Signs of Home

As they walked to the car, Joan looked back at her little house.

How warm the house looked with its Personalized Doormat. Her mother had sent it to her in a care package. It was made out of cedar slats so that it could breath and dry, and also prevented dirt from entering into the house on unsuspecting shoes. On it was her family name. It was plain enough but looked fairly classy between two pots of red geraniums that also acted as home address signs. Both pots were stoneware, featuring a colonial pineapple design. It was a design that said, "Welcome." One was etched with the house number, the other again had her family name.

These objects of identity helped her to define this place as home. They made her feel that she indeed lived in this house and she belonged there.

And then there was the little sun man and angels, one of several Personalized Hand Cast Cement Address Plaques that she had fallen in love with from Roland's Housewarming Gifts. It too had been in that care package. Yes, the sun had been hand casted in cement along with the house number. It was a reminder that sunny skies were always ahead and it gave her a sense that maybe, just maybe everything would turn out just fine.

The Voice of Artificial Intelligence

"Tell Rainey 'Hello,'" the voice said, drawing those who were conscious to the computer screen. On it was an animated, three-Dimensional figure, female, and rather friendly looking.

Its name, rather her name, was Mary, a female persona of Ultra Hal Assistant 6.1, which was a flashback to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but also apparently a step into the future. Created by Zabaware, this artificial intelligent being on the screen seemed to be waiting for a response.

"Say something to it," the older woman said.

"Hi, Mary."

Nothing. Mary seemed to be waiting as though no words had been said. Then Penny noticed the head phones and mic that was laying next to the computer. That made it all so clear.

Penny began to explain, "This is one of those artificial intelligence assistants. Joan told me she was doing a thirty day free trial. Apparently, it understands what she tells it. It can converse and the more you communicate with it, the more intelligent it becomes. It also can do things like keep track of appointments, dial the phone, begin emails, open programs, and look up up information on the Internet. All you have to do is use the head set to communicate with it.

Penny had read about this on a blog and had even wanted one for herself after trying the on-line version, however, it was only for PCs and not Macs. She would just have to be patient.

"Stop calling it and it. Its name is Mary," the older woman chastised Penny.

Apparently, Mary had remembered that Joan had an appointment with Rainey and was now reminding her. It really was a bit uncanny, but the two woman were awed by the technology.

"Now Joan cannot ever say she feels lonely," Penny thought smugly to herself, "not with Mary on the ready."

The Prize

The text message on the cell phone read, "Lowest Bid."

Had he been paying attention at that particular time, he would have noticed that the opportunity to win an Apple I-Phone was right there within reach. It was almost that simple.

Earlier in the day, before this moment of moments, he had been sitting there at some not-so-local truck stop, eating what passed for lunch and looking for something interesting to do with his time. Bid4Prizes.com seemed a likely suspect for such an activity. Hadn't one of his acquaintances won an HDTV a few weeks ago?

Why not, he thought to himself.

He was a little surprise to find the Sweepstake high for the day. It was indeed an Apple I-phone. All he had to do was make the correct lowest bid, type it into the space for the prize he wanted (yes, oh yes, please let me win the Apple I-phone) and enter his cell phone. If his bid was the lowest unique bid, then it was his. Yeah, baby.

Perhaps 11,502 cents would be a good number. If that was the lowest creative bid, he dounted anyone else would pick that number. He knew better than to pick one cent. If more than one person choose that number then the bid would move up to two cents, so the strategy seemed to be in picking a creative number that was the lowest bid without it being duplicated. All in all it was like picking a lucky number. And if you were lucky, Free Gifts would come your way. There were no fees to pay, just a tad bit of time, the cost of a few text messages and that was it. Easy.

He had thought about doing this on his cell phone, but he would do that another day. That sounded simple too. It was just a matter of texting your bid to a certain number depending on what prize you wanted. Perhaps he would do this for the cash prize of $50,000. If he were to win that, he could spend a few months off the road and just take it easy. Perhaps there would be time to catch up on his sleep. He badly needed more sleep, but the road was a constant commitment of long hours and hard nights - alone.

Yes, for a few happy moments, he had been immersed in the dream of being one of the daily winners. He had chosen his prize, typed in the bid, and waited for chance to play his hand.

And now the phone had rung. The text message waited.

On the Road to Jack Kerouac's House

"Here's the plan," she said, "we take a vacation."

"A vacation? Where do you propose we go?"

She laughed with a mischievous smile that remained long after her words, "Orlando, of course. Where better to met interesting people? Sure they have 50 million tourist, but you know how we love those British accents? A good portion of the two million international visitors that go there are from the UK."

Since there was no interruption, she continued, "It's not like I suggested Vegas. Orlando only ranks second in Carlson Wagonlit's Travel Trends Survey. And it is not like we have to stay at a hotel if you don't want to. There are around 25,000 rental properties from which to chose. Surely,we would find a nice place."

The other still looked unsold, "I'm not so sure O-Town is for us."

"You mean the City Beautiful and you do know it was on the map before Disney. There is history there. It was incorporated in 1875."

The other just shook her head, "If it is so great, where are all the citrus groves? Isn't that why Orlando is the county seat of Orange County?"

There was laughter, "There are no citrus groves because they had to make room for the Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters, which I know you are a fan. I guess the groves went away when big business like Darden Restaurants came into town. But this is all for expansion and your comfort as a visitor. And, if it makes you fell better, there is still cattle land along the GreeneWay Expressway. Disney didn't do away with all those."

She was beginning to see why this would be a popular destination. "Do any locals still live there, I wonder?"

"No, most people who live there are originally from somewhere else, except for Wayne Brady and Delta Burke. But just think of all the beautiful people that are there now. It could be the perfect place for one to meet the person they could be with for the rest of eternity."

She mulled it over like a Christmas wine, "I'll think about it."

Her friend looked flustered and then the mischievous look was back in full force, "I know what will work and why we need to go to Orlando."

"What and why?"

"Because Jack Kerouac lived in Orlando in 1957 while his novel 'On the Road' was being publish."

Bingo.