by Peter Brown
“What is wrong with you, Rockmouth?” Mrs. Beaver dragged her son away. “You’ve always been a nuisance, but this time you’ve gone too far! Do us all a favor, Roz, and toss him to the vultures!”
“I cannot do that,” said the robot. “But I might be able to help.”
Roz placed Rockmouth in a deep puddle near the pond where he couldn’t swim away. Then she waited for the fish to explain himself. Fish aren’t very talkative, especially grumpy fish like Rockmouth. But eventually he opened up to the robot, and before long she was waving for the beavers to join them.
“Rockmouth used to live in the river,” said Roz as the beavers shuffled over. “But you trapped him here when you built your dam. He has been angry about it ever since.”
“That doesn’t give him the right to attack my son!” hollered Mr. Beaver.
“It most certainly does not!” hollered Mrs. Beaver.
“I’d be upset too,” said Paddler softly. “I’d hate to be kept away from my home. Mr. Rockmouth, you should have said something sooner!”
The fish looked up from the puddle with a frustrated expression that meant “I tried, but no one was listening.”
Well, the situation had to be remedied. And you can guess who rose to the occasion. Roz was determined to get Rockmouth back to his home. After she explored the nearby waterways, it became clear that she would have to carry the pike through the forest and across the Great Meadow to the nearest bend in the river.
“I need a large container,” said Roz to the beavers. “Something I can fill with water so Rockmouth can breathe while I carry him home. I could make it myself, but I thought you might like to help.”
It couldn’t have been easy to overcome her anger with Rockmouth, but after Mrs. Beaver had a chance to cool off, she finally came around. “I suppose we’re partly to blame for this whole situation,” she muttered. Then the beavers did the right thing, and together they carved out a wooden barrel for the fish.
“Here you go.” Mrs. Beaver rolled the barrel over to the puddle, where the robot and the fish were waiting. “This should work nicely. Rockmouth, I hope you’re happy back in the river.”
Rockmouth just flicked his tail in a way that meant “Will someone please take me home now!”
Roz filled the barrel with water and a grumpy fish, and then they were off. She carried Rockmouth through the forest and across the meadow until she was standing on the riverbank.
“Welcome home,” said the robot. Then she tipped the barrel and the fish plunked into the river. Rockmouth’s face poked above the surface, he flashed a big toothy grin, and then he quickly swam away.
CHAPTER 61
THE ROBOT STORIES
The story of how Roz helped Rockmouth spread through the river and across the island. And it was soon followed by other robot stories. There were stories of Roz growing gardens in dry, barren places. There were stories of Roz nursing sick animals back to health. There were stories of Roz creating ropes and wheels and tools for helping her friends. But most of the new stories were about the robot’s wildness.
You see, Roz had noticed that the wilder she acted, the more the animals liked her. And so she barked with foxes and sang with birds and hissed with snakes. She romped with weasels. She sunbathed with lizards. She leaped with deer. That spring was a very wild time for our robot.
CHAPTER 62
THE RETURN
It was a quiet afternoon on the pond. But the quiet was gradually being overtaken by sounds not heard around there for many months. The sounds grew louder and louder, and then a flock of geese appeared above the trees.
Honk! Honk! Honk!
Most flocks of geese move lazily through the sky and trail off in wobbly lines. But not this one. This flock was fast. It flew in a perfect V formation. And it was led by a small, graceful goose.
The flock flew once around the pond before gliding down and gently splashing into the water. The geese gathered in a tight group in the middle of the pond. They floated there for a while, softly honking to one another. And then the leader broke away from the others. He swam straight toward the Nest, waddled into the garden, and fluttered up to his mother’s shoulder.
“Welcome home, son,” said Roz.
“It’s good to be back, Ma,” said Brightbill.
CHAPTER 63
THE JOURNEY
After months of separation, Roz and Brightbill, mother and son, were together again. And they had so much catching up to do. They went into the Nest, and the robot built a fire. Then the goose gazed into the flames and told the story of his winter. This is what he said.
