Dolls

by Paul Jutras

 

     "Now don't worry your pretty head about what's happening." An old man in a red silk bath robe said as he clamped the woman's pink wrists and ankles to a bed. With a electric razor he began to shave her beautiful blonde hair off until she was as bald as a cue ball, all over.

     "How did I get into this problem." Sally thought as she remembered how she had won a tour of  the doll factory.  Dressed in a fire-red blouse, black skirt, chocolate hose and jet-black three-inch heels, she had gotten off work and was the only one to show up for the night tour.

     "This is the cloning machine." The old man said as he pointed off the edge of a high catwalk. "Any toys we drop in their are copied and sent by the belt to the packing room for shipment."

     "Amazing." Sally said as she leaned over to look closer, then felt a hand give her a slight but firm shove from behind. She dropped into the machine screaming in such a high pitched voice until she blacked out in the darkness. When she woke she was laying on a table, staring upward.  She could not move at all.

     "You will be forever in a state of perfection." The old man said with a sinister smile. He stepped back and hit a light switch. Overhead lights shone down on a girl with painted freckles, a red mop of hair, red nose and a barber pole-like striped outfit that reminded  her of her childhood Rageddy Ann doll. The other girl looked like she had a body as shiny as fine china wearing a baby doll nightgown.  "Just like all my creations. My China doll and Rag doll."

     "What's that got to do with me?" Sally asked as she laid naked on the operating table. "You're scaring me and I feel like my body is being turned inside out. I can't taste my own saliva anymore or make a tear. I can't even smell the burning of the machine oil like I could."

      "You're new awareness is already going on line as your program is  filling your brain." The old man told Sally as she blacked out while her frozen eyes stared helplessly at her master.

      When Sally came to again she found herself tipped up at an angle as she was moved.  Still in pitch blackness, she only heard her master's voice, talking to someone else. "Here's the female body guard you asked for."

     "When I see her, you'll get your money." A second voice said.

    "Fine." The master said as a bright light shined in on her. The lid of the box was removed as she stood stiffly in a black leather tank top with a bare midriff, camouflage pants made of two shades of pink and black combat boots.

    "A lovely brunette." The man said. "Step forward."

     Sally couldn't stop herself from walking forward from the body. The large guns in each hand weighed next to nothing to the hydraulic lifts beneath the strips of now fake skin that passed over her metal skeleton. With a test of loyalty, the man ordered her to shoot her former master and partners.  She did so without an instant's hesitation or remorse.  She felt nothing as the man that had enslaved her fell to the ground and gasped his last breaths before slumping into a pool of his own blood.  Sally holstered her guns and stood at attention once more, awaiting orders.

       "Excellent." The man said. "With you on my side I'll be the number one crime boss of not only the city but the world. No one will dare to try to take me out with you around.  Give me a kiss, doll!"

           "This is terrible." Sally cried an invisible tear as she found her body forcing itself to walk over and rub her hands over his large chest while he kissed her on the forehead. "I don't want to be some mob hit woman."

     She realized she wasn't human anymore. She was a robot tool , servant to her new master. She would remain that way unless someday she could figure out how to override the commands and think for herself. She felt like Pinocchio wishing to be a real girl. She will wonder if like him, if her dreams would ever come true.

 

THE END


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