J.M.J.
TITLE: "Cash on the Barrelhead" -- Part 2 of 3
AUTHOR: "Matrix Refugee"
RATING: PG-13 (subject matter, angst)
ARCHIVE: Permission granted
FEEDBACK: Pleasepleasepleaseplease!
DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own "A.I.", which belongs to DreamWorks, Steve, Stan, Warner Brothers, et al. If I had any right to the film, there would be a spin-off TV series of it now.
NOTES: More fragments, of an even more fragmentary nature: I hope I make it clear what's going on, but there's a lot of things that are only hinted at... Makes it a little more mysterious and helps heighten the emotional intensity, or at least it did for me.
SUMMARY: Cecie starts sending love letters to Joe, but she receives a shocking reply.
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I Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
February 19, 2166
Dear Joe,
Happy New Year! I know it's a little late to be wishing you this, but I didn't get a chance to untill now. I hope this reaches you safely and that you're having a good year so far. Is Haddonfield to your tastes? I think I passed through there on my way down to Rouge City the first time: Looks a lot like Westhillston, only with a red-light district.
I've been up to the eyes writing summer travel brochures and newsletters for the electric company. Frank is still trying to get me a job copy-editing for the Broadsheet.
Mr. Flyte has been trying to hook me up with Julien, but I had to disappoint them both by telling them I just wasn't interested. Not after I've known you for so long. Julien's just too jumpy for me: they must have set his DAS regulators much too high.
Without you around, the city has just been too dull: the neon lighting might as well be white lights and the music makes my heart as well as my head ache: Every time I go out, you aren't there, dancing to the city rhythm I thought I saw you in a crowd the other night, but when I got closer, I realized it was only an Orga man (not Frank either). I'm half of a mind to pull up stakes and cross the Delaware to be closer to you.
My eyes are tearing up, which only makes me want you all the more. I'd better stop torturing myself and send this off to you -- but then I'll be in torment waiting for your reply, though that will be a much sweeter sorrow.
We all miss you, even Phila. If Bernie were still alive, I bet she'd be missing you too.
Write soon...
Kisses,
Cecie
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II Letter from Joe to Cecie
February 21, 2166
My dear Cecie
An exquisite surprise came my way when I reported back to the house this morning and Ms. Van Thuang, the secretary told me, "There's a letter for you, Joe." I have many admirers in and about this locality, but no one of them has ever written me a letter with their own hand and mailed it to me.
Reading your sweet words, I sense tremendous loneliness and an aching longing within you. How I wish I could be there to ease this pain. Once we were together, you would quickly forget your sorrows. Though you clearly are surrounded by well-meaning friends, they cannot provide the kind of attentions which I could offer to you as a lover. Their concern for you is but a morsel, but I can provide for you a banquet of delight.
Tell me more about yourself in your next letter. I remain yours in love and anticipation,
Joe
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III Transcript of an IM, Frank Sweitz ("HeroicReporter23") to Cecie Martin ("RougeCityCecie") February 21, 2166
HeroicReporter23: any luck?
RougeCityCecie: I heard back from Joe.
HeroicReporter23: grin oh boy!!!
RougeCityCecie: Yeah. Oh boy.
HeroicReporter23: ??
HeroicReporter23: ????
HeroicReporter23: ???????
RougeCityCecie: He didn't know me
HeroicReporter23: ?!!?
RougeCityCecie: It's like he had some kind of brain wipe.
HeroicReporter23: !!!!!
RougeCityCecie: Type to me, Frank.
HeroicReporter23: sorry. He's so human I forget he's Mecha sometimes.
HeroicReporter23: what do you mean?
RougeCityCecie: He had no idea who I was. I mean, the letter was beautifully written, but in the last lines, he asked me to tell him more about myself.
HeroicReporter23: I'll have to ask around, see if anyone's heard about things like this happening before.
HeroicReporter23: but when you think about it, it's almost like turning back the odometer on a used car.
RougeCityCecie: That was my thought too.
HeroicReporter23: wonder why they did that...
HeroicReporter23: the only one who could tell us would be Hal, but he's kinda out of commission, though I heard there was some kind of plea bargain going through. I guess the SPCB was going to see that the slate got wiped clean
HeroicReporter23: since he knows something they need to know.
RougeCityCecie: Errrr..... not the first person I'd want to ask.
HeroicReporter23: don't blame you, but he sure knows a lot about how those Mechas work!
RougeCityCecie: True. I'll see if Vautrin knows anything about this. Should get offline anyway. G'night
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IV Extract from Cecie's journal, February 22, 2166
I spoke with Dr. Quivar about how to handle the change in my relationship with Joe. She's not sure how exactly to handle the situation, since she has only a rudimentary knowledge of the inner workings of the Mecha mind. But she figured the best way to handle this is to treat it like a case of ordinary amnesia and help him relearn what he once knew about me.
Vautrin tells me this brain wipe is a bit unorthodox, but he's heard of some unscrupulous people who buy used lover-Mechas wiping the "profile database", i.e., the names and identifying items of the Mecha's previous clients. It's not really illegal, but it's not a nice thing to do, either.
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V Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
February 22, 2166
My dear Joe,
I'm sorry if I didn't introduce myself properly in my first letter to you. My name is Cecilia Martin, but I prefer to be called Cecie. I'm a writer living in Rouge City, but I was born in Massachusetts and I moved here about six years ago after I visited this crazy town and I got a lot of ideas for the kind of stories that I write.
I'm currently living with my long-time friend Phila Langier and her husband Kip. I'm also close friends with a young reporter-fellow named Frank Sweitz, who used to be married to Phila's cousin Bernadette (or "Bernie" as we all called her), but Bernie died in an explosion at a European hotel when she and Frank were staying there while Frank was on assignment. Frank's a great friend, but nothing more than that, though some people think we should be more that friends. I really don';t want that, at least not from him. There was someone who I loved, but I lost him. If I was ever to start over again, it would only be with someone like the man I lost.
