When Good Toys Go Bad Read Online Free PDF Page B

called to tell us you were in jail. I’ve never been so mortified. If it weren’t for the lawyer they assigned you, you’d still be sitting in that cell.”
    “I thought you were seeing that lovely Brynn girl.” Bema’s voice shook with the aftermath of her crying.
    “Oh, shut up, Aprika, and go make us some dinner.”
    I always cringed when Mema yelled at Bema like a child. But Bema obeyed, heading off to the kitchen, forgetting to take her own coat off or put Mema’s down.
    From an outsider’s perspective, Mema would sound harsh, but this is how my family works. Mema is the disciplinarian and Bema is the nurturer. They balance each other out.
    When Bema had left, Mema focused her attention on me.
    “I don’t understand, Darra. Why would you risk your career, your freedom, our reputation on an android?” I had never seen her cry before, but when I looked up, a tear fought its way out of the corner of her eye.
    “I’m sorry, Mema. I know you don’t understand. He’s not just an android. He thinks and feels, and I love him.”
    Mema’s lips pursed. She sucked in a deep breath. “You can’t be in love with him. He’s not human. Why can’t you fall in love with a nice girl and settle down? There’s something wrong with you. I’ll call the doctor in the morning.”
    “There’s nothing wrong with me. I guess I’m a throwback to the old days. Kai feels as right as girls, and there’s something missing in my life without him.”
    “Do you hear what you’re saying? That would be like me saying I was in love with the food dispenser. If I told you that, you’d say I was crazy and ship me off to the reconditioning center.”
    “Not if the food dispenser loved you back!”
    Mema’s hands tightened into fists, and her knuckles faded to white. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. We stood staring at each other, a mental game of chicken. Usually I would have backed down. This time it was beyond my will. I stood defiant, rooted in place. I didn’t shift my weight from side to side or wring my hands. None of the telltale signs I was about to crumble. I was resolute in the knowledge that this is who I am and what I loved. If she wanted to be part of my life, she had to accept it.
    “Dinner,” Bema sang out in her usual “nothing bad is going on here” way.
    Our kitchen represented a typical family pod, though Bema had put her own decorative touches on the room. My childhood artwork covered the bright yellow walls. I’m saddened to admit the fifteen-year-old artist in me was not any more talented than the six-year-old one. The food dispenser was a standard one-by-one-meter box, with a glass front allowing you to see when your food materialized. The sonic dishwasher was a silver box protruding from the wall next to the food dispenser. Mema had bought the newest model with the magnetic lock that had no handle. Instead, there was a thumbprint which you touched to open the door or seal it shut. Under the dishwasher was the spigot, which dispensed Consortium water. We were allotted two liters of drinking water per person, per day.
    “Your favorite, ham and potatoes.” Bema put the plate in the middle of the glass table. Now I’ve seen pictures of pigs, and I’m pretty sure they weren’t round. I’m also fairly certain the white circle in the middle was supposed to be bone, instead of the same meat in a different color. But Bema was right, this was my favorite. Though, I wasn’t terribly hungry at the moment, and, judging from the way she pushed her food around the plate, neither was Mema.
    We ate in strained silence. Every once in a while, one of us would shift in her chair and open her mouth, but no conversation materialized. I longed to go home to the privacy of my own pod, but since I had been released into my parents’ custody, I was forced to stay with them.
    “I’m going to bed,” I announced, standing up from the table, my ham still staring up at me from the plate with its one