Borrowed without permission from Alan Lightman's book, "Einstein's Dreams." Go buy it right now.
Einstein and Besso walk slowly down Speichergasse in the late afternoon. It is a quiet time of day. Shopkeepers are dropping their awnings and getting out their bicycles. From a second-floor window a mother calls to her daughter to come home and prepare dinner.
Einstein has been explaining to his friend Besso why he wants to know time. But he says nothing of his dreams. Soon they will be at Besso's house. Sometimes Einstein stays there through dinner, and Mileva has to come get him, toting their infant. That usually happens when Einstein is possessed with a new project, as he is now, and all through dinner he twitches his leg under the table. Einstein isn't good dinner company.
Einstein leans over to Besso, who is also short, and says, "I want to understand time because I want to get close to The Old One."
Besso nods in accord. But there are problems, which Besso points out. For one, perhaps The Old One is not interested in getting close to his creations, intelligent or not. For another, it is not obvious that knowledge is closesness. For yet another, this time project could be too big for a twenty-six-year-old.
On the other hand, Besso thinks that his friends might be capable of anything. Already this year, Einstein has completed his Ph.D. thesis, finished one paper on photons and another on Brownian motion. The current project actually began as an investigation of electricity and magnetism, which, Einstein suddenly announced one day, would require a reconception of time. Besso is dazzled by Einstein's ambition.
For a while, Besso leaves Einstein alone with his thoughts. He wonders what Anna has cooked for dinner and looks down a side street where a silver boat on Aare glints in the low sun. As the two men walk, their footsteps softly click on the cobblestones. They have known each other since their student days in Zurich.
"Got a letter from my brother in Rome," says Besso. "He's coming to visit for a month. Anna likes him because he always compliments her figure." Einstein smiles absently. "I won't be able to see you after work while my brother is here. Will you be all right?"
"What?" asks Einstein.
"I won't be able to see you much while my brother is here," repeats Besso. "Will you be all right by yourself?"
"Sure," says Einstein. Don't worry about me."
Ever since Besso has known him, einstein has been self-sufficient. His family moved around when he was growing up. Like Besso, he is married, but he hardly goes anywhere with his wife. Even at home, he sneaks away from Mileva in the middle of the night and goes to the kitchen to calculate long pages of equations, which he shows Besso the next day at the office.
Besso eyes his friend curiously. For such a recluse and introvert, this passion for closeness seems odd.