Chapter 21

William's fingers flew across the keyboard of his computer. The world had collapsed down to him, the keyboard, and the monitor. His focus on what he was doing was absolute. He had been working like that for almost eighteen hours straight. His eyes widened a little on seeing the result of his query on the screen. His fingers tapped out the next command and he watched the screen as numbers scrolled past almost too fast for the eyes to follow. William was in the grove and it all made sense to him.

The final line showed up on the monitor and William smiled at the result. A couple of keystrokes later and the program ran again. He sat back and watched the screen smiling like a maniac. It was the perfect time for him to let loose a maniacal laugh, but the thought didn't even cross his mind.

Seated at her desk, Lucy watched him from across the room. She had gone to bed and gotten up early to find that he had never come to bed that night. On entering their workroom, she could tell that he was in the zone and working at an incredibly productive rate. Rather than risk interrupting his concentration, she had slipped over to her desk and watched. It was amazing to watch someone who was so involved in the world of ideas. She understood. There were times when she lived in that same world.

William tapped a few keys and the results were copied into a spreadsheet. A minute later the printer started churning out pages. He rolled his chair across the room and picked up the first few pages disgorged by the printer. He looked at it and nodded his head. Unaware that he had an audience, he said, "Excellent."

"What?" Lucy asked seeing that he had returned from that magical world where one could occasionally swim with ideas.

"I've finished predicting all of the winners of the next election," William said.

"The election isn't for another month. A lot can happen in a month," she said.

Laughing, William said, "A lot can appear to happen in a month, but the demographics do not lie. Even if one of these candidates dies a week before the election, the results won't change."

"The polls tell a different story," Lucy said.

"The polls tell the transient story of what people are saying. What they do is far different than what they say," William countered.

"I'll accept that in part, but I still think that saying you've predicted the result a month before the election is stretching the truth a little," Lucy said. She knew that his models were getting near the point of completion, but his claim was more than a little extreme.

Leaning back in his chair, William pursed his lips in thought. He held up the papers in his hand and said, "These are my predictions. How about we make a bet?"

"What kind of bet?" Lucy asked knowing that William wasn't the type to gamble.

"I bet that I get every election correct that is on these pages," William said.

"Every election?" Lucy asked incredulously. She'd be a fool to pass up a bet like that.

"I'm talking about every election at the state and national level. That's every state legislative seat, every gubernatorial seat, and every congressional seat that is up for grabs. That's over five hundred elections. I'm saying that I have predicted who won each and every one of them. If that isn't enough, I'll add in a few mayors of large cities," William said looking at Lucy.

"Don't worry about the mayors," Lucy said studying William trying to decide if he was bluffing. She took a deep breath and asked, "What will you give me if I win the bet?"

"What would you like?" William asked.

"That's a tough question."

"Why?"

"You already give me everything that I want," Lucy answered with a smile. It was the truth. She couldn't think of anything that she wanted that he wouldn't give her anyway.

A very short discussion followed in which the stakes of the bet were laid out. Once they had agreed on terms, Lucy said, "Now get something to eat and go to bed."

"Yes, Lucy," William said with a grin. He collected the papers from the printer and rolled his chair back to his desk. He squared the papers into a neat stack and set it on his desk.

Word of the bet leaked out, although the exact details were unknown to anyone other than William and Lucy. While the staff knew the bet was about the upcoming elections, that didn't prevent them from speculating on the stakes. Barbara and Sandra were convinced that if Lucy lost, she would end up in bed with one of them while William watched the action. Of course, Barbara and Sandra disagreed on which one of them would be the bed partner.

The great question was what William had at stake. Speculation about what William had to do ran from the mundane to the bizarre. Side bets were placed suggesting that William would have to serve Lucy breakfast in bed for a month, take her to a dance, or serve as her sex slave for a night.

