A Mother Returned Pt. 07

They sat in silence for a while. Penelope had never cared for the dog before recently, but now Cora's bed in the corner felt horribly barren. Eventually, she spoke to Winifred just to break the silence. "What are they doing up there?"

"They are doing what you'd expect two love-struck teenagers to do after weeks apart." Winifred's lips curved into a half a smile, the most subtle expression in the robot's repertoire. "Would you like to know specifics or ..."

Penelope waved a hand at the AI and laughed. "That's wonderful. I'm happy for them." She sipped her tea, listening to the silence. "I'm not jealous you know. What happened with Teddy ... it's not like ... I want to be that for him. I was just confused. I'm happy he has Victoria. I want that for him."

"It was a kind thing you did letting her stay in his room. Felix wouldn't have allowed it. But you were never as caught up with propriety," Winifred said.

"Wasn't I?" Penelope shook her head wistfully. "I was like Victoria at one point. Daring and eager. I had my sights set on the world. But then I was swept off my feet by an enthralling older man. I ... um ..." She took a deep breath. "Sometimes I wonder what happened to the young woman I was."

Winifred nodded. "The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places, in so much that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

" Plutarch. I remember that one from college." Penelope put down her teacup. "If every board was replaced on the ship during its travels, is it the same ship that returned or a new one? I don't feel like I'm that young woman who thought about philosophy and read Plutarch anymore. I am a different Penelope. With different duties and loves. And I am happier for it. Goodnight, Winnie." She stood, hugged her friend, and headed for the stairs.

"Goodnight, Penny." Winifred watched her go.

Penelope slowed on the second floor and took a quick excursion down the hall. She had only meant to put her ear up to his door for a quick listen, but she found that her son's door was cracked open. She heard the squeaking of his bed and urgent, twisted voices.

"You came running here ... ugh ... ugh ... because this pussy is mine ... uuuugghhh ... a sleeve where I can ... put my cock ... for the night." Theodore's voice was almost a growl.

"Yes ... yes ... my pussy is a sleeve ... for your cock ... Teddy." Victoria's voice was a high-pitched squeak. "Use me ... use my pussy ... to make yourself ... feel better."

Penelope put a gloved hand to her mouth and peeked in. She could feel the blood draining from her face. The nineteen-year-olds were rutting on Theodore's bed, facing away from the door. Victoria was on her back with her legs scissored around her boyfriend's ample backside. Theodore held her large, bare breasts in his hands and pounded into her with heavy, deliberate strokes. Victoria looked so soft and vulnerable under Theodore's manly onslaught. Penelope backed away, her head spinning. She knew they were still saying those frightening things to each other, but she couldn't process the words anymore. She turned and stumbled down the hall.

"Penny, there is a package delivery on our front step bearing a live animal." Winifred met Penelope in the hall and guided her downstairs. "I have scanned it, and it is safe. I thought we should open it without the teenagers, just in case it isn't good news."

Penelope let herself be led to the front door. Her reeling mind tried to comprehend. She looked at her friend. "Package ... but ... is it ... Cora?"

"I think so. But we must open it to be sure." Winifred leaned her mistress on the wall among the mercurial picture frames in the front hall. She opened the door, carried the box into the house, and closed the door. She set the box on the floor, opened it, and pulled a familiar face out into the open.

"Cora!" Penelope moved down the spinning hall. "What have they done to you?" Cora was shaved with a ghastly green mohawk and had the word bitch written on one side of her. The other side bore the markings of a skull and bones. "She's not the same ship ..."

"It's okay. She's unharmed. We can take her to the veterinarian tomorrow. Teddy will be so happy." Winifred quickly moved toward her mistress. "Penny?" She caught the poor woman just before the fainting Penelope hit the hallway floor. "Oh my." In one hand, Winifred held her mistress. In the other, she held the once-missing pooch. Cora was busy lapping at Winifred's face. She carried both into the living room.

As Winifred settled Penelope on the sofa, the AI was already tracking the carrier that had delivered the package and looking for clues. She decided to let the teenagers finish their intimacy before telling them the good news. "And you, miss stinky." She scratched Cora behind the ears. "You need a bath." Winifred passed Cora off to one of her other robot bodies and settled her first body on the sofa next to Penelope so that she would be there when the poor woman came to.