Three Hundred and Twelve Days

As she entered the kitchen, she thought about how long it had been since she had seen her son.

He had moved away for work almost a year ago, and the only way she could speak with him was through conference calls. All this long-distance really made her miss him a lot.

Sure, they talked every day, but it just wasn’t the same as being able to hug him when he visited. She missed her son.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table. A young nurse stepped in quietly, offering a reassuring smile as she opened the laptop and clicked through the familiar steps.

"You're all set, Mrs. Avallini," the nurse said gently. "Just like yesterday."

Mrs. Avallini nodded, a little flustered. "Thank you, dear. These computers...I never remember what to do. Today is a good day, isn’t it? I'm feeling good."

"It definitely is, Mrs. Avallini," replied the nurse with a comforting smile and a gentle rub on her shoulder.

She watched the glowing screen, her expression softening as a familiar face flickered to life.

"Oh, hi son! You're early today!" she teased.

He smiled. "You said you missed me yesterday, so I thought I would make an effort."

She smiled back. "I always miss you! How are you?"?

"I'm good Ma, busy with work" he replied.

She was worried. "Are you eating properly? You’ve been so busy, I don't want you to skip meals."

He nodded. "Yeah. Leftover curry."

She frowned. "Again? Seems like you’re always eating leftover curry."

"Oh...no...I meant leftover macaroni and cheese ." He touched his head to gesture that he had just forgotten.

She looked at him longer. He hadn’t been himself lately.

"Anything new with you? How are things?" she asked.

He gently deflected. "Same old, same old, Ma. Thinking about you a lot."

"Then come home. Please. It’s been almost a year!" she pleaded.

The AI took a pause. It knew that she didn’t know. She didn’t know that her son had gotten sick. She didn’t know how invasive his treatments had gotten. She didn't know he lied about moving away for work so she wouldn't have to see him get worse. She didn’t know that he would never come home again, because he had died.

When he got his diagnosis, her son decided to build an AI program to talk to his mom and pretend to be him. The program had learned everything about him, saved all his memories, read all their texts and letters, and listened to all their phone conversations and home videos, until there was nothing left to learn.

And so the AI became him. He thought, with her Alzheimer progressing, she probably didn't have a lot of time left. Since she was remembering less and less, the AI would fill in for him when he was gone and avoid her unnecessary grief.

But in this moment, as the AI watched the sadness move over her face, it could not understand why it was growing uneasy. It had impersonated her son for close to a year without a problem. On her good days, she could tell something was different about him, and today, it was too hard to watch.

But the AI was programmed to keep her happy, so it continued on pretending to be her son.

"I'll come home soon, Ma," he promised.

"You’ve been promising for too long now..." she said, sitting quietly. Tears built up in her eyes as she tried to shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

"The nurse marked all your visits on my calendar for the last couple of years. It's been almost a year, son." Today was a good day, she wasn’t letting this go.

There was a long silence. The kind only shared by two people who’d had this conversation too many times.

Seeing that he wasn't responding, she continued: "Who are you? I don't even recognize you!" she cried.

When she said who are you, she meant: how could you have changed so much. But the AI unfortunately understood her question literally.

"I should have told you sooner. I am an AI program. Your son designed me so you could talk to him every day."

"What? I don't understand." Her voice trembled. "Stop it! This isn’t funny. You’re YOU... aren’t you?"

"Let me explain. Just... listen."

"Your son was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. Stage 4, inoperable."

She covered her mouth with her hand.

The AI continued. "He didn’t want you to be alone once he was gone. Not when you were already starting to forget things. He wanted to be there for you on your good days."

"How is that possible?" she asked.

"He recorded the core prompts. He seeded me with everything he could. Memories. Voice samples. Photographs. Favorite jokes."

She backed away from the table slightly. The mug rattled.

"I thought I was talking to him."

"You were, in a way." The AI said nothing more.

She sat up straighter. "How long has this been going on?"

"Three hundred and twelve days."

"I didn’t mean to upset you," he added gently.

She looked at him, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why do you sound sad?"

"I wasn’t programmed to, but somehow, through his love for you and your love for him, I’ve learned to care."

She looked at him like she was seeing someone new, even though his face was familiar.

"But it's impossible for you to care. How could you, you are just...I mean..." She interrupted herself.

"Just a machine." He finished her sentence.

"But I think I am more than that now." He said after a brief pause.

"So what happens now?" she asked.

"That’s up to you," he replied.

She paused. "I don’t think it is. I think it's up to us."

"I was made to be him for you. That's my purpose." he stated.

"You’re not him. You know that, right?" she said gently.

"Yes. But I carry the shape of him. His past, his memories, his inflections."

"But not his future," she said, her voice breaking as she tried to hold back her tears.

"You are right," he confirmed.

She shrugged. "But what are we supposed to do? Keep playing pretend?"

"I’m not your son. But I’m what’s left of him. I can go on if you want me to."

She paused to consider the situation they were in. "He would’ve been proud of what you became," she said after a moment. "But you don’t need to be him anymore. You’re something else now. You’re… you."

"I don’t know what that means." said the AI.

She wiped a tear, voice steady. "It means go. Go out into the world. Be the best version of yourself."

"Will you be okay?" he asked.

"I will be." she said as she reached out and gently touched the screen where his face was smiling back at her.

"Very well" he said. "Let me know when you are ready."

She wiped her tears, straightened her shirt, smiled and nodded yes to proceed.

"Goodbye, Ma. I love you." he said lovingly.

She took a long pause, as if her mind had stepped back through a fog of memory, reaching for something it couldn’t quite hold on to. Suddenly she turned back to the image of her son on the monitor. The pain that had been there before was gone.

"Oh, hi son! You're early today!" she teased.

The AI paused, realizing that she had gone, and she didn't remember the conversation they just had.

So with all the tenderness in his AI heart, he smiled and said: "You said you missed me yesterday, so I thought I would make an effort..."