Page 76 of The Gathering
Fuck, what was he doing?
She stared at him, her pretty face a mask of awe, adoration, trust. She lowered her joy with a nod.
Do you know I want to kiss you?
Do you know you’re so fucking beautiful?
Do you know I want to kill your future husband?
Do you know I’m never letting you out of my sight?
“Last question,” he said, turning toward her.
She watched him with wide-eyed, nervous expectancy.
“Did you know… that closet shelves… can’t build themselves?”
Her laughter exploded as he stood and took their cups to the sink. He filled them both with water as she laughed and laughed. He finally turned, crossing his arms over his chest, watching the miracle that had somehow found him. A bridge of light into his darkness.
“Ohhh my goodness,” she gasped, fanning her face. “Ineededthat laugh.”
Then you’ll get a million more.
He made his way closer to her, realizing he was content just being near. Watching her. “So tell me about these skills of yours. Need to know what kind of apprentice I’m getting.”
She immediately launched into her resume with gusto, giving him the long version of her qualifications spanning most of her childhood.
“Wow, you were qualified from the womb,” he teased, getting her big laugh.
“I’m sorry, I have a thing for too many words!”
“Is that a vice or virtue?” he asked, heading to the closet.
“You tell me,” she offered with a giggle.
“I guess it depends what we’re building. If we’re building a word fence, a virtue. But for shelves, I might have to gag you.”
Fuck her laughter was addictive.
Sister Lenora Likes
Jek’s Gumbo
Lenora stood on the small porch of the infirmary, waiting for Jek. She smiled into the noon sun. Such a glory in the nippy cold air.
She returned to the maze of convolutions in her life.
Jek was everywhere inside every feeling she possessed. She was no longer living under the same rules she had most of her life and it had her revisiting terms and definitions. Machines and marriages to be specific. Was a cyborg actually a husband if he wasn’t human? Wasn’t he more like a tool for a job? Wasn’t she charged with training and maintaining this tool, like an… operator? Not a wife?
Even if it turned out that she had to use her body to do it…did that make it…
She sighed. Same wall every time. No matter how she flip-flopped the problem, using that part of her body to create a marriage-like bond—even with a machine—seemed to require honoring that bond. To her at least.
“You ready?”
Lenora spun to Jek and the paradox scattered everywhere in her mind. “Yes! I’m starved. I still can’t believe we did all of the shelves before lunch!” Her face hurt from all the laughing and attempting a fake smile was hard. She didn’t want the work to be over.
“I can’t believe they came out straight,” he marveled, heading down the steps, bringing her real smile at what he might mean. Always something funny.
