Page 35 of Blink of an Eye
"Okay. I mean, after the year we've had, only a fool would argue, but I'm concerned about this texting footage to everybody and, no pun intended, their brother. I have people over all the time. There's a privacy issue involved. Just on general principles, I don't like the idea of my guests being filmed and texted all over the place."
"Oh, I fixed that," Dallas said. "I uploaded facial recognition software, put in your KAs and possibles, and the camera feed will ignore those."
"My KAs and possibles?"
"Known Associates and possible visitors, based on the Dead End population and your family and friend circles." Dallas flashed me a proud smile. "It's just a little program I wrote."
"Yeah. Just a little program that half the police departments and security firms in the country would pay millions for," Jack said dryly.
Dallas shot us a thumbs up. "I'm working on that too."
I really needed to sit down for this. "So, hypothetically, if Aunt Ruby goes postal and shoots up my flower pots, the camera will ignore her?"
"Well, the audio feed of the gunfire will tell the cameras to kick in, naturally," Dallas said.
"Naturally." I looked at the two of them for a long moment and then sighed. "Okay. Cameras are okay. Wire me up. But no more of this—of anything—unless and until you discuss it with me first, in the future. Right?"
"Right," Dallas said.
"Definitely," Jack said.
"And you'll tell me what I owe you for the equipment. I can't afford millions for the software, though, sorry."
Dallas laughed. "Yeah, no worries. You can serve as a beta test. I'll even pay you for the privilege."
I waved a hand. "No, you're not paying me, don't be silly. And I may not have Superior Tiger Hearing, but I'm pretty sure that's Uncle Mike's truck, so I'm going to go get dressed."
"I'm on kitchen duty," Jack said. "I bought ten pounds of bacon and ten pounds of sausage, plus four dozen eggs. Do you think that will be enough?"
"Did you invite the entire town?"
"No, just Lorraine, Mike and Ruby, Shelley of course, Dallas and Mellie, and Eleanor and Bill. Oh, and Lucky and Molly, but they can't make it. They have to do something with equipment for tonight's show. Austin is out of town, but Dave Wolf and his son may drop by too."
"Okay, that's a lot of people, but twenty pounds?"
He pointed to himself. "Tiger."
"Right."
I headed back to my room for a quick shower. Ten minutes later I was dressed in denim shorts, a white-and-pink polka-dotted sleeveless shirt, and sandals. The perfect outfit for that unexpected "I have a horde of guests descending to eat twenty pounds of breakfast meat" occasion.
I put my hair in a ponytail, laughing at my silliness, and headed out to help cook.
My kitchen was one of my favorite rooms in my cozy little house. It was bright and sunny in the daytime, with big windows so I could look out at my lawn and the field of wild grasses and flowers behind it while I washed dishes. My old wooden farm table had the scratches and wear from more than a hundred years of use, and I liked to think of the families that had sat around it in the past, eating dinners and sharing the news of their days.
Right now, it was covered in food.
Aunt Ruby turned away from the stove when she heard me, and her eyes teared up just a little. "Tess, I'm sorry."
I met her halfway across the kitchen and hugged her tight. "Nothing to be sorry for. We just have to figure this out, okay?"
The door to the back porch opened, and Shelley bounced in, Uncle Mike right behind her.
"Tess! There are BABY BUNNIES! In your YARD!" She danced across the floor and threw herself at me in an enormous hug. "Baby bunnies! Can I keep them?"
I looked a question at Uncle Mike, and he nodded.
"Bunnies that need to stay there with their mom, kiddo," he said, with the patient tone that told me he'd told her the same things at least two or three times before.