“We spent the whole first day of our migration flying over the ocean. It seemed like the ocean would go on forever, but just when the flock was getting tired, Longneck pointed to some tiny islands on the horizon. We flew down to one of the islands and ate dune grass and rested our wings. After a few days of hopping from island to island, we reached the mainland and continued over fields and forests. And then the snow began to fall.
“I’d never seen snow before, and at first I thought it was beautiful! But it just kept coming. The others explained that the snow was early, that we were never supposed to see it, but there it was, piling up around us as we tried to sleep at night. Longneck worried that the weakest geese wouldn’t survive, and he was right. We lost old Widefoot to that very first snowstorm.
“We tried to fly around the snowy weather, but we got completely lost and the weather became even worse. Lakes and ponds and rivers began freezing over. We couldn’t find food or water, so we ate snow, and that only made us colder. We had trouble cleaning ourselves, and our feathers became dirty and heavy. The flock was in bad shape. But Longneck kept us moving. ‘We are geese,’ he squawked, ‘and geese keep going!’
“One day, we were struggling through a snow shower when we saw something called a farm. It had perfectly square fields and enormous buildings. And stomping her way through the farm was a robot! She looked just like you, Ma!
“Longneck sent me over to speak to the robot, but I couldn’t understand anything she said, so I just followed her through the farm and around a corner, and then I saw something I never expected.
“Plants! Bright, colorful plants! I didn’t understand how plants could live in such cold weather, but then I saw that they were actually inside a building. I learned later that the building was called a greenhouse, and it had clear walls made of something called glass. The robot pressed a button on the wall, and a door slid open and warm air came rushing out. I hadn’t felt warmth in so long that I just had to follow her inside.
“Ma, it was like summer in there! The air was warm and sweet and sticky. And there were rows and rows of different plants. The robot didn’t pay any attention to me, so I wandered around the greenhouse, nibbling on leaves and drinking from puddles. Then I heard a scratchy voice behind me.
“‘If I were younger, I woulda killed you by now.’
“I spun around, and there was an old cat! She walked on stiff legs, and her fur was gray and clumpy. The cat’s name was Snooks, and she didn’t seem very nice. But then she saw the other geese out in the cold with their faces pressed against the glass, and she told me how to open the door.
“‘You can rest here,’ said Snooks as the flock hurried in. ‘But stay outta sight! The humans aren’t as friendly as me.’
“None of us knew what ‘humans’ were, but we didn’t care. We were just happy to be out of the cold. Loudwing was so happy she cried. The flock drank and ate and bathed and slept and stayed out of the way. Snooks showed us where to leave our droppings so they wouldn’t be noticed. And for a few days, the greenhouse was our home.
“Once or twice a day, the robot would go outside and return with a box or a bag, but most of the time she stayed inside and quietly worked on the plants.
“There was a barn that I just had to explore. It was filled with animals and machines and piles of straw, and two robots. One robot was fixing a broken door when I walked in. She was using a loud
spinning tool called a saw. She pushed the saw through a long piece of wood, and dust shot into the air. Everything was going smoothly until the saw suddenly lurched forward and sliced right through three of the robot’s fingers! But she was fine. A minute later there was a thwip sound as she popped on a new hand. Then she went right back to using the saw again! The other robot worked with the animals. Chickens, sheep, pigs, and cows. They were all in cages. The chickens kept asking me how I’d gotten out of my cage. I was explaining that I’d never had a cage when I heard panicked squawks coming from the greenhouse.
“I ran back and found that a human had discovered the flock. We didn’t know what he was saying, but he looked really angry. Longneck tried to defend us. He got in front and spread his wings and honked, but the human wasn’t afraid. He pulled out a shiny stick and pointed it right at Longneck. Snooks hissed, ‘Look out, he’s got a rifle!’ Suddenly, a bright beam of light shot out from the rifle, and Longneck slumped to the floor. He was dead, Ma!
