Shorts

            Eliot opened the door to find a young woman standing before him. Dressed in a simple dark blue dress, she patiently looked up at him, the tips of her strawberry blonde hair blowing in the breeze near the small of her back. She looked up at him with her large, saucer eyes, a cautious smile on her pale pink lips. “Eliot Davenport?” She asked.

            “Yeah.” He said, stepping out of his door. He glanced around at the landing of his third-floor apartment, taking in the late morning scene, seeing if the neighbors were about.

            “I’m your court-ordered artificial human.” The young woman said, smiling politely. She held out her arm with some awkwardness, revealing the barcode on her slender forearm.

            He looked down at her barcode for a moment, then slowly nodded. He stepped back into his apartment, motioning inside. “Come on in.” He said in a dazed tone.

            The woman stepped inside to the sparse, but clean white apartment. In the small living room just inside the door, she stood before the hallway that led back to several closed doors, while the kitchen branched off from the hallway and came back around to the other side of the living room. “Have a seat.” Eliot said, moving over to the ottoman. Dressed in a dark blue sweat shirt and blue jeans, he sat down with a heavy sigh, scratching his two-day old beard. He looked up at the girl and breathed out.

            She sat down on the couch, politely rubbing her skirt in as she sat down. Placing her hands in her lap, she looked up at the man, her eyes still wide. “What shall I call you?” She asked after a moment.

            Eliot looked up at her, blinking. “What?”

            “What would you like me to call you?” She repeated. “Master? Sire? Mr. Davenport? Dad?”

            “No.” Eliot laughed. “Not that. It’s nothing like that.”

            “Like what?” she asked.

            “You’re not here for anything like that.” He clarified. He rubbed his eye for a second, then sighed. “I guess master will do. I, I guess that one’s why you’re here.”

            A quiet moment passed inside the still apartment. The warm heat from the growing morning sprinkled in like the dust caught in the sheets of light that spilled in through the blinds over the windows.

            “What would you like me to do?” She asked after a moment.

            The man looked up at her, his face half-hidden by his hand as he rubbed his mouth. “I don’t know.” He sighed. He leaned back against his television, looking at the girl. “I mean, this is really weird, in my opinion.” He moved again, leaning forward to come closer to her. She didn’t move in response. “Do you know why you’re here? I mean, do you have any memories or anything? Any knowledge?”

            “Not exactly.” The girl said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. “I have dispositions and responses and that sort of thing. But I don’t have any factual knowledge of what led to my creation.”

            Eliot leaned back, his shoulders slumping. “This is just really odd to me. You were created for, to do something that I don’t want. But I do want. I want a lot, I guess.”

            The girl’s head tilted to the side, looking at him. “What do you do, master?”

            He looked up at her, his cheeks blushing a bit, but he showed no other emotion. “I work for the police.” He said, his husky voice weighing heavily in the morning heat. “I’m a weapons specialist. I upgrade weapons and train officers and even build specialty weapons.”

            “And that’s why I was commissioned?” She asked.

            “No, well, yes.” Eliot said. “You see, ever since high school, when you have to take a psyche evaluation, I was determined to have a thirty percent predisposition towards deviance. Not anything too bad, not criminal deviance or anything, but just general against-the-flow type of stuff. Not a big deal, because it was mostly sexual. But last month, I had my regular psyche evaluation for the police department and they determined that my deviance was flaring up and that was a problem for the department.”

            “And so you had me made?” She asked.

            “Not exactly. That was a court decision.” He said. “Any type of a person with a notable disposition towards deviance is cited, their case is taken to the local courts and it’s addressed. The court decided that my deviance wasn’t any type of immediate threat to anyone, but it needed to be dealt with. So they ordered me to accept an artificial human and deal with it. Ordered me on three weeks paid leave, which is driving me nuts except I get to sleep in. But you were ordered for me, that day, by the court.” He smiled. “You’re actually a day late. Friday was a bank holiday, so I imagine that was the hang up.”

            The girl smiled as well. “So what do you want to do?” She asked, her light voice floating like a bird’s song in the quiet apartment.

            “I don’t know.” He said, sighing again. “I mean, I’ve been thinking about this since the court case on Tuesday and I still, still don’t know.” His voice trailed off as he looked away.

            An awkward silence passed as the two sat quietly in his living room.

            “May I be permitted to ask a question?” She asked.

            He looked up at her. “Yeah, sure.”

            Her large eyes dimmed a bit. “Are you going to hurt me?” She asked.

            Eliot looked down, breathing in deep as he considered the question. “Probably.” He finally said.

            The girl nodded. She breathed deep as well, then looked up at him. “May I ask how?”

            “I have no idea.” He said with a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t plan on hurting you. I don’t want to hurt you, but . . .”

            “But you’re not going to hit me or whip me or anything.” She asked meekly, a ray of hope in her words.

            “No.” He said with a half laugh. “It’s nothing like that. This is just kind of, I don’t know, general deviance. Not anything criminal or anything. It’s not anything you wouldn’t find at a porn store. It’s just probably the kind of stuff you find more towards the back.”

            “So it’s just,” The girl said, having a hard time finding the words. “Just little things?”

            “Pretty much.” Eliot smiled. “I’m not interested, at all, in anything truly gross or graphic. It’s not like your health or your life is going to be in any type of danger or anything.”

            “But you don’t want to do any of this?” The girl asked, looking across at him.

            “No.” He admitted, not looking at her. “I, this kind of stuff, I don’t really dig. I mean, I guess it’s really a matter of, I’m kind of repulsed by what I find hot. I don’t want to do what turns me on.” He said, looking at her.

            “Are you ashamed of it?” She asked, returning his quizzical gaze.

            “I don’t know if it’s ashamed, but . . .” His voice trailed. “It’s something I have to take care of, because I obviously like it. I do. But I don’t like liking it. And, and it’s just not anything that I . . .” Again, his voice trailed off. He looked away from her, sighing out some of his tension. The girl sitting across from him smiled a bit, then sat forward.

Slowly, with a cat’s quietness, the girl slid forward off the couch, moving down to the floor. On her knees, she moved her head over the man’s knee, looking up at him. “I was created for you to do this.” She said with a soft, fearful smile as he looked down at her. “Your profile was undoubtedly taken into account when I was made.” She went on as she rubbed her soft cheek against his leg, her eyes never coming off of his. “Who knows?” She said as he looked down at her face in his lap. “Maybe they prepared me for everything you had in mind?” She looked up at him with her docile, but mischievous eyes, her face placid and willing. “I might like it.”