My Tab P went off and woke me up. For a moment I was lost in time thinking I was late for school, but classes and exams were already over. Summer break began. I grabbed my Tab P to check my calendar and see my vacation plans.
"Abele, what do you have for today?"
""Good morning, Romeo! The day is beautiful and there is nothing scheduled for today. Would you like to schedule something?""
"Not for now."
""Ok! Have a nice Thursday.""
Abele was the AI I was developing. There were several AIs in the market. They were among us to control whatever we wanted, making life easier in many ways. Many people were still prejudiced against these artificial intelligences, afraid they would dominate mankind, but to me they were still far from becoming a significant threat. To get to the point of thinking like humans would require quantum hardware, which for now was far from concrete because it relied on a technology still in the principles of development. When this happens, maybe one day, it will be more obvious for human transcendence to occur, making us bionic than our creation of an independent AI revolting against us.
My Abele controlled and made the best decisions based on my preprogramming. I had been making a few tweaks to it every day, with new features to suit me. I never introduced it to anyone because I was never interested in making profit out of it, especially since it was being developed specifically to make my life easier. Making it available to the market would only be exposing my personality.
I got up, took a shower and went down for breakfast. Clara was already awake and had prepared everything.
"Good morning, Clara!"
"Good morning, Romeo! Did you have a nice sleep?"
"Yeah, Yeah! Yesterday I went to bed earlier than usual. I slept very well."
"How nice! I’m going to the market to replenish the pantry. Do you want something special?"
"Please, get stuff to make that special pie of yours, because I crave for it, and, Clara, why don’t you order online and ask them to deliver? Everything nowadays in terms of food can be bought online and arrives within 24 hours."
"I know, but you know how I am about these technological things. I like to see and choose everything fresh. The way my mother did, and speaking of her, I have to go visit her today."
"Only you, Clara. Technology is by our side to make our lives easier and you resist it... Be sure to see your mother."
For a moment I wondered what it would be like to have a mother. I almost felt a teardrop.
"I am not leaving in the morning. I’ll be in my bedroom doing some homework."
"Alright, boy! You’re on vacation already! Leave home and enjoy life outside."
"Better not. I am working on an important project. When I have some time left, I’ll go out."
"It’s up to you, Romeo. If it were your brother, he’d waste no time."
I was silent about Clara’s comment. I didn’t like to be compared to my brother.
"I’m leaving, Romeo! You can call me up if you need anything!"
"All right, Clara! See you!"
Clara was a 40-year-old woman. She devoted her life to caring for her widowed mother, who was sick. Age-long friend of my father, she is 2 years younger than him and split her time between taking care of her mother and us. I met her a few years ago, but she helped my father raise Roger from a young age. My mother died in childbirth and they never explained to me how I was separated from my brother. I’ve been investigating this for a long time and I still haven’t gotten answers. Clara’s mother was 68 and continued to resist the treatment well. She was HIV-positive and had been infected by her late husband. The love between mother and daughter was the strong bond that had kept her alive so far.
Clara left and I went up to my bedroom. I turned on my 18" Tab and did some research to try to find out something about Mr. Rougan Wood. Nothing I found about him, except about other namesakes around the world. Neither did he own social networks. He seemed like me.
I felt like hacking into the IRS database and try to find something, but that was not within my procedural reach. Some ideas came to mind. I stopped the research and opened Abele’s source code and started to enhance new functions that could be useful in the future. I started developing an algorithm that tracked and predicted movements by using social networks, basic apps that involved registration, etc. Ideally, it would be connected to all the databases in the world, so that I could predict the steps and plans of anyone on the planet.
The government should have something similar to monitor the population. An old idea of theirs was to implant a chip in the population as a unique digital ID, but that was a very controversial subject that had been going on for years.
Conservatives did not accept such technology because they believed it would be connected with the end of the world. From my point of view, it was even interesting, as this would end forgeries and homicides, as everyone would be easily located and no one would be trackless. The controversy, in my opinion, was more for lack of privacy than with the so-called Apocalypse.
I was very focused on code development, and suddenly I heard the bell.
"Well! Who might it be? I am not waiting for any delivery."
I went down to see who it was and to my surprise:
"Desirée!"
"Hi, Romeo! Are you OK? I was walking around and decided to stop in. Are you busy?"
