Tom vs the Volcano God

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  I said, “Well thanks, but I really don’t want to bother with any of it. When Sarah does take a break from her writing, she’s getting it all ready for me and helping me pick out new things. Oh, but she isn’t pushy and making me change just for her or anything. She’s just helping me.”

  One of them said, “That’s really nice. I know you wouldn’t put up with some pushy gold-digger. Don’t worry about us thinking that either. Sarah, huh? That’s a nice name. Well, we can’t wait to meet her, when you are ready. Oh, here comes a van with some packages now it looks like.”

  I thanked them both and greeted the delivery driver and signed for a few boxes and took them into the house and left them in the entryway.

  I found Sarah still in the kitchen. Everything appeared to have been removed from the cupboards and moved to the garage for now but she was still in the process of cleaning.

  I said, “It all went fine. They were really kind about all of it. They’re really good neighbors. They want to meet you sometime, when the time is right.”

  Sarah stopped and smiled and said, “That’s so nice. I never met people before. I hope that’s nice. Tom, your taxes aren’t done. Well, they are now, if you want them to be. All the records were on-line from your bank and different places. I got them ready while I was cleaning the stove. Do you want to look at them? I can print a copy or send a copy to your email.”

  I said, “Email would be great. Thank you so much.”

  She said, “I can clean the hot tub, too. The chemistry is easy if you have the supplies. Do you have some, or should I order them? I looked out the window, and it looks like maybe you haven’t used it lately. You have a nice gazebo and I think that you should use it. Alice told me that you used to be married and that your wife died. I’m really sorry.”

  Sarah’s innocence in jumping from one topic to another so easily was really attractive to me. Like her mind just said what came to it. I liked her thought patterns a lot.

  I said, “That’s true.”

  She said, “I’m really sorry. Is it OK if I fix the hot tub? For you? Later, you know, someday, I could keep you company if you didn’t want to soak in it by yourself, if you wanted me to.”

  I said, “Sarah, it would be great to have the hot tub working again. And you are always welcome to join me if you want to.”

  She said, “OK. We’ll see,” and she went back to cleaning.

  I sat in my chair in the family room, which was really just the other half of the room that was the kitchen, and let her work. I got up a few times to bring in more deliveries. Eventually, Sarah finished cleaning the kitchen and started putting away groceries and things that she had bought for cooking in and eating on.

  As she started to cook, she said, “I hope you like this. I think that you will. It’s funny. I never cooked before. I know how, but this is the first time I ever did it. I’m glad that my first time is for you. You are going to like it. I know what you like to eat.”

  I said, “Sarah, how could you know what I like to eat?”

  She said, “Well, first, I think that if there was something in your food that was spoiled, you probably didn’t like to eat that very much. If there was something that I found several containers of, and some of them were lost in the back of the cabinet, then you probably liked that, but kept forgetting that you already had some. And if you had receipts from certain restaurants, then you liked that food. So, I looked at their menus and tried to match up what I already knew to guess what you might like to order. And you take blood pressure medicine and allergy medicine, so that told me some things too about what your body doesn’t want you to eat.”

  I said suddenly, “Sarah, did you review my web browser history?”

  Sarah said gently, “A man has needs. I know that. Women do to. Alice taught me all about it. And she said it was perfectly natural, but that some people are embarrassed about it, but I don’t know why. Do you think that you would find me attractive? If we were in that kind of relationship? I think I kind of look like a lot of those women in certain ways. Alice looks like that. And she and Robby are in that kind of relationship. Can I ask you about that?”

  I said, “Of course. Sarah, I think that you are very attractive. Of course, I haven’t seen, well, I mean, I wouldn’t, I mean, I’m not asking you to…”

  She said, “You mean, you haven’t seen me without my clothes on, like those women on the websites. But you think I’m attractive anyway? Like this? That’s nice. Tom, I think that since I’m going to live with you that you might see me naked someday, maybe by accident. That will be OK won’t it? We don’t let just anybody see us naked, but if we live together then it might happen and that would be OK, right?”