Some of that must sound a little tearful, but writing and thinking about the love I once had is still rather painful. He's been gone several months now, but this kind of pain takes a while to fade.
But... I'm sure you could very well help me to forget this sorrow. Your letters help me through this darkness.
With love,
Cecie Martin
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VI Letter from Joe to Cecie
February 24, 2166
My dearest Cecie,
I can sense the sorrow you feel encompassing you like a dark blue cloak. If you so desire, let me be the one to comfort you and lift this cloak from your shoulders to clothe you in delight. I can help you to forget the pain of losing the loved one you mentioned with such sorrow, and help you to create new memories of a different love.
Yours in delight,
Joe
[Enclosed: a business card for Blue Diamond Escort Service, with Joe's pager number written on the back.]
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VII Transcript of an IM, Frank Sweitz to Cecie Martin, February 24, 2166
RougeCityCecie: He's so different.
HeroicReporter23: yeah. I imagine losing part of his memory took something out of him.
RougeCityCecie: I hope his new owner had a legitimate reason for wiping that part of his memory.
HeroicReporter23: still, it must really bite. You have to start off at first base all over again.
HeroicReporter23: I'm sorry. That sounded like a cheap shot.
HeroicReporter23: 1st base, I mean.
RougeCityCecie: It's all right, Frank, you mean well.
HeroicReporter23: so, are you gonna keep writing?
HeroicReporter23: to Joe, I mean.
RougeCityCecie: Of course I will. It's not going to be easy, but it isn't impossible.
HeroicReporter23: good. Good to hear that.
HeroicReporter23: it wouldn't seem like you if you didn't make that effort!
RougeCityCecie: Not at all!
HeroicReporter23: so are you...?
RougeCityCecie: Am I what?
HeroicReporter23: are you gonna set a date and time for an assignation with Joe?
RougeCityCecie: Not just yet. I don't want to seem too forward.
RougeCityCecie: That didn't sound right. I meant, I just want it to go the way it did before, let him get to know me all over again.
HeroicReporter23: wise choice.
RougeCityCecie: I better get off here and write my next letter to him.
HeroicReporter23: you do that.
RougeCityCecie: G'night, Frank.
HeroicReporter23: you take care, Cecie.
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VIII Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
February 29th, 2166
My beloved Joe,
This is just a quick note: I will be in Haddonfield on March 12, delivering some copy to the office of the Haddofield "Dispatch", the paper which my friend Frank Sweitz works for. It's nothing earth-shattering: just a human interest piece that I wrote about a CRF rally I'd been to over the weekend.
Hopefully I'll see you: I'll be on Fifth Street around 3 p.m. I've enclosed a photo of me so you'll know what I look like.
Hugs,
Cecie
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IX Extract from Cecie's journal, March 5, 2166
Joe's personality is utterly untouched by his amnesia. He's still as sweet and gracious and shyly friendly and innocently passionate as he ever was. I guess his personality parameters are on one chip, and his "profile cache" is on another.
I met him outside a place called the Shangri-La Hotel, one of those places that rents rooms by the hour: definately a hooker hotel. Herald Street is somewhat like a mini-version of the less tidy streets of Rouge City, and every bit as decadent, only it's just one street in an otherwise Norman Rockwellian town.
But I noticed a few things I'd rather not: the posters for a Flesh Fair tacked to a wall. A bunch of kids driving by throwing bottles and rocks at an old service droid sweeping the sidewalk.
And I don't doubt that whoever bought Joe isn't taking a sgood care of him as Mr. Flyte did. Not that I saw any signs of damage on Joe, but I had this funny feeling that something isn't quite right with him. His eyes are still as green as they ever were and his handsome face just as sweet and exquisite. But he has changed.
Or maybe... he hasn't changed, but I've changed. He was part of the catalyst that changed me, and now somehow he has been changed.
No matter who you are, Orga or Mecha, change is hard. If you're Mecha, you may not even be aware of it, but those who know you are: what once was is now no longer and cannot be brought back.
I'm tempted to contact Hal McGeever, Frank's wierd friend the Mecha-expert, and ask him if there's anything I need to know about Joe's amnesia, but I think I can get by. Hal wasn't the most adept at emotional know-how, though he could probably have given me a whole dissertation on the mechanical aspects. Frank's been writing to him now that the prison where he's being held has taken him out of isolation in a hibernaculum. It seems Hal got some kind of deferred sentance or something like that, since he knows some information about another Mecha-related case the SPCB had almost sent to the cold case file.
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X Letter from Cecie to Joe
March 10th, 2166
My dearest Joe,
This is the third time I started this latter since I wasn't sure to phrase this in a way that you would easily understand.
Joe, you probably don't remember any of this, but we knew each other before you came to Haddonfield. I don't know why, but the people who bought you from Mr. Flyte, the man here in Rouge City who used to own you, decided to wipe part of your memory. I first met you here not far from the Hotel Graceley, where I used to live. You walked me home and then I got delightfully startled when I found out you're Mecha, not because I was afraid, but simply because I never had much contact with Mechas like you. But in the weeks and months that followed, we got to know each other and we became good friends.
I hope this isn't too much for your brain to handle. I'll tell you more about our times together, in future letters, but only if you want to hear it.
Till the next time, my love,
Cecie
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XI Transcript of an IM chat log, Frank, Cecie and Hal McGeever ("HMaguire") March 15, 2166
HMaguire: So what exactly do you want to know?
RougeCityCecie: I want to know if it's for a Mecha that has had part of his memory wiped to remember anything that was in those files.
HeroicReporter23: she's referring to Joe. He got sold to some escort service in Haddonfield, NJ a couple months back.
HMaguire: Oh? What joint?
RougeCityCecie: That's none of your business, Hal
HMaguire: Hey, watch it there. I got my ways of finding out anyway.
HeroicReporter23: whoa, whoa, let's all simmer down. We can be cool: we're all friends here. Right?
RougeCityCecie: Right.
HeroicReporter23: so where were we?
RougeCityCecie: I was just asking Hal if a lover-Mecha could remember anything if his "profile logs" had been wiped.
