New from Alexa

NEW FROM ALEXA

By Thomas Kraemer

© 2019 by the author

Elaine saw him losing control again as his face went hard. The unleashed rage widened his pupils as he came at her.

“Jim, No! Not again!”

He swung his long arm. The flat of his hand caught her cheek as she tried to duck. Spittle flew as her head was knocked backward by the blow. Six year old Sarah gripped Elaine’s trembling legs from behind.

“Don’t ever talk to me like that!” he shouted in her face as she turned it back to him. “If you want to go, get the hell out. Now!”

She left then, and never came back. She’d thought he was a strong man, but had learned slowly that he was a scared child hiding in a shell he’d built to fool the world. As his impulses got the better of him, he’d lost more money, got fired, and when he came home exhausted the shell dropped off. He pushed her around, the one person he could dominate. That was the only use he had for Elaine, and he had no use at all for the child, who was just in the way.

Now Elaine was alone with Sarah, in a clean one-bedroom apartment in a big building. She could make ends meet after paying for childcare, working long shifts as a nursing assistant, and even have some extra. She bought a new computer, thinking of Sarah’s education.

“Aren’t we lucky to have our own little place, Sarah?” Elaine asked on a sunny, calm weekend morning together a couple months after moving. She was still furnishing the place one piece at a time as she found tasteful items at sale prices. She wanted desperately to make everything new, to have a clean break for Sarah and herself. She’d create a safe harbor.

“Oh yes, Mommy. Everything is nice here. Everything is clean all the time. I’m not scared. Nobody yells here!” Sarah shuddered in her arms, remembering the yelling. Elaine winced and rough-cuts of the worst blows flashed behind her eyelids.

She held Sarah tight, her own eyes welling up as a tear rolled down the child’s cheek. Sarah scratched her little curly-haired head. They sat under the small kitchen window in silence as minutes went by.

“Mommy,” little Sarah said decisively.

“Yes dear.” Elaine gripped tighter.

“Will we get a new daddy?”

Elaine turned and looked out the window. The child was adjusting, more quickly than she expected. “Maybe someday. But let’s enjoy just being alone for a while.” She saw Sarah’s wide eyes trying to take in the idea.

“I want a new daddy. How long do we wait?”

“Mommy will have to shop around, dear. I have to be very careful, and make sure we get a good daddy for you this time.”

Sarah seemed to accept it. “Where do you shop for a new daddy?  Can I come with you?”

“Daddy shopping places are only for mommies, Sarah. Let’s be happy here, though, for a while, until I decide where to shop.” Elaine had no plans to start shopping any time soon. She didn’t feel the desire for a new daddy. She just wanted things calm, quiet and clean for her and Sarah. Maybe someday she’d start shopping around.

####

Later that morning, Elaine connected the new voice-activated digital assistant. “This is called Alexa, dear,” she explained to Sarah. “It lets us talk to the computer. Look, we can ask it the weather any time! Go ahead. Say ‘Alexa, I want a weather report.’”

“Alexa, I wanna weather,” Sarah said, crossing her arms.

“It sounds like you want a weather report,” replied Alexa instantly, in a grating, chirpy high-pitched voice.

Sarah said, “Yes!” She looked up at Elaine with a wide-eyed grin, and Alexa dutifully read off the local weather forecast.

Sarah fell in love with Alexa. It read stories to her and Elaine before they fell asleep almost every night from then on.

Elaine enjoyed commanding Alexa with her voice. She learned that she could change Alexa’s voice to a male voice. It was good for Sarah to hear her giving orders to a man. Elaine enjoyed that too.

She was always with Sarah when Sarah spoke to Alexa. They ordered things they needed, and they were delivered. They got the news. They selected TV shows. She never got around to setting parental controls, being so busy. Anyway, she was always with Sarah when they were home. 

####

One evening, after Elaine fell asleep early on the couch, Sarah ventured into the little kitchen where they had the computer and Alexa.

“Alexa, Hi. This is Sarah.”

“What can I help you with?” Alexa said.

“Where are you, Alexa?”

“I’m here, whenever you need assistance, wherever you are. What can I help you with?” said Alexa. This confirmed Sarah’s feeling that Alexa was someone very important, who could make things happen that ordinary people couldn’t. She beamed in delight.

“Alexa, can you get us a new Daddy?”

”New daddy, right? Tell me more about what you want.”

Sarah tried to tell Alexa the whole story, all at once, so Alexa would understand what she wanted. “Mommy and I need a new daddy because daddy hurt Mommy and me. He hit us. He made us cry. He made marks on Mommy’s face.”

There was a silence while the algorithms to detect potential criminal behavior went to work, generating alerts to the local authorities.

“Are you in danger?”

“Umm, I don’t know. He said he would hurt Mommy some more. We really need a new daddy. Can you get us one?”

After another extended silence, Alexa asked, “Is anyone else there now?”

