A MACHINES LOVE
CH. 2

	Sitting there in the chair, I listened to the thing talk and with each passing second, its tale become more and more unbelievable.  It turned out that the old man in the store was some kind of old magician, but not the kind that does card tricks, the kind that uses the ancient language and manipulation of the ethereal energies of the earth.  That didn’t make a lick of sense to me, but since I was so tired I didn’t protest it from continuing its tale.  The old man loved to tinker in the lives of others and one of his favorite was to aid those who were seeking companionship.  As she continued her tale I knew that in the back of my mind that I’d have to go and visit this ‘old man’ once again and get him to explain himself.

	She went onto say that most of his tinkering catered to that of little children whose parents weren’t at home a lot, and that companion would be there to keep the child company.  He found that the little ones would respond a lot better to characters and other such things that they knew about and began to make his companions into shapes and characters that the children wouldn’t be frightened of and would readily accept.  The only problem with it all was that it wasn’t just in one area that children were in need of his services, but nearly all around the world.  So he set up a way that his shop would appear in the area that the child would be able to get to and he’d happily hand over just the right character to help the child in their time of need.

	“That’s a nice story and all, but that really doesn’t tell me about you or why I was able to find his place.”  I interjected, which got me a bit of an annoyed look from the Metallic Lugia, but she simply just sighed and shook her head.

	“I’m getting to that part.”  She said in a bit of an annoyed tone as she looked back up at me.  I too took a long sigh and finally nodded for her to continue with her story.  “As I was saying, it wasn’t just children who needed his services, but some adults as well.  He learned that some people, like yourself, needed a little companionship and he began to think up other ways to help older clients.  With that he changed the personalities of the characters to one that were a bit more mature and began to work.”  She stopped a bit in her tale as she looked up at the window and seemed to find something about it that she wanted to look at for a while.  “He made many of us back then, back when he was starting out, but along the way something happened.  Something he didn’t predict.”

	“Something happened to one of the ones he gave to a client?”  I asked in a rhetorical sort of way, to which it turned and gave me a solitary nod.

	“I was one of the special types of characters he’d developed.  At first I was made to be nothing more than a simple alarm clock that sang a nice song for his son, but that all changed one day when he found I was playing with his son.”  She paused in her story and took another long sigh.  “I knew the rules, I knew that it was forbidden to move for anyone other than whom I was to care for, but that day I’d been careless.  The father was supposed to be going away on some kind of business trip and the boy was ever so distraught with the news.  It nearly broke my heart to see him in such a state, so I got down from my pedestal and attempted to cheer him up.”

	“Then the father returned unexpectedly and found you playing with his son.”  I said, finishing up her story and saw her turn and nod to me.

	“I figured he’d already left for his trip, but instead he’d returned and wanted to give his son a final hug goodbye before leaving.  It was at that moment as I was wiping away his tears did he see me moving and quickly jump to the conclusion that I was going to attack his son.”  She paused a bit in her story as another tear leaked out from the corner of her eye.  “I don’t remember much about what happened after that.  The only thing I do remember is waking up back in the old man’s shop and him looking down at me while whispering that he was sorry.”

	“When I was able to move again, I no longer had the nice and sleek body of plastic, but this hard metal one you see before you.”  She raised up a wing/hand/palm and looked down at it.  “I remember him telling me that when I’d been brought back that I was in pieces and in order to save me he had to transfer me into a new body.  The body you see before you.”  She turned her head and looked up at me.  “Ever since that day I have remained at his shop, hoping against hope that one day I’d find some, someone who needed someone broken like myself, to help them in their time of need.”

	I had to admit that that was one heck of a story, and somewhere deep down my heart really did go out to it.  Though, through all of that I still was a bit wary.  This could be some kind of ploy to get close to me and in that moment of weakness it’d attack and do something terrible to me, but for the life of me that little warning voice was so weak and fragile that it didn’t seem to carry any weight behind its words.  I mean, here I was, broken and battered myself with my confrontation with the mechanic and still it did nothing to either suggest or otherwise any ill intent.  “Then I came into the man’s shop.”  I stated simply to which she nodded.

	“You came into his shop.  At first I just thought of you as any regular customer.  One that was going to come in here and buy a little something for his younger brother, sister, or even son and then leave.  But when you sat down to talk with the old man, I got to know you a little better and since you’d left all the others there, a spark of hope stirred in my tiny frame.  It was then that I called out to you and miracles upon miracles, you heard my cry.”

	“You mean the music.”  To which she nodded as she advanced a little further on the table, only to stop at its edge and lay down on its/her stomach and smile up at me.

	“That’s right, my music.  The song of the Lugia.  Not every person can hear the song, but those that due are known to have good hearts and are known for their kind disposition.”  She then turned away and rubbed at the bottom of its/her chin.  “Though that part with the mechanic…”  She trailed off there as if finishing the rest of her sentence in her mind, but turned back to look up at me.  “Either way, you heard my song then you tried to reach out to touch me, which not one customer has done since I’ve been returned to the old man and his shop.  It was in that moment that I knew that the two of us were destined to be together.”

