Weird Little Robots

by Carolyn Crimi

  Penny Rose took the robots out one at a time. First Clunk, then Fraction, then iPam. She stood them up in a row and turned each one on.

  Clunk turned in a circle. Penny Rose knew she was nervous by how slowly and carefully she moved. A sparkle of sunlight hit her meat-thermometer head. Fraction waved one antennae arm and then stopped. She had stuck another heart sticker onto her calculator body. That almost made Penny Rose smile. The screen on iPam’s belly flashed on and off.

  “Whoa,” Merry said. “Those are even cooler than the other two!”

  “I like this one,” Lily said. She reached over to pick iPam up.

  “No, don’t —” Penny Rose said before she could stop herself.

  Lily looked at her and frowned, her hand hanging in the air near iPam. “Why not?”

  “Oh, I guess, it’s fine, I mean, I don’t know,” Penny Rose said. She shrugged. “They’re a little fragile, that’s all.”

  Before Penny Rose could stop him, Jeremy grabbed iPam.

  “This is just an old phone,” he said, turning iPam over in his hands. “The robots I make are all from specially designed parts. Not . . . junk.”

  Penny Rose’s face flushed. She stared hard at him as he held iPam.

  “She said they were fragile, doofus,” Merry said. “Be careful!”

  Jeremy didn’t listen to her. He moved one of iPam’s arms up and down. It came off in his hand.

  “Oh!” Penny Rose said. Her heart beat faster. A lump formed in her throat as she watched Jeremy handle her robot. “Can you give her back to me, please?”

  Jeremy was in his own world, though. He peered into the hole where iPam’s arm was. “How did you attach it?”

  Penny Rose couldn’t answer. Her heart practically beat out of her chest.

  “Give it back,” Merry said sternly.

  “I’m just looking at it,” he said. He held iPam in the air, making her fly. “I’m a miniature Superman! Watch me knock over that other robot!” He swooshed iPam toward Fraction, who stood helplessly nearby. “Swishhhhh booooom!”

  Penny Rose could feel the blood rushing to her face.

  “Stop it!” she cried. “They’re delicate!”

  Jeremy didn’t even look at her. But instead of smashing iPam into Fraction, he nudged her with his finger. Fraction tipped over backward.

  “Jeremy! Why are you being like that?” Merry demanded.

  Jeremy scowled at Merry. “They’re not that delicate.”

  Penny Rose picked up Fraction and Clunk and put them back in the box. She looked over at Jeremy, who was still peering intently at iPam. He started spinning iPam’s wheels between his fingers.

  “Give it back to her,” Merry said.

  “It’s more like a toy than a robot,” he said. “Like something for a little kid. How cute.” He made iPam dance on the table.

  “Don’t be a jerk, Jeremy,” Lily said. “Give it back.”

  Jeremy swooshed iPam through the air again. Penny Rose couldn’t even imagine what iPam was thinking.

  “Jeremy, if you don’t give her back that robot, I’m going to tell everyone at school that you’re afraid of ghosts,” Merry said quietly. She glared at him.

  Jeremy stopped. He glanced over at Merry.

  “That’s right,” Merry said. “Everyone.”

  Jeremy paused. He shrugged.

  “Whatever,” Jeremy said. He tossed iPam and her antennae arm into the shoe box.

  “That was rude,” Lily said.

  “Totally,” Merry said. “Just so you know, Penny Rose, Jeremy here is a world-class chicken. He’s afraid of ghosts.”

  “I am not!” Jeremy said. “But the documentary I saw —”

  “Oh, please,” Merry said, shaking her head.

  A rush of heat spread across Penny Rose’s face. She could hear her blood coursing through her veins. Jeremy had tossed iPam. He had called her a toy.

  She gritted her teeth and stood up straight.

  “I have to go,” Penny Rose said. She put the lid back on the box and blinked back tears.

  This had been a big mistake.

  “Don’t go,” Merry said, gently reaching out for Penny Rose’s sleeve. “He’s just being Jeremy.”

  “Apologize to her, dork face,” Lily said.

  Jeremy turned away. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess.”

  Penny Rose looked at each of them. Merry and Lily both gazed pleadingly at her. Jeremy glared down at the table.

  Jeremy didn’t seem like he wanted to be friends, but as she knew well, no friend was perfect. Lark wasn’t perfect, and they had been good friends. Besides, Merry and Lily were nice, and they liked science as much as she did. Maybe she could get used to Jeremy.

  “OK,” Penny Rose said. “But I’m going to keep them in this box.”

  “That’s fine,” Lily said. “We just needed to see them in person.”

  “They are really cool!” Merry said. “I cannot believe how great they are! Did I tell you about that amazing robot I saw on the Discovery Channel? It walks and plays air guitar!”

  “I saw that!” Penny Rose said. “That robot is the smallest robot in the world. It’s in The Guinness Book of World Records.”

  “Someday I’d like one of my inventions to be in the Smithsonian,” Merry said.

  Penny Rose nodded. “That would be a dream come true.”

  Lily, Merry, and Penny Rose talked about other programs they had seen on the Discovery Channel. It was all three girls’ favorite channel. Lark only cared about bird shows. She never wanted to talk about anything else, really.

