"What does it take to have a mind like that?" he whispered to, himself. "It's like a hobby to him. I think some day I ought to look for a job with reasonably normal people!"
A few minutes of peace and quiet refreshed him. He returned to the main office, just as Smith was surrendering a stack of signed letters to Simonetta Diorio. They looked around as he entered.
"Well, Willie, did he have anything going?" asked Smith.
"I ... uh ... he was kind of busy," said Westervelt.
"What did he seem to have in mind?" Smith started to reach for Simonetta's phone switch.
"He ... that is ... I didn't ask him. He was ... busy, in the lab."
"Oh," said Smith.
He peered at Westervelt's expression, and added, "Then ... perhaps we'd better not disturb him. It might spoil any ideas he's putting together."
Westervelt managed a grunt of assent as he turned to walk back to his desk.
Whatever he's putting together, he thought, I'd rather stay out of the way.