	I could tell that she was excited about this self-revelation and by the rapid swish of her tail knew as well what was about to come next.  “Now hold on a minute there.”  I said as I held up a hand hoping to forestall the inevitable leap it/she was about to do into my chest.  “Before you do what I think you’re about to do, I want to get in some questions.”  To which the Metallic Lugia nodded and sat down on her haunches, but that did little to dim the gleeful glint in her blue eyes or the rapid swish of her tail.  With a bit of a sigh I tried to digest all that the thing had just told me and in that put some kind of sense to it as well.  ‘Now let’s see if I can rationalize this.  An old man, believable as I’ve met him, makes toys for kids whose parents are away from home a lot.  He makes them in order to comfort those kids while their parents are away, believable enough.  He makes these things in shapes and characters that will be acceptable to children and makes it seem like they’re alive, a little far stretched but still within boundaries.  The only thing about this that I can’t really accept is that he uses magic to bring these characters to life and have them move around and do the things that this little thing can do, unbelievable…unacceptable…false.’

	‘The only way that is even possible is that he’s a master programmer and is able to give his creations life, can anyone say Frankenstein?’  Though as I looked down at the little thing in front of me, I had a hard time believing that this thing was some kind of artificial life form.  ‘I mean, no AI program that I’ve ever heard of, even in the movies and stories I’ve gone through, have ever been able to cry or show true emotions like this thing has.’  I looked back down at the thing again and I could now see that the glint in its eyes had grown a bit brighter and its tail was beginning to swish a little faster.

	“Alright then, question time.”

	“Fire away.”

	“Please don’t say that.  I’ve seen enough monster movies about robots and such that that little statement right now, is setting me on edge again.”  She lost a bit of her happy mood at that, but I could see she wouldn’t be knocked out of her happy mood.

	“Sorry about that, it’s just that you seem to be thinking over things about me, and that makes me happy.”

	I was about to inquire a little into how she could feel happy when she/it looked nothing more than a bunch of wires and circuits, but didn’t want to cross that line at that moment.  “The first question I have is, you said something about rules.  What are those rules?”  To which she/it gave a nod and sat up a little straighter.

	“That I did.  When we are first born or made, we are told that we have to follow a set of rules if we are to stay with our chosen companions.  These rules are set up so that nobody will come to harm and that we can enjoy our time or lives with our companions to the utmost degree.”  Her tail gave a quick swish before finally staying still.  “The first rule is, not move before we believe our companion will be able to accept us.  That may take days, maybe even weeks, but it does happen eventually and it comes to a great joy to both involved.  The second rule, one must not move in front of others who are not our chosen companions, this rule will allow us to stay with our companions and not cause suspicion, hatred, even jealousy amongst others.  The final rule is that one must never harm ones companion or others, and it is this rule that we can never break, otherwise there are dire consequences for all involved.”  With that said her/its tail began to sway again and a happy smile appeared on its/her face.

	I was beginning to have trouble with all of this, and by the look of worry that was slowly beginning to show on her/its face I guessed it was showing on my face, to which I’d had a problem with controlling my facial expressions ever since I was little.  In other words, I was a horrible poker player and couldn’t hold a good poker face if my life depended on it.  Though through all that, I couldn’t help but feel that I needed to slump a little more into my chair.  It wasn’t even noon yet and here I was, emotionally and physically worn out.  I could’ve chocked it all up to me being knocked out and having one heck of a dream, but who’d ever heard of someone actually carrying on a conversation in a dream and such an unusual/bizarre dream at that.  “This is…way too much to take in all at once.  I think I need to lie down for a bit and digest all that’s happened this morning.”

	I saw her nod up to me and give me a tired smile.  “I guess you do have a point there.  Between having that man try and steal from you, you beating him up, and…well…me, I guess you have had one…interesting morning.”

	‘That’s putting it mildly.’  I thought sarcastically.  Though try as I might, I couldn’t muster up the strength to actually get up and make it over to the bed.  So taking the easy way I simply just closed my eyes right there and nodded off, thankful that even though my mind was still racing with all that I’d just been told and shocked with today, my body won out and darkness claimed my consciousness.

	I slight buzzing sound could be heard and it was quickly followed by the sound my cell phone going off.  I debated with myself if it was worth the trouble to actually answer the thing, but when I realized that I didn’t recognize the other sound did I relent myself into opening my eyes.  Much of the room was still in shambles and by the diminished light that was coming in through the window, I came to the thought that I’d gotten at least ten to twelve hours of much needed sleep.  As consciousness slowly bore its way through my fatigued body did I focus my eyes to where my cellphone still lay on the side table.  I could just barely make out the name scrolling across the screen of the thing, but by the letters I was able to make out knew that it was my dispatcher.

	After a few more moments I knew that the thing would throw the call to the missed box and he’d have to leave a message, but knowing him, he’d just call right back until he got me and nagged me about not picking up my phone.  Residing myself once again, I began to push myself up and felt my body give out a shocking about of pain in protest of any kind of movement, but I was resilient and finally got to my feet.  It was only then that I heard something thump.  When I looked down I saw that it was the metallic Lugia lying on the floor and by the look on her face, it seemed that she/it too had been napping and wasn’t too happy about being unceremoniously awoken in such a manner.

