That stopped them cold for a moment. But Tomkins, the astronomer, wasn't through yet.
"Our observations, Hank, also indicate that in this universe, every other galaxy is running away from ours as fast as it can. Why is this?"
Cleaver repeated unbelievingly, "Runnin' away?"
"Yes. Our spectroscopes show a 'red shift' in the apparent motion of all stars. This proves that the universe is expanding—"
"Why, no!" said Hank. "Gosh, no!"
"No?"
"Why, you got it all backward," explained Horse-sense Hank. "What you're sayin' ain't reasonable. Truth of the matter is, the universe ain't expandin' at all. It's just a-standin' still. Reason things look thataway to us is because—we're contractin'!"
And that really did stop them! Even when Hank explained that the same effect would be visible to a man standing in the middle of the floor of a gigantic room while the walls receded, as would be visible to a man shrinking in the middle of a normal-sized room. They didn't get it, but they tried. They took it home to sleep on.
So grew the fame of Horse-sense Hank. And while all this was going on, another thing was happening, too. Hank was seeing Helen MacDowell, practically every night. And—well, if you've ever seen a supercharged carton of honey and dynamite like Helen, you know the inevitable results. Love, with a capital boom!