Afterward, his parents had joint custody, so Abbott moved between their residences every two weeks. These transfers occurred on Sundays, in late afternoon or early evening. And there was, as in some convoluted geocentric model of the heavens, motion within motion: His mother, with whom Abbott lived half the time, moved six times in the eight years of the custodial arrangement. One consequence of this Ptolemaic childhood was that Abbott at a young age became preoccupied with luggage
This is one of the sharpest comparison we´ve posted here. The geocentric model, according the Ptolomeo´s one, was adding, as the text says, motion within motion to justify its validity. Epycicles and deferents got complicated the schedule but they managed to put the Earth at the centre. Likewise, these parents, with their changes and moves, kept on orbiting around their child. This is a lovely and funny book about fatherhood, and we can read things like these: Husbands are useless ( I admit that I couldn´t disagree more) or something about the institution of marriage: That´s one of the things that marriaged people do, devastate a sanctuary to agitate their loved one
