Johnny pushed the peas around on his plate, trying to make it look like he'd actually eaten some of them.
"John William Anderson!" His mother's voice had a plaintive whine that hurt his ears. "You eat every single one of those peas. Don't you know there are children starving in Ethiopia?"
He made a face and looked across the room at the chocolate cake in the kitchen. It was topped with fudge icing and Johnny knew there was ice cream in the freezer.
"I'll be happy to eat chocolate cake for them."
"Now, you know better than to play that game with me." His mother reached across the table and touched the top of his sym-bracelet. A hologram of Muhammad stood before him in a pose that buried one of the skinny boy's legs in a mountain of mashed potatoes.
"Just look at that poor child. Nothing but skin and bones, and it's a full six weeks since we adopted him as your foster sym. You're not eating enough to keep the poor child properly fed, and you're not going to do it with chocolate cake and ice cream. Is that clear?"
His father cleared his throat and set down his knife and fork. "Actually, it doesn't matter what Johnny eats as long as his body takes in more nourishment than it needs."
"You mean the bracelet's just transmitting empty calories?"
"Calories? No, a calorie's a measurement of heat. It doesn't transmit heat."
"Then what is it sending?"
"Electrical pulses. They adapted the micro-converter--"
)
