Emily heard a creak, and looked up, heart racing again, but it was just Jonah. “I can’t find my family anywhere,” she said as he peeked over her shoulder.
“They die all the time,” said Jonah, “but they’re never born.”
“And that’s not weird?” said Emily.
“Is that what you’re doing with your math?”
“Checking whether people were born?”
“I just always wonder what math is for.”
“I’m trying to see how people change each other,” said Emily. “I’m trying to figure out the effect of people on each other, on the ideas we have.”
Jonah was already off at the back, puttering in the cubbyholes.
Emily went back to her computer. Examining changes did need math. Idea formation was a science for sure. Who you are was a direct result of who you knew, and what you thought about depended on what they ta