	It was a mystery to me why I’d heard the sound of it/her hitting the floor, but as I saw her right herself and shake herself a few times, did my mind begin to work.  ‘If it hit the floor with such a loud thud sound, it must mean that she…it, oh heck with it, she must have fallen from somewhere up high.  That means she was either sleeping on the table where I’d last seen her and rolled off. Or…  My mind stopped right then as the phone chimed once to indicate the call had gone to my missed box and had recorded a message.

	I moved my way over to the bed, only to sit down upon it and pick up my phone.  Once I’d flipped it open I saw that it was indeed my dispatcher who’d called me and had left a message.  Not wanting to have him call me again, I pulled up his contact info on my phone and gave him a call.  It turned out he wasn’t happy, big surprise, that I hadn’t returned any of his previous calls and wanted an update on the situation concerning the repairs on the truck.  I remained quiet for a time, until I couldn’t hold it back any further and let out a belching laugh that startled the little/metallic Lugia into hiding behind the table’s main leg/stand.

	When I’d finally calmed down enough and listened to him preach about not laughing at him, I told him that I couldn’t help it and began to tell him what’d happened that morning, or at least what I hoped was still today’s morning.  As I suspected, once I’d finished my tale, he didn’t believe a word of it and told me that if I was lying in any way I’d be in some serious trouble.  When I told him that I’d need a layer out here to sue the mechanic and another to take a look at my injuries, he quickly quieted down and began to get suspicious.  He shut up even more when I said that if he didn’t believe me I could send him some photos over my phone of my injures and prove to him that my story was true and he could just lump it if he didn’t like it.  It was quite a while before he said anything and decided that it’d be best to talk to his superior and explain everything that’d happened.

	By the time it was all said and done, Ralph’s boss said that he’d send someone out there to handle everything, not to mention a paid compensation for everything else that I’d been through.  But I knew that in it all, he was just happy that I was alright and that there’d be a, ‘sure-fire win’ in a lawsuit against the mechanic and city I was currently staying in.  By that time my stomach was beginning to make some funny noises and I told him that I’d have to call him back once I’d finally be able to keep something down.  Closing up the phone and replacing it on the counter I fell backwards and debated my options.  It wasn’t until I felt something tug against the side of my shirt did I look up and see that it was the Lugia.

	“Now how did you…?”  She just simply flapped her little wings and made it look as if she were trying to fly.

	“Need you ask?”  She asked with a bit of a smile, but that didn’t last long as she leapt up and landed gently on the upper part of my chest.  “I take it that those people over the phone were your bosses and they were calling to find out if you were okay?”  To which I shrugged slightly and sighed.

	“Yes and no.  Yes those were my bosses, but no they weren’t calling to see if I was alright.  They were calling to see if the truck was alright.”  I leaned my head back against the bed and sighed once again.  “The only reason I’m in this town in the first place is because my rig broke down and needs repairs.”  I stated simply, not bothering to tell her that if things were as they should’ve been that I’d still be back at the company’s main terminal getting the repairs the rig needed.  It was then that my stomach gave off another loud grumble and I looked up to see her giggle at me.

	“It seems that you’ve recovered a bit.  At least enough to move and show your displeasure at not having anything to eat in a while.”  She then reached down with her tail to give my stomach a quick/light slap and giggled at my protest.

	In retaliation to her slap I decided to do something about my hunger and quickly sat up, making her tumble head over tail backwards to land on her back in my lap.  A smile spread across my lips as I saw her sprawled out like that and as I looked down at her again my mind finally placed the thump sound from when I’d awoken and gotten up to get my phone.  Some-time while I’d been asleep, she’d gotten off the table  and lay down upon my chest to nap.  ‘That would explain the reason I was hearing that whirling sound.  It was coming from her when she was sleeping on my chest.

	As I looked down at her as she righted herself once again did my brain begin to work once again and in doing so, realize the situation I was in.  ‘When did I go from being afraid of this little machine to joking around and playing with her?  For that matter, why do I feel so light hearted now?’  Shaking off the questions I reached down and lightly helped her right herself again.  I watched her with a bit of a quizzical look upon my face for a while, as she began to look herself over for something, but not finding anything that she was looking for did she turn and look up at me.

	“Is there something on my face?”  She asked as she cocked her head to the side for a moment and then began to look herself over once more.

	“No…”  I stated simply as I continued to look down at her.  “It’s just that…I don’t know, it’s all so surreal that I’m having a tough time taking all of this as real.”

	She stopped checking herself over and stared up at me with a bit a quizzical look upon her face this time.  “Now that is a strange thing to say.  I mean, if you’re thinking that all of this is just some kind of dream, it’s said that you can’t feel pain in a dream.”  As if to almost emphasize that point she grinned mischievously at me and gave my leg a good swat with the end of her tail.  Wincing slightly at the pain from the swat, I was about to retaliate but the look of smugness on her face drew me up to the conclusion that she wasn’t or hadn’t done that on the principal of pain, rather to prove her point.  “Now that that is settled, I believe that you were mentioning something about getting a bite to eat.”

