Rather than ordering her groceries from home, Adele scans her prepared grocery list displayed on the refrigerator screen and transfers the list to her bracelet. Grabbing a favorite pair of thick foam boots, she slides her feet in as the straps automatically adjust to the width of her ankles for tailored comfort and ease. She runs her hand over to the heel to select which color she would like to coordinate with today.
The sealed closet opens detecting some motion before it, a rotating conveyer brings several options from which Adele can choose to wear for the day. Adele picks her latest purchase of a nano-fabric jacket. Taking the pink angular cut jacket off the rack, she takes her finger and places on the collar tag. The jacket changes to yellow, green, or blue with each tap and as she slides left to right the adjustment in the hue matches her movement.
“I need to find more nano-fabric, but it is a bit pricey. At least I can wear the same outfit in different colors”, justifies Adele to herself acknowledging that the purchase was outside the realms of her clothing budget for that month. Satisfied looking into the mirror she states, “This looks good, now my boots and jacket match.
On the shelf, she takes down the Astros baseball cap that advertises her favorite team in an illuminant electronic 3-d display at the center for branding. As well as the team logo, small hologram facial profiles are displayed with their batting statistics. Place that cap over her ponytail, Adele chuckles to herself remembering that her team is the arch rival of Raiden’s favorite team the Orions, “Too bad I’m not going to see him today. However, I don’t think he would be rooting for my team anyway.”
Taking her air pod to the grocery store landing, androids of various shapes of their product greet her with samples of various foods. “Welcome to Green Acres where our Home is your Home. How can I help you today?” Scanning her ‘life bracelet’ as she enters, an android host announces based on her buying history, “Tomatoes for today only are on sale 2 for ten credits. We also have your favorite soda a case Mr. Pep on sale for only 25 credits. Would you like me to prepare either of these items for you?”
“I’ll take 4 tomatoes, please” absentmindedly requests Adele wondering if more vegetables might be good idea but also knowing that they will mostly likely go bad because of a lack of desire to actually consume something healthy for herself.
“Adele, over here!” echoes a familiar friendly voice “Do you see us? We’re over here!” Alice Hammer is jumping up or really just moving up and down in excitement that they have met another friend at the store. “Adele, look to your left!”
Turning Adele waves to her new friends. Alice Hammer is dressed in bright green spandex with purple polkadots and matching violet top. Standing next to her, Jennings is intermittently clapping her hands and waving. She is wearing a tangerine t-shirt that states “Still deciding if I should be a warning or an example to others today …”.
“I like your outfit!” appreciates Adele to Alice Hammer admiring her selection.
“What until you see this!” Alice Hammer strokes the collar on her neck as her pants change into stripes of magenta and fuschia and then back to the purple polkadots, she models her new outfit for her and excitedly giggles, “I can be a surprise on every corner”.
“She’s being sharing her fashion sense with the other customers who are now no longer strangers for about an hour now” states a slightly annoyed Jennings “I came for a quick run to get my powder coffee and now I’m stuck with this powder puff instead.”
“They just made the nano-pants that can change shapes” explains Alice Hammer delighted by this new experience “Watch this!”
Her pants change from stripes to floating smiling faces. She taps the collar once more and the smiles change into a look of laughter.
“Oh, that’s interesting” states Adele not entirely sure if she likes the motion within the logo.
“Yeah, I didn’t think it could get worse either – but I was wrong again” confirms Jennings with a smirk “It’s a bit creepy isn’t it?”.
“Stop that … you know that you got a pair for yourself too” credulous remarks Alice Hammer “But they were out of the Grumpy pair in your size.”
“It wasn’t Grumpy, it was Bashful” corrects Jennings chuckling that her friend exposed her secret.
“I can’t remember which dwarf you like in Snow White” remarks Alice Hammer “I thought the old Mr. Fredrickson character from ‘Up’ was a cute second option though.”
“I do rather like them” states Jennings touching the waste band of her solid blue slacks as they change into moving images of Mr. Carl Fredrickson and Russel floating with a ton of balloons. “This is such a great classic cartoon that’s been around forever!”
“Adele, what are you doing for dinner tonight?” politely asks Jennings thinking of a matchmaking idea.
“I really didn’t have plans. I was going to make some soup and a sandwich” explains Adele peering at her empty cart.
“Why don’t you join us?” asks Alice Hammer already pondering ideas of creative dishes “We’re having dinner at Jennings apartment tonight at the Silvercrest.”
“Sounds great!” pleased remarks Adele looking forward to more time with her friends “What time should I be there?”
“Why don’t you come over at 7. It’s not fancy tonight but I’m inviting my grandson over as well” informs Jennings already five steps ahead in her plotting.
“What does he like? Does he have a favorite ice cream or cake that he likes?” offers Adele wondering how old her grandchild is.
“I think he likes rocky road” responds Jennings wondering why ice cream was her first choice.
“I’ll get some sprinkles and gummy worms to go with it” suggests Adele assuming her grandson is in elementary school “I like caramel and chocolate syrup too so I’ll get both. Do you like cherries or strawberries?”
