Between the Lanterns(36)
Samantha looked around and took it all in. She was so impressed by how much August had accomplished since their first meeting. He had gone from an awkward tinkerer working on an assembly line in a factory to an inventor that held a lot of clout with the biggest corporation and seller of tech in the entire world. Just a regular guy from Alabama had made a real mark in the major company on Earth.
“When are you going to open the shop, sweets?” she asked, her voice tight with emotion.
August shrugged his shoulders, chewed on a biscuit, and said, “Everythin’ is almost ready to go. I figure I can put out some flyers, maybe an ad in the New Dothan Eagle digital news, you know, let people know about us. Maybe offer some Grand Openin’ discounts? People love a good deal.”
Samantha ran her fingers lightly across his thigh and said, “I actually had an idea about the logo and slogan. I thought that since a lot of people were into retro stuff, and since a lot of your tech plays off of that, we could play on that idea. Something like, ‘Yesterday’s Answers to Tomorrow’s Problems’ and have a picture of you with a cellphone up to your ear and me cooking on one of your new ovens. What do you think of that, sweets?”
August rubbed his lightly bearded face and looked sternly at the floor, before shaking his head in disagreement.
“I don’t like it, babe. Nope, I don’t like it,” he said in a disapproving voice. “I LOVE IT!” he then yelled to the ceiling.
August grabbed her in a constricting embrace and they rolled around on the newly installed gel -cushioned floors, which made for a nice place to stand on your feet all day, but also an excellent place to mess around when the time was right. And the time was suddenly right.
-
“Hi! Welcome to Sweets, Inc. We have yesterday’s answers to tomorrow’s problems. Are you lookin’ for anythin’, in particular, today?” August said, greeting the new customer the same way he greeted everyone who came into his store.
His first week of business had so far been incredible. Everyone in the area had to come in to see what this new store was all about. And the desire to be the first one of your friends with the newest gadget had certainly helped business.
“Well, normally I would say that I was just browsing, but I have to be honest with you,” the man said. “My cousin told me he bought one of your cellphones and a set of your lanterns. The way he described them made me want to come and have a look for myself. Can you show me what he was talking about?”
August had to grin. Those had been the two most popular items since he had opened. It’s was funny to him because one was an old version of new tech:; the cellphone. But the other was a new version of old tech:; the lanterns. And for whatever reason, those two are what the people wanted.
There was some repair work coming in, too. People came to see August because he would fix and mod any tech; not just his stuff, but also Montek’s and other companies’ products. His competition would only ever touch their own products.
“Absolutely, sir,” August cheerily replied. “Over here we have all the available models of our Sweet Phones. As I’m sure your cousin told you, we take an existin’ SmartChip and insert it into any one of these you’d like. It’s not a replacement for a SmartChip, you understand? Just an accessory that get’s that tech out of your head and into your hand. It’s a little bit like takin’ a step back in time. You’ll have the same functions as you do now;, you’ll just look more… old school, as they used to say.”
The customer was visibly interested but said nothing. August could just tell by his body language that they guy was going to buy one.
“Over here we have the Life Lanterns,” August continued. “A while back, I bought some of the city’s maglev lanterns that you see on every street. My wife and I had some very personal moments between those lanterns and I wanted to have them in our home as a symbol of our life together. I modded them out with voice recognition software, multiple light filters, a dimming feature, and a simple AI; they’ll follow you when told to do so, or stay put when instructed. You can voice command all of it, or tell the lanterns to enter predictive mode and assume what you want based on past instructions. They can learn your habits, sir!”
At this, the customer couldn’t stay quiet anymore. August could tell:; the man just had to have this stuff.
“Ok, I don’t care what they cost,” the customer said greedily. “I need two sets of Life Lanterns and two Sweet Phones. Ring it up.”
As August began to type up the order and enter it into the system, Woodrow walked onto the sales floor from the back room.
“Whoa,” the customer exclaimed, “what on Earth is that thing?”
August laughed a little and gestured to Woodrow with an air of theatrics.
“That, my friend,” he said, “is my pride and joy. Made by my wife and me workin’ together. It’s a wooden automaton, with the most sophisticated internal components the world has ever seen. Woodrow is the only employee I’ll ever need, and a major part of our family. He’s pretty helpful, but a little awkward. Ain’t that right, Woodrow?”
“RIGHT,” the wooden robot replied.
The customer stroked his chin and squinted his eyes as he assessed as this new tech was strolling across the floor. Woodrow wandered over to a display of Life Lanterns, straightened it, and then went back into the stockroom.