"Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind ..." Die lang ersehnte Fortsetzung
geschrieben von goetterspeise | 6 Nov, 2008Zur Feier des Tages präsentiere ich an dieser Stelle die fiktive Fortsetzung einer Kult-Erzählung. Wer kommt drauf?
About thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang with its light, almost spheric tone. Rick slept like a baby. Iran took the box, went outside the kitchen, opened, and let the clerk do his work, right there at the door. She did not want to disturb her husband.
The toad was in an acceptable condition, the clerk said, and: "It's one of the old Cyberdyne models, B 155 C, a rare one." She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but she made an affirmative noise. She watched as he opened the tiny control panel at the toad's abdomen and obviously shut it down: its legs stopped pedaling immediately. It still looked like a real toad, Iran thought, but the clerk removed the control panel with some of the abdomen plate, and a hole appeared, with colored conductors and several electric components inside. The clerk took pliers and started to exchange some small black elements.
He finally came back, Iran said to herself, and tryed to remember the look of Rick's eyes, standing here in the doorway. What had stunned her, was the relief she had seen in there, the 'coming home'. She did not know how to put it into words, but - it looked authentic, he looked authentic there, like if a decade of years had passed by, and the Rick she came to know had vanished some day, replaced with a machine, with daily routine. She had not noted, when exactly this had happened. Routine it was, what she got used to as well. Does it matter if we're alive, she asked herself? The electric goat, the toad, where was the difference, as long as it all crawled and moved and worked out? Rick seemed to need this toad, it was part of his life, authentic for him as well, no matter how electric or artificial inside.
"That's it", the clerk said, and returned the toad to her. "Take care of its digestion. You may return the digested flies if you like, and obtain a customer bonus. Just call us!"
"Thank you", Iran answered, and watched the slow breathing toad in its box.