Next she asked them to touch the icon that was different in some way, other than its shape, of course, because the icons were made of a base polymer with LED veneers. One of Karen’s animal icons would either be in a different stance, or making noise, or behaving differently in some other way, while one of Ken’s shape icons would change colors, shadings, patterns, or display shapes within shapes differently as the development exercises go on. Also, the mobiles were motorized so that the bars and arms would move to patterns and randomness when the time came to start moving the icons. Despite their solidness, the icons on Karen’s display could simulate motion, as the icons’ shapes were rectangular at areas nearby legs, wings, and even come heads of each figure.
Play time was interrupted early so that there could be some preparations for lunch. Maribel got out a bright pink insect-like device, whose exact purpose the couple knew. It was a painless motorized syringe for drawing small amounts of blood for many at-home tests. “Millie Mosquito” was its name. As intimidating as the name would have been to children of earlier generations, repellents had been perfected at this time, and insect-borne diseases like malaria and Lyme’s had been eradicated. So it became socially acceptable for depictions of these parasites to be used as childhood icons. Allergy testing could be done at home too, which was a good thing because this was the standard thing to do for all babies being introduced to fruits and vegetables for the first time.
“Let’s see what Millie says about you, Ken.” She placed Millie on Ken’s thigh as, out of his view, a tiny red droplet formed within the device’s vile. She removed Millie, detached her vile and placed it on Millie’s base while the nanobots went to work looking for reactions to agents. She did the same with Karen. The process was going to take a while so until the device was ready, she played ticka-tummy with her two tiny clients. When the chime went off, she said, “excuse me,” and got her tablet out. RF interaction between devices had, of course, long since been the norm.
“Okay, Ken: … Peanuts are a wait-and-see …. all nuts are wait-and-see. … Goat meat is a no! … Goat milk is a no! … tomatoes can wait …,” said Maribel. She turned to Karen, “Okay, Karen: … Nuts are a wait-and-see too. Expected at this age. … Strawberries are nos! … Tomatoes are nos! … It’s a good thing we found these things out now!” She immediately took out two jars of what looked like a puree, out of her case, and immediately disposed of them. The color of the puree suggested strawberries. There was no need to have anything like that around the house. Karen never had been allergic to any food that severely before, and especially had never been allergic to strawberries, so she was shocked to see first hand that the experts were right when they said that DNA was not the only factor which determined propensity towards allergies.
First few days were for bland fruits and veggies. The tester tested for everything, and just because the allergy tests said yes on somethings, wouldn’t mean tiny tummies would say yes. She started with durians that were cut up, mashed, and softened with water by her and her mom last weekend. Ken recognized the taste and asked, “I assume that you used fresh durians. Why don’t your hands smell like their rinds?”