HMaguire: Ain't possible if the whole cube has been wiped, but if just the profile logs were wiped
HMaguire: It might recall a few bits and pieces. You how even if a file is wiped from a hard drive, bits of the data can be left behind on the edges of the track it was recorded on. Same thing happens with Mechas.
HMaguire: Most of the time, those fragments can be read only with very sensitive scanners, but depending on the Mecha, they can almost piece it back together themselves.
HMaguire: Almost as if they scanned themselves.
RougeCityCecie: Do you think Joe could remember me this way?
HMaguire: Okay, I get the picture now: you think the people that bought him removed his profile logs?
RougeCityCecie: Yes.
HeroicReporter23: Isn't that illegal?
HMaguire: You bet it is, though the clause is a bit funny about sexual performance models. But other than that, it's like turning back the odometer on a used car.
RougeCityCecie: So is there anything I can do about it?
HMaguire: You can talk him up, see if anything tracks itself
RougeCityCecie: Should I tell him about any of the things that happened to us, him and I?
HMaguire: Wouldn't hurt to try, but don't expect miracles.
HeroicReporter23: didn't you write a letter to him like that, Cecie?
HeroicReporter23: to Joe I mean.
RougeCityCecie: Yes, I'm waiting to hear back from him.
HMaguire: I'd like to see the reply.
RougeCityCecie: Okay, I'll send you a copy.
RougeCityCecie: So I send it to the Juno address?
HMaguire: hmaguire-jr juno.com
RougeCityCecie: Okay, will do. Thanks, Hal. And thanks for sitting in on this chat, Frank.
HeroicReporter23: you're welcome, Cecie.
HeroicReporter23: btw
RougeCityCecie: Yes?
HeroicReporter23: would you mind if I ran a human interest story on you and Joe? I'll change names and identifying details.
HMaguire: Jimmy Thirties, ace reporter hard at work.
RougeCityCecie: Oh, go right ahead, Frank. I'd be glad if you did.
HMaguire: Gotta get off here. There's only one computer with 'Net access here at the halfway house and another guy wants to use it.
HMaguire: Did I mention it has WinDoze on it?
HeroicReporter23: uh oh! Unfit for use by computer hacks?
HMaguire: Well, self-respecting ones who have the luxury of their own space and their own machine.
HMaguire: Na-night, people
HMaguire has left the chat room
HeroicReporter23: I hope that helped you.
RougeCityCecie: I hope so too.
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XII Letter from Joe to Cecie
March 16th, 2166
My dearest Cecie,
From these most precious words you have shared with me in your most recent missive, it seems that you and I have known each other for some time. When met on the street in Haddonfield, the sight of your face struck a chord of familiarity within me, a chord echoed in the way you looked upon me. And you talk of having met me in Rouge City where we met once before, that glowing city of a thousand hearts all in need of consolation, yours among them.
Please speak to me of the past. Help me to recall more of it.
I kiss the paper your letter is written upon since your hand is not here to be kissed.
Tenderly, your,
Joe
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XIII Extract from Cecie's journal, March 19th, 2166
It's as if Joe were trying to remember our history together, as if he were trying to bend the limitations of his programming or his processors. I'm amazed at this, but if that's the case, I don't want him to push himself too hard and damage himself. I don't think I could live with myself if I knew he had hurt himself trying to remember what lies behind us.
Joey, I love you so much... be careful with yourself.
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XIV Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
March 21st, 2166
My dear Joe,
I've been going through my diary, finding entries about you. I've printed them all out and you'll find them in the package I've enclosed this letter in. I hope you enjoy reading them; I'm going to root around in my files and find some other items. This might take a while, but I will send them to you, as often as I can. I wish I could go there to Haddonfield to be with you, but I have a lot of work to do. Those summer travel brochures need their write-ups written. But... once I finish those, I'll take the train to Haddonfield and go there to be with you, even for only a little while.
Take care of yourself,
Cecie
[Enclosed: Several printouts of entries in Cecie's diary, their contents similar to "Conversations with a Mecha Named Joe".]
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XV Letter from Joe to Cecie
March 24th, 2166
My dearest Cecie, better known as Lady Bountiful,
You cannot know the gratitude I sense as I read the items you sent me. Part of my being cannot but help seeing these as accounts of things which happened to another couple, but another part of me can dimly recall these little incidents. I wondered how I came to have that black scarf shot through with golden threads, the first Christmas present which you gave to me. And I am deeply grateful that I was the first whom you ever kissed. I hope that no more rabble-rousers have sought to inflict mayhem in Rouge City and that you have been careful to use your umbrella since I am no longer there to kiss away the raindrops from your cheeks.
If there is more to be told, I count the days, the hours, the minutes and the seconds till when I receive the parcel containing these memories.
In anticipation, I remain your
Joe
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XVI Extract from Cecie's journal, March 26th, 2166
I've been so busy working, I've hardly been able to get back to Joe and send him more memories. I'll have to talk with Phila about the time she and Bernie came to Rouge City. That's gonna take some telling, since I'll have to fill in some of Bernie's narrative with fictionalized speculation.... But I just might have the beginning of a new novel here....
But that's gonna have to wait till I finish with these crazy winter travel guides: Visit the balmy Bermuda Spires!
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XVI Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
March 30th, 2166
My dearest Joe,
I'm sorry if this took a while to show up: I got frightfully busy with those travel brochures and also I had to do a little research with some friends about the next chapter of our -- yours and my -- shared history. You'll find it all written out in the bound marble-covered notebook in this package. It's all about two girls whom I grew up with and what happened to them when their car broke down on the highway near Rouge City. I might even try publishing these stories: I think they're some of my best original work yet.
Can I ask you a question? What does your owner think of your regular correspondence with me? I hope it's okay with him: I wouldn't want to make trouble for you, Joe.
I'll be thinking of you a lot as I write out the next part of our story...
With love,
Cecie
[Enclosed: another bound notebook, this one containing roughly the same story as "Runnin' Loose on the Streets of Rouge City".]