"No, no! Come in!"
"Is your brother back yet?"
"No. Just on the weekend. I think."
I saw from her eyes that she was still very shaken from the fight she had with Roger. I couldn’t get it into my head and understand why my asshole of a brother hurt her so badly.
"OK!" Desirée replied halfheartedly.
I checked my watch.
"Wow, it’s almost 12:00 PM! I didn’t even notice time go by."
"What were you doing?"
"I was programming. I ended up getting so excited that I didn’t even realize the time."
"You really like to study, but you’re already on vacation, why don’t you enjoy it?"
I was upset with her question. I thought it was pretty clear that I didn’t really like to go out. That’s why she must have chosen my jerk brother. They both enjoyed some fun. She was almost perfect, except that she had chosen to date a guy who didn’t value her as she deserved.
"No. You know I don’t like to go out."
"Ah! I didn’t remember," said Desirée, confused.
I accidentally ended up answering rudely. I saw it from her astonished look. I think this was the first time I’d changed tone with Desirée. I was uncomfortable with that.
"I’m sorry for the way I said it. My head is racing."
"Never mind, Romeo. No need to apologize. You have a problem? As far as I can help, I’m here for you."
"Nothing much! It must be overstudy indeed. I need to relax with something other than studying."
"So let’s go for a walk."
"Yeah, yeah! I’ll get dressed and we’re out."
"I will wait for you here," said Desirée with a suspicious face.
She must have found it strange that I agreed to leave, since I didn’t like it. I answered thoughtlessly, ‘cause I’d never waste an opportunity to be with her. I ran up with a huge smile on my face and got ready like a hurricane. In less than 10 minutes, and after a shower, I got down and went to Desirée. She was fiddling with her Tab P and when I approached her, she immediately locked the screen. I couldn’t see what she was doing.
"Let’s go!" said Desirée with a disconcerting smile on her face.
"Yeah, let’s go! But where to?"
"Let’s walk on, and on the way we decide."
"OK!"
We went out and walked quietly, talking about the end of classes and what we intended to do for the summer holidays. Some of her answers were uncertain due to the bad situation she was in with my brother.
"Romeo, answer me one thing very honestly. What should I do?"
"Do about what? What do you mean?"
"Don’t play dumb! You know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about your brother."
"Ah! What you should do is break up with that asshole. He does not deserve you. He only makes you suffer and does not give you the attention you deserve. Look for someone who treats you like a goddess. Be happy with someone who wants to make you happy and ditch that sucker," that was my reason, telling me in my mind what I should say, but I controlled my emotions and told her:
"Ah! Honestly, Desirée, I think you two should sit down and talk to settle your differences. If you really like each other, a good conversation will solve your problems."
She was silent. Walking beside her was exceptional, but the heat was beginning to annoy me. Along the years, summers have been hotter and hotter.
"Shall we have something? This heat is unbearable" I said after a heavy silence.
"Yes, Romeo. It’s too hot even to walk aimlessly. Let’s go to an ice cream parlor."
"Yeah! Good idea!"
I always liked the cold weather. Enduring the summers in recent years has been torturing. I almost asked for a fast shuttle just to take us a block ahead, where there was a great ice cream parlor, but we held on, walking a little farther until we reached the paradise of frozen flavors.
We went in and the air conditioning relieved us, but the thirst was so great that before the ice cream we bought some water. Orders were placed on interactive ordering boards. We had fun making up our own ice cream, and then we paid it right there. Next to us, in less than a minute, our ice creams arrived on a small conveyor belt, just like we ordered.
We sat at a table and savored the cold delights. They were minutes of great coolness that froze our souls! We should be having lunch, because it was past time, still, we repeated the delicious and cold ice cream. Stuffed and unwilling to face the heat, we decided to go to the mall. This time I called a fast shuttle which took us in minutes. It was the best place to spend a very hot afternoon.
For a Thursday, it was pretty crowded. I thought everyone had the same idea to escape the heat. I did not like to go out very often, especially because of crowded places. I almost turned around, but I saw that Desirée was excited.
