The girl just blinked at me. Crud, this played out differently in my head. I decided we both needed a hug, so that’s what I did. At first, she stiffened, and then she relaxed and hugged me fiercely.
“Thanks, I just needed a hug,” I said to her and turned to the congregation. “Most of us underestimate the power of family. Family is not just about unconditional love. You have to love your family, right?”
“We’ll talk about that once we get home,” Mom said.
That broke the tension of me hijacking the sermon. I kept going; I would face her afterward. At least she hadn’t marched up and pulled me out of the church by my ear … yet.
“I look at the church like I do family. It offers understanding and safety, and it’s where I go when I’m feeling lost or out of sorts. By the show of hands, I’d say we’re falling down on the job.
“We need to stop being solely a moral compass on how to live your life and turn this place into a home where people want to come. To do that, we need to become a family. Maybe not connected by blood, but by something stronger. By the unshakable spirit and unending love of God,” I said.
I now had everyone’s attention.
“It’s not enough to pay lip service. I want you all to stand up,” I said and smiled when they did. “Now, I want you to find someone you don’t know and give them a hug and tell them that you’re glad to see them here today. Try to make a new friend.”
At first, everyone hesitated. Then the reverend came up and stood next to me.
“You heard the man, get to know your brothers and sisters.”
It wasn’t a complete success. There were still people giving the ‘stay away from me’ vibe, but many took the opportunity to mingle. For myself, I must have hugged most of the congregation.
We never heard the sermon. Captain Chaos had struck again, this time for good, I hoped.
◊◊◊
I took Paul and Cassidy to Dare’s apartment so he could turn the drone over to my security team. He linked it to my phone so it could do that ‘follow me’ bit. He also installed apps on our phones and tablets so we could fly it while seeing what it saw with the camera. It linked to the internet as well so Fritz and his team could monitor the video and audio from their main office.
“I have an idea for another drone,” Dare said.
“Okay, I’m listening,” I said.
I wasn’t surprised he wanted another one. I knew he loved tinkering with them.
“You told me that you thought it would be nice to have the drone act like a guard dog and supplement the security at your property. I got to thinking about what you said, and I believe I have a solution.”
Now he had our attention.
“The reason you would want a guard dog is that security cameras have blind spots and don’t sense danger. So, I thought about how drones might be used. My first idea was to have them roving the property like guard dogs. The only problem with that is their battery life. To have continuous coverage, you would need a lot of drones because you would need to rotate them.
“Then I watched an ad on TV. You’ve seen those robot vacuums that automatically sweep your carpets?” Dare asked.
“I want one of those,” Paul said.
I filed that away for his birthday.
“What caught my attention was that it would go back to its docking station to recharge when it was done. What if we did that with the drones? Instead of stationary cameras on poles, we made little birdhouses where they would charge?” he asked.
“I get it,” Cassidy said. “The drones can capture video while they’re plugged in, and when they sense movement, they would undock and go check out the problem.”
I got how that would work, but I wondered about something. Sometimes, I played ‘hide the ball’ with Duke when we were playing fetch to keep him on his toes. I would fake throwing it one direction and then throw it another. He’d learned to not just go bounding after it until he’d made sure I’d thrown it. I imagined someone tossing something to get the drone’s attention and then going in where it had been.
I explained my concerns to Dare, and I could see the gears turning.
“Let me mull that over,” he said, and then his expression changed to one of pleading.
“You know the drill. Get some estimates and turn them into Megan. I can see enough potential to spend money on figuring it out,” I said to make his day. “But not an unreasonable amount,” I said in a likely vain attempt to keep him somewhat grounded in reality.
Cassidy and Paul played with the drone. I made them stop when Cassidy stress-tested its collision software by flying it at my head. I suspect both she and Paul were disappointed when it worked and came to a stop about a foot from my face.
◊◊◊
As I was getting ready for bed, Duke perked up, and I heard the door to my apartment open. It had to be someone he knew because his tail started wagging. I was surprised to see Pam.
“Peggy said that all she has to do is ask you to help put the boys down,” she said, obviously talking about our sleepovers.
