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'Until yesterday there have always been thirty-two.'
'Hmm,' he replied, brow furrowed. Dad's work in the timestream could be tricky to get your head round sometimes
'Perhaps the actor Shakespeare started writing them himself?' I suggested
'By thunder, you could be right!' exclaimed my father. 'He looked a bright spark. Tell me, how many comedies are there now?'
'Fifteen,' I replied.
'But I only gave him three. They must have been so popular he started writing new ones himself!'
'It would explain why all the comedies are pretty much the same,' I added. 'Spells, identical twins, shipwrecks—'
'—usurped dukes, men dressed as women,' continued my father. 'You could be right'
'But wait a moment—' I began. But my father, sensing my disquiet over the seemingly impossible paradoxes, silenced me with his hand.
'One day you'll understand and everything will be more different than you can, at present, possibly hope to imagine.'
I must have looked blank for he continued:
'Remember, Thursday, that scientific thought – indeed, any mode of thought, whether it be religious or philosophical or anything else – is just like the fashions that we wear – only much longer lived. It's a little like a boy band.'
'Scientific thought a boy band? How do you figure that?'
'Well, every now and then a boy band comes along. We like it, buy the records, posters, parade them on TV, idolise them right up until—'
'—the next boy band?' I suggested.
'Precisely. Aristotle was a boy band. A very good one but only number six or seven. He was the best boy band until Isaac Newton, but even Newton was transplanted by an even newer boy band. Same haircuts – but different moves.'
'Einstein, right?'
'Right. Do you see what I'm saying?'
'I think so.'
'Good. So try and think of maybe thirty or forty boy bands past Einstein. To where we would regard Einstein as someone who glimpsed a truth, played one good chord on seven forgettable albums.'
'Where is this going, Dad?'
'I'm nearly there. Imagine a boy band so good that you never needed another boy band ever again. Can you imagine that?'
'It's hard. But yes, okay.'
'Now think of a boy band so good you never needed any more music – or anything else for that matter.'
He let this sink in for a moment.
'When we reach that boy band, my dear, everything becomes a lot easier to understand. And you know the best thing about it? It's so devilishly simple.'
'When is this boy band discovered?'
Dad suddenly turned serious.
'That's why I'm here. Perhaps never. Did you see a cyclist on the road?'
'Yes'