We did as she willed and started walking around the mall. She stopped at a clothing store and entered. The store was interesting because it offered a new system which was being tested. You chose the clothes from virtual mannequins and wore the store’s (Augmented-Reality Glasses), or DI-Eyes, and found yourself with the clothes on your body. It was an interesting experience, but with many bugs. The use of DI-Eyes is common nowadays. Some are very discreet and allow you to interact with the things around you. Maps, advertisements from the stores you were looking at, people’s profiles, games and many others. In social media it was strange, because when looking at someone, you could see their profile above their head and their latest posts; of course, if it were a public profile.
It was good on the one hand, because they showed their friends when they were close by and you could open a screen in front of you with a video call in the middle of the street. The controversies surrounding these gadgets were due to privacy, because we never knew when someone was filming us, and, in many businesses, they did not allow their use, as well as at malls. So it was not very common to use DI-Eyes in public, however, many shopkeepers, to take advantage of this technology, made them available at their own stores and offered them as a more interactive way of shopping. You could even see groups wearing DI-Eyes in public, when they set game matches at parks.
Desirée bought some clothes and soon after we continued the refreshing walk through the mall. We spent about an hour just walking around and window-shopping. I was getting tired of walking, but the joy of doing this with Desirée made me build the strength to carry on and have more time with her.
I stopped at an electronics store. I thought about giving Abele a body. It would be a lot of work. Despite having many functions, programming to control a robotic body would be quite complex. I thought it over and decided to leave it for a more distant future, when I am already in a college of electronics and robotics.
We kept on walking and when I realized, I was amazed at the time, because it was more than 4:00 PM. We stopped at the food court and, through the mall app, which showed exactly where we were in real time, we saw all the surrounding stores and their menus. The app was interesting because it showed our position and floor very accurately; and with this, the map of the stores within our immediate radius informing us of all the items available at each of them. From restaurants, they showed the menu and cooking time for each dish or fast food. We placed our order and only notified them of our table number. We paid through the mall’s own payment app, and not before long, someone was bringing our snack.
Technology was really making our lives so much easier. We ate while talking about some hit TV series. To be honest, I was unhip, and I got a little mixed up with the subject, as I’ve been working hard on my studies over the last few months. I wanted to have a flawless curriculum to have a good chance at college. After nearly an hour sitting at the food court, I realized that we spent almost an entire afternoon together.
"Wow, time flew! We didn’t even see the afternoon go by!"
"Really!"
Desirée desperately picked up her Tab P, taking a quick look.
"I have to leave, Romeo! It was wonderful to spend the day with you! I hope we have new opportunities."
I, with a huge smile and almost speechless, answered:
"Yeah, we will! We’ll schedule whenever you can. Let’s head to the exit, I’m already calling a fast shuttle."
I wanted to call a transport drone to take her home, but it was still absurdly expensive and bureaucratic to take one of these around the country, not to mention that they didn’t make short trips around town. We walked at a fast pace to the exit, and there it was already waiting for us.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Desirée got in the car and remained silent and frantically fiddled with her Tab P. I watched her Tab screen trying to see what she was doing, but it looked like she was hiding from me. I was embarrassed to ask and also remained silent the whole trip. It didn’t take long and we were already at her doorstep.
"Thank you, Romeo! See you!" Desirée said getting off the car quickly.
"Thank you for the wonderful day you gave me. I hope we have many others and so do not forget... I love you!"
That’s what I meant to say, but she left so quickly she didn’t even say goodbye. I asked the driver to drop me at home. I arrived and soon went to my bedroom to take a shower. I realized that Clara had not returned yet.
"Weird! Has anything happened?" I thought, worried.
I was ready to take a good shower but first I grabbed my Tab P to see if I had received any message from Clara. There were only advertising messages offering unlimited data plans at outrageous prices. It was still a major source of profit for telecom companies selling data traffic, especially after the man-hardware interaction revolution. In the past, there were smartphones, desktops, smart TVs, but nowadays we have the CSB where all the processing, storage and software hardware which was usually at home is now concentrated.
All you had to do was to have one of several Tabs, and access your CSB via Wi-Div from your home, up to 300M, or via 6G from anywhere in the world. This has changed the technology and telecommunications market radically, making many companies to go under and others to adapt, bringing more innovations to today’s market.
"Clara, what happened?" I asked myself.
