Episode 7
Even though she was alone, Lilly had to laugh to pretend she wasn’t crying. Disability had been approved, and she had received a card in the mail. Getting around outside had become difficult without a car, so Lilly had been looking for an agency to deliver groceries when she discovered the pizzeria accepted her card. Wiping a tear, Lilly typed, “Pizza.”
The Crimson Ghost spun. The page refreshed. “Estimated arrival time, twenty-seven minutes. Type what you want.”
Lilly typed, “and soda.”
Spin. Refresh. “Estimated arrival time, twenty-eight minutes. Type what you want.”
Lilly
would have thought nothing of it if she wasn’t forced to hide her pipe
under the couch when a delivery man walked in to make sure everything
was all right. He said he heard crying, but Lilly couldn’t remember. He
had pizza for her, 18" with pineapple and ham, and a bottle of
Alternatron black cherry soda. This was Chet’s exact order. Lilly had
twenty bucks to last her all week, so she offered to jerk off the driver
instead. He was a little shocked whens he went for his belt, but
informed her still the bill was already taken care of, and she'd even
tipped.
When
Lilly wondered about it later, she thought it was a joke. She went back
to the site and looked for other links, or some kind of ‘Contact Us’
button, but there was only the question box and the words, “Type what
you want.”
Lilly typed, “A new chair.”
After refreshing, the page asked, “For what room? Type what you want.”
Lilly would definitely blow someone for a leather recliner. “Living room,” she said.
The
website responded, “Estimated arrival time, eighteen hours, ten
minutes.” The chair was a perfect fit for the living room. Payments were
arranged for her. Then she asked how to build LillyKatt.com, how to
make it a pay site, and how to have that pay delivered directly to her
bank account so she could make money and spend it without ever leaving
her home. She alternated her time between TAO and the treadmill. An hour
at a time on each.
One
day, when Lilly was bored with the game and couldn’t find a chatroom in
English, she paid a visit to the unnamed website. “Type what you want,”
it requested.
“Why did I get a pineapple pizza when I first visited the site?”
Spinning
Fiend. Refresh. “Most common order between 2 and 4pm, based on a survey
of 500 pizzerias. Type what you want.” Chet was rarely most common.
“Who answers these questions,” Lilly asked.
Crimson Ghost. Refresh. “Answers based on location, keywords, and statistical analysis. Type what you want.”
“Do you have a name?” Lilly asked aloud, as well as on the keyboard.
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