After clearing her throat, Nora said with false cheer, “Should we try to go to the mall in a few days if the weather seems fine? We found Simon there. I’m excited to see what else we could find.”
Tilly was still frowning at the radio. “Okay.”
“Here Tilly . . .Come play with me, okay?” Nora put down her sewing and then picked up the dolls as she turned the radio off.
Simon even joined in, holding one solar light on his knees while Tilly reenacted the radio program they’d listened to and Nora played along with a doll on her lap.
Soon after, Tilly went to bed, in Nora’s room again, and Simon joined Nora at the kitchen table, more questions on his mind. He cleared his throat, unsure if he wanted to break the quiet. “So that lottery. . . ?”
Nora paused in her sewing and said stiffly, “Don’t think it's real.”
Simon’s brows furrowed as he took in her busy hands.She didn’t stop all day.He had a newfound respect for this woman who had woken him up. A neat stack of clothing sat on the table. The new shirt for Simon was sitting there ready to be used as well.Two in fact. He had taken the one he tried on off and inspected his joints while Nora worked.
He tempered his question, realizing he had said it rather rudely. “Sorry. I can tell you don’t really want to talk about the lottery. If it is too much you don’t need to answer.” He took in her tired eyes.I find it hard to talk about the past myself.
He watched Nora bite her lip in thought, his eyes snagging on the movement. “No, it’s okay. It doesn’t bother me, just makes me a bit sad that Tilly believes in it so much. I wish I could make it happen for her, but . . . yeah. I don’t think it’s a real thing.”
“Why would they advertise it then?”
Nora shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe as a way to keep all of us in line. Maybe they want to give us hope? Maybe it’s a big joke?”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
A huff left her. “Well. After we go to the mall we’ll go to town. You’ll see that there’s not much in society that makes sense.”
“Are there other towns?”
Nora nodded and then waved her arms wide. “Yep. All over.”
Simon frowned. “So a lot of humanity still lives.”
She then looked slyly over at him. “Yeah. It’s always someone in another area, far away, that wins the lottery. That, or maybe a dead person.”
Simon narrowed his eyes.Such cynicism.He would be lying if he also didn’t see that same emotion in himself.“You really don’t believe in much, do you?”
“You’ll see when you get to town.” Nora frowned as she put down her needle and thread. She tilted her head. “I didn’t know you would act as . . . humanlike as you do. I keep talking and forgetting you’re an android.”
Simon looked down at the sewing kit that lay on the table, equally confused.I didn’t know you would be willing to talk with me as an equal like you are.“I am sentient, not just a program.”
Nora picked her needle and thread back up. The sharp end of the needle pointed at him in emphasis. “That you are. Absolutely you are.”
Chapter eight
Nora
The rain lasted all night into the early morning. Right before Nora fully woke up, it slowed into a drizzle. By the time she got up and changed, the sun began to emerge.
This next day, her cooperation with Simon continued, with more ease than the day before. Nora met him again in the kitchen, Tilly leaving through the front door without more than a hello. A clean breeze washed into the little house with the door opening and closing.Feels nice.Nora loved going outside after a storm when it was a bit less dusty.
“I’ll show you around today,” she said to him as he stood by the front window. Nora glanced outside.No drone out there now but . . .She gave him the shirt she sewed yesterday. “Here, put this on, okay? To hide your metal parts?”
Simon did as told before saying, “Yes, lead the way.”
Nora exited first and then turned around to watch as Simon took his first few steps outside, holding the doorway while he exited. Soon he let go, walking toward her shakily. She reached out a hand. "Want some help?"
He shook his head. "No thank you."
Okay then.She returned the hand she was holding out to assist him back to her side awkwardly.