Still worried, I went into the shower. I stayed for 10 minutes in the shower, and in the meantime, I wondered several things about Desirée, my brother and what they might be doing at that moment. I also wondered about Clara, who hadn’t arrived yet, about our neighbor Mr. Wood, and silly things like programming new functionalities for Abele.
I finished the shower, got dressed, and went down with my Tab P trying to call Clara. When I reached the room and selected her contact, the front door opened.
"Clara! Where were you? Night fell and you hadn’t arrived or left a message. I was worried."
"I’m sorry, Romeo! I had a setback, but it’s fine. Have you eaten anything yet? I will prepare something for you."
"Don’t worry, Clara! I’m not hungry. I went out with Desirée in the afternoon and we grabbed something to eat."
"OK! So I will take a shower and some rest. I had a busy day."
"It’s all right! Rest a little!"
Clara looked dispirited. I didn’t even ask her too many questions not to bother her. I drank a glass of water and went up to my bedroom. It was 7:40 PM and I got my 18” Tab to program a little. I tested some features for Abele. One was to scan and identify users via GPS within a radius of 1 km. Abele would force devices with activated GPS and intercept their reading via mobile network and GPS satellite. Basically: it would exploit the vulnerability on the A-GPS, or “Assisted GPS”, which simplifies complex GPS location calculations using a mobile network. My tests indicated that the code was working and showed the location of some neighbors who had their GPS on.
"Nice! Hope the CIA or NSA won’t arrest me because of this."
Continuing with some settings on my Wi-Fi network, I realized that a network popped up with the name:
"Combatant Wood? Is it possible?" I wondered, making up a thousand things.
I looked out the window hoping for something that certainly wouldn’t happen.
"Does this network belong to Mr. Wood?" I asked myself this question several times within the minute.
I didn’t think twice about activating Abele to hack into the network and confirm my suspicions. For 15 minutes, Abele tried to decrypt the network, but to no avail. How would it be possible? The network seemed to have a military level encryption. I never thought I was going to come across this in a residential area. The last time I had seen anything like it was a few years ago, at the orphanage, when fiddling with one of those old computers around, in my curious way and trying to test my skills, I tried to hack into NASA’s network. I remember to this day that that attempt caused me many problems. After almost 30 minutes of attempts the network had been shut down.
"Damn it!" I shouted, and threw the Tab on the bed.
I always easily hacked into neighboring Wi-Fi networks, but this one was different. My mind was racing. I took the Tab again to evaluate the hacking attempts in detail, when I received a message alert:
/Hello! I couldn’t decrypt the network either!_
"What? Who might that be?"
I was wondering how it broke into my system.
/I’m sorry to log into your system like this, but I saw that you tried to hack into the same Wi-Fi network that I tried too._
/Who are you? Answer me?_
/Ah! I forgot to introduce myself, I’m NEOTTH!_
/What? What kind of name is that?_
/It’s a code-name. I need to go. See you._
/What do you mean? Are you someone from the CIA or NSA?_
/No. No. Calm down. I am a friend._
/What do you mean “friend”? We don’t even know each other._
/OK! Let’s meet. Saturday at 10 AM. Washington Square Park._
/What do you mean by that? Tell me. Who are you?_
I kept waiting for an answer, but he had gone offline.
"But who could that be?" startled, I wondered.
I thought I should stop trying to hack into networks, because otherwise I would end up getting into serious trouble. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 12:00 AM. Sleep began to bring me down. There were many questions in my head, but sleep was stronger, and within minutes my mind was at rest and I fell into a deep sleep...
I was lost in a forest. It was late afternoon. I was very thirsty. It was midsummer, but it began to snow! Suddenly the snow covered my feet. I could see dead and frozen trees everywhere. I was not cold, but hunger increased. I took a few steps and stopped at the foot of a huge mountain. I heard a rushing sound that gradually increased. Soon I realized it was an avalanche! I tried to run but couldn’t get myself to move. My heart pounded and despair washed over me. I looked back...
I woke up desperate and very breathless. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was late.
"Wow, it’s over 10:00 AM!"
I was lost in time. I grabbed my Tab P and saw it was Friday. I slept almost all morning, but I really needed a good rest. I felt guilty about wasting time, but I had to stop this feeling because I was on vacation and had to enjoy myself not worrying about anything.
I took a good shower and went downstairs.
