Sigismund was worried. He was worried about having Renfrew out of commission or, worse, replaced with a substitute android while Renfrew was being repaired after the bashing he got at Marvella's studio. And this was on top of Renfrew's disturbing proclivity for channeling the thoughts of Orly, whose murder he was supposed to be solving. "Orly is disappointed that I haven't found his murderer yet," Renfrew said suddenly.

"Has he ever described the afterlife?" Sigismund asked. "That's the sort of thing that would pique my interest."

The doorbell rang again. It was Betty Boop. As soon as she was inside, she jumped into the discussion. "For Pete's sake, Orly, get hold of yourself," she scolded. Sigismund raised an eyebrow. Was Betty channeling Orly too? Renfrew must not be the only one who do this. Why couldn't humans do it?

"He's sulking," Renfrew said. "We might not hear from him until after Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, Sigismund should call Willy Wonderful about that turkey he's offering us. And Betty, you and I should plan lunch and dinner for today. We'll need to take at least one trip to the market for supplies. Could you go? I can give you directions to Shop Till You Drop."

"I know my way around a supermarket," Betty said tartly. "And can send that bogus coffeemaker back to Espresso Express. I make coffee with the best of them. You'll wonder how you ever managed without me, Sigismund."

The next few days were more pleasant than Sigismund could have hoped for. Betty's coffee was as good as she said it was, and her meals were superb. If she could be faulted, it was in the area of housekeeping. Dusting made her sneeze. But to be fair, she had been designed as an entertainer, not a maid. "I'd need different software and some different circuits to be a good maid," she said. "Anyway, it was Hattie McDaniels who said that she'd rather play a maid than be one."

Well, she certainly knew her movie history, Sigismund thought. If Lanny were here, he would ask why Sigismund didn't hire a cleaning service. After all, he had plenty of money.

Thanksgiving turned out to be interesting. Willy sent the roast turkey over promptly at noon, at which point Betty took over. She carried the tray in her lap during the ride to Lanny's house. She made a grand entrance into the dining room, and then flirted with Lanny until his wife put her foot down. Renfrew was off being repaired, but he arranged for a local KFC to send over some cornbread muffins.

Renfrew's new parts arrived the next day. Curlew visited him in the shop at Androids R We to see how he was doing. Renfrew thought he was asking about the Orly murder case. "The murder weapon turned out to be the bathmat that Sigismund's granddaughters used in a puppet video on Marvella's show," Renfrew volunteered.

"What?"

"Well, the bathmat they used had the same pattern as the one Orly slipped on."

Curlew just stood there and stared at Renfrew. What a primitive design he had! Really, it was sad. If Sigismund had any balls, he would be solving this murder himself. Or, failing that, he had enough money to hire a crack private investigator. If other androids were sad cases, then people like Sigismund were even sadder.

Paulh

13.03.23 Front Page

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