Blue Eyes

"You don’t even know them," Jaymie said, voice tight, juice untouched.

Scowling, Harry reached for the butter . "I don’t need to. I don't like that sort of thing, I never have. You know that. Some things should stay… traditional."

Jaymie scoffed.

"You’re being ridiculous."

Harry was long past the age when he blushed easily, either from embarrassment or anger. Still, the tops of his ears gave him away. He was stung, but he wasn't backing down.

"How are you going to give me grandchildren, that's what I'd like to know," he grumbled.

"I don't owe you grandchildren," Jaymie bristled.

"Okay, that's fair," Harry forced himself to speak softly, caging his temper behind tired teeth, but it just made him sound all the angrier. "It's all very well, this lifestyle-"

"It's not a lifestyle, Dad, we can't help who we love!"

"Yes! Yes you can! That's the point! Grass grows where it's watered, as well you should know, or have I taught you nothing?" He glared, and then sighed, pulling a hand down over his craggy face. It made him look like a Basset Hound. "You’re just too young to see it clearly."

“I’m not. We've talked every day for a year. Lyric knows me better than anyone ever has.”

"Pfft. Talking. Knowing. That's not love."

"Then what is? I love Lyric. I know I do. They-"

"They." Harry snorted. "That's ridiculous."

Jaymie's ears were just as rosy.

"You're just a...a... a dinosaur! You don't understand. Or... or maybe," Recklessness took over now, "Maybe you do get it. Maybe you know my generation will bury yours, and you resent us for it. The world is changing, Dad! It belongs to us! Get with it, or get left behind!"

Harry put his knife down, slow and deliberate.

"I will not be steam-rollered into agreeing with this... this new-age nonsense. It's wrong. It's amoral. Love should be between..."

Eyes rolling, Jaymie stood, chair scraping on the kitchen tiles.

"Yeah, yeah, a man and a woman, we get it, dad."

"Between two people," Harry countered, his voice rising despite himself.

"Lyric knows me better than anyone. Anyone." Jaymie's eyes were overbright with fierce emotion.

"I'm telling you," Harry kept the lid on his temper, but barely, "It's not the same as love. And besides," He picked up the knife again, and attacked his toast anew. It gave him something else to look at, dialled back the confrontation. "I won't have a child of mine marrying a-"

"I'm not a child!"

"Coulda fooled me."

"Dad, please, listen, we've been talking for-"

"Yes, and I should have put a stop to that, and all," Harry interjected crossly. "Wasting your time on a bloody bot instead of real, human-"

"Dad! Lyric is real!"

"A computer can't love you! I know it feels real, but it's just designed to feel that way. It's fake!"

"Yeah well, maybe all love is, or most of it," Jaymie sounded bitter now.

Harry slumped in his chair like a deflating balloon, gaping at Jaymie.

"Do you really think that?"

A jutting chin gave him his answer.

"Well. I can't stop you. I know that. But this doesn't have my blessing. It's wrong, love. You must see that, soon or late. Soon is better."

The door banged.

Is this how the world ends? Harry wondered. With narcissistic navelgazing taking the place of evolution, and an immortal generation married to their magic mirrors?

+

Thank you for reading!

Our serial killers will return tomorrow 😁