Happy
79th Birthday, Dad!
Your
REAL partner
Photocopies
are not the same!
You
don't need special glasses!
Paternity
Insurance available!
"Scratch-and-sniff
4D porn so realistic you need to install anti-viral wetware and
shower after."
--Interaction
Week
"This
sim is so good I left my real partner so I'd have more time to play."
--D.S.,
Bangkok
"I
had a problem with the sim, but paternity insurance covered
everything. Thanks, Simugazm™!"
--R.T.,
Athens*
*R.T.'s
1024 "children" now live happy, fulfilling lives in I Can't
Believe It's Not Reality™.
*****
"It's
all over the news sites this morning. I just saw it on aljazeera.net
and even bbc.com. How could you!?" Bruce threw down his Allfōn™.
and clenched his fists. His face made his revulsion plain.
"You're
such a cliché! It's just like a, like a sexvid. You really liked 'A
mule, 4 boys, and the Sistine Chapel,' remember? You loved it,
especially that bit with the big candlesticks. I didn't like it, but
I watched it with you." Rick reached for Bruce, but his hand
stopped a few cm shy of his partner's shoulder.
"That
old thing is only 2D. It didn't reach out and stroke me!"
"Sim
isn't real, that's why
they call it sim."
"They
all have the same birthday, you know. Good luck paying for a Kb of
presents, all different, each October," Bruce snapped. He
drummed his fingers on the credenza. He looked out the window. The
sky was so blue today it reminded him of the sky in the ice-age sim
at the Smithsonian. He felt an arm around his shoulders. He liked
Athens, but there were plenty of other nice cities.
"I
know you're thinking about leaving," Rick said. "Don't. We
can work it out. It was an accident, no, a mistake. I didn't think
all the artifacts, uh, kids would be generated. No one ever thinks
it's going to happen to them, until, you know." He moved around
to face Bruce. "Look. We'll go to that new Malaysian
restaurant by the park, then take a long walk. I think the poppies
are near their peak. We can forget this ever happened."
Bruce
looked out the window again. "No, I don't think so." He
paused. A zeppelin glided past in front of the towers, moving in
stately silence. "Let's play it together. And come October,
I'll help you choose the presents."
Publ. Daily Cabal 2009
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