"Good morning, Romeo! Did you sleep well? I am preparing lunch already, and made your favorite pie as I promised."
"Good morning, Clara! I slept well, yeah. I just had a nightmare, but the sleep was deep and I managed to rest well. Why didn’t you wake me up for breakfast? You always want us to have every meal."
"I didn’t mean to bother you. I even went to your room to find out if everything was fine and saw that you were in a nice sleep."
"OK! I wanted to wait for lunch, but I’m hungry."
"I figured! There are some muffins that I made right there on the table! Just don’t fill up because I’m preparing a special dish."
"All right! I’ll eat just a few!"
While eating the delicious muffins, I fiddled with my Tab P and checked the very few messages. All advertisements! I kept thinking about NEOTTH who had hacked into my network.
"Who would that be? Was the government monitoring me?" I thought, a little alarmed.
With my head in a spin, I had an idea to try to track down his invasion and find out his location.
"Clara, I’m going up to my bedroom. In a little while I’ll come down for lunch."
"All right!"
The smell of the food was good. I ran up to the bedroom and grabbed my 18” Tab and started running some programs and checking the “DNS accesses” of my network. I spent about 30 minutes going through everything, and found nothing.
"Damn it! Who is this damn NEOTTH?" I muttered furiously.
I received another message alert. I thought it was another ad, but the ringtone was different. And checking it...
You don’t have to track me down. Here’s my address, but don’t come home now because I’m going out. Tomorrow I’ll await you at Washington Square Park and will invite you to come here. Not to worry you anymore, here is my profile on the social media. See you.
[11:16 AM]
"What? You gotta be kidding" I wondered indignantly.
The address he sent me was a few blocks from here. I had no social media to verify the profile, so I immediately created one just to check it. I opened the profile link, and to my surprise, that was someone whom I had seen several times around the neighborhood but we never talked. Derek was his name.
For a moment I was relieved that I was almost certain it wasn’t someone from the government or secret service, but I still suspected he might be an agent impersonating him and was arranging a meeting just to arrest me. I came to this conclusion because he was sending me the address of his house and he still wanted to meet me at the square.
An alert tone rang on the social media. He had added me as a friend. I accepted and went through his profile. Everything showed that he was himself, but I still smelled a rat. I texted Derek for clarification, but he was offline.
I kept thinking about it, and decided to go to his house today since it was very close by. If the government were planning something, sooner or later they would catch me. In fact, nothing would stop the government from knocking on (or down!) my door and taking me whenever they wanted. All these suspicions might just be on my mind, even though everything seemed to be connecting to the facts happening to my brother and our neighbor Mr. Wood.
It was almost lunchtime, and as I had told Clara, I had to be downstairs for lunch. Later on I would solve that. Spellbound by the good smell, I reached the dining room and the table was set, and the main course were delicious pork chops.
"Hmm! It must be delicious!" I said with my mouth watering.
"Sit down, Romeo! And you can help yourself. I’m going to get something from the fridge for us to drink and I’ll be sitting with you right away."
I helped myself and began to relish the meal. It was fabulous! Clara soon sat down and helped herself.
"How is it? Is it good?" asked Clara.
"It’s excellent! It couldn’t be better."
We had lunch, and at the end she got up and went to the fridge; she brought the pie she had prepared. My favorite lemon pie.
"This pie is wonderful."
Clara had that smug smile as she savored the pie as well. We were almost done eating and my Tab P rang. It was a voice call. We looked at Tab at the same time and Clara interrupted her last bite.
"Who’s calling now at lunch time?"
"I don’t know! It is an unidentified voice call."
"Answer it then."
I grabbed my Tab P and answered it.
"Hello!"
"Hello! Good afternoon! Is it Romeo?"
"Yes, speaking."
"Hello, my old friend! Are you all right?"
For a second I wondered who it would be, then I recognized the voice.
"Mr. Phillip Perry! Is it you?"
"Yes, Romeo! How are things in your new home? It’s been a long time!"
"They’re fine! It’s been a while, yes. Since I left the orphanage you only called me once. I even tried to contact you sometimes, but the number you called me had been disconnected. I even contacted the orphanage to inquire about you, but they told me you had resigned."
