Sheep and Wolves by Jeremy C. Shipp Read Free Book Online Page B

rocket pack. It’s heavy, and he’s trying to prove his manliness to me because when he sees me, he sees his father, which is always a nice money maker.
    “I didn’t think you could have a child without a woman,” he says.
    “Without a woman?” I say. “Let me ask you something, Sonny. Are you retarded?”
    “I take offense to that, Mr. Grelding. My cousin has autism.”
    “Autism is the same as retarded?”
    “I wouldn’t call anyone retarded. It’s insensitive.”
    “I am insensitive, retard. The point is, of course you need a woman to have a baby. I have twelve inside me right now.”
    “Babies?”
    “Women. Now pay attention.”
    I gather the best bits and pieces from each woman inside. Linda’s math skills. Margaret’s libido. Cindy’s looks. Fran’s obsessive perfectionism. On and on. I gather them and sculpt them into a little boy. As for the leftovers. Linda’s ugliness. Margaret’s weak stomach. Cindy’s stupidity. Fran’s compassion. On and on. I dump the scraps into a little girl.
    Soon I’m bent over, heaving, vomiting hard on a wounded mouse that managed to drag itself from under my rocket pack.
    I upchuck the boy first. The girl comes second. They’re dripping with bile and I pull out my permanent marker and draw an X on the girl’s forehead. I carry them both to the cage and lower them inside. I’m careful.
    “With everything I put inside him, he’ll be the next Einstein,” I say. “Or at least the next Bill Gates.”
    “What will she be?” Sonny says.
    “She’ll be a meal for the beasts. You might not know this, but in beast society, human children, especially babies, are considered quite the delicacy. I give them a few surplus children and they raise my real children in exchange.”
    “But what’s the point of having children if you’re not going to raise them?”
    “I take them back after they’re older and less annoying. It’s easier to assimilate them into human society than you might think. It just takes some tough love, and that’s something I have a lot of.”
    His eyes twinkle, because he’s hoping that part of me loves him.
    And I keep his hope alive by smiling at him. He’s pathetic.
    I close the cage.
    *
    The troublesome part of having a wind up house is that you need to employ a fulltime winder and the turnover rate is 100%, what with the severe hand crippling. Other than the pesky paperwork and interviews, however, it’s a blast.
    Most people, I suppose, like to detach themselves from the suffering required to keep their opulent lifestyles up and running. Me, I like to watch, sitting in my comfiest chair, gobbling down popcorn.
    “Nice work, Hans,” I say, between chomps.
    “Thank you, Mr. Grelding,” Hans says. He’s winding up the fireplace, which of course doesn’t require any winding. Hans is probably smart enough to know this, but he turns the fake winding key anyway.
    Sonny comes in and pulls a Rubic’s cube out of a shopping bag. He holds it out to me.
    “What?” I say. “I don’t want it.”
    “You asked me to buy it for you,” Sonny says. “You said you’d pay me back.”
    “I wouldn’t ask for this. I hate games.”
    “I must have misheard you.” Sonny puts the cube back in the bag.
    Hans continues to the turn the key. His hands continue to wither and die.
    “Sonny,” I say. “We need to have a little talk. Sit down.”
    He does.
    “First of all,” I say. “I want you to know that I believe in you. Really, I do.”
    “Thank you, Mr. Grelding.”
    “You have the will to succeed in my program, but your body and mind are going to need a little extra help. I’m afraid I have to increase the cost of your tuition to cover the additional training time.”
    Sonny scoots closer to me. “I’m already too financially strained as it is, Mr. Grelding. I’ll work harder, I promise.”
    “It’s not as simple as that, Sonny.”
    He moves closer.
    “You can’t make your flaws disappear by working hard,” I say. “They’re