Chapter 16

Terri's turn:

I got a new sister. That would be Vicki, you know. I guess if one adhered to the standard definitions, she's actually my cousin in the strictest sense, since she's the daughter of my Tina-mom's adopted sister, Kim.

Forget the strictest sense. If Mom can adopt a bunch of sisters, so can I, so I have two sisters, Rachel and Vicki.

Tina has cautioned me that I should make sure to be fair to my sisters. She says there is a natural tendency to concentrate on the new one. I am working on that. It's easy in some ways because I've spent so much time with Rachel that I know almost exactly what she thinks and I think she's the same way about me. Together we are learning about Vicki.

Vicki's a little behind us in a lot of things. She's almost two years younger and she's been living with muggles, at least that's what we call people of normal intelligence. We don't mean it to be a bad thing, but it is true. I know that Dad and Tina and everybody else have opened up things that let me learn and encouraged me, and I know how it was when I was living in California with Mom and Mister Martin. They didn't understand that I wanted things that they thought were not appropriate for my age.

Vicki is amazed at some of the things we do.

"They let you do that stuff?" She asked when we were adding a hand to Bot-bot.

"Yes," I said. "Bot-bot is mine and Rachel's. Other people help us do things. I mean, we can't make all the parts, but this hand, well, we want to put it on there. Then we can see what we can make Bot-bot do."

"But you're using TOOLS..."

"Here! You do it. That screw ... just turn it until it stops."

I mean, it's only a screw. Three of 'em hold the hand in place. A screw. But I guess that living with muggles, you don't get a lot of chances to use a screwdriver, so me an' Rachel help her learn. "Straight screw, see? This cross-looking one is called a Phillips. And this one is a Torx. Looks like a little star. I prefer Torx. And they come in sizes. Come look at this drawer." She has a lot to learn.

But she's learning. Like programming. And we look at the blocks that make Bot-bot.

"I think I see," Vicki said. "It's boxes inside of boxes. Bot-bot's this whole BIG box. Inside are TWO boxes. One that makes him go and one that makes him think. And the one that makes him go, it has these boxes. One for the batteries. That holds the power. And one that makes him move. And inside the box that makes him move ... You keep getting smaller and smaller until you get one that is like this track thing and these wheels. So you need a track and wheels and those are things you can deal with."

"Programming is the same way, then," I said. "Boxes inside of boxes. You keep getting littler and littler pieces of your problem until you get one that you can do with a few commands."

Vicki's eyes light up just like Rachel's when she gets it. "I TOTALLY understand that."

I heard Tina's voice. "Vicki, I work with people who are in college for four years that don't totally get that."

"But I see," Vicki said. "I have this box that says, 'Bot-bot goes forward', right? That means I have to send..." she looked at me, " ... a command to each of the four motors. That's inside THIS box that says 'Bot-bot reacts to a command to move in a certain direction'. And that's inside a box that says 'Bot-bot comes when you call him'."

I'm smiling. Vicki is getting all this.

Kim's turn:

Tina's laughing at me. With me, actually. "You got it two years earlier than I got it," she laughs.

"I love 'er, Tina. You know I do."

"I know you do."

"I just don't know if I'm gonna be any good at it."

"Oh, come on, Kim. You know how to be a friend. That's all you have to do. Be a friend to her. She's smart. You're smart. Tim loves you both and you love both of them."

"But I don't know what to do."

"It's not like they come with a manual," Tina said. "You instinctively knew how to love Tim, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah..."

"And Vicki was there when you got married, and you didn't have a problem, did you?"

"She was a blast..."

"So why would you think things would change now?"

"I dunno. I'm ... I'm a MOM!"

"You're a friend and a big sister and yes, there's 'mom' in there too, but suck it up, buttercup."

"Oh, that makes me feel MUCH better."

She giggled. "Look, Vicki just latched into Terri 'n' Rachel like she was the missing piece of the puzzle. That's half the battle. And you know we're ALL here to help..."

"I..."

"Kimberly," she said, "This isn't YOU. You're on top of the world, you know."

"You think so?"

"Oh, why don't we get your aunts in on this. What do THEY say?"

"Same thing you just told me."

"Have you talked with Tim?"

"No. Don't wanna scare Tim."

"You ought to talk with him. Let him know that you do have trepidations. I talked with Alan. Found out Alan was MORE worried about me." She sighed. "Nerves. You got nerves. Nerves're okay. This is a big change, but trust me, Vicki and you and Tim and all of US will be the better for it."

"You think? Really?"

"Go find 'em right now. You can't stick a sheet of paper between the three of them. They're together, Kim. They're going to learn and grow together and you're going to be here to help, and there will be evenings when the three of you are sitting in the house being a family and there will be evenings when she slides off with the gang so you and Tim can do whatever you and Tim come up with when nobody's around..."

"But..."

"But Kim," she said, "you'll do just fine. And what are your alternatives? You're a high school grad. You're gonna go to college, one way or the other. You have the daughter you told me yourself that YOU wanted. You're like me. You spoke something into existence."

Okay, she's got me. Let's see how fast she REALLY is. "Lottery ticket," I said.

Giggle. "I tried it, too. Didn't work for me, either!"

