Parker grunted and rolled his eyes. “It’s pizza, Dad,” he said. “We didn’t kill a wild boar.”

“So how is school going?”

“It’s going.”

“Any plans for the weekend?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe we should save a slice or two for your mother.”

“I doubt she’d want cold pizza. I have homework. Can I take this upstairs?”

“Isn’t that against the rules? Aren’t we supposed to talk or something?”

“I don’t know, Dad. I’d say this Family Dinner Night is pretty much a bust.”

“Hey, just because Mom’s not here doesn’t mean you and I can’t have a chat.”

“A chat? About what?”

“I don’t know,” the clone said. “What’s the latest in the gaming world?”

“There’s a new one coming out, but not for, like, a year. It’s called Infinite Frontiers. I was going to ask if I could get the beta next month. But I need to subscribe to this group.”

In the lab, Brent shot a grin at Jeremiah. “The kid is plugged in,” he said.

“And how much will that cost me?” the clone asked.

“Not much,” Parker said. “I think it’s, like, fifteen dollars a month.”

“That’s more than half your allowance. If you want to blow it on some game, it’s up to you. But I thought you were saving up for a new monitor.”

“I was kind of hoping the subscription could be, like, a birthday present or something. My birthday is next week.”

“He’s a good negotiator.” Brent smiled.

“That sounds reasonable,” the clone said. “I’ll spring for a one-year subscription. Get me the details.”

“Awesome! Can I go upstairs now, though? I want to finish my homework, so I get some game time in.”

“Has Louie had his medicine? If we want that stuff to calm him down, the vet said he has to take it at the same time every day.”

“I gave it to him,” Parker said. “But if you ask me, it’s just making him sleep too much.”

Jeremiah rolled his eyes and hoped Brent didn’t notice. His dog was on downers?

“Okay,” the clone said. “Go ahead, then.”

As the clone set about clearing the table in silence, Jeremiah felt oddly as though he were invading on someone else’s awkward, private moment. He watched him sigh and wipe the crumbs off the table. The clone stood still for a moment as though he weren’t sure what he should do next, and finally went into the family room, sat down on the couch and switched on the TV. Jeremiah wondered vaguely what was going through his mind. Somewhere along the line he’d come to accept his clone as a person, at least in some sense of the word. There were moments, like this one, when he almost felt sorry for him.

He wanted to turn the monitor off. But he knew the viewing would keep going for the complete four hours, so he and Brent played crazy eights and gin rummy while the clone rotated through TV channels and finally fell asleep on the couch, snoring again, much to Jeremiah’s dismay. He was still there when Diana came home and shook him awake three hours later. At that point, the monitor switched off abruptly, the designated viewing time completed.