A Husband in Time by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page A

was worthless today. And it occurred to him that he was, for the second time in his life, lusting after a woman who was far wealthier than he. That thought troubled him more than it should. He cleared his throat. “The slate board. I need it for calculations, Cody. My work involves complicatedmathematical problems, and it’s easier to work them out if I have…” He let his voice trail off, because Cody had turned away from him and yanked open a drawer.
    â€œHow come you don’t just use this?” He showed Zach a small unit, a bit smaller and thinner than Zach’s device.
    â€œWhat…?”
    â€œIt’s a calculator,” Cody told him. He turned so that Zach could view the tiny screen on the thing, and he pressed numbered buttons. “Watch this. One hundred fifty-three times forty-five divided by 56.9 plus two. Equals….” He pressed the button with the equal sign and held the box up to Zach.
    It read 123.0017574. Zach shook his head slowly, and turned to the table, rapidly doing the figuring on a sheet of scrap paper. Amazingly, he came up with the same answer.
    â€œIt’s gonna be a lot faster this way,” Cody said, and he set the calculator down on the table beside Zach’s journal. “I’m really sorry about Benjamin.” Cody pulled up a chair, close beside Zach’s, and sat down.
    A huge lump rose in Zach’s throat as he recalled, vividly, the way Ben used to work at his side before he became too weak from the illness to do so any longer. That was when Zach had moved his table and tools into his son’s bedroom. So that they could work together the way they used to.
    â€œI want to help,” Cody said.
    Zach blinked at his burning eyes, and ruffled the boy’s hair with one hand. “You’re a good man, Cody. But I’m not sure what you can do.”
    â€œMore than you think.” Cody spun the chair he sat in around and wheeled it across the hardwood floor, stopping at the desk on the other end. “You haven’t seen my computer yet.”
    â€œAnother modern wonder?”
    Cody nodded and flicked a switch. “I have a modem. We can talk to scientists all over the world, download all kinds of information. And you can feed in all your numbers, and try making changes on the computer before you try it on the real machine. That way, you might be able to figure out if something’s gonna work before you go ahead and do it.”
    Zach braced one hand on the desk, blinking rapidly. “This machine…can do all that?”
    Cody grinned. “Yeah.”
    â€œAre all children in this century as smart as you are, Cody?”
    â€œNah. I’m s’posed to be gifted.”
    Zach nodded, and drew his own chair over beside Cody’s. “Well, it’s a good thing. I’m beginning to feel decidedly uneducated. It does look as though this equipment of yours can save me a lot of time. So…will you teach me, Cody?”
    Cody nodded hard, and it seemed to Zach the boy’s spine lengthened and straightened. Zach watched and listened as Cody explained the machine to him. Part of him was wishing he could take the modern wonder apart to see what was going on inside it, what made it work. But he couldn’t risk breaking it. Already he knew this piece of equipment would cut his research time by leaps and bounds. If he’d had access to this in his own time…
    Perhaps he could find a way to avoid the side effects before he returned to the past. Or even a way to speed up the recharging process. And get back to his son all the sooner.
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    Jane found them together in Cody’s room, hunched over the computer, and she stood there a moment, watching as Zach slowly punched keys and Cody looked at him with adoration in his eyes.
    â€œTime to wash up for lunch, Codester,” she said, startling them both.
    â€œOkay, Mom.” Cody smiled up at Zach. “We’ll save this, Zach, and