The Elegant Solution (Ploughshares Solos)

“A mathematician,” G. H. Hardy wrote, “like a painter or a poet, is a
maker of patterns." Throughout his childhood, Jim Tilley was
encouraged to discover such patterns through the mathematical puzzles
his father posed for him to solve. Never satisfied with ordinary
solutions, his father insisted on mathematical elegance. Always more
comfortable in the realm of the mind, he could never bring himself to
give Tilley a hug; they'd merely shake hands on parting. Both father
and son set standards for intellectual achievement so high it was
difficult to ever be satisfied. Now, as his father loses his grip on
his mind in old age, Tilley, concerned that he is glimpsing his own
future, looks back on the decisions he has made in his life and tries
to locate the points at which ambition and drive cross the line into
unhealthy obsession.