Jeremy raised large black eyes to her and blinked twice. She almost couldn't resist his requests whenever he did that but this time, she had to say no. Elena ran her fingers over his jet-black hair and crouched down until her grey eyes were leveled with his black pair.
Source
“Jeremy, Daddy cannot play catch with you now. Not even today, he's busy.” she cooed softly, drawing him close till he leaned his head on her shoulder. “He'll be here soon. Okay? Until then you can play with mommy”.
Elena didn't like to get jealous. Jeremy belonged to both of them after all, but each time he chose his father over her, she felt like a piece of crap. When she complained to her mother-in-law, she had told her to get pregnant and give birth to another boy.
“Jeremy would start competing for your attention when there's another boy in the picture.”
As if she were God to pick what gender she would give birth to and when. When Jeremy was finally calm, she led him gently to the video game his father had gifted him last Christmas and handed a pad to him. She only let him play when he was sad or had earned the opportunity by doing something really good.
“If you beat me tonight, I'll prepare a full roast chicken for you tomorrow. Deal?”
His face lit with utmost pleasure. Of course, that was the only thing she could use to get his attention; food.
She was having the time of her life ramming her Porsche 911 GT3 RS into Jeremy's Nissan GT-R Nismo and having him chase her relentlessly when his father, Harrison, descended the stairs.
“Having fun without me huh?”
Jeremy threw his gamepad away, forgetting the full roast chicken he would miss, and leaped into his father's arms.
“Hey champ, I've missed you.”
“Yeah, daddy's been working.”
Harrison slung the eight-year-old on his hips as easily as he would have carried a three-month-old old then leaned in to take Elena's lips in his.
“Any luck?”
He shrugged then dropped Jeremy on the sofa.
“Haven't found the right nonce yet.”
“What's a nonce? Is that why you've barely spent time with me all week?” Very typical of Jeremy to want to know everything so long as he hears it from Dad.
“Come on, let me show you some really cool stuff.”
He hopped off the sofa excitedly, wriggled his fingers at Elena, and ran up the stairs after his father.
“This place is really cool, Dad. Mom never lets me in here”
Harrison raised the sides of his lips in a smile.
“These computers are really expensive. She's just trying to protect them. So if she says don't come in make sure you respect that. Okay?” Jeremy's head bobbed up and down to show he understood.
Harrison turned his system screen on and lifted Jeremy into the leather seat before the screen. Jeremy stared at the lineup of numbers and letters on the screen unable to make sense of any of it.
“What's going on here? Why is there no punctuation? And why are there letters and numbers all over the place?”
“This is what we call a hash. You know daddy is a miner right?”
“Yeah,” his head bobbed up and down again “I know you facilitate the creation of some digital currency known as Bitcoin. I want to be a miner someday too.”
Harrison sunk his fingers into Jeremy's thick hair and ruffled it a bit.
“You have to be good at math.”
“I see that. So what does this mean? Some secret code?”
“I like it when you put it that way. It's like a puzzle I have to solve in order to earn a reward. This reward gives me a Bitcoin.”
“Oh..this is the way Bitcoin is generated. You said so to Mom some days ago.” Harrison's smile came bigger and wider.
“You may really become a miner with how smart you are.”
Jeremy's chest shot out with pride.
“So do you have to translate these letters into English?”
“Nope.” Harrison turned the leather chair around.”I have to guess random numbers until I get the right nonce for this particular data. That would produce more leading zeros in front here” Harrison's fingers traced the screen, Jeremy's eyes following intently. “The more the leading zeros, the harder it gets.”
Jeremy climbed down from the chair.
“Well, good luck with that daddy. "I'm not sure I want to be a miner anymore, but I'll definitely pray that you get the right nonce so you'll earn more bitcoins". I'm going back to Mom”
With that he walked out, leaving Harrison to slide back into his chair and begin his search for the right nonce once again.
More from iska
Everything you want in life has a price connected to it
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion
There's no such thing as an all-profit market - Invest an amount you can afford to lose
The lessons gained from failures are building blocks that helps you move forward
The Cardinal Marketing Sin is being Boring - Zealy Campaign to the rescue
Go as far as you can see - When you get there you'll be able to see farther
Rushing Water - Signs of abundance
Learn when to stop taking risks that will harm your family, freedom & independence
Always give Luck & Risk their proper respect