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XVII Letter from Joe to Cecie
April 3, 2166
My most inspired and inspiring Cecie,
During the rare moments when I do not have a customer, I fill this time by reading your missives to me. It sounds as though you and I spent our time together wisely and happily. Would that I could recall these incidents distinctly, yet shadows of these incidents rise in my recall as I read these tales. I hope that Phila and Bernie have since gotten over their horror over my kind and that the time which they spent in Rouge City helped to dispell their concerns and fears.
As for what my owner thinks of our corresponding, I doubt that Ms. Hattie Calvert knows of it. The girl who works for her, answering the telephone and writing letters sorts the mail even before Ms. Calvert sees it, thus she does not see the parcels which you send to me.
As for publishing these tales of our times together, I say that you should do so only if you think they should be shared with the world. But they are such wondrous and romantic tales that the whole world should read them and thus see that Orga and Mecha can indeed live side-by-side in peace and tranquility.
I await your next letter with eager patience
Your,
Joe
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XIX Letter from Cecie to Joe
April 1th, 2166
My most patient Joe,
Sorry this took so long to get out to you, but this was a much longer narrative to get down on paper. I think you'll really like this one: It's all about when Phila and Bernie got married to their respective sweethearts, Kip and Frank. It's a long story, but it's a lot of fun: lots of funny things happen in it. If I ever get these stories published, I'd really love to see someone make a movie based on this one!
Till the next time I write,
Cecie
[Enclosed: two notebooks containing the text of what approximates "One of THOSE in Our Midst!]
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XX Letter from Joe to Cecie
April 20, 2166
My dear Cecie, Authoress Extraordinaire,
There are not enough words in the English language to describe your work. For one thing, you have used up all of the best ones so that anyone who tried to use them would find them worn out from the delightful exertions of serving your narrative.
Please, do send me more of this account as soon as you complete it. Forgive my sounding too eager: the more you share with me, the more resonance I find within the depths of my memory
That you have suche feeling for me goes almost beyond my comprehending. I am, after all, but a mere Mecha, built specific for a given task, albeit one which brings delight to many troubled hearts.
I anticipate your next missive with joy.
Always, your,
Joe
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XXI Transcription of an IM, Frank to Cecie April 20, 2166
HeroicReporter23: You hear from Joe?
RougeCityCecie: Yeah... but he sounded different.
HeroicReporter23: another effect of the memory wipe?
RougeCityCecie: No... he sounded sad.
HeroicReporter23: oh dear. What do you mean?
RougeCityCecie: Well, he said ....
HeroicReporter23: sounds like someone put him down and he let it get to him. I didn't think things
HeroicReporter23: like him could do that.
RougeCityCecie: A lover-Mecha with low self-esteem? Not a good thing.
HeroicReporter23: Well, Haddonfield is, in some ways, a rougher place than Rouge City.
HeroicReporter23: for all it's worth, Mechas get treated better there than they do in this hick town.
RougeCityCecie: I can tell. I saw the signs when I was there.
HeroicReporter23: what? The Flesh Fair posters?
RougeCityCecie: Yeah... urrggh!
HeroicReporter23: yaagghh... I've seen what they do there.
RougeCityCecie: I've only seen a decidedly pro-Mecha documentary about it, on PBS.
RougeCityCecie: And that's as much as I care to see!
HeroicReporter23: I'd be terrified if you said otherwise.
HeroicReporter23: so how is it going, refreshing Joe's memory?
RougeCityCecie: He's responding beautifully.
RougeCityCecie: I can't say it's like nothing ever happened to his head, but he's lapping up my stories
RougeCityCecie: about him and I.
HeroicReporter23: glad to hear that! You gonna see him again?
RougeCityCecie: After I finish the last story, and after Easter, whichever comes first.
HeroicReporter23: help burn those memories back into his pretty head?
RougeCityCecie: Thats' one way to look at it!
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XXII Letter from Cecie to Joe
April 25, 2166
My dearest Joe, the Model of Patience,
I'm sorry this package took so long to send to you: I had more work to do, so that slowed me down, writing the next chapter of our story together. It's a little sad in places, and scary in a lot of places, but it's a good story.
I'll let the text speak for itself and send this off to you.
Kisses,
Cecie
[Enclosed: Two boudn notebooks containing an account similar to "The Shadows Between the Neon".]
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XXIII Letter from Blue Diamond Escort Service to Ms. Cecie Martin, 4/30/2166
Dear Ms. Martin
Enclosed is a package which you sent to our JO-4672. I know that you mean well, but we request that you refrain from sending any more mailings lke this to this unit. It appears to be distracting it from performing its function in serving the needs of our clientele.
Thank you for your time
Sincerely,
[signed]
Ms. Hattie Calvert
[Enclosed: Cecie's last package to Joe, unopened.]
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XXIV Excerpt from Cecie's Diary
May 4, 2166
Frank has agreed to carry a letter to Joe for me. I had the feeling that he wasn't exactly happy about it, but he's too polite to say this out loud, and I know he's the sort who tries to put other people's feelings ahead of his own, even when it costs him.
I have to see Joe soon...
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XXV Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
Dated May 7, 2166, hand-delivered to Joe by Frank Sweitz
My dearest Joe,
Your owners have forbidden me to write to you, so Frank has agreed to give this letter to you if or when he sees you.
I'll be in Haddonfield around the 10th of this month. I wish it could be sooner, but I've been in mourning. Mr. Flyte, your first owner, lost his fight with prostate cancer and died two weeks ago. Maybe his wasn't the most respectable business, but he was one of the kindest, most noble men I've ever met. I miss him terribly, and I hope and pray that, in spite of his faults, he is in a much better place now.
Sorry if I sound so weepy, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by all that's been going on lately. I wish you were here to dry my eyes and hold me close.
A kiss... a kiss... and again a kiss...
Cecie
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XXVI Receipt from the Shangri-La Hotel, Haddonfield, NJ
5/10/2166
Room rental: Room 102
Amount paid: 50 NB
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To be continued...