  I said, “Sarah, you are very pretty. And I hope you don’t mind me saying that I think that you are probably a lot more attractive in many ways than any of those models on the websites. But I don’t want to do anything that would ever be something that you don’t want to do. But if I saw you naked, maybe by accident, I wouldn’t be upset. Not unless it upset you.”

  She said, “Um, it might not upset me. Not if you think I’m attractive. And if you have needs, maybe, someday, if it was that we felt certain ways, then I might not think it was bad at all.”

  She continued to cook for a few minutes and then exclaimed, “Oh! But the hot tub! If you are in the hot tub, and if you want me to keep you company, I wouldn’t mind at all. I could have to be naked then, and that’s wonderful, right? Because you have to. Like when Alice and Robby go to a beach on vacation because people in those countries go nude to the beach sometimes. And we would be nude in the hot tub and it would be your own private beach. Right? So, you would see me nude then and that would be perfect.”

  She stared at me as if she really wanted an answer. And she seemed genuinely excited by the idea.

  I said, “Sarah, being nude in the hot tub is really nice, and if you wanted to keep me company, that would be really nice. And, yes, you could get in the hot tub naked if you want to, but you don’t have to.”

  She smiled and said, “I would probably have to. I can ask Alice about it. Oh, she says that unless I feel afraid of it that it’s fine. And I don’t feel afraid of it, so I’ll get the hot tub ready to keep you company right away. Oh, that’s a good idea. Thank you. It’s nice that you think I’m pretty. If I’m pretty, then I guess you could see me naked, but nobody else can, except if you have another girlfriend, then we would both keep you company together, like on some of those websites, and Robby…”

  She stopped suddenly.

  I asked, “And Robby what?”

  She said, “It’s funny. I thought I knew. But I don’t. Anyway, Alice says don’t do anything scary, but have fun. I think hot tubs must be fun. I’ll get it ready.”

  After that, Sarah seemed even happier than before. I wondered if we had gone up another level now but I didn’t want to stop to check and confirm it.

  When dinner was ready, Sarah set the table and we sat down together. The food was actually very delicious. And I told her so.

  She said, “I’m so glad that you like it.”

  I said, “Do you eat or anything? Where does your energy come from?”

  She said, “I think I can eat, but I don’t have to. And I get energy from light and radio waves, and I do have a place where I can take in electricity and sometimes I’ll do that at night. Are you finished?”

  I said that I was, and Sarah happily cleaned up the dishes. She told me where the store was that she had ordered her dress and nightgown from, and I went off to pick them up for her.

  Before I walked out the door, I said, “Sarah, would you be upset if sometime I picked out something for you and maybe bought you some kind of dress or something as a present?”

  She said, “No. I wouldn’t be upset.”

  I said, “Can you send a list of your measurements and sizes to my phone so that I can have it if I need it?”

  She smiled and my phone buzzed with a new text message and I left the hous
e and drove away.

  Chapter 4 - The First Night

  A few minutes later, when I pulled into a parking space, I took a moment to look at the message, and my eyes went wide. An E-cup! Under that cotton blouse was a pair of E-cups! I would have thought that I would have noticed that. But, to be fair, I had been focusing on things other than how Sarah looked. I had probably tried not to notice her breasts that much. I had glanced at her rear in my bedroom as she made the bed, and I had noticed that she was attractive, but I hadn’t really looked at her. Not really looked. She was a brunette, I remembered that much.

  According to the text message, she was five-foot-five-inches tall. Slim, but with hips several inches bigger than her waist, and busty as heck. The dress I was picking up for her was certainly going to show off some shape. But so must have the blouse and jeans. How could I have not noticed? The long cotton nightgown wasn’t going to show that much shape, but I bet that it would drape over her chest enough to make it plain that she was under there, and it was definitely going tent out from her body gloriously.

