Crime Scene 19.2 Families
Wednesday. 7:00pm. Angie’s Family Dining Room.

Dinner was served buffet style. Heaping platters of homemade food sat beside several large delivery pizzas. Every dietary need and restriction had been accounted for. They even used giant heated tureens from Angie’s uncles’ catering business to hold all the food. Ellie was overwhelmed. Despite attending several large parties regularly in the past, family dinners were always small and sedate, just her, her parents, and Cordy. Here, there were people walking around, passing food, chatting at separate tables, shouting across the room on occasion.

The friends were seated together. Ellie’s plate consisted of some of the dishes she had helped make. She needed to get used to the “college diet” as Angie’s mom called it. Geoff happily piled a little bit of everything onto his plate. He needed two plates. They gave him a platter.

They were settling in comfortably, making casual introductions, when Angie’s two moms came in with her third parent, formerly Mx. Hernandez. She had thought Angie’s moms looked familiar, but figured it was because they looked and dressed somewhat alike and influenced each other. But seeing all three together, a memory clicked into place. She had seen all three together before. Checking out of the Sirens’ Dream honeymoon suite. Angie’s parents certainly lead interesting lives. The HOTs didn’t seem to recognize her, and Ellie wasn’t going to bring it up. Discretion was a cornerstone of the Sirens’ Dream.

Dinner conversation was varied and overlapping. It was impossible to follow every conversation. They talked about…well, normal things. In the background, they streamed the latest episode of the popular telenovela “Toda Rosa Tiene Su Espina” or “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” shunning the few who hadn’t kept up. Ellie hadn’t had the time to spare for idle entertainment in a long time, but she found herself pulled into the wild, twisting plots in spite of herself. The twists were so numerous, she had no way of predicting the plot, which bothered her. She would have to look up summaries to get plot updates. She had to know if Julia’s real name was Rosa or if she was actually a ghost with amnesia all along.

Angie’s Grandpa Hernandez told war stories at his table to anyone uninterested in the show. “Times were tough during the war. Couldn’t trust any of our electronics anymore. It was like being back in the stone ages for years,” he shook his head slowly. “Anything with a chip couldn’t be trusted.”

Angie whispered. “Sorry about Grandpa H. I’m not actually sure if it’s a bit he’s really committed to or if he really thought actual AI was possible and took over before it was restricted.”

“Thank you for your service, sir,” Geoff said seriously.

Angie’s Grandpa nodded back with similar gravitas.

Cliff wasn’t able to hold back, “You know AI was never actually sentient, right? It’s just a tool. People use it for space travel to make faster calculations that update and learn and adapt to changing circumstances instantaneously. It’s made interplanetary shipments safer and more reliable.”

Angie muttered. “Oh no….” as her grandfather narrowed his eyes again.

“What was your name again? You sound like one of those AI techbros. You don’t want to know what we did to them back in my day.”

Cliff, who had realized his misstep, backed off and muttered, “I’m Cliff, just Cliff,” thankfully omitting his last name and avoiding an old-fashioned flame war. There were some things you didn’t talk to millennials about.

On another side of the dining room, the aunts asked all of them in turn, “What are your plans after college? Are you getting married soon? You know kids these days are starting families so early. I hope you make sure you’re ready first before taking that step.”

Ellie politely reassured them that education came first, of course. She whispered to Angie, “Is it always like this?”

Geoff was not suppressing a manic grin. “I hope so, this is great.” Of course, he would think so. Ellie didn’t imagine he had many family dinners before or after Ombra. This was probably the most calm socialization with normal people (i.e., non-criminals) he ever had. Another point for study group.

Angie rolled her eyes. “Wisdom of the ancients. Sorry, they don’t get to spread it to people in person often enough. Don’t look at their social media.”

Sia smiled. “They make interesting points…for their time.”

Cliff shrugged. “My family all lives in the same building, too. You just tune it out and avoid their floors. I don’t even see my aunts and uncles unless there’s a family event.”

“Like Thanksgiving? What’s everyone doing for that? I, um, won’t be flying home, so wanted to get some ideas,” Ellie said. Anything to distract from the homesickness.

Sia looked at her sympathetically. “Me neither. It’s too expensive to fly on the holidays. We’re just doing a video call over dinner.”

“We’re just having dinner like this but bigger. Some cousins and other relatives are driving in. We have to set up extra tables in the front. You all can come, too, but you might have to park a mile away.”

Cliff consulted his phone. “Not sure, we usually go out to eat, but… looks like most of my family is out of town that week.” Apparently, he had all the Gwynn family’s schedules on there. Good to know. They were a powerful force in the tech industry. Knowing their movements might come in handy.

Geoff was quick and decisive. “Sleep, eat, and videogames. I need a break from all the studying.”

Dinner went by quickly. Ellie helped carry the leftovers and some plates to the kitchen, but the “designated cleaning crew” was already making quick work of all the dishes. It seemed like Angie’s family had everything worked out.

They returned to their studies in Angie’s room, fueled by leftovers from dinner until the yawning started and they called it a night.