TITLE: "Cash on the Barrelhead" -- Part 2 of 3
AUTHOR: "Matrix Refugee"
RATING: PG-13 (subject matter, angst)
ARCHIVE: Permission granted
FEEDBACK: Pleasepleasepleaseplease!
DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own "A.I.", which belongs to DreamWorks, Steve, Stan, Warner Brothers, et al. If I had any right to the film, there would be a spin-off TV series of it now.
NOTES: More fragments, of an even more fragmentary nature: I hope I make it clear what's going on, but there's a lot of things that are only hinted at... Makes it a little more mysterious and helps heighten the emotional intensity, or at least it did for me.
SUMMARY: Cecie starts sending love letters to Joe, but she receives a shocking reply.
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I Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
February 19, 2166
Dear Joe,
Happy New Year! I know it's a little late to be wishing you this, but I didn't get a chance to untill now. I hope this reaches you safely and that you're having a good year so far. Is Haddonfield to your tastes? I think I passed through there on my way down to Rouge City the first time: Looks a lot like Westhillston, only with a red-light district.
I've been up to the eyes writing summer travel brochures and newsletters for the electric company. Frank is still trying to get me a job copy-editing for the Broadsheet.
Mr. Flyte has been trying to hook me up with Julien, but I had to disappoint them both by telling them I just wasn't interested. Not after I've known you for so long. Julien's just too jumpy for me: they must have set his DAS regulators much too high.
Without you around, the city has just been too dull: the neon lighting might as well be white lights and the music makes my heart as well as my head ache: Every time I go out, you aren't there, dancing to the city rhythm I thought I saw you in a crowd the other night, but when I got closer, I realized it was only an Orga man (not Frank either). I'm half of a mind to pull up stakes and cross the Delaware to be closer to you.
My eyes are tearing up, which only makes me want you all the more. I'd better stop torturing myself and send this off to you -- but then I'll be in torment waiting for your reply, though that will be a much sweeter sorrow.
We all miss you, even Phila. If Bernie were still alive, I bet she'd be missing you too.
Write soon...
Kisses,
Cecie
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II Letter from Joe to Cecie
February 21, 2166
My dear Cecie
An exquisite surprise came my way when I reported back to the house this morning and Ms. Van Thuang, the secretary told me, "There's a letter for you, Joe." I have many admirers in and about this locality, but no one of them has ever written me a letter with their own hand and mailed it to me.
Reading your sweet words, I sense tremendous loneliness and an aching longing within you. How I wish I could be there to ease this pain. Once we were together, you would quickly forget your sorrows. Though you clearly are surrounded by well-meaning friends, they cannot provide the kind of attentions which I could offer to you as a lover. Their concern for you is but a morsel, but I can provide for you a banquet of delight.
Tell me more about yourself in your next letter. I remain yours in love and anticipation,
Joe
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III Transcript of an IM, Frank Sweitz ("HeroicReporter23") to Cecie Martin ("RougeCityCecie") February 21, 2166
HeroicReporter23: any luck?
RougeCityCecie: I heard back from Joe.
HeroicReporter23: grin oh boy!!!
RougeCityCecie: Yeah. Oh boy.
HeroicReporter23: ??
HeroicReporter23: ????
HeroicReporter23: ???????
RougeCityCecie: He didn't know me
HeroicReporter23: ?!!?
RougeCityCecie: It's like he had some kind of brain wipe.
HeroicReporter23: !!!!!
RougeCityCecie: Type to me, Frank.
HeroicReporter23: sorry. He's so human I forget he's Mecha sometimes.
HeroicReporter23: what do you mean?
RougeCityCecie: He had no idea who I was. I mean, the letter was beautifully written, but in the last lines, he asked me to tell him more about myself.
HeroicReporter23: I'll have to ask around, see if anyone's heard about things like this happening before.
HeroicReporter23: but when you think about it, it's almost like turning back the odometer on a used car.
RougeCityCecie: That was my thought too.
HeroicReporter23: wonder why they did that...
HeroicReporter23: the only one who could tell us would be Hal, but he's kinda out of commission, though I heard there was some kind of plea bargain going through. I guess the SPCB was going to see that the slate got wiped clean
HeroicReporter23: since he knows something they need to know.
RougeCityCecie: Errrr..... not the first person I'd want to ask.
HeroicReporter23: don't blame you, but he sure knows a lot about how those Mechas work!
RougeCityCecie: True. I'll see if Vautrin knows anything about this. Should get offline anyway. G'night
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IV Extract from Cecie's journal, February 22, 2166
I spoke with Dr. Quivar about how to handle the change in my relationship with Joe. She's not sure how exactly to handle the situation, since she has only a rudimentary knowledge of the inner workings of the Mecha mind. But she figured the best way to handle this is to treat it like a case of ordinary amnesia and help him relearn what he once knew about me.
Vautrin tells me this brain wipe is a bit unorthodox, but he's heard of some unscrupulous people who buy used lover-Mechas wiping the "profile database", i.e., the names and identifying items of the Mecha's previous clients. It's not really illegal, but it's not a nice thing to do, either.
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V Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
February 22, 2166
My dear Joe,
I'm sorry if I didn't introduce myself properly in my first letter to you. My name is Cecilia Martin, but I prefer to be called Cecie. I'm a writer living in Rouge City, but I was born in Massachusetts and I moved here about six years ago after I visited this crazy town and I got a lot of ideas for the kind of stories that I write.
I'm currently living with my long-time friend Phila Langier and her husband Kip. I'm also close friends with a young reporter-fellow named Frank Sweitz, who used to be married to Phila's cousin Bernadette (or "Bernie" as we all called her), but Bernie died in an explosion at a European hotel when she and Frank were staying there while Frank was on assignment. Frank's a great friend, but nothing more than that, though some people think we should be more that friends. I really don';t want that, at least not from him. There was someone who I loved, but I lost him. If I was ever to start over again, it would only be with someone like the man I lost.
Some of that must sound a little tearful, but writing and thinking about the love I once had is still rather painful. He's been gone several months now, but this kind of pain takes a while to fade.