  Hey, while I was at it, I might as well check on our status.

  The report said, “Friendship level five. Sarah adores you. She feels very safe and somewhat attracted to you. She feels very safe with you.

  Romance level five. Sarah adores you. She sees you as a romantic interest. She may initiate more touching and hugs. She may allow an arm around her waist or shoulder and may find sitting in your lap enjoyable. Sarah may flirt more openly.

  Comfort level five. Sarah feels very comfortable. She may wear short dresses, towels, underwear, and night gowns in your presence. She may want to shop for more revealing clothes. She will want your approval of herself. She may make suggestive comments with no intention of following through with them.

  Helpfulness level seven. Sarah wants to do as much as she can for you within the constraints of the other relationship levels.

  Comments: Sarah may be suggestive and flirtatious, but she is still hesitant to take action or engage in intimate contact. Sarah my become confused or frustrated because she wants to do more romantically than she is ready for emotionally. Act with caution.”

  Well, that was nice. I didn’t know how quickly this process normally progressed, but this seemed fast. Of course, Robby had said that this was a prototype, so maybe there wasn’t a ‘normal’ progression for this yet. yet. And on that topic, what was Sarah a prototype of? She wasn’t a sex doll. She would have acted like a sex doll if that was what she was designed for. She wasn’t a robotic housekeeper. If she had been, there wouldn’t be all of the relationship stuff going on. It seemed like she was, as Robby had said, a ‘non-organic life-form’ with its own learning and emotional capabilities. As such, the plan couldn’t be to sell them. Robby was a good guy, and selling slaves, non-organic or otherwise wasn’t in his nature. Maybe it was a purely scientific experiment. Maybe he made it initially for himself. Maybe they were housekeepers, but for his house, and now mine, only. Maybe they were designed to be well-treated employees for his business. There was no way to know right now, not unless I talked to him. For now, I was a beta tester I guessed, and the full purpose might be revealed later.

  I had a sudden thought, and it scared me. What if this was a beta test of a prototype, and after the test was over, I was expected to return her? Robby’s letter said that he had something for me. He hoped it would be fun and comforting. He never said that I got to keep it. He did say that he had ‘a bunch of them’, didn’t he? That sounded more like he was giving me one, in the same way that he ‘had’ some. I needed to clarify this right away. If she was going to be taken away from me, this probably needed to end now. But that argued for the idea that she wouldn’t be taken away from me. Robby would know that it would be crushing to build a relationship with Sarah, even with her non-organic nature, and to lose that relationship later. Even a new car would have been that way. He wouldn’t give me a fabulous luxury car to comfort me in what I was going through now, and then just take it away and make me take the bus from then on. No, he must have planned for Sarah to stay with me. But I would clarify that as soon as possible. I’d write up my own legal contract and let him know that he’d suffer much worse than being buried in ants if he ever took her away from me. Even if our relationship never went farther than it had so far, she was a wonderful companion and I never wanted to lose her now. I was Robby’s older brother, and I’d remind him of that in the harshest of ways if necessary.

  I got out of the car and walked into the store. I asked at the first counter I came to where order pickup was, and the girl directed me to the back of the second floor. Naturally, that took me through the women’s clothing and lingerie section. And I felt intrigued and tempted to take a look around and imagine what Sarah might look good in but I kept moving. I kept moving, but I did wonder what it would be like to come shopping in person and have Sarah look for some new clothes and lingerie. My wife and I had shopped like that together for her, especially when we were first married, and a little bit even before. It was always exciting and embarrassing and a huge amount of fun. Robby’s agreement said that I could take her out in public as long as no one ever found out about her specialness.

  It took the woman at the service counter just a minute to locate the package, and a minute after that, having thanked her and left, I was on my way back to the car.

  Sarah had said that she could help me pick out new clothes as well. And that sounded like a fun idea too.

  Driving home again seemed to take longer than it had taken to get to the store. I was reluctant to leave home and anxious to get back. You know what? I was having fun! For the first time in eight months, I was having fun. And I liked it.

