+J.M.J.+
Conversations with a Mecha Named Joe
by "Matrix Refugee"
Disclaimer:
See Chapter 1
Author's Note:
I know! It's a summer chapter, but I misplaced the manuscript, and it wasn't until recently that I found it. Enjoy a little Indian summer in the middle of autumn....
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter 10: The Pleasure of Doing Nothing
With the kind of work that I do, I'm able to make my own hours. I'm industrious, but I know when to stop and take a good break. After the rush of Christmas copy in August, I take it easy for a couple of weeks, write fiction exclusively and let myself have a vacation.
I've always been a bit of a homebody, not so much that I don't venture out (or else I wouldn't be writing this!) but just enough that I can find adventure in my own backyard or just around the corner. It also helps to live in a city which most people come to for *their* vacation.
I never need to pack much: my lunch, my binoculars, a book of poetry, a notebook and a couple mechanical pencils.
Then I made a quick call to Sapphire Enterprises, the escort service that owned Joe. Not for THAT, mind you. Just as a companion, someone to keep me company.
Joe met me at our designated place about noon: at a park bench under an oak tree in the park west of Main Plaza, in the middle of an upscale residence district. It was away from the main thorughfares, but plenty of people, tourists and locals, shuttled in and out of the park.
"Mr. Vautrin tells me you desired the pleasure of my company while you were on vacation," he said, as he sat down beside me.
"Yep, I'm just taking a break from my work, thought I'd spend some time in the fresh air."
He glanced up at the clear blue sky, from which the sun shone unhindered. A cool breeze ruffled his hair. He turned his gaze back to me. "You could not have chosen a better, more beautiful day to spend out in the midst of nature," he observed.
I told him about the writing projects I'd just finished up. He listened with well-practised attention. While ate my sandwich, he told me of the latest news on the street: of a femal lover Mecha who had been caught stealing her clients' wallets, at least until one man caught her in the act and turned her in. It turned out she had some faulty programming, but her owner was having that taken care of.
He started another tale as I finished my sandwich, but my attention had started to wander as I watched the people passing by the bench.
"I'm sorry, My body's here but my mind is all over the place," I said.
"And why is that?" Joe asked, curious.
I raised my hand slightly, pointing it at the passersby. "I'm just watching the crowd and wondering what people are up to, where they're going."
"Indeed! You craft tales of man's behavior, you would want to know the story of every man and woman you encounter," he said. "Then you would have more stories to retell."
"Of course I'd change the names and a few details, protect people's privacy," I said.
He seemed to understand: the mysterious little smile that curved his soft lips suggested several clients had shared confidences with him, secrets in the night he would protect.
A tall, well-dressed woman walked by, arm in arm with a small, dark male Mecha, she keeping him close, he chatting her up with a hint of suggestion, she listening in cool silence, as if she were sizing him up before she took him back to her hotel room.
I discreetly pointed her out as she passed out of hearing range. "You see her?" I said.
"Yes, I saw her as she passed us by," Joe said. With a suggestive smile of his own, he added, "I have seen much of this fine lady of late."
"Okay.... she's an accountant for a large Mecha corporation. She's married, but she likes making educated comparisons between her company's product and those of rival companies. But her husband is this mousy little guy who doesn't dare confront her about this, so . . . he finds comfort in reading publications from the ARM."
Joe bent his head. In a conspiratorial whisper he said, "That scenario might not be so far from the truth." From the secretive little smile that just touched the contours of his mouth, I wondered if my guess had come close to what he knew about her.
Next, two college-aged guys passed by with a shapely auburn-haired female Mecha between them, her arms across their backs, the three of them chatting together cheerfully.
"Okay, the guys are Leroy and Hank. Leroy brought Hank here because Hank has been having trouble finding a girl: he comes on too strong, so they've hired Fantine there to teach him how to be sweet to a girl. Only trouble is Leroy wants some of the fun, too, so they're gonna get into a squabble over her tonight and end up knocking over the furniture in their hotel room."
