I Married an Android?

 

I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. She tripped while we were hiking one day and fell to the ground. When I helped her back up, the top of her forearm was on the ground, revealing the wires and electrical circuits underneath. I looked at the material on the ground, then her arm, her face. Her skin turned red. I stared for a moment, now wondering how a machine could do that. Her mouth turned up into an awkward smile.

“Lucy! What the heck!”

She covered her forearm with her other hand. “You were not supposed to see that.” Her Russian accent sounded a little more noticeable. She wriggled out of my grasp and bent to retrieve her fallen part.

My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees. “Married almost 10 years! Were you ever going to tell me?”

With a few clicks, she reattached the part, then looked at me, now with some concern. “I couldn’t tell you. We’re not allowed to tell anyone.”

I gazed up at her. She was still as beautiful as the day she got off the plane. “Not allowed?!”

Her face turned to show absolute terror. “If they ever found out, they would kill us both.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stray phone call

  When Bob went to sleep that night, he didn’t realize that his life would be “flipped-turned upside down” as the Fresh Prince described it. It all started when his cell phone rang, waking him from a dream in which he was swimming in a pool of silver coins. As he rolled over to get his phone, he caught a glimpse of the clock. 12:01 am! Who could be calling me at this hour? He thought. He picked up his phone and pressed the answer button. “Hello?” His voice sounded as if acid had been poured on his vocal cords while he was asleep, which, as it happened, it had. The voice on the other end sounded almost as bad, except it was female. “Bob?” He swung his legs off the bed and sat up. “Sherry? What’s wrong?” He could hear her crying on the other end. “There’s a stray dog walking around outside the house, howling!” Bob stood up. “But you’re safe? Inside the house?” She sighed. “Yes, but it’s scary! It’s the biggest dog I’ve ever seen! With huge teeth and paws!” Bob sat back ...
Read more

Inspired by a Picture of a Woman Crying

  I can’t believe he would do that to me. Haven’t I been with him for forty years? Anything he wanted I did. Even that nasty stuff that I didn’t like. Like cleaning the toilets. Two beautiful children. And the other one that just looks okay. Now that they’re out of the house, he doesn’t need me anymore? Fuck him! No. Wait. I already stopped doing that. You know what? I’m still attractive. I’ll just find someone else. It’s his loss. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. For that matter, I don’t need a man. I can take care of myself. I’ll be free. Free to do whatever I want. But what do I want? I’ve been taking care of him and the kids for so long. What do I want? And who am I, if no longer a wife and mother? Well, I’m still a mother. Too bad all my children are gay. I won’t have any grandchildren. Maybe one of them will adopt. What did I want to do when I was a child? An astronaut? A fireman? A fashion model? I think those options are out. Maybe a teacher, or a nurse. After...
Read more

The Gifts of the Joey

Joey couldn’t believe his luck. He got both things that he wanted on the December gift-giving day holiday. A dragon and a droid! His parents must really love him, whoever they were. He couldn’t wait to show them off to his friends at school, once the two-week snow school break ended. He should have been able to show them on the 3-D vid, but the stupid Norfolk power grid was down. Again. The back up solar powered battery could not generate enough power. It had just enough to keep the house warm and the food cold, until he needed to heat it up, too. He couldn’t do much with the droid, because the stupid thing needed to charge. But he could play with the dragon. He had had robo-pets before, but this would be his first live pet. The dragon made some noises in its cage. “Shit,” he thought. “What could that mean? Was it hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Did it need to go for a walk?” He looked around at all the packaging and wrapping paper he had thrown around that morning. “Didn’t it come wit...
Read more