Bobby Varlin walked into the kitchen on a Thursday morning. His wife, Glenda, was eating Cheerios, as usual. With oat milk. Ugh.
Glenda was a nice-looking woman still, at thirty-eight. She had light brown hair and eyes. She was tallish at 5'8" and had an athletic build. Normally, she simply looked attractive. But when she smiled, her face just lit up. Then she went from an eight to a ten. Bobby loved her so much. He also loved their two kids, Alec, 17, and Alice, 15.
Bobby sat down at the kitchen table. He said, "Kids off?" It was eight o'clock.
"Yep, where have you been this morning?"
Bobby shrugged. "I went for a walk. I was reading this very interesting article in the Math Quarterly."
Bobby taught mathematics of various sorts at the local small college. He often read while walking. It was a dangerous habit, but he persisted despite Glenda's protests. He could get quite absorbed in his reading. Usually, the screeching of brakes would interrupt him sufficiently for him to save the situation. He had a certain physical quickness.
Glenda said, "Oh." Math wasn't her forte. Never had been. She majored in drama.
Bobby said, "It is quite a problem that the article addresses. Assessment of risk. How to quantify that."
"Oh. I see." But she hadn't seen yet. She took a bite of cereal.
Bobby said, "Would you say, for instance, that taking a small risk is worth it, if losing would destroy your life as you know it?"
Now he had her attention. She said, "What do you mean?" She thought for a moment as Bobby stared at her. She was just slightly nervous now.
She said, "I guess it would depend upon how much you wanted the thing you would get by taking the risk."
Bobby said, "Yeah. Very sensible. In terms of quantification, we can make some categories to which we may be able to assign values. Like that guy Bentham."
"What categories?" She was just a tad more nervous. Her face betrayed nothing, but she had something of a restless demeanor. Fidgety.
"Well, this guy said you have seven things to consider. They're intensity and duration of the pleasure, the degree of certainty that you get the pleasure, propinquity - how soon will it come up, fecundity - will it lead to more pleasure later, purity of the pleasure and the extent of the thing - how many people will it effect. You see?"
