(Continued from March 07, 2010)
Elsie remarked that she agreed with Alphonse about there being no evil intent in the teenagers’ prank. “The bag probably fell out of a vehicle that had previously been parked in the pub’s lot,” she added. “Inebriated people can be quite careless.”
A frown on Alice’s forehead indicated that she was giving the matter considerable thought. “I may know about the owners of the gowns,” she said pensively. “One of the girls at work was talking about a number of nightgowns that had been stolen from three college students. She had read about the theft on a blog. Apparently, the students would model and sell the apparel to affluent ladies. The profit would pay for their college expenses.”
“It appears that we might be able to return the gowns to the rightful owners,” Aunt Dorothy observed. “Alice, you can perhaps phone your co-worker and find out the blog’s URL. Then, you can use one of the computers in the boardroom to determine the best way to contact the college girls.”
“Aunt came up with a marvelous idea,” Thea said. “The students would be able to describe the gowns in a very detailed manner, allowing us to make sure that they are indeed the rightful owners.”
A cool breeze had begun to blow across the estate, prompting aunt Dorothy to suggest moving to the boardroom. So, the server started to fill her platter with the remaining appetizers while we, carrying our plates and glasses, sauntered toward the impressive building.
On the way to the boardroom, aunt Dorothy made a point of walking between Alphonse and me. “Both of you appeared fascinated with Sam’s performance,” she stated proudly. “Would you judge him to be a competent robot?”
“I was very impressed with him,” Alphonse answered. “In fact I would be very interested in taking a closer look at the little steel marvel.” I promptly seconded my young friend’s request.
“I don’t believe that you would want to spend time with Sam if you had the opportunity to view his much more advanced cousins. Furthermore, the guard would not be able to answer many of your questions. Therefore, I will schedule a visit to the atelier, where research for a still more progressive model continues daily.”
She then explained that robots had been one of her late husband’s passions; and, although producing them was not as yet a good source of revenue for the company, the board considered the future possibilities to be limitless.
(To be continued)