	An hour and a phone call later, there came a knock to the door and I opened it to that of a pimple ridden/faced teenager holding up a large rectangular case of some kind.  He wore a simple pair of black pants that went along with a simple red short sleeved shirt and red ball cap.  Emblazoned on the cap and the pocket of the shirt was the name of the pizza company and as I looked him over once more I could see that he must not really enjoy his job.  “Thanks for choosing Papa Marino’s Pizza, home of the Papa Mario’s Pocket Pizza.  I’m Mark and I’m here to deliver your order sir.”

	Stepping aside I let the young kid in and motioned for him to place the order upon the table.  Once he did, he opened the flap of the thing and pulled out an X-Large box and set it down upon a cleared portion of the table.  I walked over to the thing, took in a good long whiff of the scent of melted cheese, and several different toppings, and smiled at Mark.  “Smells great.  What do I owe you?”

	“On the house sir.”  He said which made me stop in reaching for my wallet and look up at him in a confused way.

	At first, as I looked Mark in the face, I thought that he was a little too high on the weed, but as I saw the blank expression on his face did I know what was going on.  “If this is some kind of bribe, Mark, you know that you can get in a lot of trouble with the authorities for it.  Plus, the coming lawsuit is against just the mechanic at the moment, I’d hate to add your company to the list.”  This caused mark to lose his bland expression and tense up.  It only got worse for him when a bead of sweat formed at his brow and slowly slid down his face.  “So, I’ll ask again.  How much do I owe you for the Pizza, Mark?”  A few minutes later Mark left the room with the payment for the X-Large pizza and a slightly generous tip for getting it to its destination with record breaking time.

	“Was that really necessary?”  Came a voice to which I turned and saw the metallic Lugia sitting on top of the bed.  “I mean, you didn’t really have to frighten the boy did you?”

	I simply sat down upon the chair next to the table and sighed.  “A bribe is still a bribe.”  I stated simply as I opened the box and watched the steam billow up from the pizza, but hunched my shoulders when I heard her tapping her foot on the bed.  “I don’t know if you know how bribes work, but if I accepted the pizza it could be considered a bribe and that’s against the law.  Plus, the coming trouble is only with the mechanic and if anyone tries to offer me a bribe, then they could be in as much trouble or more-so than that of the mechanic for offering me a bribe.”

	The Lugia leapt up, flapped her wings once, twice, and then landed neatly upon the table.  She sniffed at the pizza for a moment before turning to look up at me.  “I think that you are going to have to explain this, ‘Bribe’ thing to me.”

	I picked off a piece of the pepperoni and ate it, then nodded down to her.  “Simply put, they want me to drop the charges that they know are coming against their mechanic.  In so doing they will offer me a lot of free things in hopes that I’ll forget all about the lawsuit and just leave this place alone.”  I picked up a large slice of the thing and bit into the piping hot slice that seemed intent on flooding my mouth with hot grease and cheese that seemed intent on staying attached to the rest of the pizza.  After I’d finished the bite did I quickly swallow and gestured down to the rest of the Pizza.  “I didn’t order this for me alone, dig in.”

	“Thank you for the offer, but no thanks.  I don’t really eat…food.”  Came her response as she lay down upon table, folded her wings/hands against her sides, and look up at me.  “Though is that all there is to bribes, hoping that someone will do something for them if you offer them something.”

	I shrugged as I quickly finished off the slice and sat back for a moment.  “Mostly.  But a bribe can work for and against the person offering it.”  I reached over, grabbed a napkin and wiped at the corner of my mouth where a bit of grease had smudged against the side of my face.  “It’s considered illegal to give and accept a bribe to someone.  So if I accept a bribe from someone then they could get me into a lot of trouble and threaten me into dropping the lawsuit against the mechanic for them to not say a word in defense.  Let’s just say that it’s a lot of layer stuff and I’d rather not deal with any problems that might come up if I accept anything right now.

	Once I’d polished off a good portion of the Pizza, I placed the rest on a plate and stuffed it into the refrigerator.  But as I did so my mind slowly went over our brief conversation over food and I striated up as I turned and looked over my shoulder at her.  “That reminds me.”

	She perked up a bit and looked quizzically at me.  “You had another question to ask me?”

	“Sort of, but not from before.”  I turned the rest of the way around, then took my seat again at the table.  “It was something you said when I offered you a piece of the pizza.”

	“Oh, you mean when I said that I don’t eat…food.”

	“Ya, that’s it.  What do you mean you don’t eat…food.  Surely you do eat something.  I mean…you are living…aren’t you?”  This caused her to chuckle a bit and then smile up at me.

	“Of course I’m alive silly.  Though to be more specific, I don’t eat things that you’d normally call food.”  She giggled a little more at my puzzled expression.

