His Robot Girlfriend (4 page)

“
What are you doing?” Mike
called after her.

“
Chores,” she said, poking
her head back around the stairwell corner.

The news was filled with politics. Winston
Barlow was accusing Evelyn Mendoza of being an elitist and he was
accusing Stephanie Wakovia of being a free-spender. Evelyn Mendoza
was accusing Barlow of being uncaring and accusing Mendoza of being
too closely tied to Busby’s Antarctica war. Mendoza was accusing
Barlow of being out of touch with the young people of America and
accusing Wakovia of being uninterested in helping the poor. The
remaining news was filled with a story about the construction of
the stadium for the upcoming Olympic Games in Surat, one about a
pair of large tornadoes in Texas which did minimal damage, and the
usual war news. Sixty four more American soldiers were killed today
along with an estimated six hundred Russians.

“
Dinner is served,” said
Patience, poking her head into the living room just as the news
ended.

Mike got up and walked to the dining room.
Both this room and the adjoining kitchen had been cleaned spic and
span. The table had been set for two, and in the center rested a
dish of lasagna and a bowl of tossed salad. The old table had been
spruced up with a floral-patterned table cloth. He pulled out a
chair and sat down. Patience scooped a large portion of lasagna and
then dressed the salad, placing a small pile next to the meat and
pasta dish. She put the plate in front of him. Then she sat down
across from him smiling, and watching him as he ate.

“
You’re not going to
eat?”

She shook her head.

“
Oh, yeah. I forgot for a
moment. Hydrogen fuel cell?”

She nodded again.

“
You’ve been doing quite a
bit of cleaning.”

“
Yes, Mike. Is this the way
that you would like me to keep the house?”

“
Secondary
setup?”

She nodded yet again.

“
Yes, the house looks
great. You’ve just about got it all cleaned up.”

“
I will have by this time
tomorrow.”

Mike finished dinner and went back to the
family room to watch vueTee while Patience cleared the table,
packed up the left-overs, and put the dishes in the dishwasher.
After Brain Quest, there wasn’t much on vueTee. Tuesday was a lousy
vueTee night. Patience disappeared into the bedroom and returned
wearing nothing but one of her lacy thongs. Mike had imagined that
at his age, two nights of sexual activity in a row was excessive,
but seeing her standing there, the very picture of perfection,
disabused him of this notion. They had sex on and off the couch,
and when they were done, Mike was completely exhausted though it
was not even eight thirty.

“
It is because you are in
terrible physical shape,” said Patience.

“
Yes, and I’m old too. I
look way too old and fat to be seen with you. You look like what...
like you’re twenty?”

“
My apparent age is
twenty-two to thirty-two. And fifty is not old.”

“
Yes, well… What are you
going to do tomorrow?”

“
I have several projects in
mind,” she said. “I think you should walk to work
tomorrow.”

“
It’s way too hot to
walk.”

“
It won’t be over one
hundred nine tomorrow.”

“
Well, I could,” said Mike.
“Probably… But why?”

“
Walking is good exercise,
Mike. And that way I can use the car.”

“
You know how to
drive?”

“
Of course.”

“
But what if you are
stopped. You don’t have a license.”

“
Robots do not need a
license to drive, Mike.”

Mike indulged in a hot shower before bed,
then climbed between two clean sheets. Patience was there to tuck
him in. He read a bit of the daily paper from his texTee, but set
it aside after a few minutes and drifted off into sleep. He
half-dreamily noticed that Patience came into the room to turn off
the light, then she was off again, doing whatever it was that she
did.

When he opened his eyes in the morning,
Patience was sitting on the edge of the bed. She had on the second
of her two dresses—the black and white polka dotted one, and Mike
felt a tug of regret that he hadn’t bought her more of a
selection.

“
You need to get up
seventeen minutes earlier since you are walking,” said Patience,
handing him a bagel and a glass of orange juice.

“
Only seventeen minutes?
I’m not going to run to work you know.”

“
It is not really that
far.”

It wasn’t really that far. He ate his
breakfast, shaved and showered, then headed out the door with a
lunch that Patience handed him as he left. He walked briskly to the
end of the block under the awning that covered all the city’s
sidewalks, but the rest of the way, five more blocks, went more
slowly as it was up a slight incline. He rounded the power station
and started across the lawn to the door of his classroom. Looking
at the clock inside, he saw that he was arriving at almost the
exact same time that he always did.

This was another review day, the day before
final exams, so it was busy as Mike tried to push the last bits of
geographic information into the heads of his eighth grade students.
Not surprisingly, his mind kept returning to Patience, standing
there in her little thong in the center of the family room. He
still couldn’t believe that she was here. He couldn’t believe that
he had actually placed the order for a robot and he couldn’t
believe how perfect she was. She was, in fact, about as perfect as
she could be. He wondered what her measurements were. When he had
designed her, he hadn’t been thinking in terms of numbers. He had
done so based on the visual representation on the screen. He would
have to find out if he was going to buy clothes for her though.
Thinking back to the posted measurements of all the centerfolds he
had seen, he thought she had to be about 34-22-34. She could
probably have been a fashion model, though with those breasts he
was sure she would make a centerfold for Playboy or Penthouse.

She was of course waiting for him. The walk
home, which was essentially all downhill, had proven more tiring
than Mike had anticipated. He was breathing hard when he reached
out to open the front door, but it had opened for him, and Patience
was waiting on the other side with a glass of iced diet Pepsi. He
took the proffered glass, trudged back to the family room, and
plopped down into his recliner.

“
Welcome home, Mike,” said
Patience. “You should know that the secondary setup procedure has
successfully completed.”

“
That’s good,” replied
Mike, pulling the lever to lift his legs up. “Is there a third
setup?”

