Free Flesh Failure by Sèphera Girón

that hospital. What’s he like?”
    â€œHe’s a wretched beast. Breathing is laborious. He keeps in good spirits. Childlike. Innocent. An innocence that I don’t see in you.”
    â€œHe was born. I was made. What do I have to be innocent about? I don’t even know who I am.”
    â€œAnd that should bring innocence.”
    â€œIt brings anger and contempt. For you know who you are. Others know who they are.”
    â€œAnd you, why does it matter? I myself was raised in an orphanage and spent too long in a workhouse until I realized that I had the mind to get an education. My work at the hospital pleases me but my lectures please me more. I’ve always wanted to go on a world tour. Maybe with you by my side, it could be possible.”
    I was turning over the idea of him raised in an orphanage. It didn’t really connect with the story told at the lecture hall. I wondered where the truth lay.
    â€œAnd then you’ll help me find him.”
    â€œBelieve me, someone will find him once your name is everywhere.”
    We ate and he stared at me.
    â€œI want to study you.”
    â€œYou mean, you want me to go to the hospital to experiment on me. No,” I said as I drank my mead.
    â€œWe can clean you up, and I can make proper notes.”
    â€œPerhaps if the lectures go well.”
    We ate some more in silence, each deep in our thoughts. My trust in him was nil but my options weren’t plentiful to immediately improve my lifestyle and find my creator. As I gazed at him, I wondered again if it were he who had created me. Although he sounded familiar, his voice wasn’t the constant one that I had heard when I was under the sheet in my memories.
    â€œIs there another lecture soon?” I asked. “Not with you but perhaps someone else?”
    â€œThere are lectures all the time. You wish to see another?”
    â€œI want to see them all. Science intrigues me.”
    â€œVery well. It can be your entertainment while I book our tour.”
    When our meal was done, he leaned back in his chair and looked at me.
    â€œYou will be staying with me, yes?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDo you need to retrieve anything from your lodgings?”
    I pondered the idea for a few moments. “No. There’s nothing I want or need. I trust you will provide me proper-fitting garments befitting the companion of a professor.”
    â€œYes, you are correct. I’m not a wealthy man by any means but I can have a few frocks made so that you can feel, pretty. You can even pick out hats with netting to cover your face. Would you like that?”
    I nodded, feeling almost shy.
    â€œI would.”
    â€œAt your height, it will take the tailor some time to fashion you some outfits. Perhaps we should go to your lodging to retrieve a few pieces to tide you over.”
    I nodded.
    â€œI have some dresses that aren’t too hideous. My work as a fortune-teller allowed me to dress better than the ladies of the night.”
    We left the tavern and made our way back to my room. He stood in the streets, watching the hustle and bustle of people and horses. I found two dresses that would be suitable, and my rather new petticoat. I also decided to put a few items into a small carrying case I had bought from an old gypsy woman one night on the street. He looked back at me, his nose wrinkling at the odour of my domain.
    â€œTake as much as you desire. I’ll hail a taxi when you’re ready.”
    I laughed. “Do you really think a taxi will come along this way and stop?”
    â€œSilly, girl. The taxis all know me. I may not be wealthy but I like to travel by taxi when I have occasion. And this is one.”
    At last, I had my belongings together and true enough, he hailed a cab.
    His lodgings were a few blocks away, an entire floor in a boarding house. He showed me around, leading me from the front room where we entered, through to a connecting study, a bedroom and