THE MOMENT
"Heh," Cliff chuckled with a shake of his head. "I thought you of all people would be the one person I could explain it to without having to deal with a freak out first. Next time I change the world, I'll just let you wait to find out with the rest of the public."
"Change? There's no philanthropy in this, you're wanting to destroy the Earth just for a petty grudge!" Max, Cliff's best friend, replied with an edge of frustration.
"Are you okay?" Cliff asked with genuine concern. "Maybe I just picked a bad day to tell you; you're not usually this anxious about my inventions." The question made Max realize he had been overreacting. In all their years of friendship, he couldn't actually say Cliff acted on bad ideas. And, it was the first time he'd ever used 'petty' to describe the intelligent man. It didn't fit at all and was a symptom of trouble with Max more than Cliff.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry," Max nodded. He realized why he'd had such a disproportionate response, it was all because of his son. The vague notion that the world could end seemed to be magnified now that his child was in it. Deep inside he knew Cliff wouldn't endanger the people that were close to him, including Max and his family. But, at the same time, the newborn required a lot of attention throughout the night and he'd only managed about two hours of sleep before Cliff's revelation. "Jr. had colic, I'm on fumes man...," he said.
"I'm sorry. But, you gotta admit...," he apologized and moved on. "Opening with, 'I figured out how to create a black hole and I'll show that harlot Sally what real science is', before I've had my coffee is pretty easy to misinterpret."
"You used to be fun before you had a kid," Cliff laughed and patted Max on the shoulder to highlight the sarcasm. "I was trying to make a joke about it, I didn't think you'd freak out."
"We can just pretend I didn't. So tell me about how you're going to open a black hole, hopefully without killing everyone."
"It's not the black hole celestial event you're thinking of. It's literally a hole in reality that is black," Cliff said. He smiled as Max's eyes opened wider. "A black portal might've been a more apt, but less fun way to put it."
"You really did it?" Max asked. It was another subtle reason why he was so eager to be worked up. He knew what Cliff had been working on for a while. And, he knew why his friend was single now.
"I really did it. Without Sally's help, and long before she even finished the calculations required to begin prototyping," Cliff nodded. "I was on the right path after all, and now the whole science community is going to learn about it."
"Yeah!" Max nodded. His frustrations were forgotten temporarily at least, and he was very happy for his friend's success. "Open it in her face and show her what real science is!"