"I have heard of such things happening in this city," Joe said.
A tall man, well over six feet tall, passed by with a female Mecha who couldn't have been any more than four foot six.
Joe nodded toward them. "And what of that delightfully contrasting pair?" he asked.
"Okay, that's a little sad, but it has a good ending," I said. "His wife wasn't much taller than that little Mecha. She passed away some time ago, and he's been lonely since then, so he came here to get away from it all... and then he met her last night. They spent the night together and he's decided to buy her, although he knows his relatives will think he's stark raving mad. They'll try to have him put in a mental hospital. But then they'll see how happy he is with her and they'll relent."
"Love doth conquer all," Joe said.
"I'd like to see it happen more often," I said, hearing a trace of sadness in my tone. I brightened up, "But I have an imagination: if it can't be so in real life, I can make it so in my head or on paper."
"You use this gift well," Joe observed.
At that point, Vautrin passed by the bench where we sat. He caught sight of us and approached us, eyeing me quizzically over his glasses.
"Hey, Cecie: I thought you were on vacation," he said.
"I am on vacation," I said.
He furrowed his brows at this. "Yeah but, when you go on vacation, you're supposed to, like, go some place else."
I shrugged. "I came to this bench."
"A park bench in the middle of Rouge City isn't the typical idea of a vacation getaway," he returned.
"Depends on how you define a vacation getaway. I had a friend who called it a vacation if he could have a nice long soak in the tub without any interruptions. I think of a vacation as getting out of the usual grind, finding a nice place to sit and do nothing with a friend, chat, make up stories about the world going by."
"And she could hardly have chosen a better companion with whom to do nothing," Joe put in.
Vautrin shook his head with a slightly bemused smile. "The two of you are classics," he said. And with that, he went on his way.
I turned to Joe. "Thanks for putting in a word for me," I said.
"I would not be a gentleman if I did not speak up on your behalf when he was questioning your ideas of comfort. You defended yourself well. You only needed the affirmation of another."
"And you said it best when you told him off like that: If I'm gonna do nothing in this town, I'd rather do nothing with you."
He smiled, stayed up by words of praise. That's when I realized the double entendre in his words. "Doing nothing with you . . ." I murmured.
The realization made me laugh out loud. Joe regarded me sidewise, puzzled at my outburst of mirth. But soon his processor kicked in. The blank look in his eye took on a look of innocent mischief, but he had a slight "cat-that-ate-the-canary" smirk in one corner of his mouth. He knew.
We chatted well into the evening, the sky over us darkening as the sun sank behind the buildings. As the sky overhead went from dark blue to deep indigo, the stars dimmed into view. The neon lighting and the projected holo-advertising was far enough away that we could see the sky.
* * * * *
I must have dozed off. I awoke in darkness, lying on my side, with Joe lying on his side behind me, one arm about my waist, the other folded under my head as a pillow.
"Goodness," I mumbled, stretching. "What time is it?"
"Two hours, fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds into September 5, 2132," he said.
"It's a wonder I didn't get picked up for loitering," I said, sitting up. Joe sat up with me.
"Is your vacation over then?" he asked.
"Yeah, I should let you go, you'll be missed." I looked at him squarely. "What made you stay?"
"You were alone. I could not leave you out in the open, unprotected," he said.
I smiled at him as I collected my things. He tried to take the basket from me, to relieve me of its weight as we walked out of the park, but I refused him.
"You'd better be off, you'll be missed," I said.
"Indeed," he replied. "Someone must needs serve the needs of the lonely who flock to this city, seeking a moment of solace this night." Even as he spoke, a girl in red dropped him a wink from across the square. I released his arm, letting him go to her. But even as I did this, I sensed a pang in my heart. I wished that more people could see him as I do, as more than just a good looker with charming manners, amongst more carnal attributes, but also as an incredibly beautiful intelligence, albeit attached to a body of silicon.
