4.1 MAX'S HOUSE
"You might at least have messaged first," said Max's father. "I'd have ordered pizza or something …"
"Dad, don't worry about it. Fuzzy doesn't eat," Max said.
"Oh. That's right. Of course not." Don Zelaster smacked his forehead in a Duh! gesture. "But still …" He looked to where Fuzzy was scanning a bookshelf in the next room, apparently out of earshot. Max wondered if Fuzzy knew what a book was. Old-fashioned books were one of her mother's affectations.
"It may not sit too well with your mom, you know," her dad said in a lower voice. "I think she made her feelings about robot students pretty clear the other day. And now you've actually brought the thing home …"
"Oh zar—er, smoke," said Max. She stopped herself because her father still considered "zark" a bad word. But, really, thought Max, this is a totally zarked situation.
She had gotten so used to Fuzzy already that she hadn't been thinking about what her mom's reaction would be. And it would almost certainly be bad.
"OK," she said, "but I wish you wouldn't call him a 'thing.'"
Her father shook his head. "Isn't this the exact same conversation you had with your mother? Do you really want to get her all riled up again? And besides … it is a thing. A thing with a bad wig."
Max groaned.
"He's not—"
"Trust me, honey, I know what I am saying," said her dad, who, in fact, did know a lot about robots because of his job writing high-tech instruction manuals. "I know it can seem real, but that's because some company spent a lot of money to preprogram it to seem that way. Believe me. I just finished an instruction manual for a very friendly blender."
Max rolled her eyes. If her father was having this much attitude about Fuzzy, she could hardly imagine what her mother was going to be like. Actually, she could imagine … and she knew she would rather avoid it altogether.
"I'll get Fuzzy to call Jones and cut the visit short," Max whispered to her father.
"I think that would be a good idea … and quickly, since Mom is due home from the library any minute now," her father agreed. "Your mother has many virtues, honey. But love of technology isn't one of them."
Max went through the kitchen to the living room, where Fuzzy was still standing before the bookcase. "Uh, Fuzzy, I hate to rush you off, but maybe we'd better get you back to your people …"
"Of course, Max," Fuzzy promptly agreed, and turned with her to the door. "It was interesting to meet you, Mr. Zelaster," he said to Max's father as they passed by him.
"It was interesting to meet you, too, Fuzzy." He smiled at the robot, and Max could tell he was charmed by Fuzzy's good manners. "You're even better than the SwirlTec190," her dad called as they continued through the front door.
Once they were outside, Max stopped and turned to Fuzzy. "You heard everything Dad and I were saying in there, didn't you?"
It was fascinating to see a robot hesitate. Max felt as though she could almost hear gears and circuits whirring somewhere inside Fuzzy.
"Yes," he finally admitted.
"Fuzzy! You're not supposed to listen to conversations like that!"
"I cannot tone down my hearing. And unless I turn off voice recognition ahead of time, I cannot help but understand what is said. And I cannot know what type of conversation it is unless I have voice recognition on."
Fuzzy stopped talking, but Max didn't speak because she could tell he was thinking of what to say next. It must be pretty complicated if it's taking him more than a millisecond to figure out, she thought.
"Max, I apologize if I have upset you."
"No, I didn't want you to apologize. I am just sorry that you heard all of that. I hope it didn't—" Now it was her turn to hesitate. She was about to say "I hope it didn't hurt your feelings," but she realized that that was ridiculous. Or was it?
"I hope it didn't interfere with your … uh … integration."
"No. This has been very useful," said Fuzzy.
"Well … good, I guess," said Max. "I'm sorry we're not being very polite, but, you see, my mom would blow a gasket if—"
"Max!"
It was her mom … and it sounded like she had blown a gasket already.