"Okay, sister," I said. "Might not be perfect, but this is what I get."

"See that you do," Tina laughed. "We gotta get this bunch going. There are hyperdrives to be invented."

"And we get to watch," I said. I paused, touched her hand. "Tina, thank you..."

"For what?"

"For talking. Listening..."

"Kim ... I've been through all this myself. Same questions. Everything. And what did your Aunt Jenn tell you?"

I laughed. "She said pull up my 'big girl' pants, that 'better or worse' is real, and she sincerely doubted that with what she knew of Vicki, 'worse' wasn't much of an expectation."

"Wise woman, your Aunt Jenn."

"Uh-huh," I said. "When she's not thinking I'm insane."

"I imagine showing up with Tim in tow precipitated some of that."

"You know it. But he's sooooo perfect. She HAD to like 'im."

"Still insane, though," she laughed.

"Like YOU'RE not crazy either, huh?"

"Certifiable." She smiled. "Just like you. Guy that I adore. Absolutely HORRIBLE step-daughter ... That I adore as well."

"I feel better."

"Good. Let's go see what they're up to. We told 'em 'earth sciences' today." Tina smiled. "That could mean anything. We could find a surprised-looking orca in the bathtub."

I laughed. "They're really like that."

"They are."

Tina punched her iPhone. "She's answering," she told me, then to Terri, "Where are you?" Pause. "Not being a pest, are you?" Pause. "Okay. We'll be there in a bit."

"Where are they?" I asked.

"At Nikki's. Bot-bot versus Tommi."

"That's an awfully good-natured cat," I laughed.

When we knocked on the door, Nikki invited us in. "They're studying the reaction of a sapient lifeform to a quasi-sentient robot," she laughed.

"It's NOT working," Terri announced.

"What's not working?" Tina asked.

"Tommi is avoiding Bot-bot."

"What's the structure of the experiment," Tina queried.

Rachel spoke. "We added Tommi to Bot-bot's photo database, told him that Tommi was NOT a squirrel, he was 'people'."

"I think Bot-bot's having trouble with that," my Vicki said. "There's too much difference between cats and people."

Terri and Rachel nodded concurrence.

"Tommi doesn't like vacuum cleaners," Nikki chuckled. "He thinks Bot-bot's a big vacuum cleaner. Not quite as noisy but a lot more annoying."

"We worked with Bot-bot, we finally got him to try to follow Tommi, but Tommi runs off where Bot-bot can't go. Bot-bot is sad," Terri explained.

"I feel SORRY for him," Nikki laughed. "He whines. He's soooo sad."

"And what are we learning with all this?" Tina questioned. "Rachel?"

"Humans can alter their discernment and disposition to accept unfamiliar lifeforms..."

"Strangers," Vicki offered.

"So Bot-bot's a lifeform now?" Nikki asked.

"We're not sure how Tommi sees him," Terri answered. "Your vacuum cleaner hypothesis is pretty likely."

Vicki squatted and extended her hand towards Tommi. "Here, kitty kitty..."

The big yellow cat eyed her for a second, then came forth out from under the end table so he could be properly worshiped. I watched Bot-bot's 'head' swivel to track the cat.

"Bot-bot, stop," Rachel commanded. Bot-bot responded with a two-tone 'okay' beep. Tommi jerked his head to watch the robot, saw that Bot-bot wasn't moving, and continued to Vicki's hands.

"Cats might not be the best subject for the study," I said. "Dogs are more trusting, I think."

"Bella's got a basset hound. Maybe we could have him meet Bot-bot," Terri said. Bella was one of the kids in the home-schooling group we worked with. "She thinks Bot-bot's neat."

"We'll talk with Bella's mom," Tina said. "We don't want them to think we're abusing Humphrey." Tina turned to me. "Humphrey's the biggest, goofiest basset hound you ever imagined. He loves kids. Bot-bot? I dunno." Back to Terri and the gang she instructed, "Okay, you guys write up your observations of today's experiment. Explain what you observed and your explanations and theories."

"This is NOT second and third grade work," Vicki told me.

"Grades? What are grades about?" Terri giggled. "We get to learn as much as we want as fast as we want. Come on. Let's go to my apartment and work on it. Rachel, go get your laptop. Vicki, get yours."

"Nikki, thank you," Vicki said. "This was interesting."

The trio trooped out, Bot-bot in trail formation, happily whistling Colonel Bogey March.

"And there they go," Nikki said. "Coke, anybody?"

"Not a whole one," I said.

"Split it three ways?" Tina asked.

"Come on. Kitchen," Nikki chirped.

We were sitting in Nikki's living room. "So what do you think about Vicki's education now, Kim?"

"Grades? We ain't got no grades. We don't need no grades. I don't have to show you any stinking grades!" I laughed.

Nikki shook her head while Tina smiled. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. You had to watch that movie too?"

"Uh, yeah ... Tim said it's like a foundational document of the American experience."

Tina laughed at the reference. "Old movies. Where'd you think Bot-bot got Colonel Bogey March?"

"How many people think y'all are totally nuts?" I asked with a smile.

"Most of 'em," Nikki said. "You'll get some of it, if you haven't already. Some of our fellow scholars are absolutely certain what we're running some kind of fantastic scam up on Auburn University."