“Can you get some candy hearts? I just love candy hearts!” exclaims Alice Hammer.
“What about some pop rocks? Does your grandson like pop rocks?” asks Adele knowing most boys like things that explode.
“Yeah, I think so … I really don’t know” replies Jennings not sure if she has ever seen him eat pop rocks and wondering why Adele is so excited to buy them for him “You choose, bring whatever you would like to”.
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours at 7 pm” setting a date Adele is looking forward to the evening together.
Packing up his briefcase of items that he would like more time to review at home, he clicks the remote as the clear glass walls to his office transform into a muted solid white enclosure. He departs for the airpod parking storage. He waits his turn in line as his pod is lifted out of its storage unit and lowered to the docking zone. He thanks the security android for his service and relaxes in the vehicle chair closing his eyes for a short nap on the way home.
Upon arrival at his house, in the foyer a light mist sterilizes the environment before entry into the great room. “Thank you, Myra”, his personalized android takes his sleek diagonal buttoned jacket and cravat to place in the closet storage. He slides into his ergonomic slippers that are perfectly contoured to his feet for support and comfort. He heads down the hallway to the washroom for a shower.
The floor transforms below his feet to a deep ocean hundreds of feet below the surface as fish, whales, and even a cantankerous shark swim by the translucent tiles making Raiden feel as if he is either submerged deep below the surface or walking on water. The shower walls fade to a muted milky white as water hits the glass panels. Surrounded by numerous atomized shower heads, Raiden relaxes from the stresses of the day and begins to consider the reviews in his mind the interaction with Argon earlier that day, washing his hair from the dispenser encased in the shower, his mind drifts to thoughts of Adele but this is quickly interrupted by the sound of an unexpected call.
“Answer call” flatly states Raiden disappointed in the revelry of his thoughts “Who is it?”
A Myra’s voice responds “Isla Grove has called. Will you take this call?”
Sighing Raiden steps out of the shower grabbing a heated towel and changing the floor to a heated surface. “Yes, Myra transfer the call. Block visuals.”
The mirror transforms to a screen with a solid black box to the side with the name “Isla Grove” in bold letters.
“Yes, Isla” greets Raiden suddenly remembering that he was supposed to take Isla to his grandmother’s home tonight.
“Raiden, I can’t see you” annoyed Isla remarks “Did your mirror screen go out again? I don’t know why you have so many issues with it, my screen has always worked perfectly fine.”
“It’s intentional” remarks Raiden without any further explanation “Was there something you were calling about?”
“I’m not going to your grandmother’s house tonight. I don’t think she likes me much anyways”, offers Isla “Eyta wants to do some shopping and I’m going to go with her. I heard Alice Hammer is cooking. You never know what you’re going to get with one of her recipes. I think that I’ll forego the stomachache. Please make up a decent excuse for me. I can’t tell them I’ve gone shopping instead. Tell them Morena got sick or something like that.”
“I’ll let her know you made other plans at the last minute” suggests Raiden not liking the idea of making up fake excuses for anyone.
“Is anyone else coming? Last time she invited Mr. Woodhouse. I don’t think he stayed awake just getting through the salad” exaggerates Isla having wanted to be some other place else that evening.
“It wasn’t during the salad but he did have a little nap after dinner which was quite good in my opinion”, Raiden states defending Alice Hammer although agreeing that their family dinners can be a bit peculiar at times in the selection of the main dishes. Her pimento cheese and sausage crackers weren’t too bad the last time even if the cherries on top were a bit strange.
“I’ll go next time you’re invited over”, offers Isla as a matter of dutiful appeasement but not thrilled with the idea of the upcoming obligation.
“I’ll see you later then. Have a good time shopping with your sister” concludes Raiden clicking the call.
Wondering if Adele had called, Raiden asks “Myra, did I have any other messages today?”
“Only two from Argon Winn-Elyson”, responds Myra “Would you like to hear the messages? Would you like me to call him for you?”
“No thanks, Myra. I will call him later. Did Adele Elyson happen to call?” inquires Raiden hoping that she might have tried to reach him.
“No, I do not have any calls from that name. Is there another name I can search?” asks Myra sensing some uneasiness with her coded probes to register distress in voice, heartrate, and temperature.
“No, thanks anyway”, responds Raiden coming through his hair and looking at his reflection wondering if he should call Adele but not entirely sure what excuse to give for calling other than just wanting to hear her voice.
“If you want to make it to your grandmother’s by 7 pm, you will need to leave in 15 minutes”, reminds Myra wheeling out of the bathroom to bring a suitable outfit to him for dinner.
A few minutes later Myra returns with an long-sleeved right sided multi-button asymmetrical tunic, shorter in the front with the back falling just above the knee. It has an overlapping oversized collar that acts with the dual purpose of a scarf. His slacks are a creased pleathera that breathes. The shoes are made of a seamless flexi rubber, the smooth patterned black sole is nearly flat but a large panel wraps around the ankle for support. Raiden double checks himself in the mirror before heading out the door for dinner at his grandmother’s house.
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