The tall blonde man closed the curtain behind him and placed his hand on the pad. The lights came on.

“Welcome back Mick. How may I help you today?”

Good, this was voice number 33. It was one of my favorites. It was soft and deep and sexy. I had not enjoyed the past few transactions with the bank. In each of those transactions, the voice of the computer just didn’t connect with me.

“I need to make a deposit.”

“Is this to your personal account or your business account?”

“My business account, please.”

There was a chime and the small door opened.

“Please make your deposit.”

I inserted my dispenser and waited while the machine did its work. After several minutes, my deposit was complete. I withdrew my dispenser and waited.

“Your deposit has been accepted. Please take your receipt and have a good day.”

I turned to leave but a voice stopped me.

“Mick! Before you go, you have enough points built up that your next personal deposit will include our new premium service. When you want to make your next personal deposit, please call this number, and make a reservation. Thank you. Have a good day.”

A slip of paper slid out of the receipt dispenser. I put the paper in my pocket and left the bank.

It had been almost a month since my last deposit and the bulge in my pocket told me I needed to take care of a deposit soon. People were actually noticing the extra thickness and making jokes.

“Hey Mick, is that a roll of dollars in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”

“Hey Mick, you’re gonna rip your pants open next time you sneeze.”

Then on Wednesday, my boss called me into her office.

“Mick, people are getting distracted by that bulge. When are you going to the bank? I don’t want you getting hijacked on the way home.”

“I know. I’ve been so busy; I haven’t even thought about it.”

“How can you NOT think about it? I’m surprised you can get your legs under your desk. Anyway, people are getting distracted, please get rid of that bulge.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do it today after work.”

I left her office and returned to mine. I sat at my desk and realized that she was correct. I did have trouble getting under my desk without hitting the desk with the bulge. I tried to move it to the other side, but that didn’t change the size of it.

I opened my planner to see if I was going to have any conflicts with going to the bank tonight and a piece of paper fell out. Picking it up I saw it was the receipt paper from the bank. The one with the number for the premium service. I looked at it and the last several deposit slips and realized that I hadn’t made any deposits into my personal account in several months.

I called the number.

“Adams Family Bank. How may I direct your call?”

“I have a receipt here for premium service for my next deposit into my personal account. I just realized how long it’s been so I’d like to make an appointment for the premium service.”

“One moment please.”

There was a chime and click then a voice.

“Hello, welcome to the Adams Family Bank Premium service. What is your account number?”

I gave the account number.

“What’s the extension on the number on your receipt?”

“33,” I answered.

“Wonderful! When would you like to come in?”

“Today after five PM if possible.”

“That’s fine. When you come in, please follow the signs directing you to the Premium Services area.”

“Thank you.”

I disconnected the call and went back to work. At 4:30 I signed off my computer and took the elevator up to the 131^st floor to my two story apartment. I entered and looked out over the clouds that always covered the ground. I wondered when the last time was that the people who lived below had seen the sun.

I changed into some comfortable clothes because I was going to go to the restaurant floors after making my deposit at the bank and have a nice dinner. The advantage of living in one of the tall tower cities was everything I wanted to do was above the cloud.

I walked downstairs to the first floor of my apartment and walked to the elevator. The bank was down on the 113^th floor, just above the cloud. I walked in the door and saw the “Premium Services” sign and an arrow pointing to my left. I followed the sign and it pointed to a door. There was as sign on the door that said “Enter”.

Opening the door I found myself at the entrance to a small room with a desk. At the desk sat a man with a calm, neutral expression on his face. I was amazed. I couldn’t remember that last time I’d seen a man inside the bank and damned few of us outside the bank. There were none at the office and seldom had I seen a man at a restaurant. I went to the desk and the look on my face must have conveyed confusion.

“Hello, Mr. O’Dell. Welcome to Premium Services. My name is Jason.”

“Hello.”

“I can see by the look on your face that you are not used to meeting another man. It’s understandable since the advent of the cloud. According to my records you are 21 years old as of last month. You have been making deposits to your business account on a regular basis since you were brought on board just after your twentieth birthday. Correct so far?”

“Yes but what’s going on? I just wanted to make a deposit and go to dinner.”

“And so you shall. Are you aware of the current situation with society and the cloud?”

“Society and the cloud?”

“I see that you are not.” The neutral expression on his face did not change.

He picked up an earpiece and spoke.

“History. Dinner. Deposit.”

There was a familiar chime and a panel next to the desk slid open. I woman walked in and looked straight into my eyes. I don’t mean she just made eye contact. She looked into my eyes. Deeply. Intensely.

“Mr. O’Dell. Welcome to the Adams Family Bank Premium Services.”

That voice! That was the voice of number 33!

“Number 33?”

She smiled and then laughed just a little.

“Jason, I’ve got it from here.”

“Yes ma’am. Mick, it was nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll meet more in the future. Have a good day.”

Jason left through the panel door and 33 took his seat.

“Now then, Mr. O’Dell. We have to have a chat. Our records show that you came to us from an orphanage in Idaho. Your contract was purchased as a future option and your rating has increased from a potential 70 to an actual of 87. Do you know what any of those numbers mean?”

“No, ma’am. All I know is I’ve been making deposits and the computer voice that’s my favorite is number 33.”

“33, huh. In that case we do need to talk. Are you ready for dinner?”

“Well actually I was really hoping to make a deposit first. It’s been a month and I was going to just get it done and then go to dinner. I found the receipt with the premium services number and figured I’d give it a try.”

“Let me ask this, can you wait until after dinner or do you really need to make a deposit first?”

“I can do dinner first.”

“Good, would you please come with me.”

She stood and walked to a far wall and placed her hand on a wall panel. Another panel slid open and she turned back to me.

“Come along, Mick, your dinner and future await.”

I followed 33 through the door and down a long corridor that must have extended to the other side of the building. We walked in silence all the time. I kept my eyes on the back of her head. Her blonde hair swung back and forth in a hypnotized, pendulum-like movement. We stopped short of another door and 33 turned to me.

“Have you enjoyed watching me?”

“Ma’am? I’ve enjoyed watching your hair.”

“Nothing else?”

“NO! I’m not some porn crazed monster.”