own lock. Oh, and please tidy your area when you are finished each day. I know this place looks like a jumble, but I know where everything is, and would like to keep it that way.”
Once again Lizzie nodded and watched as he turned back and went out through the office door. She could hear him walk out the warehouse entrance and then heard the hum of his Bel Aire as he left, probably to that day’s classes. She wondered how much he was ever in the lab, considering his class schedule and just taking care of his own basic needs. She knew almost nothing about him—no more than any of her other college professors—but she had a feeling that would probably change.
She sat on the tall stool next to the workbench and began to read. There were lights hanging from the ceiling over each work area, but for now the light was supplied by the intermittent skylights arrayed along the length of the building on either side of the peaked roof. The instructions were fairly simple, so she went to the supply cupboard and began to assemble her supplies. One-by-two-inch wooden strips which appeared to be made of oak, finishing nails, corrugated frame fasteners, carpenter’s glue, and sandpaper were all there, as called for in her instructions. She then assembled her tools, a ball-peen hammer and a tack hammer, a hacksaw, a miter box, and some small wood clamps.
She started by measuring the wood and marking it to the desired length. This would be similar to making an overlarge picture frame, and the corners of the wood would have to be mitered for the best fit. The miter box had angles measured out, so it was a matter of positioning the wood on the box and making the cut using the guides.
Cutting the oak with a hacksaw was hard work but she did it carefully, not rushing the process despite her impatience with the time it would take. She knew this was inevitably some kind of a test, and she wouldn’t fail it by a lack of attention to detail. Once she had the four mitered sides completed, she put the remaining pieces of wood into the used wood bin at one side of the workbench and decided to take some time out and have a bite of lunch before proceeding.
She made sure her supplies and equipment were carefully put in order and the sawdust swept up and left the building to head up the stairs to her apartment, after being sure to lock the outside door to the lab.
So far, her little place was very plain, simple furnishings and no pictures on the walls. She didn’t imagine she would be spending much time there, mostly just to eat and sleep, as she intended to spend most of her waking moments in the lab. The one major benefit of this opportunity was the option to work at her own pace. She suspected that this too was a kind of test. However, one way or another, the opportunity to learn without the restrictions of the pacing of public instruction was something she had yearned for. It would be silly of her to waste it. The more focused she remained and the more hours she put into this first basic project, the sooner she would get to the “good stuff.”
Professor Cormier had stocked her cupboards and small refrigerator with all the basics, and she had also brought with her some of her favorite foods, unsure of what he might choose for her. He had a grocery delivery service on contract, and he told her that she could just leave him a list once a week of whatever she needed.
Today it would be one of her favorite lunches, a habit she had acquired early in her student days at the university, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of pink lemonade and an apple for dessert.
As she sat at her kitchenette table, she placed her notebook at her side, another habit picked up early in her student days. She almost never ate a meal without either a book or a notebook in hand. She hardly noticed what she ate most of the time. She had a habit of eating alone except when she was home with her family, usually at Thanksgiving and Christmas. She told a friend, “I like to ruminate while I masticate,” which brought a puzzled look but no comment. She hadn’t made many friends while in school, simply because she spent most of her time reading or studying. And admittedly, most of her fellow students found her a bit odd, something she had become used to, growing up.
It wasn’t as though she was antisocial—well, maybe she was, a little—but she was totally absorbed with finding answers that didn’t really seem to be out there, or at least not in the detail she would have wished.
This is why she had accepted Professor Cormier’s offer. The chance to finally “get her hands dirty,” as her father would have said, was worth going through some hoops for.
She considered what to say about her experience so far. Mostly she had questions: What does learning to weave on a rudimentary loom have to do with science? Why build the loom with her own hands, instead of just buying a loom to weave on? How did the process help her move forward with her studies? And, lastly, was this the professor’s idea of a great practical joke? She half expected him to jump out at her when she finally completed this first task and cry, “Surprise! The joke’s on you!”
As she finished her meal and cleaned up, she went back down the stairs into the warehouse lab, redonned her lab coat, and headed for her work area.
She placed some newsprint on the worktable and laid the sticks in the rectangle shape face down. Using the carpenter’s glue, she glued each of the corners to one another and clamped them down to dry. Later she would use the corrugated joint fasteners, pounding one into each corner with the little ball-peen hammer.
While that was setting, she cut another of the sticks four inches wider than the finished frame and sanded the ends to prevent it from snagging on the threads or yarn of the loom. This would be what was called a “shed stick.”
She then collected a half-inch dowel stick and cut it the same length as the shed stick for the “string heddle.” Between the shed stick and the heddle, she would be able to do the weaving much quicker than simply weaving in and out over the warp. She also sanded the ends of the heddle and placed it aside.
She patiently checked off each of these steps in her notebook. Next on her list were the shuttles that would carry the yarn or thread back and forth through the warp that was opened up by the shed stick or heddle. She would need more than one of these to carry different colors of thread, as she doubted she would be satisfied with weaving with a single color. Already she was forming an idea in her mind as to what she might decide to weave as her first project.