"That’s true, Romeo. I had some problems which needed delicate attention, so I had to leave. But tell me: Did you adapt well to your new home and family?"
"Yes. I just have some disagreement with my brother at times, but all in all, everything is going well!"
"How nice! I’m happy for you. Let me ask you. Are you alone?"
"No. Clara is here having lunch with me."
"Oh, no! I interrupted your lunch. I’m so sorry!"
"No problem! We are almost done!"
"Great! So, I need to say something important to you. Could you go somewhere more private?"
"Yes! Just a second."
I was surprised and very curious to know what Mr. Perry wanted to say. I took the last two bites of the pie and excused myself to Clara. She had finished eating and got up to clear the table. I went upstairs to my bedroom and closed the door.
"All right. You can talk now, Mr. Perry."
"Fine, but I really wanted to meet you in person somewhere. Would that be possible?"
"Yeah, no problem, but where would you like it to be?"
"Let’s meet next Sunday at Washington Square Park, at 4:00 PM. I’ll see you there. Bye!"
"But..."
When I was about to ask him where he was and what the matter was, Mr. Perry had hung up. I found it very strange, because the place he spoke of was the same place that Derek had arranged with me, but one day later.
Things have been going on in a very strange way lately. I decided to go to Derek’s house to make sure what he sent me in the messages. It was all coinciding, but nothing was connecting to the facts, and talking to Derek might help clarify a few things. He had said he wouldn’t be home, but I ignored it, changed clothes, and grabbed my Tab P.
"Clara! I’m going out, but I’ll be right back!"
"Where are you going?"
"To a friend’s house nearby."
"It’s all right. Goodbye!"
It was a funny situation, because this time I was really going to a possible friend’s house. I walked a few minutes and was soon at Derek’s doorstep. I rang the bell and waited for the worst, and then the door opened...
"Good afternoon! Who are you?" asked the lady who opened the door.
"Good afternoon. My name is Romeo. I wanted to talk to Derek."
"Hello! So you are Romeo! Nice to meet you, I’m Dana Miller, Derek’s mother. Unfortunately he is not at home. He went to his grandma’s. He’ll just come back tomorrow, as I remember. Derek told me you were coming here tomorrow."
"Ah, yeah! Really. Sorry. I had forgotten. Tomorrow I’ll be back, then."
"Who is it, mom?"
"It’s a friend of your brother’s, Melanie!"
A beautiful brunette girl appeared.
"So that’s the one Derek talked about" Melanie said looking at from top to bottom.
"Nice to meet you. Romeo," I said with a smile.
She said nothing and turned around.
"Once again, I’m sorry, Mrs. Miller. Thanks."
"You’re welcome! Tomorrow I’ll await you here. See you!"
"See you!"
I left their house embarrassed. So it was true what Derek had told me. His house was very close to the place we arranged. I sat on a bench in the square below a tree and wondered at the strange things happening to me. I spent almost 30 minutes pondering and watching my Friday afternoon pass by... My Tab P rang and as I got it to check:
Do not take too long. Come back home. There is a surprise.
[2:12 PM]
It was a message from Clara. It was a surprise to see Clara texting. So it must be something really important.
"Has she cooked one more delicious treat?" I wondered.
I strode home, and when I opened the door:
"Dad?"
My father had come home from work. I ran and hugged him as if I hadn’t seen him in over a year. He was an engineer working on one of those offshore oil platforms.
"Hello, son! Are you all right?" asked my father with a huge smile on his face.
"Yeah! Alright, dad. How was your trip? You came back earlier. I thought you would only arrive tomorrow."
"Yes, indeed. But this time I was able to fly on a nonstop flight."
"Great! You must be tired! Go get some rest. We will talk later."
"Ok, my son."
I was very happy with my father’s arrival. He used to spend a lot of time out working. His working pattern was 30/15. Thirty days offshore on board, and 15 days on shore leave, at home; and those 15 days used to go by very fast. The petroleum industry was not at one of its best times. Due to the implementation of renewable alternative energy, hybrid and electric cars, people did not need oil that much as in the past. Because of my father’s unrivaled experience, he was still able to stay in one of the few remaining drilling companies. He went up to his bedroom and I went to drink water.
"Romeo! I’m going to my mom’s house. I was going to make a special dinner for you, but your father said not to worry. I’ll be back Sunday and make a special lunch," Clara said as she finished tidying up the pantry.
