In Loving Memory of Robert A. George and Donald R. George

Chapter Six
31
Sherman latched his restraining belt, then yelped and grabbed on to the
edges of the bucket seat. “Dude! Is this thing rising?”
“Yup. Hovercar. Just made to look like a Mustang. Wilson, open the
garage door, will you?”
A deep baritone voice replied, “You got it, baby.”
“Who the hell is that?”
“Car’s computer, voice activated. You knowWilson
PickettMustang Sally? I gave the car his voice.”
“I’m sure glad that wasn’t HAL you just asked to open the garage
door,” Sherman mumbled, scrunching down in his seat.
“Hey Wilson, sing our song!” Serendipity chirped.
R&B bass, thumping alongside tones of an organ, accompanied the
raw voice of Wilson Pickett belting out Mustang Sally.
The car slowly floated out of the garage and down the driveway.
Sherman blinked at the sunlight breaking through clouds overhead. On
either side lay an immaculate lawn being trimmed by a lawn mower with
neither handles nor operator. A metallic bipedal android knelt, weeding a
flower bed. The familiar smell of fresh-cut grass contrasted sharply with
the unfamiliar sight of robots tending the lawn. Off in the distance reared
the high stone wall which surrounded the copious acreage of Serendipity’s
property.
Sherman glanced over his shoulder to look at Serendipity’s house
behind them: There crouched a three-story Victorian Gothic mansion
painted a dreary grey. In the center of the building, over the front door,
loomed a four-story tower and on the right side jutted a greenhouse of
glass and black wrought iron.
A twitchy feeling of déjà vu crept over Sherman. “Why does your
house look so familiar?” he asked.
Serendipity told Wilson to hover, then turned to grin at Sherman.
“Remember the old 1960s TV show The Addams Family?”
“Yeah.” Sherman did a double-take. “Cripes! That’s their mansion!”
“From the front. Workshop’s in the back. And minus the broken
shutters and cracked windows. I thought that might be going too far.”
“Why would you have a house built like that?”
“Same reason I had a hovercar built like this. What good is money if