Saturday morning was nearly over when there was a knock on Sadie’s door, prompting her to wake and get out of bed. She threw on sweat pants and a jersey and scanned the attic – neat as a pin. She flipped up her bed and took one long step to her door. She lived in a very small space.

“Show guest.”

The door displayed a grainy 3D image of a guy holding a box on the other side of the door. Nice shoes, nice jeans, nice jacket. He looked uptown. Seeing the cameras activate, he dropped his privacy shield and the scanner pulled up a name: George J Zimmerman. He had a trust score of 2570. People could game their trust score but she recognized the name. She opened the door.

George Zimmerman must have expected her to take longer checking out his profile. He jumped a little and then smiled and held out his package.

“My grandmother? I saw you brought her home last night. The security feed at the front door? We’ve had a family mix up about her care and er… well thank you. She told me,” and here he paused knowing what he was saying was weird but he was a good grandson, “she said your cat likes puzzles?”

Puzzles! Couldn’t he have brought bagels and coffee? She took the box from him all the same.

“Thanks George. It was really no trouble.”

“Well I think there was some trouble – her apartment is much improved.” He looked down at the box in her hands, perhaps only now rethinking the thank you gift.

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“I had no idea what she meant about the cat, you will have figured out she gets confused, but she was clear I should give you that.”

Sadie took a look at the box. A 3D puzzle of a place called Graz. Huh. Well, until last night she hadn’t realized the Things could do puzzles – but it made sense. To their programme the pieces were untidy until they were assembled like the picture. She wondered if Thing 2 could manage this, it was a good experiment. Maybe it was as good as coffee and bagels after all. George was still talking.

“…wondered if you might like some hours checking in on her?”

“Babysitting? Your grandmother?”

“Well,” he blushed, “it’s just everyone in the family is out of town except me. She has a care company but clearly they screwed up. And she has a care program but..”

“I have a job.”

“Miss Westurland I looked you up – you’re listed as a cleaner and a student? I am too! Let my family help. My grandmother really wants to stay in this building.”

Sadie thought about more time working on the Things. Tempting. Tempting.

“How many hours are we talking about?”

“We can arrange some more carers – and she has a pretty good integrated assistance set up. Maybe 20 hours a week? Maybe some overnight work? And some on-call work?”

“I’ll think about it.”

George Zimmerman was sweating a bit. The heat did tend to rise in the building. Her attic was sweltering at this time of year even with the little windows open. But George wasn’t sweating because of the heat.

“Miss Westurland, could you think about it while you start working? I really have to get back to my project, and it’s clear we need to take better care of Nana. If you’d care to share your account with me?”

She could have said no but really, this might be sweet deal. The old lady was okay, she might even get some work done down there. And the Things could help her with sleep overs. She activated her account and he sent her a small contract.

Sometimes you get an offer you can’t refuse.