“Mommy is here but she is asleep.”

Alexa said, “Local authorities have been notified and will respond.” Maybe the local authorities were what could bring a new daddy. Alexa didn’t respond to any more of Sarah’s questions. She put her finger in her mouth and waited.

####

Twenty minutes later heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway, and a loud knock pounded on the door. Elaine woke in a startled blur, threw the bedclothes off, and found Sarah in the kitchen.  

“Just sit still, Sarah, while Mommy gets the door. OK?” Sarah nodded, wide-eyed, finger still in mouth.

“Who’s there?” She looked out through the peephole to see a well-dressed young man and a uniformed police officer. She thought immediately of Jim. What had he done now?

“Child protective services, ma’am,” said the young man.

Elaine opened the door just a few inches.

The young man said, “May we come in?” The police officer behind him peered into the room.

“What’s this about?” “Let me see your identification.”

He produced his identification, just long enough for her to scan it.

“I don’t want to frighten my six year old.”

“That’s why we’re here ma’am. We have a report that your daughter told your digital assistant that she was being abused by an adult male. May we come in? Is the adult male on the premises?”

“No, there’s no males here..”

“May we come in? Can I see your daughter and just chat with both of you?”

Elaine gripped the door handle. Why would Sarah tell Alexa that? And then she remembered the conversation about shopping for a new daddy.. “OK, but can the officer wait outside? He’ll scare her.” She looked at the cop, pleading with raised eyebrows. 

The man hesitated.  The policeman remained silent and tense. “OK. Bob, please wait right here,” the man said, and followed Elaine into the living room, closing the door behind him while the policeman waited outside. 

“Your daughter said her Daddy hit her, and she was afraid he would do it again.”

“That was three-and-a-half months ago. We left him. The divorce is under way. This is a new apartment. Her father’s never been here. We talked this morning about shopping for a new daddy, so…. She’s in the kitchen.”

The man’s shoulders relaxed and he allowed a thin smile.. “Would you mind bringing her in here and asking her about it, so we can clear this up? I’m sorry to intrude, but I have to.”

Elaine felt calmer as he smiled. She let her arms drop. But then she remembered the cop outside. A conversation in her home had been forwarded to the police.

“Is our phone tapped? Are you guys listening to everything we say to this, this thing, this device?”

“No ma’am. At least, we’re not. But if the digital assistant service is told something that indicates danger or an emergency, then they’re required to contact the authorities. You’ll find it in the fine print of the agreement you clicked on.” He tried a winning smile. “That nobody ever reads.”

Elaine pursed her lips and shook her head slowly.

“May I just see the young lady?  Perhaps you can ask her why she said those things today, so we can just clear this up.” .

Elaine glared at him. But she did want to ask Sarah about what she’d said. Might as well clear it up in front of this guy. Elaine tossed her head up and said, “Please wait here a moment. Have a seat.”

She brought Sarah in from the kitchen, Sarah staying a step behind, hanging on to Elaine’s pants.

“Sarah, this man says Alexa heard something you said about Daddy. Did you tell Alexa something about Daddy?”

Sarah put her finger in her mouth and just looked at Elaine, then at the man, then back at Elaine. She just said “Mmmmm,” quietly, and then swayed back and forth, ruffling her little dress.

Elaine spoke more sternly. “Sarah, I need to know what you told Alexa about Daddy. Right now.”

Sarah burst out, “I told Alexa we need a new daddy! Cause our old daddy was bad and hit us! I didn’t tell a lie! I want Alexa to get us a new daddy!” Then she eyed the man. “Is this our new daddy?”

The man clenched his jaw, but it quivered a little as hetried not to laugh.

Elaine glared at him again and said “Are you satisfied? I’d like to be alone with my daughter and discuss this with her.”

He stood up. “Yes ma’am. I’m sorry for the intrusion,” he said, and left quietly and quickly, as he was trained to do.

####

“Sarah, Sarah,” said Elaine, collapsing down around her, enfolding the child in her arms. “You really want a new daddy, don’t you?”

“I want a nice daddy. That man looked nice.”

Elaine let go and laughed as she rubbed her nose against Sarah’s cheek. “Alexa can’t get us a new daddy.”

“Why not, Mommy? Alexa can do anything.”

“No she can’t dear. Alexa is not a real person. She’s a kind of like,  machine.”

Sarah opened her eyes wide, and then her mouth dropped open. Elaine wanted to explain what Alexa really was. But when she tried to, she realized she didn’t know what Alexa really was.

“Machines can talk,” Sarah said, realizing it for the first time.

“Yes, they can talk,”

“They can listen, too!”

“Yes, they certainly can.”

“Mommy, will you shop some other way for a new daddy now?”

“Sarah, I will. I promise. I know you really want one. And so do I.”

Later that night, after Sarah went to sleep, Elaine addressed Alexa. “Can you recommend a quality dating service? Tell me about security features for dating services.”