catalytic converter was keeping the methane levels down OK. She thumbed the lid open and tossed the peel in. There was only a faint earthy odor, like the fresh mushrooms she sometimes had on her salad at the cafeteria. She had two spider plants in the upper corners of her room and when she had made enough soil, would start a third. It made it smell better. She wanted a Peace Lily or a Song of India, but begrudged the floor space.
The com screen signal was blinking, so she went over and slapped accept. Her dad was looking at her, but the icon in the corner showed it was a recorded message.
"April," he said, "I'm with Tom Gollings. When he heard your mom was still in Australia, he invited me to dinner at his place. He says if you would like to come along too just drop us a message and they will set a place for you. He eats about 18:30, or if you want you can just eat with your own friends. Love you Sugar," he said, ending.
Damn. No way was she was going to the Gollings'. They had two obnoxious little kids and she wouldn't get a chance to talk to her dad privately there anyway.
She punched up his Director's address instead of his personal one and recorded with video. April described briefly meeting Art, but did not explain why she thought he might be armed. She promised to explain later, but suggested security might want to have a Taser or tangle gun to approach him. "I know it sounds over dramatic," she acknowledged and added "Nothing on the com from Mom," in case he hadn't checked and ended as abruptly as he had.
She sat there thinking about meeting Art. It had been a new and unwelcome helpless feeling, when he had hesitated and turned back to her and she was embarrassed at her relief to be home behind a locked door. Knowing he had a pistol for a near certainty and she was defenseless, after getting such a bad feeling about him, was not something she wanted to experience again. When her dad showed her his pistol, the principle he had voiced was not she wasn't allowed a defense, but she was just not qualified to use that one.
She pursued the line of reasoning and considered a solution. Heather was just the person to tell her if it was practical, so she called. The call went through and had video also, but it showed a bunch of cables and pipes, sweeping around in a blur until Heather's face finally filled the screen. The way it was jiggling around told April she was holding her pad by hand. April was happy she wasn't one of those snobs, who made you deal with her pad's AI to talk to her, as if she were too busy and important to answer directly.
"April! Don't tell me you busted your new toy already!"
"No, no, I haven't even played with the scanner yet," April assured her, "but I want to talk to you about another job already, privately," she emphasized. "Are you open for dinner? You can come to my place if you want. We'd have privacy to talk here."
" I'd love to. I've never been to your place, but my mom would kill me. We had a big discussion about my not spending time with the family last night and she is having special company tonight and expects me to be here. But tomorrow Jeff and I are going to the construction gang's cafeteria for Thai food. They serve it on Tuesdays, Main this cycle and they don't mind regular station people if you go after the main rush is over. Why don't you go up there with us? And we can talk about anything you want. I want you to know Jeff better anyway, just as friends, even if we didn't do business."
"So, I won't be an unwanted third butting in?" April asked.
"No, really, we'd love to have you. And if we all sit and bounce ideas around, you will probably get a better widget. Are you coming?"
"OK and if for some reason I can't, I'll call you for sure," April promised.
"Good," Heather smiled, "and be sure to set the scanner out to run a bit," she instructed, as she signed off the call with her signature file -- she dissolved in a shower of glitter and a trill of a xylophone fading
The com screen signal was blinking, so she went over and slapped accept. Her dad was looking at her, but the icon in the corner showed it was a recorded message.
"April," he said, "I'm with Tom Gollings. When he heard your mom was still in Australia, he invited me to dinner at his place. He says if you would like to come along too just drop us a message and they will set a place for you. He eats about 18:30, or if you want you can just eat with your own friends. Love you Sugar," he said, ending.
Damn. No way was she was going to the Gollings'. They had two obnoxious little kids and she wouldn't get a chance to talk to her dad privately there anyway.
She punched up his Director's address instead of his personal one and recorded with video. April described briefly meeting Art, but did not explain why she thought he might be armed. She promised to explain later, but suggested security might want to have a Taser or tangle gun to approach him. "I know it sounds over dramatic," she acknowledged and added "Nothing on the com from Mom," in case he hadn't checked and ended as abruptly as he had.
She sat there thinking about meeting Art. It had been a new and unwelcome helpless feeling, when he had hesitated and turned back to her and she was embarrassed at her relief to be home behind a locked door. Knowing he had a pistol for a near certainty and she was defenseless, after getting such a bad feeling about him, was not something she wanted to experience again. When her dad showed her his pistol, the principle he had voiced was not she wasn't allowed a defense, but she was just not qualified to use that one.
She pursued the line of reasoning and considered a solution. Heather was just the person to tell her if it was practical, so she called. The call went through and had video also, but it showed a bunch of cables and pipes, sweeping around in a blur until Heather's face finally filled the screen. The way it was jiggling around told April she was holding her pad by hand. April was happy she wasn't one of those snobs, who made you deal with her pad's AI to talk to her, as if she were too busy and important to answer directly.
"April! Don't tell me you busted your new toy already!"
"No, no, I haven't even played with the scanner yet," April assured her, "but I want to talk to you about another job already, privately," she emphasized. "Are you open for dinner? You can come to my place if you want. We'd have privacy to talk here."
" I'd love to. I've never been to your place, but my mom would kill me. We had a big discussion about my not spending time with the family last night and she is having special company tonight and expects me to be here. But tomorrow Jeff and I are going to the construction gang's cafeteria for Thai food. They serve it on Tuesdays, Main this cycle and they don't mind regular station people if you go after the main rush is over. Why don't you go up there with us? And we can talk about anything you want. I want you to know Jeff better anyway, just as friends, even if we didn't do business."
"So, I won't be an unwanted third butting in?" April asked.
"No, really, we'd love to have you. And if we all sit and bounce ideas around, you will probably get a better widget. Are you coming?"
"OK and if for some reason I can't, I'll call you for sure," April promised.
"Good," Heather smiled, "and be sure to set the scanner out to run a bit," she instructed, as she signed off the call with her signature file -- she dissolved in a shower of glitter and a trill of a xylophone fading
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