Dr Jew

Andrews.
    Her stone lips spoke: "Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the Other."
    Dr. Jew snorted and moved her a few inches to the left. "Is that even yours?" he said. "I think you quote. Damn you, Mary Poppins, I wish you'd stand still. Hahaha. It's all blurring together as we descend into youthlessness. Yes, yes, yes. Good night to you."
    He closed t he bedroom door behind him. The animals in their cages down the hall lacked the faculty to know if what they heard from his room for the next few minutes was the sound of a laughing man, or the sobs of a quiet one.

XXIII.

    On their first night out they slept in Golden Gate Park. Or they pretended to sleep. The sounds, the cold, the hard earth… they never imagined the outside world would be so uncomfortable. They'd found a secluded area deep in the park behind bushes and under a tree, and they held together to block the cold and combine in nakedness. Throughout the night's remainder they heard small sounds. No voices. The sky was black. Adam remembered rain from the TV, how it came down and made people angry or depressed them when they had no umbrella or roof to cover themselves, and though he wanted no rain so Eve would stay dry and be well, he secretly wanted rain. The sky itself was amazing. Seeing it through the window from their cage was one thing, but to feel the full immensity and engulfing enfoldment from horizon to horizon was something else entirely. No rain came from the sky that night.
    The morning came gradually, gliding in. So different from the lab light.
    They would need clothes. Adam would see to it. He remembered how people treated a beautiful woman like Eve. They would rape her and beat her. And he could not allow that. He would need to find clothes.
    "Stay here," he told her , when it was bright enough to see. "If they come for you, call my name as loud as you can."
    He didn 't know where to look for clothes or how to get them. Everything he'd seen on TV taught him that a man without money had no options and would be distrusted and hated by the rest of the world. If he was to obtain clothes it would have to be by crime, possibly violence. That is what his mind said. Another part of him said otherwise. Even when he had smashed Dr. Jew's robot, Arnie, he felt… wrong… and he wasn't sure he could do anything like that to another human. No, he decided, he would have to find another way. Theft perhaps. Theft wouldn't be so bad. But not violence.
    M aybe he could ask. Just ask. Like the homeless people. They asked for spare change. Maybe he could ask for spare clothes. Maybe someone would take pity on them and allow them to live in their home. There had been TV shows like that. Stories can happen that way, he hoped.
    Yes, before theft, and miles before violence, he would try to talk and see if someone might help them.
    Looking over the bush he could see a road through the park. There were no cars, no people. He waited. They would come. His saviors, friends.
    There. There they were.
    Sweatpants they had on, which probably meant they were flexible people. Good, good. It was two men, a huge young man and a middle-aged Asian. Adam decided that walking right up to them would be the best way.
    "Hello," he said. "My name's Adam."
    "Who is he?" said Swan.
    "It's okay," said Ueda, the other jogger. "It's just a homeless man."
    "I 'm not homeless," said Adam.
    "Why is he naked?" said Swan. "Why are you naked?"
    "You are from the country, Swan," said Ueda. "It is nothing in the city. Pay it no mind. If these types get crazy then you may need to confront him. Otherwise just ignore them. Let's go."
    "But I need clothes," said Adam. He blocked their path and held up his hands.
    "This one is becoming confrontational," said Ueda. "Show me what you've learned, Swan. Take him down."
    "Okay," said Swan.
    "What?" said Adam. "Wait –"
    Swan was upon Adam, without anger or feeling, like when he first sparred with Ueda.
    "Stop!" said Adam.
    "Don't listen to him," said Ueda. "Words are only there to distract you."
    Adam tried to push the huge man away but Swan grabbed him and Adam's knee buckled mysteriously, the world not at all like TV. He was inside it now.
    Swan 's knee in his back, the mud in his mouth.
    "Come on, this hurts!" said Adam.
    "Stop it, you'll kill him!" said a woman's voice. It was Eve, who ran at Swan from the bush. Swan saw her and her naked body and in spite of Ueda's teachings to stay focused, he was distracted.
    "Get off of him!" she