“Yes, Mister Phillips. Thank you, Mister Phillips,” intoned Billy.
“You are welcome, Master Bill,” responded Jim in the same tone. Staying with the game, he kept silent while he placed the box on top of a pillow to the right of Billy’s head. He kept the control pad on its cable in his left hand. Looking at Billy, he held his linger to his lips for silence and pushed a key. The pinhead light on the box turned green.
“Bunter?” said Jim.
“Yes. Mister Phillips,” came a voice from the box. It had a decided but pleasant accent and sounded like a male baritone on a speakerphone.
Jim spoke clearly and slowly. “Rumplestiltskin. Control append. Control name: Master Bill.’ Unit ID: ‘Bunter.’ Default passive. Passive to active: unit ID. Active to passive: ‘Thank you, Bunter,’ acknowledge ‘You are welcome,’ append control name. Or: Active to passive: ‘That will be all, Bunter’ acknowledge ‘Thank you,’ append control name. Verify. Rumplestiltskin.”
The light turned red for a moment, then green again.
“My name is Bunter,” said the box. “I serve Mister Phillips and Master Bill. I will watch and listen always but I will not speak unless spoken to by one of them. Either of them may summon me by my name. If I am dismissed with the phrase ‘Thank you, Bunter,’ I will acknowledge with ‘You are welcome, Mister Phillips’ or ‘You are welcome, Master Bill’ as appropriate to the speaker. If I am dismissed with the phrase ‘That will be all, Bunter,’ I will acknowledge with ‘Thank you, Mister Phillips,’ or ‘Thank you, Master Bill,’ as appropriate to the speaker. Is this correct?”
“That is correct, Bunter. Thank you, Bunter,” said Jim.
“You are welcome, Mister Phillips,” said the box.
Jim pushed another key and the light turned yellow.
“OK, Mister Bill. Now he knows who you are, but he doesn’t know what you sound like. Now I’m going to introduce you. Just answer his questions.”
Jim pressed a key and the light turned green again. “Bunter,” he said.
“Yes, Mister Phillips.”
“Rumplestiltskin. Voice recognition training. Mode transfer sequences for control name ‘Master Bill.’ Rumplestiltskin.”
“Hello, Master Bill,” said the box. Billy’s face lit up. Jim grinned at him and held up a hand. “Please say ‘Bunter,’” said the box.
“Bunter,” said Billy. The light flickered green to red and back again.
“Please say, ‘Thank you,’” said the box.
“Thank you,” said Billy. The light flickered again.
“Please say, ‘That will be all,’ ” said the box.
It continued on in this vein for a few minutes, bits and pieces of phrases asked for and supplied several times in no obvious order. It went on long enough for Billy’s excitement to wear off and he was starting to fidget when the box said, “Complete. Thank you, Master Bill,” and went silent. The light stayed green.
“That will be all, Bunter,” said Jim.
“Thank you, Mister Phillips,” said the box.
Jim disconnected the cable and keypad from the box and snapped the cover back into place over the port. “Now can I start reading?” asked Billy. He was growing impatient with all the preparations.
“Almost, Mister Bill. Introductions are over, now I just want to make sure that it can see the book.”
“Wait a minute. Why do I have to read to him, anyway? I mean, if I have to read to him so he can learn my voice then how can he know what anybody else is saying unless they read to him, too? And if they don’t have to read to him, why can’t he learn my voice that way, whatever it is?”
“You’re right. It doesn’t take very long for him to learn a voice,” said Jim. “All he really needs to do is hear a voice he knows already talk with a voice he doesn’t know for a little while.
“It’s different for you, though, because you’re going to be a control name. He’s not just going to pick out facts from what you say, he’s going to try to understand what you mean. He’s going to talk to you, too, so we have to give him the right vocabulary. Reading to him is the easiest way to do those things. There are other ways, but they’re way boring, believe me. Besides, only a recognized control voice can program him.”
“Oh. That’s what Rumplestiltskin is about, isn’t it?”
“You got it,” said Jim. “Set that book up on your knees again.”
Billy settled himself again and Jim adjusted the box on the pillow. “Try to hold still for the first few pages,” he said. “That should be enough so that if he falls down after that, you can just ask him if he can see the book.”
“Bunter.”
“Yes, Mister Phillips.”
“Can you see the book?”
“Yes, I can, Mister Phillips.”
“Can you see the text on both pages?”
There was a slight hesitation. “I see no text on the left-hand page,” said the box.
Jim reached to adjust the box, then noticed the book. There was, in fact, no text on the left-hand page; it was filled with an illustration. With a puff of exasperation, he said, “I’m sorry, Bunter. You’re correct. There is no text on the left-hand page. My mistake.”
“Quite all right, Mister Phillips.”
Jim turned the page. “Now can you see the text on both pages?” he asked.
“Yes, I can, Mister Phillips,” said the box without hesitation this time.
“Can you read all of it?”
Another hesitation, then, “Yes, I can, Mister Phillips.”
“Thank you, Bunter.”
“You’re welcome, Mister Phillips.”
Jim turned back to the first page. “We’re ready to roll, Mister Bill,” he said. “I’ll tell him what we’re up to, then all you do is say ‘Bunter’ and start reading right away. It’ll help if you point to the words as you go along, you know, just the way Dad taught us to read. That’s really what you’re doing, after all.”
Maybe Dad alone had taught Jim to read, Billy didn’t know, but Mom had taught Billy as much as Dad had, maybe more. He thought he remembered her reading this very book to him for the first time, her finger tracing out the words as she went along, but he wasn’t sure. He felt a moment’s longing at the memory.
“Bunter,” said Jim.
“Yes, Mister Phillips.”
“Master Bill is going to read to you.”
“Very good, Mister Phillips.”
“Thank you, Bunter.”
“You are welcome, Mister Phillips.”
Jim nodded to Billy. “Bunter,” said Billy.
“Yes, Master Bill.”
“Chapter One. Ann’s Army.” His finger underlined the words one by one as he read, “ ‘I won’t!’ cried Ann; ‘I won’t sweep the floor. It is beneath my dignity.’ ”
Jim gave Billy a thumbs-up and Dad gave him a wave as they silently left the room.
The next afternoon, Jack Phillips signed in with the security guard at the visitor’s entrance of Billy’s school, quickly going through the scanner, ID check and appointment verification. “You’re about fifteen minutes early, Mister Phillips,” said the guard. “You can wait right over there, if you like.”
“Thanks,” said Jack. He looked at the three molded plastic chairs opposite the guard station and decided he would rather not. “Mind if I look around a little bit?”
“No problem, just please stay on this floor until the kids let out. Miss Barstow is up in Room 210, second floor to your left off the stairs.”
“OK. Thanks again.”