(More to come, someday...)
Conversations with a Mecha Named Joe
by "Matrix Refugee"
Disclaimer:
See Chapter 1
Author's Note:
I know! It's a summer chapter, but I misplaced the manuscript, and it wasn't until recently that I found it. Enjoy a little Indian summer in the middle of autumn....
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter 10: The Pleasure of Doing Nothing
With the kind of work that I do, I'm able to make my own hours. I'm industrious, but I know when to stop and take a good break. After the rush of Christmas copy in August, I take it easy for a couple of weeks, write fiction exclusively and let myself have a vacation.
I've always been a bit of a homebody, not so much that I don't venture out (or else I wouldn't be writing this!) but just enough that I can find adventure in my own backyard or just around the corner. It also helps to live in a city which most people come to for *their* vacation.
I never need to pack much: my lunch, my binoculars, a book of poetry, a notebook and a couple mechanical pencils.
Then I made a quick call to Sapphire Enterprises, the escort service that owned Joe. Not for THAT, mind you. Just as a companion, someone to keep me company.
Joe met me at our designated place about noon: at a park bench under an oak tree in the park west of Main Plaza, in the middle of an upscale residence district. It was away from the main thorughfares, but plenty of people, tourists and locals, shuttled in and out of the park.
"Mr. Vautrin tells me you desired the pleasure of my company while you were on vacation," he said, as he sat down beside me.
"Yep, I'm just taking a break from my work, thought I'd spend some time in the fresh air."
He glanced up at the clear blue sky, from which the sun shone unhindered. A cool breeze ruffled his hair. He turned his gaze back to me. "You could not have chosen a better, more beautiful day to spend out in the midst of nature," he observed.
I told him about the writing projects I'd just finished up. He listened with well-practised attention. While ate my sandwich, he told me of the latest news on the street: of a femal lover Mecha who had been caught stealing her clients' wallets, at least until one man caught her in the act and turned her in. It turned out she had some faulty programming, but her owner was having that taken care of.
He started another tale as I finished my sandwich, but my attention had started to wander as I watched the people passing by the bench.
"I'm sorry, My body's here but my mind is all over the place," I said.
"And why is that?" Joe asked, curious.
I raised my hand slightly, pointing it at the passersby. "I'm just watching the crowd and wondering what people are up to, where they're going."
"Indeed! You craft tales of man's behavior, you would want to know the story of every man and woman you encounter," he said. "Then you would have more stories to retell."
"Of course I'd change the names and a few details, protect people's privacy," I said.
He seemed to understand: the mysterious little smile that curved his soft lips suggested several clients had shared confidences with him, secrets in the night he would protect.
A tall, well-dressed woman walked by, arm in arm with a small, dark male Mecha, she keeping him close, he chatting her up with a hint of suggestion, she listening in cool silence, as if she were sizing him up before she took him back to her hotel room.
I discreetly pointed her out as she passed out of hearing range. "You see her?" I said.
"Yes, I saw her as she passed us by," Joe said. With a suggestive smile of his own, he added, "I have seen much of this fine lady of late."
"Okay.... she's an accountant for a large Mecha corporation. She's married, but she likes making educated comparisons between her company's product and those of rival companies. But her husband is this mousy little guy who doesn't dare confront her about this, so . . . he finds comfort in reading publications from the ARM."
Joe bent his head. In a conspiratorial whisper he said, "That scenario might not be so far from the truth." From the secretive little smile that just touched the contours of his mouth, I wondered if my guess had come close to what he knew about her.
Next, two college-aged guys passed by with a shapely auburn-haired female Mecha between them, her arms across their backs, the three of them chatting together cheerfully.
"Okay, the guys are Leroy and Hank. Leroy brought Hank here because Hank has been having trouble finding a girl: he comes on too strong, so they've hired Fantine there to teach him how to be sweet to a girl. Only trouble is Leroy wants some of the fun, too, so they're gonna get into a squabble over her tonight and end up knocking over the furniture in their hotel room."
