Thursday, June 3, 2010

Jack Smith and the Theory of Charms: Chapter 3: Platform 9-3/4: Part 4

Jackson and Vanessa found an empty compartment and sat down across from each other.


"So, you're parents are muggles," she said, smiling. "What's that like?"



Jackson shrugged. "I don't know what you mean. It's... normal."



Vanessa laughed. "Yeah, I guess if that's how you grew up it would seem normal. What do your parents do for work?"



"My dad's a programmer," he replied.



Vanessa frowned. "What does that mean?"



"A computer programmer," Jackson said. "He can make computers do whatever he wants."



"Computers?" Vanessa said. "Is that a muggle machine?"



Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but he had no idea how to respond. Finally, he said. "Um, yeah. Computers are really kind of cool. They can do all kinds of things."



"Like what?"



"Well, people write things on them," he replied. "Then they can print whatever they wrote, or they can send messages to each other. And music, and videos, and video games, and GPS, and-"



"GPS? Video games?" she asked. "What are those?"



Jackson started to think of how to describe them, but decided not to bother. "You know what, it doesn't matter. It is interesting stuff, and I'm proud of my parents, but that's another world. What do your parents do?"