Daddy's Droid Ch. 05

Then I stood and straightened out my new dress (and used his hankie as a mop), while Adele leaned over him and said, "Tell your friends to keep an eye open for us - we come here pretty often. Hee, hee." With that, she gave him a lewd wink, tucked his lightened wallet into his shirt pocket, and led me out of the stairwell.

Once we were well away, I had to ask, "What was that about?"

"I didn't mean for you to actually do that - fuck him. But then I thought why shouldn't we show some initiative and start earning our own pocket money?"

I couldn't help but notice that, so far, it had been me doing all the work ... and I hadn't seen any of the money. But it was work I'd come to love - what I was made for. Still, I hoped I'd continue to get to pick my clients.

We were just in time to meet Daddy. After an hour in the place, he'd so far bought a book and a coffee. He told us how nice our new dresses looked (duh!), and in exchange we told him zilch about our adventure. What was interesting was that I felt no compulsion to confess - although if he'd asked the right question, I would've had to blurt out every detail. So, I thought. Droids can have secrets.

The three of us strolled together for a while, just hanging, which Daddy tolerated quite well (he always says that if you've seen one, you've seen the Mall ... which wasn't even funny the first time) - as opposed to Max, who'd refused to come.

According to Adele, her Uncle had used the over-the-top claim that Malls were, at best, anterooms to Hell. Anyhow, now that my shopping lust had been sated, I found myself taking more notice of the droids in the place than I ever had before. Within a short walk I'd seen three, all working in shops and stalls - they were those base-model ones that look like animated dress shop mannequins, all stiff and plastic. Plus there was an antique metal one, working in a chic dress shop - they had some kind of retro theme going on.

I said something to Adele, and she pointed out that it costs about a hundred times as much to make a droid look truly human - so the only ones that do are sex droids. Even then, they (meaning me) are super rare, 'cause a rich guy can usually attract as many real girls as he likes. Or pay for them, although Adele said she'd heard that some of the fancier uptown brothels had droids as a novelty. No one would need such an over-the-top machine ("No offence," she said) just to work as a shopkeeper - or a housekeeper.

Maybe my sort wasn't so rare in this town, though. Not long after, I sensed a fellow sex droid strolling past with her boyfriend/master. She was pretty hot, but not over the top - Adele and Daddy showed no sign they'd guessed. The bot spotted me, too, and gave me a wink that was way too fast for a human to see. Without even thinking, I winked back, and then they were gone.

I was still pondering that when I saw yet another droid - and she was alone. She looked even less like a sex toy, with a sort of tomboy/girl-next-door thing going on. Mind you, we're all custom-built, and client tastes vary, so that didn't signify - but it did make it easier for her to blend. She pretended to ignore me, so no wink for her - but she must have known I'd recognized her. Hmmm.

"Oh! I forgot. You'll need another black dress, somber, not too showy," said Adele, breaking into my thoughts.

"Why?"

"Don't you want to go to your funeral?"

"Ewww!"

"Hey - if me and Richard have to go, so do you. As Lacy, of course. Anyway, nobody will say anything mean about you."

Are you kidding? You bet they will, if I go as Daddy's brand new girlfriend. And Auntie Christie would take Daddy apart, first." I sketched a little bow, as the girlfriend in question.

"I expect I can handle her," said Daddy, entering our conversation for the first time in about a mile. "Since I married Tracie's mom, we've only see Christie the odd Christmas and Thanksgiving," he explained to Adele. "She and I used to be ... close. But just maybe she'd come round if we were to welcome her to our new family."

Close? How close? That was news to me. The plot was definitely thickening.