somebody to love
Added 2025-07-04 14:03:40 +0000 UTC"Hi Mitchie," I said. "I'm Charles."
He only had one good eye, but in the clear bright eye there was something that seemed very real. He didn't hold himself like one of the service robots. He didn't want to cheer me up, or tell me how smart I was.
If anything, he looked tired. He looked like he just needed a home.
"It must be a hard life out there for ugly robot dogs."
Maybe that's what my psychological profile had told the ship. Maybe that's a kind of service animal, too. Not everyone needs something to take care of them. Some people need to care for something. I'd never considered that. I have my work, and my trips to the forest. I'm not unhappy. And I don't think I'm lonely.
But I wanted to help him.
Mitchie. I looked down at him. He needed a home. I could give him that. For now, anyway. The ship was just going to keep sending people to bother me about it. And maybe I'd like him. Maybe he'd like me.
I stood up, taking the bowl with me.
He put his head on the floor right in a puddle of water, and closed his eyes.
"Get your head out of that," I said, and he looked up at me. I pushed the button to open my cabin door. "People are gonna think I'm your service dog, you little dip."
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