But... I'm sure you could very well help me to forget this sorrow. Your letters help me through this darkness.
With love,
Cecie Martin
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VI Letter from Joe to Cecie
February 24, 2166
My dearest Cecie,
I can sense the sorrow you feel encompassing you like a dark blue cloak. If you so desire, let me be the one to comfort you and lift this cloak from your shoulders to clothe you in delight. I can help you to forget the pain of losing the loved one you mentioned with such sorrow, and help you to create new memories of a different love.
Yours in delight,
Joe
[Enclosed: a business card for Blue Diamond Escort Service, with Joe's pager number written on the back.]
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VII Transcript of an IM, Frank Sweitz to Cecie Martin, February 24, 2166
RougeCityCecie: He's so different.
HeroicReporter23: yeah. I imagine losing part of his memory took something out of him.
RougeCityCecie: I hope his new owner had a legitimate reason for wiping that part of his memory.
HeroicReporter23: still, it must really bite. You have to start off at first base all over again.
HeroicReporter23: I'm sorry. That sounded like a cheap shot.
HeroicReporter23: 1st base, I mean.
RougeCityCecie: It's all right, Frank, you mean well.
HeroicReporter23: so, are you gonna keep writing?
HeroicReporter23: to Joe, I mean.
RougeCityCecie: Of course I will. It's not going to be easy, but it isn't impossible.
HeroicReporter23: good. Good to hear that.
HeroicReporter23: it wouldn't seem like you if you didn't make that effort!
RougeCityCecie: Not at all!
HeroicReporter23: so are you...?
RougeCityCecie: Am I what?
HeroicReporter23: are you gonna set a date and time for an assignation with Joe?
RougeCityCecie: Not just yet. I don't want to seem too forward.
RougeCityCecie: That didn't sound right. I meant, I just want it to go the way it did before, let him get to know me all over again.
HeroicReporter23: wise choice.
RougeCityCecie: I better get off here and write my next letter to him.
HeroicReporter23: you do that.
RougeCityCecie: G'night, Frank.
HeroicReporter23: you take care, Cecie.
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VIII Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
February 29th, 2166
My beloved Joe,
This is just a quick note: I will be in Haddonfield on March 12, delivering some copy to the office of the Haddofield "Dispatch", the paper which my friend Frank Sweitz works for. It's nothing earth-shattering: just a human interest piece that I wrote about a CRF rally I'd been to over the weekend.
Hopefully I'll see you: I'll be on Fifth Street around 3 p.m. I've enclosed a photo of me so you'll know what I look like.
Hugs,
Cecie
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IX Extract from Cecie's journal, March 5, 2166
Joe's personality is utterly untouched by his amnesia. He's still as sweet and gracious and shyly friendly and innocently passionate as he ever was. I guess his personality parameters are on one chip, and his "profile cache" is on another.
I met him outside a place called the Shangri-La Hotel, one of those places that rents rooms by the hour: definately a hooker hotel. Herald Street is somewhat like a mini-version of the less tidy streets of Rouge City, and every bit as decadent, only it's just one street in an otherwise Norman Rockwellian town.
But I noticed a few things I'd rather not: the posters for a Flesh Fair tacked to a wall. A bunch of kids driving by throwing bottles and rocks at an old service droid sweeping the sidewalk.
And I don't doubt that whoever bought Joe isn't taking a sgood care of him as Mr. Flyte did. Not that I saw any signs of damage on Joe, but I had this funny feeling that something isn't quite right with him. His eyes are still as green as they ever were and his handsome face just as sweet and exquisite. But he has changed.
Or maybe... he hasn't changed, but I've changed. He was part of the catalyst that changed me, and now somehow he has been changed.
No matter who you are, Orga or Mecha, change is hard. If you're Mecha, you may not even be aware of it, but those who know you are: what once was is now no longer and cannot be brought back.
I'm tempted to contact Hal McGeever, Frank's wierd friend the Mecha-expert, and ask him if there's anything I need to know about Joe's amnesia, but I think I can get by. Hal wasn't the most adept at emotional know-how, though he could probably have given me a whole dissertation on the mechanical aspects. Frank's been writing to him now that the prison where he's being held has taken him out of isolation in a hibernaculum. It seems Hal got some kind of deferred sentance or something like that, since he knows some information about another Mecha-related case the SPCB had almost sent to the cold case file.
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X Letter from Cecie to Joe
March 10th, 2166
My dearest Joe,
This is the third time I started this latter since I wasn't sure to phrase this in a way that you would easily understand.
Joe, you probably don't remember any of this, but we knew each other before you came to Haddonfield. I don't know why, but the people who bought you from Mr. Flyte, the man here in Rouge City who used to own you, decided to wipe part of your memory. I first met you here not far from the Hotel Graceley, where I used to live. You walked me home and then I got delightfully startled when I found out you're Mecha, not because I was afraid, but simply because I never had much contact with Mechas like you. But in the weeks and months that followed, we got to know each other and we became good friends.
I hope this isn't too much for your brain to handle. I'll tell you more about our times together, in future letters, but only if you want to hear it.
Till the next time, my love,
Cecie
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XI Transcript of an IM chat log, Frank, Cecie and Hal McGeever ("HMaguire") March 15, 2166
HMaguire: So what exactly do you want to know?
RougeCityCecie: I want to know if it's for a Mecha that has had part of his memory wiped to remember anything that was in those files.
HeroicReporter23: she's referring to Joe. He got sold to some escort service in Haddonfield, NJ a couple months back.
HMaguire: Oh? What joint?
RougeCityCecie: That's none of your business, Hal
HMaguire: Hey, watch it there. I got my ways of finding out anyway.
HeroicReporter23: whoa, whoa, let's all simmer down. We can be cool: we're all friends here. Right?
RougeCityCecie: Right.
HeroicReporter23: so where were we?
RougeCityCecie: I was just asking Hal if a lover-Mecha could remember anything if his "profile logs" had been wiped.
