12.08.2015
Both Tern and Christy had finished eating, and Tern had scraped his plate clean. Judy came back by the table with some more coffee and topped up both their mugs. She also cleared away their empty plates. She made her way to the kitchen again and Tern let a “thank you” trail after her.
A screen in a shadowed corner of the restaurant popped on and stock prices and headlines scrolled across the bottom while soundless faces mouthed serious, punctuated soliloquies and then those faded to a group of people sitting on stools, laughing and talking over one another.
Tern hated these damn screens and their endless chatter stream. Even when muted, they were an assault on his attention span and ability to focus. He shifted in his seat and put the screen out of view on his periphery. He could focus on Christy again and see the way she pursed her lips to blow on the coffee and how she gripped the mug with both hands; appreciating the warmth.
She looked around the diner at the patrons, followed a few that walked out the door, leaving little jingles in the air as the door swung back shut, and briefly hugged before parting ways. Tern wondered the last time Christy had been hugged. He couldn’t even think of the last time he had been.
When was the last time he’d even spent an hour with a friend of his? He had at least a couple friends, right? Of course, but not really the types that got together in a place together. It was easier to just shoot them a message for them to answer whenever they could than try to meet up in space.
That way he wouldn’t be completely interrupted from what he’d rather be doing. This, incidentally, wasn’t much as of late. Breezing through articles and shooting through the related and recommended follow-ups. Always had a hand in some new infohole.
It’s a wonder his vocal chords even held up to the use today. This thought gave him an itch in his throat which he cleared.
The sound brought Christy back to the table and she said, “Well, that was delicious.”
“I have to agree with you there,” Tern said. “And the bottomless coffee is nice for conversation,” he continued.
Christy made a noisy slurp of approval and laughed, “Indeed!”
Judy came back with the check, which she placed face down on the table. Christy started a slow reach for it, but Tern moved faster.
“What’s my share?” she asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Let me get this.”
“Oh, this chivalry needs to die,” she said, and Tern couldn’t tell if she was serious or not.
“Please. I set aside a few bucks for a nice meal each week,” he lied, “and this is the least I could do to thank you for your company.” That part was true.
She set her hand back on the table with an inaudible sigh. Tern saw the hair flutter in front of her mouth though.
“Okay,” she conceded. “But only because I hope you’ll walk with me for a bit once we head out from here.”
“I’d love to.”
And there was that mushy feeling in his stomach again. His fingertips felt atingle as he pressed his fingers to the bill and a confirmation of the price and automatic gratuity pulsed there, awaiting his agreement. The monochrome screen was seamless and mostly opaque as it indicated the need for his fingers to finish the transaction. He touched the bill again and the details cast out from the receipt in his hand, found a receiver in the table, and then multicast out to the ‘formers who would verify the details. [[Terraformers, like BitCoin miners who verify transactions on the ledger, but larger scale.]]
He set the bill back on the table as its details smoothed away and he was debited.
“Shall we?” He stood and gathered his coat, and Christy did the same.
As they walked through the door that jingled for them as well, a block of transaction verifications passed into his subconscious, and he was helping to vet the details of several others that had eaten there earlier this morning. Tern didn’t even notice the proposal, bid, receipt process that his ESL chip negotiated with the storefront as they departed.
The cool air bit at his face though, as passing cars threw their refractions their way.