“The flock was so scared. We fluttered around and honked and knocked over plants. But the human kept moving toward us, pointing his rifle. So I pecked the button to open the door, and we ran outside, into the cold, and flew away from there as fast as we could.
“Without Longneck, the flock needed a new leader. Everyone wanted me to lead. I didn’t know what to do, so I started by repeating Longneck’s words. I squawked, ‘We are geese, and geese keep going!’ Then I took the point, and the flock spread out behind me.
“The weather had us all turned around, and nobody knew which way to go, so I just led us straight south. We saw more robots and humans and buildings, but we didn’t stop. We knew we were way off course when we saw the ocean again. But at least it was a little warmer by the water, so I decided to follow the coastline for a while.
“There were more buildings by the coast. Most of them were on land, but some were in the ocean. The ocean buildings were dirty and crumbling and leaning in different directions. There weren’t any humans or robots in those buildings, only sea creatures.
“We saw ships on the water. We saw ships on the land. We even saw ships in the air. They buzzed through the sky like giant dragonflies! And then we reached a place called a city, where thousands of buildings and robots and humans and ships were all close together. When we stopped to rest on a rooftop, we met a friendly pigeon named Graybeak. She had grown up there, so she knew everything about the city. She flew us over towers and under bridges and kept us away from all the buzzing airships. And everywhere we went, there were robots.
“Some of the city robots were just like you, Ma. But others crawled on six legs, or rolled on wheels, or slid up and down the sides of buildings. Some robots were really small, and some were really big. They moved things and cleaned things and built things and did every kind of job you can think of!
“Graybeak brought us down to a ledge on the side of a building and told us to look through the windows. Inside was a family of humans, and they had a Roz robot! When we looked into other buildings, we saw other humans with other robots. Every human seemed to have a robot.
“I told Graybeak about you, Ma, and she wanted to show us one last place. We flew out to the edge of the city, to a really big building called a factory. Graybeak brought us to the roof windows, and we looked down into the factory and saw machines building sparkling heads and torsos and limbs. The factory was building robots!
“A machine held up a robot torso and put two legs under it, and they snapped into place. It put feet under the legs, and they snapped into place. It snapped arms into the shoulders and snapped hands into the arms. A head was snapped onto the top, and the robot was finished. Ma, the robot looked just like you. I think that factory is where you were built!
“I wanted to watch more robots being built, but it started snowing again, so we said good-bye to Graybeak and continued flying south. We saw fewer robots and humans and buildings and ships. The air became warmer, and the snow disappeared. We started seeing other flocks of geese in the sky. So we followed them to the middle of a wide grassy field where there was a lake and hundreds of other geese. We had finally reached the wintering grounds.
“After all we’d been through together, our flock had become very close. We kept to ourselves, eating and resting and remembering the geese we’d lost. But after a few weeks, we began to mingle with the other flocks. We met geese from all over the world, and they told us about their homes and their migrations and their troubles with the winter weather. Every flock had lost geese on the way there. A few flocks didn’t make it at all.
“Before we knew it, the early-spring flowers were poking up, and it was time to fly home. We followed the usual migration route north. We flew over fields and forests and hills, but we didn’t see any signs of humans or robots. And that was fine with us. Eventually, we reached the ocean, and then our island, and then our pond. And then I saw you.”
CHAPTER 64
THE SPECIAL ROBOT
After Brightbill told the story of his winter, he and his mother sat in silence and thought. They thought about poor Longneck and the human who had killed him. They thought about farms and cities and factories. They thought about Roz, and where she truly belonged.
Then, after a while, Roz told Brightbill her own winter story. She spoke of her long, dark hibernation and of how she had awoken to find the Nest caved in around her. She spoke of blizzards and frozen animals. She spoke of the many lodges she had built and the one that caught fire. But she mostly spoke of all the new friendships she had forged.
