The story is that of a very quiet, private wedding. There would be no honeymoon, more for a lack of money and freedom than from any particular taste or preference of the newlyweds. And still, Millie and Al seemed eminently happy.
Two close friends witnessed the ceremony. Afterward, they celebrated at a local restaurant. Finally, the couple retired to their new home: a small apartment nearby.
There they stood at the door. One could hear the ensuing argument a block away, some would say, though the topic, at that distance, was not at all clear. Any friend of Millie’s might have been surprised to hear her voice raised thus, for indeed, Al was the outgoing one. Al was the gregarious talker of the two, while Millie was usually quiet to the point of being withdrawn.
They were opposites in other ways, as well. Al was a model of indecisiveness; his opinions were most often based on his last conversation, without regard to the credentials of the person with whom he had spoken. Millie, on the other hand, always made up her own mind, and quickly. Her likes and dislikes, her opinions on any subject, were emphatic and unvarying.
In school, she had been a model student. But Al? Well, Al had—how shall we say this? —he’d always been a little slow. His mind wandered. He demonstrated no particular inclination or talent. His teachers urged him to quit school. One of them stated flatly to his face that he would never amount to anything. Another even suggested that his presence was a bad influence on the other students.
Anyway, Al did drop out of high school. Later, attempting to further his education, he applied to another school and flunked the entrance exam. He finally took remedial courses for a year, but nothing seemed to help. It seemed he was simply a good-natured muddlehead, just plain lucky to have married a woman who could take care of him.
Oh, by the way, we left the bride and groom outside the door of their new apartment. We don't know exactly what the argument was about, but we can guess at the words. Millie is probably saying something like, “Al, you are utterly helpless and hopeless! Must I think of everything?”
And Al, who often defended himself this way, is probably trying to soften her up by making a joke or a funny face. And slowly, irresistibly, Millie is smiling again. And Millie is in love again.
And if what you’ve just heard is worth remembering, it is less for the insight into this odd couple’s relationship, and more for the perspective it offers when considering the later accomplishments of that high school dropout. For you see, it was only after he had spent years in a dreary, unrelated government job that Al’s unconventional, ill-educated mind gave birth to a brand-new idea about something called relativity.
Oh, yes, I do mean to say: the 20th century’s most brilliant brain betrayed its owner, Albert Einstein, on his own wedding day, by leading him literally to the doorstep of wedded bliss, yet having forgotten the key.
And now you know the rest of the story.
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