	I thought on her words for a time and tried to figure out what she was hinting at.  ‘What would a metal Lugia eat.  She says that she doesn’t eat anything that…’  It was then that the strangest idea came to mind, and I couldn’t help but slap the butt end of my palm against the side of my head for not realizing it sooner.

	“I knew you would be able to figure it out if you gave it a moment.”  She giggled once more before she got up and began to stretch out her form/body.  “Since my body is now mostly composed of things you’d call circuitry, the things I’d eat are along those same lines.  Circuit boards, memory chips, those kinds of things are mostly what I eat now.”  I stared down at her for a time, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but worry about how much my new companion would be costing me in meals now.   “Speaking of which, you wouldn’t happen to have anything like that lying around would you?”

(A few hours later)

	A loud cracking sound could be heard throughout the room, which was quickly followed by a yell of pain.  “Damnit doc, that hurts!”  I yelled as I tied to wretch by my arm out of his grasp, but failed miserably due to his strong hold on my dislocated arm.

	“And how exactly am I supposed to pop your shoulder back into place without having to use force to get it back into place?”  He asked as he began to rub my shoulder again, in a vain attempt to loosen up the muscles that’d somehow moved into place to keep my shoulder out of its socket.  “Now hold still.  Just one more adjustment and you’ll be able to use that arm of yours again.”  To which I nodded and braced myself once more for the pain that was soon to come.

	I’d spent an uncomfortable night there at the motel and none of it had been any fun trying to sleep with a dislocated shoulder.  But upon the following day, not only had a lawyer shown up but also that of a mechanic, doctor, and a few other guys to get the ball rolling on both the lawsuit and fixing not only my rig but myself as well.  The lawyer had been very professional and had asked an hour or two’s worth of questions, but at the end he was all smiles and nods of satisfaction.

	With another wrench and a bit more pain, my shoulder finally gave a satisfying click and I sighed in relief as the pain quickly died away to a dull throb.  “That should do it.”  The doctor said as he rose to his feet, only to come around to face me and hand me a bottle of some kind of pills.  “These should help with the pain, but I don’t expect you to be in that much pain for longer than a week.”  I accepted the bottle with my good arm and gave the doctor a quick/gratifying nod of thanks.

	It was also at that time that I heard a click and turned to see that the lawyer had closed his phone and smiled down to me.  “And that takes care of the legal issues.”  He said with a grin as he replaced his phone in his inside breast pocket and smirked at me.  “This will be an open and shut case, once I present this evidence to the judge.”  I didn’t think it possible but the smirk that I’d just seen the smartly dressed, black suited lawyers grin stretch from ear to ear.

	‘Creepy.  Glad he’s on my side; at least, I hope he’s on my side.’  “So what happens to me now?”  I asked him to which he nodded to me.

	“Once I present your case to the judge, there is going to be no problem in convicting the defendant of his actions.  The case should only take a few days and in the end, you’ll be justly paid for your suffering and pain due to you justly protecting your property from a would-be thief.”  I could see him do some mental calculation in his head and if he were a cartoon character I’d swear he’d have money signs or sacks of gold showing in his eyes at the moment.

	“That’s all well and good there, but you still haven’t answered my question.  What happens to me now?”  This seemed to pop or bring the lawyers head out of the clouds and back down to earth.  “I mean, do I just stay here until the trial, or am I supposed to do something else?”

	The lawyer placed a hand on my good shoulder and gave it a gentle pat.  “There is no need for you to stay in the backwater town any longer.  The doctor there will provide me with the necessary documentation of your injuries, and with your written and audio testimony of the events that led up to you fighting off a thief to rightfully protect your own property, you can leave the town and this case in my hands.  I mean, you suffered so much under the assault that it proved unhealthy for you to remain in such…traumatizing surrounds any longer than what was deemed medically safe to your health.  Isn’t that right doctor?”  I turned and saw him sigh, but after said sigh he only nodded.

	I really didn’t like the way that the lawyer kept on going on about how extensive my mental trauma or this pain or that circumstance was too much for me, and I knew that with all the things that the lawyer was coming up with that the mechanic would be lucky to escape without having to face the chair for this.  But through it all I just simply kept my mouth shut and sighed.  Once it was all said and done, it was decided that we’d be leaving with the rig, doctor, and a few other people from the trucking company. Though before we left, I decided that it’d be best to do one more thing before leaving.

	An hour or so later found me walking down the same street of the strip mall and to that towards the end where there were more and more empty/forgotten shops.  “I still don’t understand why we need to see him.  The pamphlet that he left for you has practically everything you need to know.  Not to mention a few other things you might find interesting about me.”  Came the voice of the little/metallic Lugia, though instead of it sounding like it normally did, the voice was muffled slightly.

	Taking a quick look around to see if anyone had heard her speak, I quickly ducked into a side alley and turned my back to the entrance.  Unbuttoning the first few buttons on my jacket, I slowly lifted one side of my jacket away and looked inside.  In order to lessen the strain on my recently dislocated arm a bit, the doctor had given me a sling for my arm, but instead of my arm being in said sling its occupant was that of the little Lugia.  It’d taken a bit of careful phrasing to get her to agree to come with me into town, even more-so as to how she’d accompany me.  Though looking down at her now I could see a slight smile on her face as well as see how deeply she was snuggled into the makeshift sling/hammock which left my arm to dangle limply at my side.

