I’ve been trying to explain mysterious forces to Abigail. Our back neighbor has tall flowering bushes, and when they catch the wind they go wild. The top of the back fence becomes a frenzy of green and orange and yellow and fuchsia dancing right and left. When I was in the pool with Abigail and a gust of wind came up, she leaned back against me, pointed at the swaying bushes, and said, “Uh?”

“That’s the wind, Abi,” I said. Then I made a blowing noise. “WWWWIIIIISSSHH!” She was satisfied, and quietly watched the show. I wonder if she made the connection to one of her favorite swimming activities. She likes to stand up on the top step of the pool when a hot wind comes through. She shudders and grins as it hits her wet skin. Once yesterday she howled like a bear and then laughed at herself before she ducked back down into the water.

That night as I was rocking her to sleep, she pushed herself up so she could see me and pointed at our shadows moving against the wall, cast there by the night light. She’d been watching them for awhile. “Uh?” Abi asked.

I stopped humming. “You see, Abigail, light is both a wave and a particle, and dense objects such as ourselves can block its path before it hits the opposite wall. What you noticed are the dark areas where we have interrupted the wave pattern.” No, I didn’t say that. I said, “Those are our shadows.” She was happy and snuggled back down. It is almost as if she doesn’t care what the answer is, so long as she knows that I have one.

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