HMaguire: Ain't possible if the whole cube has been wiped, but if just the profile logs were wiped
HMaguire: It might recall a few bits and pieces. You how even if a file is wiped from a hard drive, bits of the data can be left behind on the edges of the track it was recorded on. Same thing happens with Mechas.
HMaguire: Most of the time, those fragments can be read only with very sensitive scanners, but depending on the Mecha, they can almost piece it back together themselves.
HMaguire: Almost as if they scanned themselves.
RougeCityCecie: Do you think Joe could remember me this way?
HMaguire: Okay, I get the picture now: you think the people that bought him removed his profile logs?
RougeCityCecie: Yes.
HeroicReporter23: Isn't that illegal?
HMaguire: You bet it is, though the clause is a bit funny about sexual performance models. But other than that, it's like turning back the odometer on a used car.
RougeCityCecie: So is there anything I can do about it?
HMaguire: You can talk him up, see if anything tracks itself
RougeCityCecie: Should I tell him about any of the things that happened to us, him and I?
HMaguire: Wouldn't hurt to try, but don't expect miracles.
HeroicReporter23: didn't you write a letter to him like that, Cecie?
HeroicReporter23: to Joe I mean.
RougeCityCecie: Yes, I'm waiting to hear back from him.
HMaguire: I'd like to see the reply.
RougeCityCecie: Okay, I'll send you a copy.
RougeCityCecie: So I send it to the Juno address?
HMaguire: hmaguire-jr juno.com
RougeCityCecie: Okay, will do. Thanks, Hal. And thanks for sitting in on this chat, Frank.
HeroicReporter23: you're welcome, Cecie.
HeroicReporter23: btw
RougeCityCecie: Yes?
HeroicReporter23: would you mind if I ran a human interest story on you and Joe? I'll change names and identifying details.
HMaguire: Jimmy Thirties, ace reporter hard at work.
RougeCityCecie: Oh, go right ahead, Frank. I'd be glad if you did.
HMaguire: Gotta get off here. There's only one computer with 'Net access here at the halfway house and another guy wants to use it.
HMaguire: Did I mention it has WinDoze on it?
HeroicReporter23: uh oh! Unfit for use by computer hacks?
HMaguire: Well, self-respecting ones who have the luxury of their own space and their own machine.
HMaguire: Na-night, people
HMaguire has left the chat room
HeroicReporter23: I hope that helped you.
RougeCityCecie: I hope so too.
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XII Letter from Joe to Cecie
March 16th, 2166
My dearest Cecie,
From these most precious words you have shared with me in your most recent missive, it seems that you and I have known each other for some time. When met on the street in Haddonfield, the sight of your face struck a chord of familiarity within me, a chord echoed in the way you looked upon me. And you talk of having met me in Rouge City where we met once before, that glowing city of a thousand hearts all in need of consolation, yours among them.
Please speak to me of the past. Help me to recall more of it.
I kiss the paper your letter is written upon since your hand is not here to be kissed.
Tenderly, your,
Joe
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XIII Extract from Cecie's journal, March 19th, 2166
It's as if Joe were trying to remember our history together, as if he were trying to bend the limitations of his programming or his processors. I'm amazed at this, but if that's the case, I don't want him to push himself too hard and damage himself. I don't think I could live with myself if I knew he had hurt himself trying to remember what lies behind us.
Joey, I love you so much... be careful with yourself.
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XIV Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
March 21st, 2166
My dear Joe,
I've been going through my diary, finding entries about you. I've printed them all out and you'll find them in the package I've enclosed this letter in. I hope you enjoy reading them; I'm going to root around in my files and find some other items. This might take a while, but I will send them to you, as often as I can. I wish I could go there to Haddonfield to be with you, but I have a lot of work to do. Those summer travel brochures need their write-ups written. But... once I finish those, I'll take the train to Haddonfield and go there to be with you, even for only a little while.
Take care of yourself,
Cecie
[Enclosed: Several printouts of entries in Cecie's diary, their contents similar to "Conversations with a Mecha Named Joe".]
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XV Letter from Joe to Cecie
March 24th, 2166
My dearest Cecie, better known as Lady Bountiful,
You cannot know the gratitude I sense as I read the items you sent me. Part of my being cannot but help seeing these as accounts of things which happened to another couple, but another part of me can dimly recall these little incidents. I wondered how I came to have that black scarf shot through with golden threads, the first Christmas present which you gave to me. And I am deeply grateful that I was the first whom you ever kissed. I hope that no more rabble-rousers have sought to inflict mayhem in Rouge City and that you have been careful to use your umbrella since I am no longer there to kiss away the raindrops from your cheeks.
If there is more to be told, I count the days, the hours, the minutes and the seconds till when I receive the parcel containing these memories.
In anticipation, I remain your
Joe
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XVI Extract from Cecie's journal, March 26th, 2166
I've been so busy working, I've hardly been able to get back to Joe and send him more memories. I'll have to talk with Phila about the time she and Bernie came to Rouge City. That's gonna take some telling, since I'll have to fill in some of Bernie's narrative with fictionalized speculation.... But I just might have the beginning of a new novel here....
But that's gonna have to wait till I finish with these crazy winter travel guides: Visit the balmy Bermuda Spires!
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XVI Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
March 30th, 2166
My dearest Joe,
I'm sorry if this took a while to show up: I got frightfully busy with those travel brochures and also I had to do a little research with some friends about the next chapter of our -- yours and my -- shared history. You'll find it all written out in the bound marble-covered notebook in this package. It's all about two girls whom I grew up with and what happened to them when their car broke down on the highway near Rouge City. I might even try publishing these stories: I think they're some of my best original work yet.
Can I ask you a question? What does your owner think of your regular correspondence with me? I hope it's okay with him: I wouldn't want to make trouble for you, Joe.
I'll be thinking of you a lot as I write out the next part of our story...
With love,
Cecie
[Enclosed: another bound notebook, this one containing roughly the same story as "Runnin' Loose on the Streets of Rouge City".]
