How to Date an Android

How to Date an Android Chapter 15 (revised!)

"Maybe so." I wasn't going to argue with him that he looked like he needed it more.

"Do you want me to sew up that hole in your skin?" I asked.

"Uh......no. My owner wants me to finish the other orders. Quickly. I'll be in trouble if I don't," he frowned.

"If you need me to sew that up later you can come by. But don't bring any trouble with you," I said.

"Good. You seem...kind. For a human," he said in his monotone.

"Thank you. Let's keep going over the order."

"Wax candles, a box full of rolls of duct tape, several coils of rope, as many 5 gallon buckets as I could get, matches of which there are enough for several arson activities...just kidding," he said slowly. He laughed mechanically.

"Are you making a joke?" I asked in shock. He was kind of funny. No one would expect a robot this old and obviously sounding like a robot to make a joke.

"HaHA HAAA," his voice modulator sounded sick or like he'd copied his laugh from a chicken calling out in the morning. Then his mouth snapped shut.

"40 tomato seed packets, 40 lettuce seed packets, 40 bean seed packets, 40 pea seed packets, 40 carrot seed packets, 40 swiss chard seed packets, 40 he kept going on and on..." It was an extensive list.

He kept reading for quite a while. I'm lucky that seed packets are the cheapest things on the market because of people's gardening hobbies. He of course thinks I'm trying to be a farmer and I can't tell him that the end of the world looks like it might just happen ...tomorrow?

"So does your owner treat you well?" I asked him near the end.

"My owner performs routine maintenance as per regulations once a month," he said.

Was that evading the question?

He was obviously not even being treated as an android but more like a lawn mower to farm money I think. But still I was grateful. I paid him the amount with a good tip and watched him walk back to his truck. It was a small economy size truck mag model with a wind hatch over the back. I'd worked on them all the time.

He waved to me politely before getting in his work truck. I hit the electronic security door and watched him pull out. I closed the gate quickly since its night and keeping the lights out.

I wanted to get to bed soon.

But why hadn't Barbara called me back yet? I couldn't go back inside and just veg out on movies while waiting for some kind of sign from her.

And I was waiting for her to call because we weren't sure yet if the stolen androids was a total loss or if they'd recover them. In theory, if they caught the guys that did it then it would be returned.

So far there was no sign of trouble as I watched the oldest of the old androids driving away. He was a pretty efficient driver too. He'd made me really tense when he'd come through with the dried blood on his overalls. It had even made me afraid he was a killer or malfunctioning. But unexpectedly he's nice. And funny.

I closed my eletronic fence gate behind him as he left. I'm lucky that my property has one of those old school tall heavy iron fences. Then I watched him pull out while I walked back to the house.

I lived on a street with a good view in both directions and was surprised by what happened after he'd pulled out and gone down the street. Just as he was about to go into the intersection with a green light about two or three hundred feet away he was hit by another car. I still have good eyes because I'm young so it's not hard for me to tell something bad really happened even though they are far enough away to seem like ants.