Page 3 of The Genius
“Of course you are,” he said, a bit too slow, and underlined the lack of conviction by looking away. It hurt a little because all my years growing up in the Motherlands, I’d been told I was lacking empathy and social filters. Some joked that it came with being a genius, and there were days when it suited me fine. People mostly left me alone. Or at least they didn’t come to me for advice on personal matters. It was for the best, since I tended to be logical about things and unwillingly upset people with my direct answers.
Still, there were days when I felt alone and wished I could swap my brain for a better social awareness that would make people like me. Maybe it would help if I learned how to stop myself from breaking into random lectures about things no one but me found interesting. Or if I stopped pointing out the inconvenient truths that normal people in the Motherlands would know not to say out loud. But why wouldn’t people like to know that they had something stuck in their teeth, dandruff on their shoulders, or that they were bad cooks? And why should it be socially acceptable for people to fart and the rest of us to pretend we’d lost our sense of smell and not call them out on it?
“By the way,” Charlie continued. “Congratulations on the design award for the CBC. Not that it wasn’t expected, but still.”
“Thank you.”
“It seems prestigious design awards are raining down on us ever since we got you aboard the team.” Charlie smiled and softened his voice. “I know you don’t like it when I praise you too much, Shelly, but I’m proud of you. You should be proud too.”
He was right. I didn’t like attention or praise for my inventions and designs. Maybe because everyone, not least my mom, the famous and beloved councilwoman, Sheana Rene, had always expected me to grow up and do something remarkable with my genius – like find a cure for all disease or add an extra hundred years to the lifespan of humans. The pressure in my chest just from thinking about it made me close my eyes.
“You deserved that award,” Charlie said with a nod.
“Not sure about that.” I breathed and opened my eyes again. “It feels like I was cheating a little.”
“Because you’re a genius?”
“I don’t like that word.”
“It’s not your fault the other nominees didn’t have the luck of being born with a brain as brilliant as yours.”
His words made me feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t like I’d done anything to be this smart. Other nominees had worked for years on their products while I’d spent less than three months developing my ideas for the CBC product line before I began testing it on myself and others. CBC was short for Convenient Beauty Care and was developed for busy women like me who didn’t prioritize going to a beauty salon. With my product, much of the work on my skin and nails was done while I slept. In the beginning it had taken some getting used to, but now it had become relaxing to fall asleep while my CBC device massaged my scalp and face. Often, I was fast asleep while my skin was being cleaned and treated.
I hadn’t invented the device because I was a vain person. The truth was that as a teenager, I’d had terrible acne, not to mention a bushy unibrow. Plenty of well-meaning people had given me uninvited tips on fashion and beauty care for as long as I could remember. I’d never paid much attention since there were about a million other things more important to me. The idea for the CBC device had come to me when my sister, Rochelle, made a comment about a year ago. We had been at our mother’s place when Rochelle pointed out that I was once again wearing a mismatched outfit, and that my nails were cracked and unmanicured.
“When are you going to take some pride in how you look? A weekly visit to the beauty parlor shouldn’t be too hard,” she complained.
“Don’t have time,” I responded.
“It’s a priority, Shelly.”
“Not to me.”
That day Rochelle had turned to my mother with exasperation, “I swear, someday I’m going to sneak in and do Shelly’s nails while she sleeps.”
Those words had stayed with me for days and become my inspiration to design what had become the biggest must-have item this summer. Beauty had always been for other people, but waking up to see my skin glowing with health, and my nails shining with a new fun color, had become a highlight of my day, and I was amused when people from my past didn’t recognize me with my new fancy haircut and new looks.
“Rumor has it you’re up for the 2448 Designer of the Year Award,” Charlie teased.
I shook my head. “You don’t know that. They won’t give nominations until December.”
“Shelly, honey.” He gave me that parental look ofI-know-what-I’m-talking-about. “It will happen. If not next year then soon. You’re amazing at what you do.”
“Which is why you should trust me when it comes to the natural sex-bot,” I said and raised an eyebrow. “I would also like to add some more fetishes to the programming of Mindy.”
“Fetishes. What kind of fetishes?” He turned back to the frozen image of the Nman licking Mindy’s toes. “Looks to me like Mindy already has that covered.”
“Like her predecessors, Mindy only accommodates the most common and basic fetishes; why not expand that to include more? Who are we to judge? And the robots don’t care.”
Charlie rubbed his chin and chewed on his lips, making them disappear. My mind was analyzing as always and concluding that talking about sex made him feel uncomfortable. In a melodic voice inside my head, I used a rule to remember.A thing you don’t like to hear – will make your lips disappear.
“You’re not talking about the freaky stuff, are you?” he asked and again his nose wrinkled up a bit.
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. “These past two weeks I’ve encountered fourteen different fetishes including voyeurism, sadism, masochism, nasolingus, pygophilia, titillagnia, urophilia, katoptronophilia, knismolagnia, podophilia, and a few others.”
Charlie’s eyes were wide and he blinked a few times. “Could you say it in English?”
Since he’d invited it, I began a small lecture. “Voyeurism means people who achieve arousal from watching others in sexual situations. Sadists like to inflict pain on others, while masochists like to receive pain. Nasolingus describes people who enjoy sucking on a person’s nose. Pygophilia is one of the most common fetishes. It describes people who like to see, touch, and play with buttocks. I can’t tell you how many of the Nmen touch, knead, and slap Mindy’s butt.” I continued explaining the fascinating kinds of fetishes. “Knismolagnia is for people who enjoy being tickled, while titillagnia is for the people who enjoy tickling others. Urophilia has to do with urination.”
