When Ferris went off to Boston to college, he never looked back. He worked through the summer just so he didn't have to return to his mother's home and the relatives who were strangers to him.
When he graduated from MIT in three years instead of four, he didn't tell his mother, because he was ashamed to have her show up at the ceremony. And when he went looking for his first job, he made sure it was as far away from his hometown as possible.
Now Ferris D'Orr was an important scientist. His face was on the cover of Time magazine. He was being called a genius. In a recent speech the President of the United States had called him "the keystone of America's defense future."
But his mother wouldn't stop calling him.
"Don't answer that phone," Ferris D'Orr yelled. "This is a safe house. There's only one person in the world who would call me at a safe house."
"Who?" asked Remo Williams, who, out of boredom, was watching Ferris melt little blocks of metal into little puddles of metal. When the little puddles hardened, Ferris would melt them again. Over and over. Remo thought it was like watching paint dry, but Ferris didn't seem bored by the repetition. He actually became more excited.
"Never mind," said Ferris, remelting an inch-square block for the thirty-first time. By actual count. "Just don't answer it."
"It might be important," Remo said. "They keep ringing. "
"Not they, her. Only one person would keep ringing like that. Anyone else would figure out I'm not here. Not her. She'll keep ringing until I give up and answer."
Finally Remo picked up the phone because he didn't want to hear any complaints from Chiun. Not that Chiun had been complaining these last few days. In fact, he hadn't complained once, not once.
"Hello? Yes, he is," Remo said.
Remo turned to Ferris D'Orr. "It's for you. It's your mother."
"What did I tell you?" Ferris moaned. "Tell her I'm not here."
"She can hear you yelling," Remo said.
"She won't leave me alone," Ferris said. "She got the FBI on the phone and browbeat them into giving her this number. The combined efforts of the KGB and the Internal Revenue Service couldn't squeeze that information out of the FBI, but my mother did."
"He's very wrought up right now," Remo said into the phone. "No, he hasn't been kidnapped. No, ma'am, I wouldn't fib to you. Yes, ma'am, I'm one of his guards. I'm sure he'll be all right. Yes, ma'am, I will."
Remo hung up.
"What did she say?" Ferris asked.
"She said you should write her."
"I did, long ago. I wrote her off."
"That's not nice," said Remo, watching Ferris adjust his nebulizer. "What are you doing?"
"It's too complicated for a layman to understand."
"Try me," said Remo.
"I'm slagging this titanium block over and over again to see if fatigue sets in."
"I never get tired," said Remo.
"I meant the metal."
"Oh," said Remo.
At that moment the Master of Sinanju walked in. "What transpires?" he asked.
"Ferris is avoiding his mother," Remo said.
"For shame," said Chiun. "You call her this very moment."
"Nothing doing."
"Yon shouldn't have said that," Remo warned.
"What is the number?" Chiun asked.
"I forget. It's been so long."
The Master of Sinanju carried the phone over to Ferris D'Orr. He picked it up delicately and placed the receiver in the metallurgist's left hand. He inserted Ferris' right index finger into the rotary dial.
"I will, help," said Chiun. "As you begin to work this instrument, I am sure the number will come to you." It came to Ferris D'Orr suddenly, between the first friction burn from dialing 1 and the moment the Master of Sinanju inserted his finger in the 0-for-Operator hole.
"Hello, Ma?" Ferris said, sucking on his dialing finger. He did not sound happy. Chiun stepped back, beaming. He loved reunions. They reminded him of his beautiful American dramas.
Ferris D'Orr did not talk very long on the phone, but he did listen. Finally he said, "Bye, Ma," and hung up.
"Wasn't that nice?" asked Chiun.
"Yes, very," Remo agreed.
"I want you both to know two things," Ferris said, glowering at them. "One, I am not a momma's boy. Two, I am not-repeat not-Jewish."
"Who said you were?" Remo asked. "My mother. But she's crazy."
Remo and Chinn looked at one another. They shrugged. "Now, if you'll excuse me," Ferris said. "I have work to do."
Remo and Chiun left the room.
"You came all the way back to America for this?" Remo asked Chiun when they were out of earshot.
"Ferris is a genius," said Chiun. "An important genius. Guarding him is a sacred trust."
"What he does is fiddle with that machine of his and melt blocks of metal."
"Titanium," corrected Chiun.
"Does it matter?"