His Robot Girlfriend Read Online Free Page B

right
side.”
    Mike smiled as he flipped to channel
twenty-seven. He watched the last forty minutes of the science
fiction classic. Then he watched part of Seaquest DSV, which wasn’t
so much of a classic. Mercifully, he fell asleep in his chair
somewhere near the middle. He often fell asleep in the afternoon in
his recliner to wake up to a dark and lonely room. This time when
he woke up, both lamps were on. Patience passed by, walking through
the room from the kitchen, continuing through the living room and
on to the foyer. As she did so, she switched the vueTee to the
evening news.
    “ 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.”
    “