"It's an analogy. The tuna is both cooked and raw until you open the casserole lid."
He turns on the laser. The light passes through a slit, then a beam splitter. On the wall—faint, beautiful—interference fringes appear.
"Mother, I require a favor of substantial magnitude."
"I did. I told her my theory on decoherence times in supercooled rubidium. She said 'That's cute.' Dr. Sturgis—that is not the verbal response of a colleague. That is the verbal response of someone who sees me as a child."
The Thermodynamic Probability of a Favor
"She doesn't know we're living together yet. Or that I'm pregnant. Or that you're nineteen."
Sheldon beams.