Page 20 of Trip Me Up
He elbowed Noah. “Remember what we said about books at the table.”
“What are you reading, Noah?” Charles asked. Charles often had a book in his hand, especially after dinner in the library with his reading glasses perched on his nose and a glass of something brown in his other hand.
“This new book,Magician in the Machine.”He held up the familiar green cover, and my heart jumped into my throat.
“Is it about computers?” Charles squinted at the cover, taking in the circuit-board pattern under the title.
“Sort of. It’s fiction. It’s a little hard to understand, but everybody’s reading it.”
“Everybody?” My voice came out as a croak, and I reached for the closest cup of coffee, which happened to be Andrew’s.
“Let me pour you a fresh cup.” Andrew scowled and walked to the urn on the buffet.
“Yeah, mostly the kids in the upper grades.”
Jackson ruffled his hair. “Noah reads at a tenth-grade level.”
“I read it, too.” Natalie’s voice rang out over the table. “He’s right. Everyone’s reading it.”
“What did you think of it?” Why, why,whywas I calling attention to myself like this? I’d blurt out the secret, and then Mother would do something ridiculous like go to Heidi and demand that I, not the university, receive the royalties.
Natalie faced me over Andrew’s empty chair. “Why do you care? You don’t read.”
I picked up my fork and poked at the eggs on my plate to keep from showing the hurt. “Just making conversation.”
“I agree with Noah,” she announced. “The writing style is dense. But it raises some interesting questions about our obsession with technology.”
It did? I’d thought it was just about The Magician and The Necromancer. And zombies.
“Yeah,” Noah said. “And whether artificial intelligence can be smarter than humans.”
Natalie leaned forward. “The Magician seems to say no, but The Necromancer believes it. I think the message is that they’re both—” She stopped as if she’d just become aware of the eyes focused on her. I’d never heard Natalie talk about books, unless it was some celebrity memoir. She picked up her coffee. “We should get this Sam Case person to come to the next foundation benefit.”
“I suppose we should, if everyone is reading their book,” Mother said.
Andrew set a steaming cup of coffee in front of me and set a second cup out of my reach. “How’s grad school?”
I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose. I knew this was coming. Might as well meet it head-on.
“It’s going well.” I wasn’t about to mention the delay in my dissertation approval. “I’m on track to graduate this spring.”
“Thank goodness you can finish this chapter and move on with your life.” Mother sipped from her china cup. “The pittance you’re earning is shameful. I tried to talk to John about it, but he said that’s what everyone earns.”
“You talked to myadviserabout my stipend?” I could feel my nostrils flaring to suck in the air that had evacuated the room.
“Of course I did. I worry about you.”
“What do you plan to do after graduation?” Charles’s voice rumbled on my other side.
“I’m looking for research positions.” I sucked my lips between my teeth to avoid telling them I’d gotten an offer for a postdoc at a university in Idaho the week before. I had months to build up to that.
“Well, I’m sure Charles or Jackson would be thrilled to have you.” Mother pronounced it like the answer to a math problem.
“Research, Mother. Not programming.”
“Research doesn’t sound very…lucrative.” Her mouth turned down like she’d tasted something bad.
“There are other rewards worth having. Besides money.”
