For the love of Zero

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."

"What are you doing, mon petit?"

"Counting, papa."

"Counting?"

"Yes, counting. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!"

"Are you sure you are not missing something?"

"Missing something, papa?"

"Yes, missing, something."

"Oh, papa, not the nought. That's nothing."

"That nothing has a name."

"Okay, Zero, then. What's the point of starting with Zero, with nothing. Counting starts at one, not Zero."

"No, my darling, counting should start at Zero. The first number is Zero. The oldest number is Zero. Zero existed a long time before any other number. Shall I tell you the story of Zero?"

"Papa, you have told me this story lots of times before."

"Shall I tell it to you again?"

"I'm tired, papa."

"Well I'll start to tell the story. You snuggle down and if you fall asleep, well...., maybe you will dream about Zero: the first number that ever existed."

"Okay, papa."

"There.... Comfortable?"

"Oui, papa."

"In the beginning. No, before the beginning, before even time began. Before the first year, the first day, the first second. It was the zero of time, the moment before everything began. Everything was Zero."

"Everything was zero?"

"Yes. Everything was Zero and Zero was everything."

"So Zero wasn't nothing?"

"No. Zero wasn't nothing. Zero was everything, and Zero contained everything, too."

"Zero contained everything?"

"Yes, everything. The Earth, the Moon the stars, all of the galaxies, all of the planets, all of the creatures..."

"Even people?"

"Yes it included the stuff that people and all of the animals of the world were made of but, yes, all of the people, too."

"What about love?"

"What about love?"

"Did Zero include all of the love in the world? Did love come from Zero too?"

"Oui, mon fils, I think it did."

"But how, papa? How did Zero contain everything, including stars and animals and people and love?"

"Well, look at the shape of Zero."

"The shape?"

"Yes, what shape is Zero?"

"Why, it is round of course."

"Yes, and what is in the middle of Zero?"

"Nothing, it is empty."

"No, it is not empty. It is filled with something very important."

"What is it filled with, papa?"

"Space!"

"But space is nothing, papa."

"No, space isn't nothing. Space is something very important. What happens if you empty your toy box and take out all of the toys. What is left inside the box?"

"Space?"

"Yes, space. So much space that you can fit lots of toys in it."

"But what happens when it is full of toys?"

"Well' this is when the Zero before the beginning of everything became much more important than a box of toys. Before the beginning of time, it was the zero of time, the moment before everything began. Everything was Zero.

"Zero was full of something really important. It was full of space. And as more and more things appeared in that space, so it got more and more squashed. All of the stars, the Earth, the Moon, the galaxies, the planets, the creatures, all of the people and all of the love.

"And so it was that, soon, Zero was full of everything and everything grew and grew and grew and grew until it grew so squashed up that ..."

"Everything went ...... BOOOOM!"

"Yes, everything went boom."

"That must have been a really big bang."

"A big bang... Yes, I think you are right, it must have been a really big bang."

"I'm feeling very sleepy now, papa...."

"Yes, a very big bang.... hmmm..... a big bang... Are you asleep, my boy?"

"Zzzzzz..."

"Yes, indeed, a very big bang.

"And everything that is now in the whole universe began with that big bang, that started from a tiny, little zero, that contained everything that would become the universe we now know, or at least are trying to know."

"Zzzzzz..."

"Sweet dreams, mon petit. You are my everything. My whole world, my universe, my little Zero.

"And now, Mon petit chou, I must finish writing my paper on the beginning of everything in the universe, to present to the university tomorrow morning.

"Le theory Big Bang."