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.“I guess maybe sometimes we are.Sometimes, I guess I forget that you’re a… that you’re just a…” She couldn’t find the right word.“An artificial intelligence,” Ian said.“Yeah.I guess I—I think of you as a friend, Ian.Sometimes people flirt with their friends.”“I understand.I’m glad we’re friends.”“Yeah.” She studied his face, looking for flaws in the animation.She found none.She had grown used to seeing him as a person, and she could see him no other way.That was what Jeff had wanted.“Look—I’d better give Carla a call.”She dialed Carla and her friend answered on the fourth ring.Carla was wearing an old purple sweatshirt and sitting in a white wicker chair.Before Teresa could say anything, Carla was talking.“Well, I was wondering when you’d call back.So, who was that guy who answered the phone?”Teresa considered telling Carla the truth, but she somehow didn’t want to explain Ian.“That’s Ian.He’s a friend of Jeff’s.He’s taking care of stuff around the house while I work on that piece for Santa Fe.The deadline’s coming up, you know.”“A friend of Jeff’s, huh.”“Yeah—and a friend of mine.”Carla shook her head.“Jeff’s a trusting soul.”“What do you mean?”“Leaving you alone with Ian all day?” Carla shook her head.“He’s the type that’ll steal your heart, all right.”Teresa shook her head.The conversation made her uncomfortable.“Not Ian.”“What, is he gay or something?”She shook her head again, “No, just”—she considered the word carefully—”unavailable.Besides, I just got back from my honeymoon, and—”“—and Jeff is working late every night,” Carla interrupted.“You sounded pretty miserable in your last letter.No offense, Teresa, but it was grim.And face it—Ian’s just your type.I can recognize ‘em a mile off.More your type than Jeff is.”“Hey, I’m a married woman now.”“You’re married, but you’re not dead.And Ian’s awfully cute.”Teresa knew that Carla was giving her the chance to complain about Jeff and talk about Ian, but she ignored the bait.She wanted Carla to drop the subject.“Things weren’t going very well on the sculpture when I sent that last letter.It’s going better now.”“Is Jeff home yet?”“No, he’s still at work.They’re in some crucial phase of the project, and he hasn’t been around much lately.”“And you don’t mind that?”“Not really.” Teresa realized that, for the first time in a while, she wasn’t upset when Jeff stayed late at work.It wasn’t like she was alone all the time.Carla stared at Teresa in a moment of rare silence.Then she said, “So —are you coming out here for the party?”“I’d like to, but I don’t know if Jeff can spare the time.”“Come without him then.Fly in for the weekend—you deserve some time off.Come out and stay with me.”“I guess I could use a break.”“Great—I’ll count on it.”“It’ll be good to see you,” Teresa said.“So tell me about what’s been happening out there.What are people working on?” Teresa relaxed and listened to Carla talk about the doings of mutual friends.It would be good to get away for a while, she thought.She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to get away from, but she pushed away the question and focused on Carla.* * * *For most of a day, Teresa made minor adjustments in the sculpture: tightening a metal plate that didn’t sound quite right, changing the slope of a track by a tiny amount.She was killing time and she knew it, but she couldn’t figure out what else to do.The sculpture sounded fine—it echoed the rainstorm, a metallic version of rain on sand.That was the sound she had wanted, but now she found herself vaguely dissatisfied.The more she listened, the less she liked it.Eventually, she stopped trying to figure out what was bothering her and started working on all the little jobs that she had been avoiding.She added six lifters and a motor to the sculpture’s base, then positioned the foot of each track so that eight balls ended up at each of the six lifters.After two days, the new parts were installed and ready to go.She loaded the balls into the lifters, turned on the motor, and watched as the lifters rose slowly up the side of the sculpture.When they reached the top, the lifters tipped forward and released the balls into their starting positions, and the sculpture began to play.She sat beside it and listened as the sounds washed over her studio.That night, Jeff got home from work around nine.She hadn’t seen much of him lately: he had been staying late at work and leaving the house in the morning before she was awake.She told herself that she hadn’t had a chance to mention Carla’s party to him, but she knew that she hadn’t really wanted to.She was sure that he wouldn’t be interested in going.But that evening she couldn’t put it off any longer, and she told him about the invitation.To her surprise, Jeff was willing to take the time off work to go to the party.They flew into San Francisco Airport on Friday night, rented a car, and drove directly out to the Headlands Art Center.On the plane, she found herself feeling awkward with him.He had been home so little lately that it was like traveling with a stranger.She couldn’t shake the feeling.The party at the Headlands was just like old times—an assortment of artists and would-be artists, a cooler filled with beer, California jug wine served in paper cups, chips dumped hastily into bowls from the potter’s studio downstairs, guacamole dip from the burrito place near Carla’s apartment.Just like old times.She mingled with the crowd, telling friends what she’d been doing, describing the piece she was working on for Santa Fe.As she talked about her work, she grew more and more excited about it, her own interest reawakened by the support of her friends.Ned, a fellow sculptor, listened to her description of the pivoting hands.She hadn’t been entirely happy with the pivoting mechanism.On a napkin, he sketched a few ideas that might solve the problem.She sat in a corner with Brenda, a musician, and talked about the overall shape of the composition.Eventually, she retreated to the rickety wooden fire escape that Carla had dubbed the smoking porch.From there she could hear the crash of the surf over the party music.Through the window, she could look in to the party.Jeff was sitting in the far corner with a couple of men she knew vaguely.They both worked with synthesizers and computer music.The three men seemed to be having an animated conversation.“Getting a breath of fresh air?” Carla said from the doorway.“Mind if I keep you company for a while?” She stepped onto the porch and closed the door lightly behind her.Teresa shrugged.“I may not be very good company, I’m afraid.”“Yeah? What’s going on?”“It’s just strange coming back.I realized how much I miss having you folks around [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]