If Kilgore Besny stands at the end of the diving board at the local gym at 10:03 Saturday mornings, his swanky waterproof wristwatch loses power. In fact, any electronic device will find itself momentarily disabled for about twenty-three seconds.
Apart from his command of physics, Kilgore also enjoys simple math puzzles'little probability challenges, a sort of time-killer. At any given time he processes probabilities, his favorite always being, 'What are the odds of me passing that guy today?'�
After juxtaposing his diving board observations with random probability analysis, Kilgore theorizes: 1) a conduit exists at the end of the board, 2) it activates Saturdays at 10:03, and 3) in all likelihood it is electromagnetic in nature.
A related experiment involves the same diving board, but with an ape.

The ape recognizes the place, jumps to the pavement, and scampers toward the woods. One drawback to apes is their tendency to be unexpected. When left unattended they're prone to scamper toward wooded-areas.
Twenty minutes later, Kilgore and his subdued friend the esteemed Mr. Huxley'lured from the tree by fudge'proceed down a worn path. Deeper into the wild, apes find more assorted things forgotten in the underbrush. The esteemed Mr. Huxley gathers acorns, a toad, and three pennies.
The esteemed Mr. Huxley chooses Kilgore as target and hurls an acorn barrage. Kilgore continues without a flinch; enraging the ape more than ever.
Kilgore sits on a cinder block a few paces away from a footpath. The esteemed Mr. Huxley hops to his block, eats an acorn. 'Two beasts, two egos brought together, two warriors, two killers,'� he says. 'Today, Mr. Huxley!'�
The esteemed Mr. Huxley throws the toad and chases after it.

Kilgore lives in a hotel until the management uncovers the whole We've had several reports of an ape in the hallways, sir-mystery by discovering the ape. So they're forced to find a new hotel until more ape-sightings occur. The pattern repeats. If maintained cyclically, the strategy ensures that the lather-rinse-repeat protocol so beneficial to their loose-ends is properly addressed.
Hotel life relaxes Kilgore, yet it often reminds him of yet to be traveled destinations. Conversations with the neighbor-of-the-week never amount to significant relationships. In a week their vacation concludes, they fly home, get replaced with another face with a home city, a bio, and a return flight ticket. Even friendly and interesting people depart without a good-bye or the meaningless e-mail exchange. Kilgore has grown to ignore the inconsistency among his neighbors. After all, when did the neighbor last mean something? He lives in a business, an entity devoted to economy; a horrific world for an ape.
Long-term residency in upscale hotels offers a plethora of probability games. For instance, Kilgore likes to guess the number of breakfast-related room service calls on any given day, and of course pay the guy with the least English to retrieve the daily records to check the accuracy of the guess. If the guy can't bring the records, pay him fifteen dollars to personally deliver your next breakfast, fifteen dollars to take the order, fifteen dollars to cook the meal. Guess the likelihood of him fulfilling at least one of those requests and to make the game more variable, don't order breakfast at all.

Kilgore notes time stop and bounces twice.
He splashes, glides to pool's bottom, arcs up as speed lessens; resurfaces.
He exits the pool, dries his head.
A gentleman from the senior synchronized class'ten o'clock Saturdays, shallow end'approaches Kilgore. Now, open-swimmers and the old syncs don't get along well. As two of the largest demographics at the City Pool, the inherent rivalry over lockers discourages friendliness. Animosity aside, the man says, 'A guy just took your ape.'�
While in reality the theft of a highly esteemed Mr. Huxley creates a very serious dilemma, Kilgore instead calculated the number of words rendered unspellable once the letters A, C, and X are executed from the alphabet; a messy issue indeed.

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