It was an odd store. There was junk and new things. And things she could not identify. And there was the tall, broad shouldered man in a corner. He seemed to be watching her.
“Who is that over there?” she asked.
The proprietor glanced over his shoulder. “Oh. That,” he said. “That’s an old android. Ain’t good for anything except to scare my lady customers.” He paused, looking at her speculatively. “Wanna see it closer?”
She nodded. He picked up a remote and activated the android. He was graceful and good looking. He stopped and looked down at her. She looked up into his eyes and imagined she saw loneliness there. The proprietor mentioned a price. Well, at least she could afford it. He gave her the remote and an instruction manual. “And it’s as is,” he said. “No guarantees.” She said nothing. She took the remote and left with the android.
She lived in an isolated area because she liked the quiet. The android followed her obediently, sat where she indicated, and waited. She sat next to him (she just could not think of him as an ‘it’) and read the manual. Pleasure android. Oh. She looked at him.
“Why were you in that shop?” she asked.
“I am defective, mistress,” he replied softly. She looked him over.
“How are you defective?”
He stood and took off his clothing. Nicely muscular body. And very well endowed. “I don’t see any defects,” she murmured.
“I am considered too…large,” he replied.
She looked again. He was certainly not small. “How…large…do you get?”
“Touch me,” he said.