It embarrassed her and made her beam with pride at the same time. Bess found herself pretending to understand even less than she actually did. Charlie loved to be the teacher, explaining applications and tricks patiently, as if she were the fourth-grader. Plus, they got to spend time together. It was nice. Charlie was her baby. He’d always love her. “Do you want to learn video chat?” he asked, sounding so cute with his instructive tone. “What’s that?” she asked. “Talking to someone else on-screen,” he said. “Watch.” Clicking away, Charlie went online, searched through his IM list, instant-messaged his friend Seth, and then they switched to video chat. Suddenly, Seth’s freckled face filled the laptop monitor. They began talking in real time. Their other friend Max sent an IM request to join the chat, and then the screen split into a three-way video conversation. “This is incredible,” said Bess. “It’s The Jetsons.” “The what?” asked Seth. “An old cartoon,”
