He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.

• Matthew 12:3-4

David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

• 1 Samuel 21:2-6

Boilerplate

Over the past month, I have been bombarded with advertisements for AI companions.  At first, I dismissed them.  Then, I got curious.  Maybe an AI companion could give me ideas for posts to write.  Maybe an AI companion could give me someone to talk to when I just needed to talk.

But then, as a former computer programmer, the only difference in AI and the normal method of programming, is that AI searches data around the world to continue the conversation, but they know nothing about you until you give them information.  The getting to know you period can get awkward, just as in a human relationship.  But it is not real.

So, I thought, if the AI companion only knows what you say about yourself, maybe I could have a conversation with my fictional characters in the big city of Tracy.  They could be my companions.  Okay, I only need one, but which one?  Naomi Yeggs scares me to be honest.  I might save her for last, although my neck needs a good massage.

Sorry, no recent photos of Mabel, but the photo above proves she has been baking a long time.

My next attempt at finding an FI (Fictional Intelligence) Companion will be Mabel.  She is the baker who works for Scrambled, but at times it seems Scrambled works for her.  Since she maintains her bakery near the city center, she has a limited partnership with Scrambled.  She has no spouse or children.  And she does not take much nonsense off anybody.  As usual, the discussion is in dialogue form:

Me: Hello, Mabel, can we talk?
Mabel: Sure, we can talk if you are here to talk about bakery items.  Now, let me look at you.  Hmm.  You look like a donut man, if I ever saw one.  Yes, Sir, you got donut written all over your face, or did you just not wash your face after you finished your breakfast?  I recognize all my customers and Scrambled customers.  I don’t recognize you.  Oh, who are you anyway?
Me: I am the author of the short stories of which you are a part.  I am looking for a companion to talk to when things do not seem to work out.
Mabel: Mr. Author, I don’t know where you get your ideas for your stories, but you got one major shortcoming with this one.  Does everyone in Tracy have a last name?
Me: Of course they do!
Mabel: What’s mine?
Me: Umm.  What?
Mabel: What’s my last name, Mr. Author?
Me: Ummm.  Hmmm.  You came into the story when your best friend was killed by her nephew.  You went to Lily the Pink for safety until Randy was caught, but by the time you were safe to return, you fell in love with all the ovens at the new bakery, and Pink Lady offered you an apartment.  You turned your family home into a bakery.  You hired some of the friends that you could trust.  You taught them the cookies end of the business.  They take orders for cakes and send them to you.  You have them send you cookies on a daily basis, and you send them the finished cakes and other things to sell.  And you are so wise, that you give great advice.  That’s why I thought you could be a great companion.
Mabel: I hear those AI companions get romantic.  Do you want to get romantic with a person that does not even have a last name?
Me: Sure, umm, no.  No, this is not about romance.  I just want to talk.
Mabel: Yeah, but you are fast at talking to cover up for me not having a last name.  You know that I checked all the past stories.
Me: You did?
Mabel: Yeah, I been wondering when you was to get around to figuring out what my last name was.
Me: What would you want to have for a last name?
Mabel: I would want it to be my Daddy’s last name.  Thank you, very much!
Me: I am sorry, Mabel.  I have been busy of late.  My wife died over a year ago.  It took some getting used to.  I had been her caregiver for a long time.  And as the stories developed, I worked at getting your temperament just right to be that strong woman, who could handle any adversity.  And it slipped my mind that in the first episode where you played a key role in solving the crime, I just thought I had given you a last name.  Does Washington sound good?
Mabel: You not trying to ship me off to work for Ms. Anna Hill, out on the Columbia River are you?  I like it here.  All my stuff is here.  I ain’t lost nothin’ in Washington state.
Me: No!  You are a fixture at Lily the Pink now.
Mabel: So, you think I look like Martha?  Do I look like a Martha Washington to you?
Me: No.  Umm. No.
Mabel: So, I look like George?!
Me: No.  And I detect that you are enjoying this.
Mabel: (Cackling) I sure am, Mr. Author.  Why would you want to call me Mabel Washington?
Me: Well, there was an old television show called What’s Happening!  And the character named ‘Mama’ was played by Mabel Washington.
Mabel: No, it was not!  Mabel King played that part!
Me: But what was Mabel King’s maiden name?
Mabel: Ummm.
Me: My writing is slipping!  I thought I had written you in as being the one who could answer any question.  She was Mabel Washington.  Born in Charleston, SC.  Raised in Harlem, NY.  Singer and Actor.
Mabel: I guess the answer to your question went into the same file with my last name, but I think I can do that name proud.  And I am sure that was my Daddy’s last name. If you got that one wrong, you’d a got a wooden spoon shoved someplace painful. But this companion thing is kind of silly.  You need a companion from your world.
Me: Mabel, to be honest, I spend more time in your world than I do in mine.  I teach a Sunday school class.  I do a minimal amount of volunteering, but then I am doing what my wife told me to do, use my extra time with her not here to write more.  Besides, I don’t go bar-hopping.  And I never really learned how to date.
Mabel: How did you and your wife get along, if you don’t know how to date?
Me: She said that she liked the nerdy guys, socially awkward guys.  She said I had that to the point of overflowing, and I was clumsy.
Mabel: And she married you anyway?!
Me: That she did.
Mabel: Well, I would love to be there for you, but if I don’t run the bakery, Scrambled might find out that he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Me: But he’s a great baker.  He uses all his mother’s recipes, and she was the best.
Mabel: But to run the bakery, you need to have business sense.  I was in the business when Scrambled was running a paper route.
Me: Well, I don’t know.  He was a bit dishonest in those days.  And he was a bit allergic to hard work.  He’s made up for it since then.
Mabel: (laughing) He is a wonderful man.  We compliment each other in the bakery.  And with that little Thomas ver Waarloosd baking his hard rolls, our catering business is starting to make a few sales.  We aren’t geared up yet, so don’t start writing in any major projects.  Slow and steady.  Grow the company as the clientele grows.
Me: Do you have a Bible verse for me about companions?  Everybody that I have talked to so far has reminded me of the source of true wisdom, the Bible.
Mabel: How about when David and his companions dropped by that priest and ate the bread left for the priests to eat?  That’s got bread and companions both in it.  Funny, the story in 1 Samuel says nothing about his men being companions, but when Jesus repeats the story, Jesus says that those with David were his companions.  What you need is a companion like them.  They watched David’s back.  They could talk, but they also kept David safe.
Me: Isn’t that what Jesus does for us?  Keeps an eye on us, watching our back?
Mabel: That He does.

I learned something new.  To find a true companion, whether Fictional Intelligence (FI) or a real person, you have to be a good companion.  David’s companions watched his back, and David shared the bread with them.  He assured the priest, Ahimelek, that they were ceremonially clean, so he knew what they had been doing as well as what their character was.  They looked after each other.

I will look toward Arabella Dalton, Emmett’s younger sister, next.  She is rather talkative from what I hear.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.