A Small Puddle of Water

Without saying a word Dave darted around the woman, and hurried towards the bathroom. "No fucking way..." Dave thought as he stared at the mostly empty bathtub. Only a small pool of water remained atop the closed drain.

"See?" The woman said as she entered the bathroom. "I used up almost all of the water." She pointed to herself.

Dave looked back at the short woman. "No... This can't be real... You're messing with me." He shook his head in disbelief.

The woman sighed. "Why is this so hard to believe. You followed the instructions right?"

"The instructions!" Dave thought as he pushed past the woman and ran out into the living room to reread the instructions. Snatching up the instructions Dave quickly began skimming the paper. "Your new DPC will explain the rest..." The words seemed to echo in Dave's mind.

"Well do you believe me yet?" She asked as she walked into the living room.

"If you really are a DPC then explain how this all works." Dave demanded as he began to pace. "How does a powder become a person? And how can you speak English? How!?"

The woman put her hands up and motioned for Dave to calm down. "Look I can't explain everything, but I will tell you what I know." The woman made her way over to Dave. "I really was rehydrated from the powder that you put in the bathtub. How that all works, I'm not allowed to know. But what I do know is that I need to rehydrate myself periodically or I will end up back in my powdered form." The woman paused and shuddered at that thought. "Anyways, the reason I can speak English and the reason that I know how to act like a normal person is because DPCs are engrained with... " The woman paused. "Hmmm... I guess it's like a library of knowledge." She turned and looked at Dave's couch. "Like I know that is a couch, even though that's the first time I've ever seen a couch. I can't really explain how it works, but it allows me to kind of hit the ground running..." The woman turned back towards Dave. "Does that make any sense?"

"This is ridiculous." Dave said dropping the instructions on the floor. "You want me to believe that I made a random woman out of powder?"

"Well do you have any better explanation as to why I'm standing here?" The woman asked as she picked up the instructions from the floor. "You followed these instructions." She held up the instructions. "And now I'm here." She shrugged at Dave. "I don't know exactly how this all works... but it did and I'm here."

Dave placed him hand on his forehead and slowly ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay..." He sighed and took a deep breath. "Say everything you said is true. Then what is your name?"

The woman shrugged at Dave. "I don't have one. The person who rehydrates us gets to name us. So my name is whatever you want it to be."

Dave let out another sigh. "Okay fine... Then why do you look like your 60 years old?"

The woman looked back down at the instructions in her hand and began to read. "To provide you with optimal companionship, DPCs are designed to tailor themselves to their environment and the needs of their companion." She looked back up at Dave. "I don't know... Do you have a thing for older women?"

"No!" Dave said shaking his head.

"Then I don't know." The woman said as she looked around Dave's living room. "Do you have a roommate? Or maybe a neighbor nearby?"

"I've got multiple neighbors nearby." Dave paused as he began to realize what the woman was hinting at. "You have got to be kidding me..." A shocked Dave trailed off.

"What?" The woman asked.

"My next-door neighbor Randy is like 82 years old..." Dave's face was a mixture of terror and shock. "And my other next-door neighbors are Keiko and Yutaka... And they're in their late 70s..." Dave's mouth hung wide open as he stared at the nameless woman.