Father By Choice. M.J. Rodgers

they have a robot doing it.”

      “Oh, great. Just what I needed to hear. Four years of premed, four years of medical school, four years of residency and now I can look forward to being replaced by a robot.”

      She chuckled.

      After a click of keys he announced, “I’ve entered it as phonograph record of cylinder shape and indeterminate age. What’s next?”

      “The newspapers.” She quickly counted them. “There are sixteen here, randomly selected it appears from the two years before the capsule’s burial.”

      As she started to rearrange them in chronological order, she found one with the same date as the time capsule’s interment. The lead story was the fact that it was being buried that day. But what caught Emily’s attention was the headline immediately below that one. She grew quiet as she read the story.

      “What’s wrong?” Brad asked after a moment.

      She looked up, only realizing then that she’d been frowning.

      “An article in this newspaper reports that a day before the time capsule’s burial, five members of a local family died when a houseguest went insane and set fire to their home.”

      “The article actually uses the word insane?” Brad asked.

      “Must not have been considered politically incorrect in those days. The family’s six-year-old boy awakened to the smell of smoke and saw the drapes in flames. The houseguest was throwing lit candles and crying hysterically about demons. He fled the house to get help, but returned too late. The houseguest as well as the rest of his family had perished.”

      “That article has upset you.”

      His voice had grown gentle. When her eyes rose to his, she saw the concern on his face.