Page 260 of She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be
The little boy peered over the back of the booth in his parents’ favorite restaurant, in his parents’ favorite California seaside town. He twisted and squirmed, until his mother finally gave up and let him stand on the bench seat and look out over the back into the next booth, at the man sitting in that booth.
“What happened to your face?” the boy asked.
Not polite at all. Not the kind of thing you ask a complete stranger. Particularly when you have the remnants of macaroni and cheese all over your own face.
The man looked up from the menu. He had decided on the catch-of-the-day, and smiled. The shear act of such a thing seemed painful, tugging at his ruined skin in such a way that must have hurt. If it did, though, he didn’t acknowledge it.
The man pointed at the ruined side of his face and shrugged. Then, with a series of complex hand gestures, he answered the boy in what was known as ASL, or American Sign Language.
The boy bit at his lower lip and frowned.
He didn’t understand.
The uneducated youth.
Today’s children knew only video games, social networks, and streaming media. Gone were the days someone opened a book and took the time to learn something new, to better themselves, to achieve a greater intellect through enlightenment. Perhaps if education awarded points, the younger generation would consider dusting off a book. If they could easily level up with a cheat code stolen off the Internet, they may take interest.
The man held up a finger. He dug his smartphone from the pocket of his windbreaker, draped over the empty seat beside him.
He opened an app, typed a message, and held the device near the boy’s little macaroni-and-cheese covered head as he hit the PLAY button.
A human-sounding voice read the text aloud with near-perfect intonation and pitch, nearly indiscernible from a real voice. “I am a beautiful man.”
The boy thought about this for a second, then nodded.
Log 08/08/2020—
Subjects “D” and “C” —
Audio/video recording.
REBOOT INITIATED
—Charter Observation Team – 412