"I have heard of such things happening in this city," Joe said.
A tall man, well over six feet tall, passed by with a female Mecha who couldn't have been any more than four foot six.
Joe nodded toward them. "And what of that delightfully contrasting pair?" he asked.
"Okay, that's a little sad, but it has a good ending," I said. "His wife wasn't much taller than that little Mecha. She passed away some time ago, and he's been lonely since then, so he came here to get away from it all... and then he met her last night. They spent the night together and he's decided to buy her, although he knows his relatives will think he's stark raving mad. They'll try to have him put in a mental hospital. But then they'll see how happy he is with her and they'll relent."
"Love doth conquer all," Joe said.
"I'd like to see it happen more often," I said, hearing a trace of sadness in my tone. I brightened up, "But I have an imagination: if it can't be so in real life, I can make it so in my head or on paper."
"You use this gift well," Joe observed.
At that point, Vautrin passed by the bench where we sat. He caught sight of us and approached us, eyeing me quizzically over his glasses.
"Hey, Cecie: I thought you were on vacation," he said.
"I am on vacation," I said.
He furrowed his brows at this. "Yeah but, when you go on vacation, you're supposed to, like, go some place else."
I shrugged. "I came to this bench."
"A park bench in the middle of Rouge City isn't the typical idea of a vacation getaway," he returned.
"Depends on how you define a vacation getaway. I had a friend who called it a vacation if he could have a nice long soak in the tub without any interruptions. I think of a vacation as getting out of the usual grind, finding a nice place to sit and do nothing with a friend, chat, make up stories about the world going by."
"And she could hardly have chosen a better companion with whom to do nothing," Joe put in.
Vautrin shook his head with a slightly bemused smile. "The two of you are classics," he said. And with that, he went on his way.
I turned to Joe. "Thanks for putting in a word for me," I said.
"I would not be a gentleman if I did not speak up on your behalf when he was questioning your ideas of comfort. You defended yourself well. You only needed the affirmation of another."
"And you said it best when you told him off like that: If I'm gonna do nothing in this town, I'd rather do nothing with you."
He smiled, stayed up by words of praise. That's when I realized the double entendre in his words. "Doing nothing with you . . ." I murmured.
The realization made me laugh out loud. Joe regarded me sidewise, puzzled at my outburst of mirth. But soon his processor kicked in. The blank look in his eye took on a look of innocent mischief, but he had a slight "cat-that-ate-the-canary" smirk in one corner of his mouth. He knew.
We chatted well into the evening, the sky over us darkening as the sun sank behind the buildings. As the sky overhead went from dark blue to deep indigo, the stars dimmed into view. The neon lighting and the projected holo-advertising was far enough away that we could see the sky.
* * * * *
I must have dozed off. I awoke in darkness, lying on my side, with Joe lying on his side behind me, one arm about my waist, the other folded under my head as a pillow.
"Goodness," I mumbled, stretching. "What time is it?"
"Two hours, fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds into September 5, 2132," he said.
"It's a wonder I didn't get picked up for loitering," I said, sitting up. Joe sat up with me.
"Is your vacation over then?" he asked.
"Yeah, I should let you go, you'll be missed." I looked at him squarely. "What made you stay?"
"You were alone. I could not leave you out in the open, unprotected," he said.
I smiled at him as I collected my things. He tried to take the basket from me, to relieve me of its weight as we walked out of the park, but I refused him.
"You'd better be off, you'll be missed," I said.
"Indeed," he replied. "Someone must needs serve the needs of the lonely who flock to this city, seeking a moment of solace this night." Even as he spoke, a girl in red dropped him a wink from across the square. I released his arm, letting him go to her. But even as I did this, I sensed a pang in my heart. I wished that more people could see him as I do, as more than just a good looker with charming manners, amongst more carnal attributes, but also as an incredibly beautiful intelligence, albeit attached to a body of silicon.
(More to come, someday...)