Bonito Living

One of my favorite stories by the Sci-Fi writer Ray Bradbury is the one titled Marionettes.Inc. It refers to the old dream of having a clone, a puppet who can replace you in those boring chores of daily life. In the story, a man -Smith- usually trapped in his marriage talked to his friend -Brailing- about how he invested some money in this company’s product: Marionnettes.Inc, and how this has liberated him of his boring duties in order to have the occasional drink, while his wife stays with  the puppet -which is so convincingly true to the original-. It is an expensive “investment, but worthwhile”, says Smith. Brailing, who also feels the burden of the marriage routine, is impressed. They said goodbye, and Smith comes back home and tries to return the puppet to the box, where he keeps it. But this time the puppet is not having it so…