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XVII Letter from Joe to Cecie
April 3, 2166
My most inspired and inspiring Cecie,
During the rare moments when I do not have a customer, I fill this time by reading your missives to me. It sounds as though you and I spent our time together wisely and happily. Would that I could recall these incidents distinctly, yet shadows of these incidents rise in my recall as I read these tales. I hope that Phila and Bernie have since gotten over their horror over my kind and that the time which they spent in Rouge City helped to dispell their concerns and fears.
As for what my owner thinks of our corresponding, I doubt that Ms. Hattie Calvert knows of it. The girl who works for her, answering the telephone and writing letters sorts the mail even before Ms. Calvert sees it, thus she does not see the parcels which you send to me.
As for publishing these tales of our times together, I say that you should do so only if you think they should be shared with the world. But they are such wondrous and romantic tales that the whole world should read them and thus see that Orga and Mecha can indeed live side-by-side in peace and tranquility.
I await your next letter with eager patience
Your,
Joe
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XIX Letter from Cecie to Joe
April 1th, 2166
My most patient Joe,
Sorry this took so long to get out to you, but this was a much longer narrative to get down on paper. I think you'll really like this one: It's all about when Phila and Bernie got married to their respective sweethearts, Kip and Frank. It's a long story, but it's a lot of fun: lots of funny things happen in it. If I ever get these stories published, I'd really love to see someone make a movie based on this one!
Till the next time I write,
Cecie
[Enclosed: two notebooks containing the text of what approximates "One of THOSE in Our Midst!]
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XX Letter from Joe to Cecie
April 20, 2166
My dear Cecie, Authoress Extraordinaire,
There are not enough words in the English language to describe your work. For one thing, you have used up all of the best ones so that anyone who tried to use them would find them worn out from the delightful exertions of serving your narrative.
Please, do send me more of this account as soon as you complete it. Forgive my sounding too eager: the more you share with me, the more resonance I find within the depths of my memory
That you have suche feeling for me goes almost beyond my comprehending. I am, after all, but a mere Mecha, built specific for a given task, albeit one which brings delight to many troubled hearts.
I anticipate your next missive with joy.
Always, your,
Joe
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XXI Transcription of an IM, Frank to Cecie April 20, 2166
HeroicReporter23: You hear from Joe?
RougeCityCecie: Yeah... but he sounded different.
HeroicReporter23: another effect of the memory wipe?
RougeCityCecie: No... he sounded sad.
HeroicReporter23: oh dear. What do you mean?
RougeCityCecie: Well, he said ....
HeroicReporter23: sounds like someone put him down and he let it get to him. I didn't think things
HeroicReporter23: like him could do that.
RougeCityCecie: A lover-Mecha with low self-esteem? Not a good thing.
HeroicReporter23: Well, Haddonfield is, in some ways, a rougher place than Rouge City.
HeroicReporter23: for all it's worth, Mechas get treated better there than they do in this hick town.
RougeCityCecie: I can tell. I saw the signs when I was there.
HeroicReporter23: what? The Flesh Fair posters?
RougeCityCecie: Yeah... urrggh!
HeroicReporter23: yaagghh... I've seen what they do there.
RougeCityCecie: I've only seen a decidedly pro-Mecha documentary about it, on PBS.
RougeCityCecie: And that's as much as I care to see!
HeroicReporter23: I'd be terrified if you said otherwise.
HeroicReporter23: so how is it going, refreshing Joe's memory?
RougeCityCecie: He's responding beautifully.
RougeCityCecie: I can't say it's like nothing ever happened to his head, but he's lapping up my stories
RougeCityCecie: about him and I.
HeroicReporter23: glad to hear that! You gonna see him again?
RougeCityCecie: After I finish the last story, and after Easter, whichever comes first.
HeroicReporter23: help burn those memories back into his pretty head?
RougeCityCecie: Thats' one way to look at it!
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XXII Letter from Cecie to Joe
April 25, 2166
My dearest Joe, the Model of Patience,
I'm sorry this package took so long to send to you: I had more work to do, so that slowed me down, writing the next chapter of our story together. It's a little sad in places, and scary in a lot of places, but it's a good story.
I'll let the text speak for itself and send this off to you.
Kisses,
Cecie
[Enclosed: Two boudn notebooks containing an account similar to "The Shadows Between the Neon".]
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XXIII Letter from Blue Diamond Escort Service to Ms. Cecie Martin, 4/30/2166
Dear Ms. Martin
Enclosed is a package which you sent to our JO-4672. I know that you mean well, but we request that you refrain from sending any more mailings lke this to this unit. It appears to be distracting it from performing its function in serving the needs of our clientele.
Thank you for your time
Sincerely,
[signed]
Ms. Hattie Calvert
[Enclosed: Cecie's last package to Joe, unopened.]
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XXIV Excerpt from Cecie's Diary
May 4, 2166
Frank has agreed to carry a letter to Joe for me. I had the feeling that he wasn't exactly happy about it, but he's too polite to say this out loud, and I know he's the sort who tries to put other people's feelings ahead of his own, even when it costs him.
I have to see Joe soon...
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XXV Letter from Cecie Martin to Joe
Dated May 7, 2166, hand-delivered to Joe by Frank Sweitz
My dearest Joe,
Your owners have forbidden me to write to you, so Frank has agreed to give this letter to you if or when he sees you.
I'll be in Haddonfield around the 10th of this month. I wish it could be sooner, but I've been in mourning. Mr. Flyte, your first owner, lost his fight with prostate cancer and died two weeks ago. Maybe his wasn't the most respectable business, but he was one of the kindest, most noble men I've ever met. I miss him terribly, and I hope and pray that, in spite of his faults, he is in a much better place now.
Sorry if I sound so weepy, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by all that's been going on lately. I wish you were here to dry my eyes and hold me close.
A kiss... a kiss... and again a kiss...
Cecie
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XXVI Receipt from the Shangri-La Hotel, Haddonfield, NJ
5/10/2166
Room rental: Room 102
Amount paid: 50 NB
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To be continued...