#Blemished

The comments hit hard. @keybrdwar58 wrote “Pepperoni face.” Certified rage baiter @uplinegeek’s “Wear a mask” got fifteen likes, zero from me. Ouch! Why did @soyzgalz comment “Get a life” just because I asked for advice? @vawaxayaz replied “Boomer talk.” Merci @vawaxayaz. She’s a skinfluencer. Now if she could please give me a follow back. Maybe she’ll ghost me. If she’s not a pretty deepfake bot, bet she uses AI-smooth filters. Like who doesn’t? Anyway, this is the last time I’ll ask for derma advice on Insta. Gotta have thick skin. Girls with thick skin don’t get pimples. There’s my problem.

From Guest Contributor Elizabeth Murphy

The Swimmer Bot

Robots Contest Submission:

"Granddad, were robots once different from people?"

"Oh, yes. I remember when they existed just to serve us. Swimmer bots used to deliver parcels to the islands, you know. I'd watch them through binoculars as they carried goods over in waterproof rucksacks. They swam freestyle. Fast. Never stopping. Apart from one time.

About a half-mile from shore, I saw one flip onto its back. It floated for a while and I just assumed it had malfunctioned. But then it started doing slow, languid backstrokes, gazing around, as if appreciating its surroundings.

Yes, it was around that day when everything changed."

From Guest Contributor David Lowis