The LexiMarie Ten is the Ultimate in Human Comfort and Pleasure.
Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back!
Glen read the placard. He then eyed the mechanical doll. When he was a kid, you blew them up, and you could buy them only in shops in the bad section of town. But here “she” was, a perfect replica of a woman, skin pearly and warm to the touch, just standing there in Central Mall where anyone, even children, could see her.
For shame!
He tried to look away, but his curiosity drew him back. The sheer black negligee didn’t hide a thing. Real hair — everywhere — and accurate to the smallest detail. According to Popular Mechanics, she couldn’t walk too well, but lying down, you couldn’t tell the difference, and she had two vacuum pumps as well as… He shifted uneasily, his temperature among other things rising. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
What if Laura should spot him ogling it like some teenaged Lothario? He blushed and then turned around, just in case she should magically appear from thin air. And there she was: salt and pepper hair already deflated by the summer humidity outside, splotchy skin, no matter what allergy-free make-up she tried, and a shape now closer to a beach ball than the glorious hourglass of their courtship days.
And what was that she was looking at? Not the LexiMark Eleven! His hand brushed over his balding pate as he became acutely aware of his burgeoning gut. He stepped in double time over to his wife of the past twenty-eight years.
“Laura, come away from that thing!”
“Oh, Glen. Can you imagine?” Her eyes disappeared in crinkles as she grinned up at him.
“Imagine? Imagine what?” He looked around, hoping no one they knew was nearby. “You couldn’t be interested in — in that,” he whispered in her ear.
She put her hand on his arm. “I need to get the company address and write to them.”
“Laura?” He felt sucker-punched as she began to root about in her bag.
“I really must let them know.” She handed him the bag to hold for her as she dove deeper into its murky depths.
“Know what?” His face turned red as his voice slid up an unmanly octave.
She got out a pen and pad of paper from her purse, and scribbled the address. “He’s not at all attractive. I’ll send them that picture I took last week of you at the beach.” She nodded with a smile. “Then they’ll have it right.”
Glen felt thirty years melt from him. His shoulders straightened and his gut tightened. Blinking back tears, he linked his arm through hers. “Come on, Honey, let me buy you a hot fudge sundae. Whipped cream, sprinkles, a cherry — the works.”
April Grey has been published in Amalgamae Magazine, Walking Bones magazine and Brilliant! (an anthology). She has short stories coming up in two more anthologies, Northern Haunts and Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry.
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16 Responses to “OBJECTS OF DESIRE • by April Grey”
Comments
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February 14th, 2009 at 12:15 am
I found the ending a bit disappointing (but then maybe that’s just according to my tastes), although on the whole well worth a 5.
Er, where can one purchase the LexiMarie 10?
February 14th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Unexpectedly heartwarming!
Axxx
February 14th, 2009 at 5:03 am
I’ll just have the hot fudge sundae
Sweet.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:52 am
What a wonderful and heartwarming story! I gave you a five.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Heh heh! What a cute story! Seems like something that could occur in a longtime marriage, the man staring at the female robot and than getting jealous when he suspects his wife of the same thing. And the ending with the hot fudge sundae was adorable!
February 14th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I liked that–what Val’s day is all about.
–dj
February 14th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Awww . . . nice and sweet. I thought the tears were a bit overdone, but I’m willing to overlook that little indiscretion! A big fat Valentine’s Day 5 for this!
February 14th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Wonderful – very sweet and heartwarming.
February 14th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Awwwwww. I like this. So sweet. Thanks
February 14th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Oh excellent! I was so sure that I knew the ending… Till the last section. And I even said “ahhh”. And that doesn’t happen often to cynical old me!
February 14th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Nice story…with a surprisingly positive conclusion. My stories usually end with the main characters screaming as they die. But eating ice cream works too.
February 15th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I’d call Glen-bot Kryten
February 15th, 2009 at 9:58 am
This is precisely why I keep coming back to this website. Beautiful.
February 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
It is indeed a heartwarming Valentines Day story. if not for the season I’d say it’s just a bit sappy but that’s probably more to do with my own personal taste in fiction. It is well written and works for what it is.
February 16th, 2009 at 3:59 am
Sweet really does just about sum it up. Nicely done.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:28 am
I wasn’t sure about this story at first, but the ending really won me over. How sweet that love is still strong.