Off The Grid

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Off The Grid - book excerpt

Knock, Knock, Anyone Home

DANA, my android digital companion, activates at 8:30 AM, waking me with a brisk, melodious chord inside my bedroom walls and ceiling. When the wall-integrated TV powers on, the window shades glide open, the air-conditioner hums, and coffee beans grind in the kitchen.

“Good morning, Justine,” DANA greets in a masculine voice set to my liking, sounding much too human for a computer. “It’s a brilliant spring day. The temperature is seventy-nine, rising to eighty-five degrees. I’ve run your shower, and the coffee is brewing. A replenishment drink is ready to restore low electrolytes in your body. Would you care for today’s news headlines?”

“No, thank you, DANA,” I reply to my twenty-four hours, 365 days a year digital companion always attuned to my breath, heartbeat, and emotions. Like an extra limb, DANA senses my health, needs, desires, and dreams. I wonder how people survived without the Android assistant in the past and worry we’ve become too reliant on technology. Have we lost autonomy? Can we cope without our digital companion? Of late, I craved privacy and unplugged from the digital world last night. When the magnetic field faded, it felt as if I’d lost a limb and a friend. But DANA never complains.

“You have ten missed calls from Claudette Windsor and three voice mails,” DANA states. The walls hum with an incoming call. “Do you wish to take a call from Ms. Windsor?”

“Yes, DANA, but I’ll pick up on my cell phone.”

“Hello.”

“Justine, I’ve been calling since five in the morning. Where have you been?”

“Oh, Claudette, sorry, I turned my mobile off last night. Is something wrong?”

“No, no, I tried to call you last night, but it was getting too late, so I figured I’d catch you before your finals this morning. Jussie, you won’t believe it!”

“What?”

“After a month of trying to meet our anonymous artist, guess who sent an invitation yesterday?”

“Our unknown?”

“Well, not directly,” she says as the car meanders past a copse of trees. “You know the artist’s assistant always contacts us, but just the same, I couldn’t believe it.” The snaky road leads the car right to the unknown artist’s front yard. Claudette brings the car to a stop in the gravel driveway and squints at the two-story, solar-paneled home.

“That’s fantastic news!”

"The invite strikes me somewhat strange. It states to stop by the house at my convenience. Worried they'd change their mind, I acted hastily, jumped into the car, and drove four hours to Merrick last night. What was I thinking, Jussie? The hotels out here have crappy service and awful food. Well, anyhoo…" she says, pivoting the rearview mirror at her face, "… I found a halfway decent bed-and-breakfast. Oh, Paul is meeting with a client this afternoon, so I'm leaving you in charge of the gallery. Justine, you need to be extra alert and sharp today. If there's a problem, please, please call me on my cell," she says, studying her face and applying a fresh coat of lipstick.

"Oh, sure, no worries. As soon as I finish finals, I'll head to the gallery." Thank goodness she didn't use FaceTime. I couldn't contain the shock, doubt, worry, or curiosity skewing my face. She's never left me in charge of the gallery, and I'm stunned she'd entrust her business to an eighteen-year-old college student. Over the year, I've learned much from Claudette, my boss. I can run the gallery better than anyone. But with Charleston's Annual Art Walk and our unknown artist's exhibition, I'm surprised she chose today, one of the busiest times of the year, to visit Merrick. Couldn't she have waited until the Art Walk finished tomorrow? And geez, I'm sleep-deprived after studying for finals. "Did you say Merrick, the small autonomous city?"

"Uh-huh, I'm outside the artist's home as we speak, but there's no car in the driveway. Do they allow vehicles here?"

"Solar power cars, I believe."

Wind whips through the phone, and gravel crunch with Claudette's footsteps. "Have you seen off-the-grid communities?"

"No. Just ones on the Internet. I've often considered unplugging from the world and living a sustainable lifestyle."

"The houses aren't as rustic as I'd imagined they'd be.