Chapter 30
DATING
"I’m taking orders for breakfast. What’s everyone’s pleasure?" Frying pan in hand, Johner turned from the stove to Sarah and Annalee.
Call smiled wryly, and said a bit hesitantly, "---Johner, uh---I don’t eat, you know. Or at least not what you’re fixing for breakfast. I can, but I’d prefer not to, unless it’s a matter of camouflage."
Johner chuckled. "Well, for God’s sake why didn’t you tell me that before? Have you been stuffing food down when you didn’t want it?"
Call looked sheepish. "Well, yes, I have. It seems so impolite to refuse. And it tastes great, so I’m tempted."
"Well, Christ, don’t do it, unless you want to just taste it. I won’t be offended, although I’ve got to tell you feeding people is one of my best things. It satisfies my patriarchal instincts; taking care of the family. I’m sorry you don’t eat; now you’re in danger of my figuring out some other way to take care of you." Johner grinned at her and turned back to the stove.
********
When breakfast was done, and coffee was being drunk, Johner raised the subject that he and Connor had discussed the night before. "Call, we need your input on something. I got a phone call from Captain Henderson yesterday. He wants to see you---socially, I mean. He asked me to invite him to dinner. What do you want me to do about that?" Johner’s brows raised questioningly.
Call put her hands up to her face. "Oh, God! I was afraid that would happen!"
"Exactly what I said to Connor last night. It was pretty obvious from the way he acted at the station." He laughed and continued, "Well, what do you want to do about it?"
Sarah put her hand on Johner’s arm. "Give her a chance to think, Johner."
Call looked up ruefully. "I don’t need to think about it. I can’t do it. There’s no way."
Sarah looked down at her coffee cup. "Don’t answer this if you don’t want to, Call; but ‘can’t’? Does that mean that you can’t, physically? Or that you don’t want to? Or both?"
Call burst out laughing. "Of course I can! I’m made in every way like a human being, on the surface. Inside there are some few differences. Like steel bones. Like no blood. I can, all right; but Sarah, how can I deceive someone who thinks I’m real? And telling anyone about myself is just something I never do, much less tell a policeman! My life is in some jeopardy here, and I assure you I have been programmed with a full measure of self-preservation." She shook her head. "It’s just too difficult. I can’t do it."
"What on earth do you mean, ‘someone who thinks I’m real.’ You are real!" Sarah was indignant. "For Pete’s sake, Call, you’re not a hologram! And you haven’t answered the second part of my question yet. Do you want to do it?"
That question was obviously a little more difficult to answer; Call’s face showed her hesitation. "---I don’t know. You know, Sarah, I’m getting more like a human being every day. My central processor is very, very sophisticated, and it’s learning from the world around me all the time. Once I could have said without hesitation that emotional attachment was not for me. Now---I’m not so sure. But I guess until I am sure I can’t do anything about it. And it certainly shouldn’t be a policeman, of all people!" She stopped, and then continued, more uncertainly. "He was awfully nice, though. For a cop, unbelievable!"
"He is nice. I’ve always liked him, and I think Johner does too." Sarah glanced at him, and he nodded agreement. ---Well, Annalee, I guess that’s a no, huh?"
"I guess so. What will you tell him?"
Johner’s brows drew together, "That could be a bit of a problem. I don’t want to lie to him in any way that he could discover, like telling him you’re gone. We don’t want to raise any suspicion at all that you have anything to hide. Don’t want that cop’s nose of his to smell anything funny. ---You know, Call, if you would do it, I think the best thing is for us to have him here, and for you just to discourage him from pursuing it any further."
"Gee thanks! Just what I’m crazy about doing! No, I think the best thing is for me to make your lie a reality. I’ll take off, and you can say with truth that you don’t know where I am."
Johner’s hand slapped down on the table. "That is not an option! We’re not going to dump you for Henderson’s convenience!"
"You’ve got that right!" Sarah put her hand out to Call. "Not an option! You’ve got friends, Call, and you’re not going to get rid of us that easily!"
Call looked up at them with emotion on her face. "If I could blush, which is one of the few things they left out, I would. Thanks, folks."
*******
When the evening of the projected dinner party arrived Call showed some signs of nervousness. "What do I say to him? Damn, Connor, I’ve never turned a man down politely. It was always someone like Johner, and in a case like that, you couldn’t put it plain enough!"
Johner looked offended. "I was very sensitive underneath, and you could have hurt me deeply. When you said you’d die first, if I hadn’t known you didn’t mean it, I would have been crushed. But of course I knew that you were just playing hard to get, so I didn’t let it get to me; I just kept on as if you hadn’t said a thing."
Call caved in with laughter, then replied, "That’s true, all right, you never stopped for a minute. God, you were an animal! Sarah, it does you great credit that you could turn him into some semblance of a human being. A few more years in your company, and he might turn out to be quite presentable."
"Well, we’ll see; I won’t count on it." Sarah smiled up at him, and reached up to pat his face.
The doorbell rang. Call’s eyes rolled and she clutched her stomach. "What am I going to say? Oh, God, don’t answer the door!"
"I’m not going to answer the door. You are. Go on, face the dragon." Sarah gave her a little push.
Call returned to the kitchen in a couple of minutes with Jack Henderson in tow. "Well, here he is!" she said brightly. "No handcuffs are in evidence, I think we’re safe for the moment."
"I have never once handcuffed my host, or my hostess. Fellow guests, however---." Jack smiled down at Call warmly. His interest in her was plain; he was making no effort to dissemble it.
"No handcuffs are necessary, she’s not going anywhere. Sit down, everyone. Jack, I always tell new dinner guests: if you want to eat my dinner, you have to amuse me while I cook. The kitchen table is where we entertain." Johner pulled out a chair with a flourish.
"I’m a cop, and my father was a cop. The kitchen table is where I’ve spent three quarters of my life; formal entertaining doesn’t go with the lifestyle." Jack pulled out a chair for Call, and sat down. Connor was already in her accustomed place at the table.
"Tonight I cook French. Coq au vin, French bread (from the bakery), Caesar salad. A meal fit for a king, ---or a cop." Johner poured wine all around, and turned with the bottle to the stove, where he dumped a dollop into the big pot simmering there. "Just that extra added touch!"
Connor shook her head, laughing. "Showoff! But it smells great. When is this production ready to serve? I’m hungry!"