Just because the staff didn't know the details of the stakes, that didn't prevent them from teasing the young couple. Many of the teases were intended to identify the stakes. When Barbara had suggested to Lucy that after losing the bet that Sandra would enjoy having sex with her and William, Lucy had blushed and shaken her head. She had laughed when Sandra had suggested the same thing only involving Barbara. William had gotten similar taunts although they were more of a wink-wink, nudge-nudge variety.

Peter, the chef, was halfway convinced that William would have to cook a dinner for everyone if he lost the bet. When he had asked William about it, William had asked how he liked his lizard cooked. Halfway convinced that William was serious, Peter had shaken his head and stomped off with William's laughter ringing in his ears. After that little exchange, Peter hoped that William won the bet.

On the day of the election everyone in the household was glued to the television watching the election results. It wasn't that anyone was really interested in the outcome of most of the races, but they were interested in the outcome of the bet. The home theatre had turned into a party of sorts with pop corn, theatre candies, and soft drinks.

On many of the elections, it looked like William was wrong until the last few districts turned the numbers around. Lucy checked off one election after another amazed at the results. Looking at the last one, she said, "You predicted this election to a tenth of a percent."

"Yes," William said with a smile.

"All of the election results have been within a quarter of a percent," Lucy said looking over some of the final number updates for races that she had already marked.

"That was my margin of error," William said.

"That's ridiculous," Lucy said staring at the printed sheet. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. Shaking her head, she asked, "Did you finish the model?"

"Not yet, but I'm close. This election was basically a simple test of the core sections of the model," William answered.

"I'm still trying to simplify some of the equations," Lucy said looking over at him. There were times when his mind was absolutely fascinating. She wondered how he had managed to achieve such a remarkable result.

"I know. I coded all of those horrible equations. I plan to let the computer crunch away on them once I've settled on the input data," William said. He was pretty sure that when Lucy finished her work that his program would function a million times faster. That kind of performance would be necessary when he tried making long term projections on the social and economic behavior of the country.

Lucy looked up at the screen and saw that William had gotten another race correct. Shaking her head, she marked off the appropriate entry. She asked, "How did you do this?"

"Actually, it was a lot of hard work by Victoria," William answered gesturing to the elderly lady.

Surprised, Victoria looked at William and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I used all of that research on the public perceptions of the candidate's positions on a few key issues to frame voting profiles. Your research was remarkably accurate," William said. Shaking his head in wonder, he said, "I don't think any other person on the planet could have provided me with the data that you managed to collect."

"Thank you," Victoria said feeling pleased at having her hard work recognized.

"Such dedication to shifting out the factual information from so much chaff is a rare quality in any person. I'm lucky to have found you," William said.

"Thank you," Victoria said as a slight blush spread over her face at the praise.

"It is I who has to thank you," William said. He looked over at Lucy and said, "Do you think that Victoria deserves a reward for such dedication?"

Smiling, Lucy answered, "Sure, but what kind of reward would be appropriate?"

"How about a visit to one of the oldest archives in the world?" William asked.

"What archive would that be?" Victoria asked suddenly very interested in the discussion.

"The Pope owes someone I know a very big favor. I'm pretty sure that with his help that we can arrange for you to visit the Vatican Archives," William said. He looked at Victoria to see her reaction. She was staring at him open mouthed.

"Which archives?" Victoria asked hardly able to breath. She was going to die if he answered the Secret Archives.

"The Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum," William answered. He had already made the call and knew that the visit had been approved.

Others could have been offered riches beyond imagining, but their pleasure wouldn't have been a tenth of what Victoria felt at the idea of visiting the Vatican Archives. Victoria asked, "Who does the Pope owe a favor and why would they arrange for me to visit the Secret Archives?"

"My Grandfather, Reverend Leroy Jones," William answered with a smile.

Lucy smiled as the other women in the room nodded at each other in a knowing fashion. William had just seduced Victoria with her heart's desire. Victoria was staring at William. Her fingers trembled in excitement at the idea of even an hour in the archives. She asked, "When?"