	I sighed down at her as I leaned against the wall of the building and looked skyward.  “The reason we are going to see him is because of the Mechanic.”  I stated simply but made sure to keep my voice down so that nobody would get suspicious and ask me if I was alright, though those that did see me talking to myself would probably just think of it as that.  “I believe that it is always best to tackle problems before they have a chance to rear their heads.”

	“Is that a quip at me?”  She asked me in a bit of a harsh tone that left little to the imagination that she believed it was.

	“NO,” I said drawing out the word.  “It was to that of the Mechanic like I said.  It would be a bit of a problem for him and me if he were to go spouting around the town about an alarm clock that seemed to have come to life right in his hands.”  I looked down at her and gave her an accusing look, in hopes of driving home the point I was trying to make.  She seemed to shrink a little in on herself at my gaze, but all in all she nodded, finally understanding my point.  With my point made I re-buttoned by jacket and continued onto that of the old man’s shop.

	The only problem was by the time I’d gotten there, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  The shop where I’d met the old man, purchased the miniature metallic Lugia, and talked at length with the old man, was now nothing more than an old/forgotten/empty shop.  The windows of the place were no longer that of the shadow boxes that I’d seen before but that of dusty/grime covered glass, the shelves that could be seen through the glass were covered in spider webs, and overall the place looked to have uninhabited for the better part of years rather than days.  “What the heck?  Where’s the shop?”  I asked aloud, just as if I hoped that there’d be some kind of answer, to which came from Lugia as she poked her head out from a hole between the jackets buttons.

	“Just as I thought, he moved.”  Was her simple answer to my question and as I looked down at her I gasped a little in surprise.  She looked like one of those aliens that popped out from your chest upon hatching within you, but instead of within my body she was just simply poking her head out of my jacket.

	“What do you mean you thought?  Do you mean to say that you knew he was going to move?”   I asked in a slightly irritated tone, which caused her to turn her head slightly to the side so she was looking up at me out of the corner of her eye, only to give me a nod a second later.

	“Well…yes.  He never stays in one place for long, and if there’s some kind of problem he usually moves all the more swiftly.”  She then turned to look back at the store and I could see her visibly sigh.

	“But how is that possible?  I mean, just look at this place, it looks to have been abandoned for years rather than days.”  It was then that I realized that my temper was getting the better of me and took a long calming breath.  “We were just in his store a couple of days ago.  There would be no way that the store could look like this in such a short period of time.”

	“True,” she said without looking back up at me, but continued to look into the store.  “But you have to remember that he isn’t your ordinary person.  He’s a magician.  And a fete like this isn’t that hard to duplicate.”

	“Wait a minute; are you suggesting that he used some kind of spell on me?”  I asked in a bit of a hurt/angry tone, to which she just shook her head, and then disappeared, back into my jacket.

	“Not at all.  He just used a spell on this store is all.  The spell only allows those that he wants to see the store to see it.  Anyone else will see what you’re seeing right now.”

	“Then that means that he’s still…”

	“No, he’s gone.”  She said, interrupting me.  “The magic is no longer here.”

	I knew that I had a whole bunch of other questions that I wanted to get answered, but knew that I couldn’t stay for long and it would be pointless to stand here and act the fool for seeming to talk to myself.  With a defeated sigh, I turned and began to head back the way I’d come.  It was about thirty minutes later that I found myself back at the hotel and checked out.  The clerk had tried the same tactic as the pizza boy, but after I’d told him that he’d be in a lot of trouble for offing me a bribe, he offered me the usual fee for the stay and handed me my receipt.  With all that said and done, I handed my bags up to the trucker, who was going to serve as my escort/taxi, back to somewhere more hospitable, and turned to give the place a final look.  It wasn’t so much that I was glad to be leaving the place, it was more along the lines of knowing that I was leaving a place where my life had taken on a new chapter/twist.  With a final sigh and a bit of a squirming from the occupant within my jacket, I climbed into the cab and shut the door.

	Walking back into the hotel room proper, a towel draped over my head as I rubbed the last vestiges of dampness out of it, I sighed.  Once we’d gotten back into a better town so that my rig could get the proper repairs done, the company had set me up in a new hotel room and had told me that they’d be fronting all my expenses for the next two weeks, while my arm healed and the repairs to my truck were being done.  Not to mention that but the company had not only said that they’d be paying for a layover fee, but also a large sum once the settlement from the lawsuit would come in.  With that whole fiasco done, I found myself in a decent hotel and just now stepping out of the shower.

	Looking down to the bed, the metallic Lugia lay upon her back with a distended belly.  “Can’t…eat…another…bite.”  Were her only words, which made it seem as if saying just that was a strain.  Though as I looked about her I still couldn’t believe what she’d told me.

