"Me-roooowwww, me-roooowwww, me-roooowwww!"

 

Kia groaned, muttered an expletive and pulled the pillow over her head, but that did little to block out the noise coming from outside her window. Even with the windows shut she could still hear the droning noise.

 

"Now, now, now!" The echoing voice seemed to say.

 

"Darn cats!" She grumbled as she continued to lie in bed as the noise, which was that of an annoyed Siamese cat continued.

 

Whose bright idea had it been to use Siamese cats as a citywide alarm system anyway? It was one of the many things she had gotten use to as she had grown up. The year was 2027 and while drones and self driving cars were abundant, they still had their issues, supporters and protesters. The self driving cars had their uses, Kia agreed, aside from needing a little bit more maintenance than usual when the program decided to go on the fritz, but the alarm system was just annoying. She agreed that drones were useful, you could get practically anything from anywhere in a matter of minutes and it made shopping so much easier! She hated the fact that they used the cats on the alarms.

 

Maybe it was because Illinois governor Steve Pinkelwitz and his wife, Tiffany had a propensity for Siamese cats (they owned five) and they thought they would share their "joy" with the rest of the state and were trying to implement the alarm system in other states.

 

Good luck with that. Kia thought as she stared up at the ceiling. The ceiling of her room (at least the room she used when she was home with her parents) was yellow, it hadn't changed much since she had left for college, but when she needed a place to crash it sufficed.

 

Just then the alarm started up again.

 

"Me-roooowwww, me-roooowwww, me-roooowwww!"

 

This time Kia was ready, she grabbed the nearest heavy object and was about to launch her electronic assistant "Alexa" out the window when there was a knock on the door.

 

"Kia, dear, are you up?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kia grumbled.

 

"You ready the food drone delivery is coming at 8 I need someone to sign for it since I have to leave in a few minutes."

 

"Alright." Kia mumbled, "I'll be up in a minute… Not that I can sleep anyway." She swung her legs over the side of her bed.

 

"Thanks dear!" Her mother said cheerfully. "I don't know what we did before those cat alarms, at least people are late for work anymore… Among other things."

 

Kia grabbed a T-shirt from the floor and threw it over her head.

 

"Alexa, make a note to collect for drone delivery at 8 AM."

 

Setting a reminder, said a cheerful female electronic voice, drone delivery at 8 AM; and don't forget to eat breakfast!

 

"Thanks Alexa." Kia muttered as she hurried out of her bedroom.

 

At least the cat alarms stopped at 8 AM. They ran from 6 AM to 8 AM at various intervals, during emergencies, and on alternate Tuesdays at the beginning of every month. When Kia got to the kitchen her mother was preparing to leave.

 

"Hey you and dad got food for this morning?" She asked.

 

"Made sandwiches with leftovers from last night." Her mother answered, whose bubbly personality fit her flyaway red hair perfectly, "and of course the drones would have delivered to the local businesses already, so I think were good today. What are you doing today? You still have another week before you go back to school."

 

"Probably hang out with Bella and Jethro," Kia answered, "Jethro and I talked about going to a movie tonight."

 

Jethro was Kia's boyfriend and worked as an engineer. He worked on the drones so Kia felt like he was the perfect person to complain to about them.

 

"Good, good." Her mother muttered, "I'll see you tonight." Then she punched a button on her keys and a dark green sedan pulled up to the curb.

 

Kia watched as her mother's car drove away. Just as she was about to go back to her room, finish getting dressed, and call her friends. The nearby Alexa unit piped up.

 

"Drone delivery for 2445 West Heinlein Road; Soul residence, now arriving. Time: 8:02 AM

 

Sighing, Kia went to open the door and retrieved the dropped delivery. At least no one was sending her a box of Siamese kittens.