She took a piece of oak tagboard out of the wood supply cupboard and cut out four rectangles about ten inches long and three inches wide. At either end she cut a “V” shaped notch about two inches deep. Once again, she sanded all of the edges and put them aside. This would hold a good deal of fiber, whether yarn or thread, and make the weaving much more efficient.
Once she had this completed, the glue had set sufficiently to allow her to pound in the corrugated joint fasteners. Now she had a sturdy frame. The last step was to measure out the pattern for pounding in the nails at either end that would hold the warp threads for the loom. This meant drawing a line down the exact center of the top and bottom end boards and measuring out and marking quarter-inch increments along the line.
By the time she had completed this much, it was time for supper. To her surprise, once she had once again organized her materials and cleaned up sawdust and put the wood scraps into the scrap bucket and was ready to head back upstairs, the professor showed up, a basket in his hands.
“I brought us some supper. I figured by now the idea of having to prepare a meal would be tiring. We can eat in the office and talk about your first day.”
Lizzie could smell the aromas of chicken and potatoes wafting up from the basket and grinned.
“Sounds good to me.”
He cleared off an area on both sides of the desk and set out some plates and flatware, a roast chicken that had been cut up for ease in serving, and a bowl of mashed potatoes. He then pulled out a covered gravy boat, napkins, and some cups, which he filled from the water cooler.
“So how did it go?” he asked after they had filled their plates.
“None of it was difficult, just a trifle time consuming. I just have to drive the nails in. I figured I could do that tonight and then go to the next step tomorrow.”
“You got that done very quickly and efficiently. However, you don’t sound very enthusiastic about it.”
“I guess I’m just puzzled as to what this has to do with science.”
“Ah, well that’s part of the test, isn’t it? As you are pounding the nails, I want you to consider that, not just the step-by-step activity of producing the loom or even weaving on it. I want you to find the meaning of it. I know it sounds somewhat mysterious or even a bit eccentric, but I promise you this is not just busywork. I challenge you to set yourself the question just before sleep tonight. Before you sleep you will have created all of the components for a simple and efficient loom out of basic materials much sooner than I had expected.
“Tomorrow you will begin to learn the weaving process. I have a short film on the basics you will be able to view before you begin. Feel free to rewind the film and replay it as many times as necessary. When we finish our meal today, before you begin the last part of today’s project, I will show you how to use the projector in the screening room.”
“Thank you, professor,” Lizzie said, perhaps not as sincerely as she should have. “Thank you for the meal, it is very tasty.” This last was more sincere. She seldom ate anything this balanced. She wondered if he had prepared it himself but decided not to ask, as he might be offended.
“You’re welcome, Lizzie. In time you will learn there is always method to my madness. In the meantime, you will have to suspend disbelief for a little while longer. I promise you that you not only will understand in time but will eventually appreciate why I did not take you faster. This is vital to the process. There are a lot of ways I could have taught you the vital work habits and mindset that are necessary to what comes next, but I have observed you learn best by working through things on your own.”
Lizzie nodded and blinked in surprise when she realized she was scraping the last of the mashed potatoes from the plate and that the chicken she had taken was bare bones.
The professor took her plate and the leftovers and arranged them back carefully in his basket, gesturing to her to enter the lab.
Once again, she donned her white lab coat with Professor Cormier right behind her. “Let’s see your progress so far.”
She led the way to her work area and was pleased when he remarked at how neat her workspace was. He examined the various parts of the loom carefully.
“Well done,” he said with a smile. “I would have expected nothing less from you. This is quality workmanship, and you have followed the directions I gave you admirably. Tomorrow you will be ready to begin learning the weaving process. Come with me.”
He led her to the opposite corner of the lab to a door that led into a room that included a low ceiling and no windows. He switched on the lights to reveal racks and racks of reels of film with labels below each reel showing the title of the film. At one end of the room was a large screen, and behind a row of chairs with desks attached to them was a projector on a cart with an organizer tray under it that served to organize film reels if you were going to run more than one in sequence.
He showed her where to find the reel for the weaving tutorial and then showed her how to set it up on the projector and how to thread the film through the little rubber wheels and in between the light and the lens. Then he attached it to a take-up reel below the loaded film reel.
“That’s about all there is to it. When you are finished, simply rewind the film from reel to reel by toggling the switch to rewind. Be careful to always turn the projector lamp off whenever you need to pause the film. The heat from the lamp can easily melt the film. As I said, you can watch it as often as you need to or stop the film at various places, do that step, and then return and start wherever you left off. I can wish the process weren’t so clunky, but it is what we have to work with at this time,” and he sighed, as if somehow he knew a better way.
He bade her farewell and told her to call him if she needed anything. She heard the now familiar sound of the Bel Aire starting up and leaving the parking lot.
Once again, she was alone in the space. She knew that the remaining part of the process, although simple, would take her awhile to complete to have a finished loom ready for the next day. So, she sighed and went back to work.
