“Yes.” Letty nodded, wanting to tell Sao the phrase anyway. “It says…” He flipped open the book and read it, from a marked page, “We do not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Sounds depressing.”
“I like it.” Letty answered softly. “It’s… saying that the people you hate can say as much as they want, because you’ll never wish to remember it so you don’t. But, for the people you care about, their silence when they’re gone is very attention-grabbing.”
Sao looked to him. “That’s pretty wise.”
“Is it?” Letty asked, looking up.
“Yeah.” Sao nodded. “Where’d you learn to say stuff like that?”
Letty shrugged, “Once we’re activated, we run on basic operations… During the times between when I was owned by someone I’d look at books to read.”
“They don’t just put you in a capsule and shut you down?”
“They could.” Letty shrugged, “But I guess I’m just… The last of the first.”
Sao nodded a bit. “So… You ready?”
“For what?” he asked, looking confused.
“To come back, of course.”
Letty shook his head, “Oh.. So that’s why you came.” He stood up slowly. “I want to do like you said- and try to become real.”
“You can’t.” Sao shook his head. “Face it. You’re a machine. You’re just metal and rubber pretty much.”
“And if you round up, you’re just solid water.”
Sao blinked, startled. He shook his head again, “Come on back. You don’t have to stay here anymore.”
Letty didn’t answer for a moment. Then he said, very definitively, “No.”
Sao shrugged, turned and walked away. Hating the idea of being home alone, Sao began to space out into his fears. As he walked home, it became so bad that he crossed the street when a car was coming.
Letty had been worried about the way Sao left without any more words and followed after him.
Letty saw his owner get hit by the car, fly five feet up and land almost twelve feet from where he had been hit. Terrified, Letty ran to Sao’s side, and carefully shook him. “Mister Hishi…?” He asked softly, shaking him more. “Mister Hishi!” He shouted, shaking him more. “Someone, call an ambulance!”
The blaring of the sirens came quickly onto the scene. Letty fought the doctors to stay with Sao as they took him into the ambulance and drove to the hospital. The doctors had their way and made Letty wait in the lobby while Sao was rushed into the E.R.
Letty didn’t sit, only stood at the door.
A nurse came over to him, “Excuse me, but who are you waiting for?”
“Sao Hishi.” Letty said, not moving from the door.
“Is he in there?”
“Yes.”
“…What happened to him?”
“He was hit by a car.”
She nodded and walked back to the counter.
Almost ten minutes later, Marlia and Michael were standing next to Letty, waiting just as impatiently.
An hour passed, and still Letty wouldn’t move from the door unless someone was going in or out. Marlia had gotten tired of standing and was sitting against the wall nearby. Michael was resting against her shoulder, reading a book.
“Just sit down, Letty.” Michael called to him. “He’ll be out soon enough.”
“Michael…” Letty asked softly.
“Yeah?”
“Is it my fault?”
“For what?” Michael asked, looking over to Letty.
Letty didn’t move in the least, his eyes still focused on the door to the E.R. “That he was hit by the car.”
“No.” Marlia answered, shaking her head. “He was already depressed…”
That made Letty look to the pair. “Depressed?”
Michael nodded a bit, “Yeah… My brother’s a big baby. He’s scared to be alone.”
“Is that why he got me?”
“Probably.”
Letty looked slowly back to the door, feeling a wave of guilt hit him. “And my saying I wouldn’t come back did this…”
Michael’s eyes thinned, “You weren’t going to come back?”
“Sao told me to become more real, so I wanted to before I came back…”
Michael sighed after a moment. “You know… He meant: he wanted you to learn to understand his feelings.”
“I don’t know how if he doesn’t talk.”
“I’ll get some books on human interactions and stuff for you, okay.” Michael said. “So come back?”
Letty nodded a bit, not moving from the door as he waited.
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