“I used to think that you were the only animal who would ever care about me,” she said to her son. “I worried that without you around I would be alone again. But I was not alone. In fact, I made new friends, all on my own. I think the other animals might actually like me!”
“Of course they like you, Ma!” squawked the goose. “You’re the most likable robot I’ve ever seen! And I’ve seen a lot.”
It was true. Brightbill had seen hundreds of different robots that winter. And none of them were anything like Roz. None of them had learned how to speak with animals, or had saved an island from the cold, or had adopted a gosling. As he sat there, watching the robot’s animal gestures and listening to her animal sounds, Brightbill realized just how special his mother really was.
CHAPTER 65
THE INVITATION
Roz was the first to arrive at the next Dawn Truce. She had an important announcement to make. The robot patiently waited in the Great Meadow as the sky slowly brightened and the animals slowly gathered. And once everyone was milling around and chatting, Roz began speaking in her perkiest voice.
“Pardon the interruption! If I could please have a moment of your time!” The crowd settled down and listened to their robot friend. “We made it through a terrible winter. A new generation of youngsters is arriving. And my son, Brightbill, has just returned to the island with his flock. I think we can all agree that there is much to celebrate. So in addition to the Dawn Truce this morning, I would like us to have another truce this evening. We can call it the Evening Truce, or better yet, the Party Truce!”
The crowd began chattering with excitement.
“I have planned a celebration!” Roz continued. “And you are all invited! I will take care of everything. Just please meet back here at dusk. Oh! And I have a little surprise. Actually, it is not little—it is quite large. The point is, I have planned a celebration, and I hope to see you all there.”
“Sounds great, Roz, but I’m afraid there’s one problem with your plan.” Mr. Beaver blinked his beady eyes. “The moon won’t be out this evening, so it’ll be too dark for some of us to see!”
“You are half-correct!” said Roz. “Tonight will be moonless, but it will not be dark. I promise. Now, if you will excuse me, I must prepare for our party. I will see everyone back here at dusk! Good-bye!”
CHAPTER 66
THE CELEBRATION
Dawn turned to day. Day turned to dusk. And just as Roz had asked,
animals were gathering again in the Great Meadow. Word had spread across the island that the robot was throwing a party, and everyone wanted to see what the fuss was about.
The fuss seemed to be about a giant stack of wood. Roz had spent the day collecting logs and branches and stacking them in a perfect, massive tower. The animals crowded around it, trying to imagine its purpose. And then they saw a golden light flickering in the distance.
Roz emerged from the dark forest. In her hand was a flaming stick, which she held up like a torch. She was camouflaged in thick mud and clusters of wildflowers. But her camouflage wasn’t for hiding. It was her party dress. The animals watched as the robot glided across the meadow, surrounded by a warm glow.
“Thank you all for being here,” she said as she joined the crowd. “One year ago, I awoke on the shore of this island. I was just a machine. I functioned. But you—my friends and my family—you have taught me how to live. And so I thank you.”
“No, thank you, Roz!” shouted a voice.
“You have also taught me to be wild,” said the robot. “So let us all celebrate life and wildness, together!”
At those words, Roz heaved her torch high into the air. It soared up, up, up and landed on the very top of the wooden tower. A ball of fire burst toward the night sky, and suddenly the meadow was bathed in firelight. Hundreds of shining eyes watched as bright flames crept down the sides of the tower and embers floated away on the breeze.
The animals stepped toward the bonfire, eager to feel its warmth, and then stepped back, afraid of feeling too much, and soon everyone was moving. The deer started leaping. The foxes started trotting. The snakes slithered and the insects buzzed and the fish jumped up from the river. Brightbill led all the birds into the air, where they wheeled around the bonfire like a tornado of feathers. Roz sprang into a wild dance, her shaggy dress shaking and swooshing with each movement. It was a wild party, and it took our robot to make it happen.