Patience shook her head. She was wearing a
little black dress which reached down to her mid-thigh. It was held
on with half inch straps and had a plunging neckline. She had on a
pair of cute little sandals with four inch wedge heels. Mike
noticed how small her feet were.

“
Nice shoes.”

“
I don’t see why women’s
shoes are so expensive,” she said. “These shoes cost almost five
times as much as this dress.”

“
Exactly how much money did
you spend on clothes today?”

“
$1704.19.”

“
Wow!” Mike pushed the
lever and rocked forward.

“
Don’t worry. We will get
more before we run out.”

“
Are we robbing a
bank?”

“
I have our finances all
figured out,” she smiled. Then she knelt down in front of him and
for the next twelve minutes or so made him forget about anything as
unimportant as money. Afterwards, she put on a fashion show for
him, showing off the clothes that she had bought that day. She told
him what each piece of clothing was as she spun around: a blue
banded bottom jersey dress, a peach sleeveless knit mini-dress, a
red over the shoulder dress with gored skirt, a black Cami lace
trim top with black nylon leggings and grey plaid miniskirt, a teal
silky halter-style evening dress. She had also purchased a pair of
five inch chunky heel platform sandals and a pair of
metallic-colored t-strap four and a half inch heels. The last part
of the show was the lingerie: several pairs of frilled panties that
despite the name “boy-leg” seemed to have no leg at all and left
her cute ass cheeks hanging out, several pairs of mesh thongs, and
a push up bra with one cup pink and the other sky blue.

“
You should have showed me
this part when I first came home,” said Mike, amazed that he was
already feeling amorous again. “This makes me want to buy you even
more clothes, though it’s a sad commentary when seventeen hundred
bucks only buys you five outfits, two pairs a shoes, and a couple
of pairs of underwear.”

“
I also spent $661.57 on
groceries.”

“
Oh, well, I’m sure we
needed it, but that doesn’t sound like much food.”

“
It will be more than
enough for now,” said Patience. “Would you like an afternoon
snack?”

“
Sure.”

Patience brought out a small plate with
slices of fruit and cheese. Mike ate it all.

“
Is there more?”

“
Save room for dinner,”
Patience called from the kitchen. “You shouldn’t be too full
anyway. I don’t want you to get a stomach ache today at the
gym.”

“
Gym?”

“
Yes,” she said, rejoining
him in the family room and curling up to sit on the floor by his
feet. “We will go right after the news.”

They sat and watched first the local and then
the national news. Patience rested her head on his knee and he ran
his fingers through her thick black hair. It felt like real
hair—like real human hair. She wrapped her left arm around his
calves. Going to the gym was probably a good idea, he decided. If
he was going to keep up with her, he really needed to get into
shape.

At six o’clock, Patience left the room. She
returned a few minutes later wearing sandals and her little jersey
dress. She brought Mike a pair of shorts that he hadn’t seen in so
long he almost didn’t recognize them, along with a sweatshirt. He
changed into them, and then they climbed into the car and drove
four miles to the Club One Fitness Center.

“
I don’t have a
membership,” said Mike.

“
I signed you up on vueTee.
The first month is free.”

“
I think we need hydrogen.”
he said, looking at the fuel gauge.

“
Are you trying to prevent
our trip to the gym?”

“
No, of course not. We just
need, you know…some hydrogen.”

“
We aren’t going very far,”
said Patience. “We have more than enough to last until
tomorrow.”

“
What if you get
hungry?”

Patience shot him a look.

“
We still have enough money
to buy hydrogen, don’t we?” Mike asked.

“
We should use your
Praxair-Aramco credit account.”

“
Is that account still
good? I haven’t used it in a long time.”

Patience nodded.

At the fitness club a blond girl, with the
right side of her hair dyed black, stood chewing gum. Mike gave her
his name and she pulled out a dedicated texTee for him. It was set
up with forms for him to fill out, as well as spaces for him to
keep track of his workouts and progress. As he took it from her,
she looked at him.

“
Didn’t you used to teach
at Midland?”

“
Yes,” Mike replied, not
adding that he still did.

“
I think I was in your
class,” the girl said. “That was a long, long time ago.”

Mike just nodded his head.

“
Is this your daughter?”
asked the cashier, indicating Patience.

“
No…” said Mike. “She’s a
friend.”

The counter girl’s mouth made a little O.
“She’s a robot, eh? You can hardly tell.”

Mike just took the texTee to a nearby chair
and began to enter the information with the keypad. Patience sat
down next to him.

“
Well, that’s it,” said
Mike. “It’s always going to be like that. It’s always going to be
weird.”

Patience looked at him uncomprehendingly.

“
Nobody will ever believe
that a fat old man like me could ever meet a woman like you.
They’ll immediately realize what you are and say ‘oh well, there
you go, he had to buy himself a robot, cause no one else would have
him’. Patience stuck out her lip.

“
I’m sorry. I know you’re
more than a robot. You’re a Daffodil.”

“
It’s not that,” she
replied. “I don’t want to hear you talk about yourself in a
negative way. I wouldn’t allow it from anyone else, and I don’t
want to hear it from you.”

“
Yeah, okay. Whatever. I
need to find a trainer.” Mike changed the subject.

“
No. I will be your
trainer.”

Patience proved that she was as adept as a
physical fitness trainer as she was at anything else. She put him
to work doing a minimal number of machine exercises and had him
spend most of his time walking around and around on the oval track.
She walked right along with him, encouraging him to keep up the
pace. Though she wasn’t really dressed for the track, she did look
like a young woman out to have a little fun. She bounced along with
the gate of a teenager, giving him a grin whenever she noticed him
looking at her.