Marvelous Meat Machine
My prompt for today yields this very short story in just over eight minutes and nearly 300 words.
Janie’s Project
“Soon, I shall be reborn,” she said.
I sighed. She was so beautiful, but hers was a severe beauty, like that of classical sculpture brought to life and full color without losing the granite. She was also smart, so much smarter than I’d ever be.
“Are you really sure, Janie? There’s no going back if you’re wrong.”
“I’m sure. I’ll lock the door once I’m inside. There’s no going back now.”
For years she’d worked in the cellars of our home, remodeling, installing, arranging the assembly lines, the generators, the robotic arms and computers, so many things that I understood in broad strokes only because she’d explained them to me. She dutifully kissed my cheek and shut the door. I heard the hiss of the locks.
I knew what people said. I was a cradle robber. A dirty old man. That she was a gold digger. That she was using me. Et cetera. I didn’t care. I loved her. I certainly loved her more than she’d ever love me, which is why I agreed to this project of hers.
A could feel the machinery thrumming through the floor. It wasn’t audible, but it was running. She was on that conveyor belt by now. The various apparatus were doing their work, cutting, removing, replacing. I retreated to the library, poured myself a vodka on the rocks, sat by the small fire. It wasn’t cold, but I was chilled. What she was doing…. Wasn’t it monstrous?
I must have dozed off. I didn’t hear her until her new feet were close enough that their clacking on the hardwood floor woke me from fitful dreams. I looked up. I couldn’t speak.
“Am I not beautiful?” her voice said through the electronics. “Am I not perfectly free from the marvelous meat machine that was my human body?”
