Fuzzy Logic Read Free

over, Rosa jumped up from her corner and ran over to Kat to receive some affection. Kat obliged by stroking the dog’s head. She sighed. “Are you lonely, Rosa? Is that it? I guess taking care of you could be more difficult than I thought.”
    Rosa wagged and leaned her sleek black body onto Kat’s thigh. Joel wrapped his arm around Kat and pulled her toward him. “At least she likes you.”
    Kat snuggled into his arms and looked down at the dog. “Oh Rosa, what are we going to do with you?”

Chapter 2
Odd Nuptials
    J an breathed a sigh of relief as she settled into seat 12F. It had been a long drive to the airport, and she was looking forward to some uninterrupted reading time during the flight. Considering that she was a librarian, she didn’t seem to get much opportunity to read books. Finding, repairing, buying, and filing books, yes. Reading, no.
    At the sound of a loud throat clearing, Jan looked up to find a large woman pointing to the seat next to her. “I’m in 12E.”
    Jan looked over at the man in 12D, who was disentangling himself from his seatbelt and moving into the aisle to let the woman get by him. He caught her gaze and frowned. Like him, Jan had hoped that the middle seat would remain unoccupied, but no such luck. She smiled in sympathy at Mr. 12D as the older woman rammed her luggage under the seat in front of her and settled her prodigious girth into the small space. Various body parts oozed over Jan’s lap as the woman bent over, attempting to extract something from her suitcase at her feet. Jan cringed inwardly at the violation of personal space and the unspoken rules of air travel.
    Having completed her luggage ministrations, the woman turned to Jan and thrust out her hand. “Hi! My name is Ethel and I’m going to visit my granddaughter in San Diego! But I’m a little bit of a nervous flyer.” Her eyes widened and she whispered, “Sometimes it affects my digestion.”
    Jan put her book down in her lap. So much for escaping into a good read. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be able to make any headway on her novel. “I’m sure you’ll be okay. It’s not a very long flight.” In the seat pocket, an airsick bag was placed within easy reach.
    Ethel tilted her head, causing the ossified bluish curls on her head to shift in an unnatural way. “Why are you going to San Diego?”
    Jan sighed a little too loudly. Maybe Ethel wouldn’t notice. “My mother is getting married.”
    Ethel straightened in her seat and leaned closer to Jan. “That’s wonderful! I love weddings. Who is the lucky man? What does he do? Are you excited? It’s beautiful to see such an expression of love. Where are they getting married?”
    It was apparent that Ethel had not been retrieving breath mints out of her suitcase. Jan replied slowly, “Well, they are getting married on the beach. The man was actually her next-door neighbor many years ago. I knew him when I was growing up.” Jan shrugged. “I don’t know if I’m excited exactly. But it will probably be interesting.”
    “Interesting? But weddings are so gorgeous. The flowers! The lovely food! How can you not just adore that?”
    Jan twisted in her seat, leaning her back away toward the window. If she were any farther away from Ethel, she’d be outside the plane. Discussing anything related to her mother was never fun. “My mother tends to do things differently, I guess.”
    “What do you mean differently? It’s a wedding! There are traditions. People say vows!”
    “Well, I think for one thing, there will be a puppet show.”
    The woman looked slightly taken aback, but then smiled knowingly. “Oh, is it one of those sex-puppet shows? I’ve never seen that at a wedding. But it could be fun.”
    Jan didn’t know what a sex-puppet show was. And she didn’t want to know. She’d seen way too many puppet shows in her lifetime as it was. “No, no, nothing like that. My mother was on local children’s television for a long time. She was the