Machine Man (serial)

As soon as Lola rang the doorbell, the yapping began. She had warned me that Angelica had dogs: she hadn’t mentioned how many. This was clearly four, at a minimum. And they were small. I could tell.

The light flicked on. I looked at Lola and she looked at me and we were both mildly shocked at how bad the other looked. Lola’s eyes had sunk into shadows. Her Better Future sweater was stained with road dust. I had bled on her shoulder. We were not going to make a great first impression.

The door opened. A tall woman stood framed in the doorway, holding what I thought was a purse until it barked. Additional small dogs stood behind each of her ankles, barking. They were all wearing little red and green tunics.

“Angelica,” said Lola. “I need your help.”

“Oh, God.” Angelica threw an arm around Lola and hugged her. Just one arm. The other was still holding the dog. “Come in!”

She held open the door and I followed Lola inside. As I did, a dog darted between my legs, and I almost stood on it. I mean, I had to manually instruct the Contours to pull up. The dog, it seemed, was too small to trigger my collision avoidance software. I thought: That could be a problem.

106.