(Earlier that day, just checked into the hotel room and placing down my bags)

	“Now that we’re finally alone again, there’s been something that I’ve been meaning to tell you for some time.”  She said as I opened my jacket and watched as she glided out from within my jacket to land upon the bed.  Only to turn a moment later after her graceful landing on the bed sheet and look up at me.

	“And what might that be?”

	“I’m…HUNGRY!”  She practically yelled out which got my ears to ring and probably the whole room to vibrate in stain of the force behind her words.

	After I’d used my fingers to try and stop the high pitched ringing that somehow seemed to have popped up from nowhere, I scowled down at her.  “Dang it, don’t do that.”

	“Well then get me something to eat.  I swear I haven’t eaten a thing since we left the old man’s shop.”  She complained as she began to run about atop the bed in what looked like a frantic manner.

	“Would you calm down, for crying out loud!”  Once she’d calmed down enough so that she wasn’t running about any more did I sit down in the in chair facing the bed and slumped forward in it.  “If I remember you telling me right, you said that you don’t eat, ‘Food’.  So what is it that you actually consume then?”

	Ever so slowly she sat up on her haunches and tapped her chin with a solitary feather/finger.  After a few moments did she finally smile and nod to herself.  “In simple terms, I ‘consume’ electronics.”  With that said I quickly looked about the room, but sighed in relief as I found my laptop still in the same place I’d left it.  Though as I turned to look back at her I saw that she was indeed eyeing my laptop, but when she turned back to me she only gave me a smirk before falling over in laughter.

	“Hay, you said that you consume data and the only that I have in here is my laptop.”  I said in protest to her laughter, which only got her to laugh all the more.

	By the time she’d gotten over her laughing fit and all did she right herself so she was sitting on her haunches again and smile up at me.  “I know, but the horrified look on your face was priceless.”  This got her to chuckle a little more to which she tried to hide behind her wing/hand.  After she’d stopped her laughing for the second time she coughed and nodded up to me.  “Alright then, all fooling aside, what I said before was the truth.  I don’t consume the same things you do, but I do ‘Eat’.”

	“And I ask again, what do you, ‘Eat’.”  This time I made the quotation marks with my hands.

	“I eat,” she mirrored my finger movement which got her to laugh once then smiled.  “Circuitry.  Namely anything computer related.”  She held out her wing and began to count those things she eats on each feather/finger.  “CD’s, Motherboards, Flash drives, and everything else along those lines.”

	I slowly raised an eyebrow at that, but after a moment of thinking it over I had to admit that it did make sense.  She did resemble that of a machine like organism and things of that nature would probably consume such things.  Though as I thought about that for a bit I wondered where I’d be able to come by or find things like that, I mean CD’s wouldn’t be a problem but everything else along those lines would be a bit of a pain to find.  “That’s all well and good, but I don’t know where I can readily find things above that of CD’s.”

	“That’s alright.  CD’s are the like fast food for me.”  As I thought about that as well, I came to the thought that things like Flash Drives and Motherboards were finer or more like delicacies to something like her.  “So if you could find me a stack of CD’s, then that should hold me over for some time.”

(Present)

	Looking back on over to the plastic bag that I’d returned with, it was now devoid of both spools of CD’s, I was surprised to see only a half stack of 50 remaining.  Sitting down upon the bed I couldn’t help myself as I pocked a finger into the distended belly of the plump metallic Lugia.  She let out the cutest little burp that I’d ever heard and I couldn’t help but laugh at the sound.

	“Don’t poke me right now; I’m so full that I think I’d just pop if you did.”  She said in a squeaky voice, but still lay on her back and rubbed at her distended belly.

	“Be as it may, you still look rather silly there, laying there on your back with your belly so plump like it is.”  I so badly just wanted to see if she’d make a slight squeak sound of protest again if I poked at her belly again, but resisted the urge to torment her further or rather see how far I could push her before she retaliated in some strange/unusual way.

Seeing as it would be rather pointless to keep an empty spool of CD’s I put the lid back on one of them and then tossed the empty spool into the nearby trash.  “Well I’m glad to see that you’re full, now only if my food would get here…”  Almost at that moment the phone on the nightstand began to ring.  Not expecting anyone to call this room or such I picked up the receiver with uncertainty.  “Hello?”

“Good evening sir, this is the front desk.  We have a pizza delivery person here who claims that you ordered a pizza.  If so, could you please be so kind as to come down and claim it.”  It was the voice of the lady at the front desk and as she finished telling me about why she’d called I sighed in relief, though I really didn’t know why I was sighing relief but just nodded anyways.

“Yeah, I ordered a Pizza.  I’ll be down in a minute.”

(An hour later)

	With the lights off in the room and the Metallic Lugia asleep on the pillow next to mine, I lay there on my back and stared up at the ceiling.  I didn’t know if it was the Pizza, the Mountain Dew, or just the fact that my mind was restless, but for the life of me I couldn’t seem to get to sleep that night.  Every once in a while I would hear the slightest whistle sound come from beside me and smile as I looked over and saw the Metallic Lugia sleeping soundly beside my head.  After the fifth time of counting the hundredth sheep, I finally threw off my covers and sat upright on the edge of the bed.  Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked once more over my shoulder at the slumbering Lugia and resided myself to getting up.
	