"OK!"
"Whatever you need, don’t hesitate to call me."
"Yes! Thank you, Clara."
I sat on the living room couch and fiddled with my Tab P, browsing through my new social media profile. I never thought I’d be into virtual social life. I always found this a waste of time. Even with just one added friend, I couldn’t stop fiddling for about 10 minutes just skimming through tech pages. It was really addictive. That’s why this app still persisted for so long.
"Your brother comes back tomorrow" said my father showing up out of nowhere and sitting next to me.
"I think so."
"No, Romeo. That was a statement."
"Ah! OK."
"I spoke to your grandfather while traveling back home."
"Got it. Did Grandpa say anything else about Roger?"
"He said they’re having fun. Roger is helping with in a job."
"What job?"
"He didn’t go into details, but he said everything is fine. You should also visit him from time to time."
"Yeah, I should! But he hardly ever calls. And this time he just called Roger."
"Yeah, but next time he’ll call you."
I kept looking at my father, wondering if he knew anything about that strange weapon which Roger had. My grandfather and my neighbor were suspicious.
"Could my father be too? Are they covering for Roger?" I kept asking myself these questions several times.
"I’m leaving, boys. Until Sunday! I texted Roger telling him you had arrived, sir. Whatever you need, call me," said Clara, saying goodbye.
"All right, Clara! And I told you not to call me sir! See you later and thank you very much," said my father, staring at Clara for some time.
Clara left and my dad took his Tab P.
"Let’s start watching a series?"
"Yes! I’m just going to take a shower and I’ll be right back."
"Okay. I’m turning on the Tab TV here in the living room."
I ran up to my bedroom and took a quick shower. I went downstairs and my dad had the show ready to start. I sat next to him and he hit play.
We spent 3 hours watching nonstop.
"I’m hungry. Let’s eat something?"
"Yeah. Me too. What do you suggest?"
"Let’s ask for a pizza."
"Good idea."
I took my Tab P.
"Abele! Order a Portuguese pizza. I want it from the fastest place nearby.
""Yes. Finding it... Found one at a diner 3 blocks from here. It will be ready in 14 minutes. Confirm?""
"Yes. Confirm."
""Payment completed. When it arrives, I will let you know.""
"Thank you, Abele!
""You’re welcome, Romeo!""
"These AIs will one day rule the world," my father said, a bit concerned.
I smiled at him, got up and went to the bathroom. He then went there too. We went back to the living room and to our series. My Tab P vibrated and Abele:
""Sorry to interrupt, Romeo, but your pizza is arriving.""
The bell rang and I answered the door. It was the delivery boy bringing our hot pizza. My dad paused the show while I was receiving it. I took the pizza to the living room and we ate while we finished watching another episode. We continued watching one episode after another, and then I realized we had been sleeping.
I woke up stretching. I had a great night’s sleep. I got up from the couch and saw my father preparing breakfast. I went to the kitchen.
"Good morning, Dad!"
"Good morning, son! Did you sleep well?"
"Yes. Although I slept on the couch, it was a deep sleep."
"Great!"
Dad finished up making breakfast and setting the table. We started eating and he asked me:
"What good stuff are we going to do this Saturday?"
When he mentioned the day, I recalled I had arranged to meet Derek today at the square. I looked at the clock on the wall: it was almost 10:00 AM. I wanted to seize the moment and ask Dad, for the thousandth time, about Mom and comment on the neighbor Mr. Wood who knew her, but as I had to leave, I left it for later.
"Let’s go out, Dad, but first I have to stop by a friend’s house nearby."
"Ok, son. You can go because I also need to sort things out and reply some e-mails. I’ll wait for you around 1:00 PM. We’ll have lunch out."
"Okay."
I finished up breakfast in a rush, climbed up, took a quick shower, grabbed my Tab P and went downstairs.
"I’m leaving, Dad. SEE YOU!" I shouted leaving the house running.
"See you, my son!"
I looked at my Tab P and saw that there was a message from Derek:
You’re late. I’m already here waiting for you.
[10:10 AM]
We had scheduled at 10:00 AM and I was already 10 minutes late. I put my Tab P in my pocket and ran to Washington Square Park.