  While they talked, Jeremy rolled up little balls of foil from his gum and flicked them across the table. Mostly he stayed quiet.

  Penny Rose looked out the window above the door. The sun was setting.

  “Um, I, well, I should . . . can I . . . I mean, it’s getting dark,” she said. “I should probably go home.”

  Merry looked out the window. “Oh.” She glanced over at Lily. “Can you take her back?”

  “My stupid brother has all of his friends over right now. I want to stay here until they leave.”

  “I’ll take her,” Jeremy said.

  Penny Rose’s hands felt clammy all of a sudden. “I can find my own way back,” she mumbled.

  “In these woods? I doubt it!” Merry said. “OK, Jeremy, but be nice!”

  “I will!” he said, frowning. “Jeez.”

  “Here,” Lily said, handing him her scarf. “Bring it back to me tomorrow!”

  Penny Rose looked at Merry. “Do we have to do that?”

  “Sorry,” Merry said. “We still need you to be blindfolded. We won’t vote until Halloween. It’s tradition.”

  “Oh,” Penny Rose said. “OK.” She smiled feebly. “Bye.”

  “Remember, Jeremy, be nice!” Merry said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jeremy said. “I’ll be nice.”

  Somehow Penny Rose doubted that.

  Jeremy held Penny Rose tightly by the elbow as he rushed her through the woods.

  Penny Rose stubbed her toe. Hard.

  “Ouch.” She hissed through her teeth.

  “Oops,” Jeremy said. “There’s a branch there.”

  Penny Rose didn’t say a word. She gritted her teeth until she heard the sounds of dogs barking and cars driving down her street. They were out of the woods.

  “Can I take this off now?” she asked.

  They walked for a few more moments.

  “OK,” he said finally.

  Penny Rose lifted the scarf from her face. She saw the lights go on in her house at the end of the block. “I can go the rest of the way by myself.”

  Jeremy kept walking with her.

  “So, do you just get your robot stuff from, what, junkyards?”

  “Sort of,” Penny Rose said. “I use things I find on the ground.”

  “I buy all my things from the Science Store. The owner there says he’s never had a kid my age use such advanced materials. I doubt you’
d be ready for that kind of stuff yet.”

  Penny kept quiet. She liked that her robots were made from repurposed materials. It made them unique.

  “My house is just up here,” she said.

  “I know,” he said.

  He strode next to her, staring straight ahead.

  “Where did you make them?” he asked.

  Penny Rose didn’t answer right away. That funny little person in her brain was shouting at her again. It was saying, Don’t tell him!

  “Oh, here and there,” she said. They had passed Jeremy’s house and were now standing in front of her house.

  Jeremy looked over her shoulder into the backyard.

  “What’s that? A playhouse?”

  “Something like that,” Penny Rose said. Maybe if Jeremy thought the shed was a girlie thing, he wouldn’t go snooping around. “It’s got old dolls and stuff.”

  He continued to stare, craning his neck to look more closely.

  “I’ve gotta go,” Penny Rose said. She dashed up the steps of her front porch. “See ya.”

  “Yeah,” he said, never taking his eyes off the shed. “See ya.”

  Once inside her house, Penny Rose’s shoulders relaxed. Her house felt warm and inviting, with the goofy pictures of her as a baby hanging on the wall and the pillows with funny sayings, like REMEMBER, IF ANYONE ASKS, WE ARE A NICE, NORMAL FAMILY and RESERVED FOR THE CAT, on the worn red sofa. It all spelled home.

  Arvid sauntered up to her and wound himself around her legs. She reached down to pet him, only to discover that her hands were still shaking.

  “Good to see you, buddy,” she whispered.

  She could hear her parents in the kitchen singing along to some old rock song playing on their iPod. They were laughing at how bad they were.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. It all felt so perfectly normal and ordinary. Even Dad’s cooking smelled good wafting toward her.

  She opened the lid to the shoe box. The robots were safe.

  “Sorry!” she said. “I’ll never let him pick you up again!”

  WE DID NOT LIKE THAT.

  “I know, I know! I’m so sorry! I’ll fix you up good as new, I promise!”

  “Penny Rose?” her mother called. “That you?”

  “Yep!” she said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Penny Rose put the lid back on the shoe box, carried it up to her room, and put it under her bed.

  “Just for now,” she whispered.

  She trotted down to the kitchen. Her mom was by the stove wearing a black and orange apron with a spiderweb design on it. Dad was staring at a cookbook on the counter.

  “Hey there!” Mom said when Penny Rose walked into the kitchen. “I was starting to get worried. It’s a little dark, honey.”

  “Sorry,” Penny Rose said. She widened her eyes. “Are you cooking? For real?”

  “I thought I’d give your father a night off,” she said, winking at Penny Rose. “Besides, I miss cooking.”

  “Honey, are you set yet for your costume?” Dad asked. “Last I heard, you and Lark were going as robots.”

  Penny Rose sat down at the kitchen table. She picked up a saltshaker and started rolling it back and forth in her hands. “I was sort of thinking that I would stay home that night and hand out candy.”

  Dad peered up from the cookbook. Mom spun around. They looked at each other, then turned to Penny Rose and gave her the Concerned Stare.

  Penny Rose had been thinking about this ever since her fight with Lark. Thinking it was one thing, though. