Free Friend Me by John Faubion

pulled two chairs up to the computer in the living room. “Sit here, Scott. This is going to amaze you.”
    Scott sat down to see what Rachel was so excited about, sipping the hot coffee. The mug felt warm in his hands. It was going to have to be something pretty special to impress him, especially if it was something to do with the computer. He saw enough of computers during the day to last a lifetime.
    Rachel clicked a shortcut on her desktop. The Internet browser expanded onto the screen, and then Scott heard a female voice say, “I’m here.” The face of Rachel’s old friend Suzanne formed before them.
    â€œWatch this, Scott.” She picked up the microphone. “Suzanne, Scott is here.”
    â€œHow wonderful. Please tell him ‘hello’ for me.” Suzanne’s lips kept perfect sync with the words. It looked like Suzanne. It sounded like Suzanne.
    Unreal . Scott jerked his head back. “What in the world?” Then he leaned in toward the screen, searching for the trick. He looked back to Rachel. “Rachel, what is this? Did Suzanne record this before she . . .”
    She mouthed, “No, no . . .” and stabbed her finger toward the screen. “Just watch,” she whispered to him.
    â€œCan’t you tell him ‘hello’ yourself?” asked Rachel.
    â€œNo, I’m afraid that’s one of our limitations. I’m your friend, and that’s exclusive to you. I don’t know Scott in the same sense I know you. But I certainly know about him, don’t I? And I’m soglad both of you are seated here together. I know I was a friend of both of you.”
    â€œRachel, what is going on?” He held the arms of the chair as if he would fly into the air unanchored. “That really does look like Suzanne.”
    â€œThat’s the whole idea, silly. It is supposed to. Actually it just about is Suzanne. I’ve spent days designing her. The whole idea is she is just like the real Suzanne used to be.”
    Voice tinged with wonder, Scott asked, “But how can you do something like that? I mean, where did you learn to do such a thing?”
    â€œIt’s all on a website called VirtualFriendMe.com. It’s amazing.”
    Rachel told him how she’d provided all the information on Suzanne.
    Scott asked, “But these aren’t real people, are they? I mean, these people don’t actually exist, right?”
    â€œNo, but they are so close to real sometimes you don’t even know the difference. Does she look like Suzanne, or doesn’t she?”
    She . Rachel used the personal pronoun. Not it , but she . Scott looked at the screen and saw Suzanne incline her head slightly, as if waiting for Rachel to speak to her again. “Yes, it really is amazing. Rachel, let me just watch you for a few minutes while you interact with this, this Suzanne . I want to see how it works, okay?”
    â€œSure. I won’t say it was easy to get all this set up, but it certainly has been worth it. One of the things I told them all about was our wedding. I can talk to Suzanne,” she pointed at the screen, “just as if she had really been there. Watch this.”
    â€œSuzanne, do you remember my wedding dress?”
    Her mouth formed an O . “Oh, yes.” She nodded slowly. “Of course I do, and I remember how your mother fussed about it, how she was so careful to make sure it was just perfect. Mothers are like that, aren’t they? I should mention, I don’t remember very much about my own mother. Maybe someday you’ll refresh my memory on that. Would that be okay?”
    â€œYes, I will. I’ll make a note about that right now.” Rachel wrote a note on a slip of paper. Scott saw other things already written there, no doubt things she wanted to include in Suzanne’s education.
    The image that was Suzanne tilted her head. “Rachel, there’s something I would like to