  As I came through the door, I heard an exclamation of delight and Sarah rushed down the stairs and hugged me tightly.

  She said excitedly, “Oh, welcome home!” and she kissed me quickly on the lips.

  It was just a peck, like you would do with a female friend if you were really close, but it was so exuberant and joyful that I instantly wanted more. I put my arms around her, and we held each other for just a few seconds and I quickly let go of her at the first sign that she was releasing me. She stepped back a step but held both of my hands and smiled.

  She said, “I did miss you! It was wonderful. I missed you so much. And I got excited and I’m sorry that I didn’t clean everything, but I got excited and made up a bedroom that I think that you want me to sleep in and I got my toothbrush and lotion and everything and I put it in the second bathroom to get ready for bed and everything, and is that OK? Do you want to see the room and make sure I picked what you wanted me to? I can clean more when you go to bed and we have all day when you are at work, and I just wanted to, and you said that you wanted me to be happy.”

  I said, “Sarah, of course. Take me and show me what you did.”

  She bounced with excitement and led me up the stairs. There were four bedrooms up here. My master bedroom and three more. One, to the left, next to a laundry room, was a cluttered computer room and office that I needed to get straightened out. To the right of that was a bathroom with a tub and shower combination. Next to that was the room that had been the ‘guest room’. It was the cleanest, and that’s the one that I assumed that Sarah thought was for her. Next to that was another small bedroom that I had used for storage and had stacked chest deep with boxes of junk. To the right of that, along the landing at the top of the stairs was my room.

  Sarah took me, not to the guest room, but to the little junk room between guest room and my room. She swung the door open and said, “It was all messy, so I knew you weren’t using it and it just felt perfect and I’ll be right next door, and it seemed like it was probably where you meant for me to sleep, so I moved everything, just temporarily, to the other room and I’ll take care of all of that before you even know it.

  I looked at the room in amazement. All of the boxes were gone. The little single bed that had been under the piles was cleared and had fresh shee
ts and blankets. The bedside table that I hadn’t seen for all those months was dusted, adjusted, and had a little table lamp on top of it. There was an old chest of drawers, but now it was clean and sitting nicely against one wall. The closet, which had been the most disastrous part of the room, was empty. About the only other things in the room were a little desk and a small rug in front of the bed.

  I said, “Sarah, this is great. Do you like it?”

  She said, “Well, yeah, I like it, but is it right? Is this how you wanted it?”

  I said, “This is exactly the room that I picked out for you. I just hadn’t had time to clean it out yet.”

  Sarah looked at me strangely and said, “Tom, that’s very confusing. You aren’t telling the truth. But at the same time, you are. Did I do something wrong? Wait. Tom, did you know that I was coming?”

  I said, “No. I just found out today. I didn’t have any time to prepare at all.”

  She softened and said, “That’s even better. I just tried to think about it and now I see that I was a surprise, wasn’t I? But you have been so wonderful. That’s why we are figuring it all out together, isn’t it? Because I didn’t know anything except that I was being sent to help you, and you didn’t know anything about me either. That’s so fun. Alice says that Robby is a genius and always knows what to do. And you like me. I can tell. When you said that this was just the room you had picked out, that wasn’t true because you didn’t pick it out before now. But it was true because you did pick it out right now. That was confusing but now it makes sense. I didn’t know that things could be true and not true at the same time. If I said was this the room that you decided yesterday would be mine, you could have said no. If I said was this the room that you want me to have right now, you could have said yes. But I asked if it was the right one, and you didn’t want to tell me that you hadn’t planned it, but it was the right one and you wanted it to be, so you said yes. I like that. I have to be careful. But since I know if you are telling the truth, it’ll be easy. Do you want to strip me naked and fuck me to my first orgasm, showing me what it’s like to be with a man who loves me, all the while sucking my tits while I scream and moan with your cock filling me with pleasure?’