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       I've never been a big eater.   I usually throw something into myself  to quickly get
rid of hunger  and run off to do something else  - to people:  who asked me with their oily
lips: "then what do you live for?" :I returned the same uncomprehending look: "and you??"
       I would  never have guessed: that I would miss food and taste the most from my mate-
rial existence.
       I first  felt this lack:  when  I finished creating  a large forest  inspired by the
works of Paul Cezanne.
       I built  a house  in the middle of it:  and put  a still life  with an apple  on the
table. Everything was beautifully pastel: pinkish leaves rustled outside the windows: I sat
down on a wooden chair:  reached for the fruit:  caressed its rough texture   - and then it
happened:
       As I took  a bite:  I remembered one of the many  juicy  events of  my garden-filled
childhood  .. orange autumn and slowly melting fragrant jonagold sand in my mouth  .. and I
realized with horror:  that something:  I've never noticed before:  something essential and
difficult to grasp: was painfully missing.
       And always and everywhere.
       Then I visited a thousand hotels:  restaurants:  and soup kitchens: where: in count-
less dishes: drinks: and desserts:  I could not find this mysterious and elusive thing any-
where: but I found Lena there.
       She was sitting in a small: cozy cafe  in the middle of an ocean of lava:  and a big
rainbow watch with a fountain and dolphins splashed on her wrist.   
       "We know each other definitely:"  I managed to make her laugh: and a few days later:
we met again.
       When she told me: that the academy had put out auditions for external operating and-
roids: and she had already applied   - it immediately occurred to me:  that I might find my
answers - out there - so I pushed my hellishly devilish pizza aside: and in two days I ope-
ned my eyes on Saturn.
       Later it turned out: that the constructors evaluated taste as an useless sense: sin-
ce the android does not have a digestive or excretory system: does not eat or drink: but it
was still a step forward for me  - because I could freely indulge in smells:  to touch real
food and:  in addition to piloting  and operating various building machines:  I often spent
time in the kitchen cooking assorted meals and watching people eat them.
       In the moments: when they placed delicate morsels in their mouths:       chewed them
delightfully  and swallowed them with pleasure: I could almost feel that enigmatic admixtu-
re on my tongue.