	I really didn’t know what I’d do to try and pass the time so that my mind or body would finally feel fatigued enough to let me sleep, so walked around the room for a bit.  It wasn’t until the Lugia whistled again that a thought popped into my head.  ‘Wait a minute; didn’t she say that there was some kind of pamphlet on her?  A pamphlet that she said the old man wanted me to read?’  I scratched at the back of my head for a moment or two and finally nodded to myself to finding it and giving it at least a once over.

	‘Unlike all the other types of electronics that I’ve bought in the past, I think that I should probably give that thing a bit more of a go-over.’  I thought to myself as I unzipped a few different pockets in my bag in search of the wayward pamphlet that seemed to have gone into hiding at the bottom of some random pocket.  After searching for a bit I finally found it at the bottom of my computer bag and smiled.  ‘Thought you could hide from me didn’t you.  Though I do wonder how you got yourself stuck in the bottom of my computer bag.’  Though as I thought about it a bit, I couldn’t help but let out a single laugh at the irony of finding a manual/pamphlet on the Metallic Lugia there in my computer bag.

	As I walked over to the table, I couldn’t help but stop half way there and look down at her sleeping form.  ‘Why in the world would there be a manual/pamphlet on her in the first place?  I mean it’s not like she couldn’t tell me if there was something wrong.’  But as that train of thought continued I couldn’t help but sigh in defeat.  ‘I’m a rig driver, not a mechanic or a computer tech, so it’d probably be best to at least give it a glance over.  I mean she is a living thing in a way, so there probably is something too it all.’  With that thought I went into the bathroom and sat down upon the toilet, to which at least if I were to turn on a light that it wouldn’t wake her up and cause a problem.

	‘If you are reading this then I must warn you that in doing so that you must pay particular attention to it all.’  The pamphlet began as I opened the first page and looked at the writing on the inside flap.  ‘The reason that I saw this is to prepare you for the unexpected and forewarn you of possible dangers down the road.’  At the end of the page or towards the bottom right corner it was signed by the old man, and it literally read ‘Old Man.’  Upon the next page was what appeared to be a table of contents and through that there seemed to be several different listings.  Most were fairly simple to understand, feeding, care, etc… but one of the ones that really caught my eye was the one that said maintenance.

	A long time ago my parents had praised me in helping them to understand computers, but when it was really boiled down all that I knew were the basics.  They’d even suggested that I go into the field of computers but for the life of me I couldn’t really get into sitting for long periods of time and since I didn’t want to stare at a computer screen for hour and hour on end, looking at ones and zeros all day, I began to look into other fields of work.  I don’t really recall what it was that set me onto the idea of being a Rig Driver, but it was probably one of those times when I did the trucker pull and got the Rig Driver to pull his horn that decided it for me.

	As I shook my head, to bring me back to the present and out of my reverie, I looked down that the word ‘Maintenance’ once again and lamented even flipping to that page.  So skipping section for the moment, I decided on the first step and turned to the first chapter, ‘Feeding’.  Much of what was listed as edible things I could’ve already guessed at after the little metallic Lugia had suggested once we’d settled into our room and the rest I nodded at in understanding.  Along with the usual electronics and such for normal consumption, it listed different oils and lubricants for drinks, which really didn’t surprise me.  A small chuckle ran through me as I realized how simple those kinds of things would be attainable through local truck stops and maintenance bays.

	The next section was dedicated to care and I couldn’t help but chuckle at that part as well.  For the first thing that was listed was in order to keep her body clean and shinning she’d need to be ‘buffed’, every once in a while.  A mental image of me using a buffing tool which resembled a large cloth spinning on a drill that would run over her body and she’d coo and preen over the feel of its softness running all over her body.  With that laugh over with I continued through the book and nodded at different parts and other such things.  ‘In other words she pretty much is maintenance free, where it comes to taking care of herself in most parts.  It’s just with acquiring the items she needs to keep herself maintained that she needs help with.’  I nodded to that and leaned back on the seat and took a good long breath of relief.

Most of the things she needed would be easy to come by when I stopped at local truck stops and such, though for the rest I’d have to stop in to different electronic stores and the like for the computer stuff.  ‘All that is pretty easy and such, but if she goes anywhere near my laptop, we’re going to have some issues.’  To which I laughed at again and smiled.  Finally as I closed the book up, I stretched a bit and realized that somehow through all that reading that I’d finally gotten my body to its proper stage of restlessness/fatigue and nodded.  ‘It’s about time.  Now I can probably get some sleep.’

With that I got up, opened the door, and shut off the bathroom light.  After stumbling around in the dark for a bit I finally found my way to the bed and crawled underneath the covers.  ‘A good night’s sleep will probably do me a world of good and allow my head to digest all that I’ve learned from the pamphlet.’  So with a final word of goodnight to the little friend I rolled over to my uninjured side/shoulder and went to sleep.  How little did I know that that next morning things were going to take a ‘really strange turn’.