Keeping house, seeing to your children and man, feeding them and keeping them healthy and happy, there is no better job in the world. I know many will find this idea outdated if not hateful. That does not mean it is not true.

A Machine-turned-human, made of “diamond dust and star-stuff,” Henge could be any thing she want to be. And, so, she did. A quiet little transition; I bet Aurie will be bursting through their front door like a bomb in the next segment.

Enjoy my content? Buy me a beer!

With a wave to her neighbor, Mrs. Lawrence, Henge went inside and placed her bags on the dining table before immediately starting two pots of water.  One for potatoes and the other for four eggs.  I’ll use the smaller casserole dish, she thought, otherwise we’ll be eating leftovers for a week.  A sniff at the sour cream proved it still good, so she set about chopping up the sausage she had bought.  While possible, with their connexions, to get real Hungarian sausage, it would also be wildly extravagant and draw the ire of many of the locals.

With the eggs cooling and the potatoes still boiling, there was a moment of quiet.  Looking out the front window, she could see the Henley Street Bridge over the Tennessee River.  Around it’s bend, no more than a mile southwest, her husband worked at the Medical Center.  Initially to keep her healthy, but with his demi abilities, he was quickly in demand by other doctors to assist on odd cases.  Closing her golden eyes, Henge looked through some of the cameras there.   She would never have spied into a patient’s room, but Gary was at his desk right now, Roland in the chair, opposite.  She could not hear them, but it was clear her young son was confused about something and wanted to be older.

With a pulse of thought, her husband said, yes, they would be home for dinner on time.  Fussy was pretty strict about punctuality, so Aurie should not be a problem, either.  At that, she turned off the stove’s burner and drained and mashed up the potatoes.  Cutting up the eggs and mixing everything together, she paused once more.

“For someone so selfish,” it was odd for her to use her voice when alone, “I have been so blessed.  Gary first wondered why I didn’t want to work at the labs or reactors; he’s always so busy.  Nothing like his sister, of course:  first her own army and now her own country.”

She stirred the sour cream in and added little dabs of butter on top.

“I am content.  It may be my children shall see great things – I’m sure Aurie will – yet this house and my three are everything to me.  God?  I know I was a little, well, flawed, I guess would be insulting Your plan, but I would like grandchildren someday.  On this earth and Your worlds without end.”

She turned the oven on to preheat, blinked a little at the moisture in her eyes, and went for the plates and flatware.