Chad laughed, a real laugh. “When called upon,” he said, shaking his head in amazement. “I am still functional, yes. And heterosexual, though I have a past very much like Benita’s, remarkably conformist and dull.”
“My son,” Benita cried, suddenly remembering. “We’re forgetting him in the midst of all this! As well as the girl they took instead of Angelica.”
“We will see to that, as well,” Chiddy said. “We have already assured ourselves that they have not been injured.” And ai was gone.
“He seemed very affectionate,” said Chad, regarding her with curious eyes.
“I think they probably are an affectionate people,” she replied, shaking her head at him. “I know they’re a sensual people, too, because Chiddy’s mentioned how much he enjoys hot springs and massage and certain earthly scents and flavors. I am fond of ais, and ai may well be fond of me. That doesn’t equal an affair. Companionship isn’t sexuality.”
“Even when he’s in human shape?”
“Even when ai looks human. Though, come to think of it, when they take other shapes, I think the shape has different sensory equipment from their own forms. You shake his hand, and Chiddy feels it, even though the real Chiddy doesn’t have hands. Maybe that’s why they morph so much, because they like the new sensations they get.”
“Their morphed selves certainly feel real to the touch,” he said. “I purposely bumped them and brushed up against them at that first dinner.
“I know,” she said tiredly. “It’s very confusing.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then patted her, rather as he patted Sasquatch. “Since our previous effort to get away was interrupted, our bags are already packed. Mine’s down in the car that’s still parked out back. I’ll go pick up the stuff from the bureau. Have a nap. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“What about . . . Merilu?”
“Merilu is looking for excuses to end our marriage,” he said in a flat, dead voice. “Any excuse will do, even a phony one. Even if I quit the job today and was in Montana by tonight, she’d find some reason. She’ll do what your husband is doing, what she started to do on the phone, accuse me of having an affair, or putting my job ahead of the boys, or anything. I’ve been hoping she’ll settle down. I’m not sure she will.”
“And she doesn’t work?”
“No,” he said. “That’s part of the problem.”
“Do you have a picture of her?” Benita asked curiously.
He dug it out of his wallet. She was blonde, blue-eyed, with a face like an angel. Everyman’s everywoman.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Yes,” he said with an aching sigh. “She certainly is. I sometimes look at that face and think I’m the luckiest man in creation. On the phone, however, I sometimes get a more . . . accurate picture.”
He went down in the elevator alone. Benita took a few moments to repack the small bag she had packed two days ago, adding casual clothes and another pair of shoes, thinking as she did so that she had never seen any advice about packing for interstellar travel. No raincoat, obviously, or boots. No warm sweaters. No tank tops for sunning. Slacks. Shirts. Sox. Shoes. Underwear. Nightgown. Nothing sexy. Not that she owned any such thing.
While she didn’t think she’d sleep, she dozed off as soon as she lay down. She didn’t wake up until evening, when Chad rang her on the phone. He’d be over in half an hour.
She called Simon, who was still downstairs in the office doing something or other, and told him she’d be down. When she came in, he was staring at the TV which was rerunning her brief interview by the press that morning. He turned from the screen and stared at her.
“So that’s what it was all about,” he said.
She fumbled for something to say. He shook his head. “The apartment renovation? All the comings and goings?”
She sat down across from him. “Yes, Simon. But, I had no idea all this would happen when I applied for the job.”
“I know.” He shuffled the papers in front of him. “I was angry at first. Because you didn’t tell me. But then, I thought why would you? You wouldn’t want to tell anybody, for fear they’d get at you. The press, I mean. Right?”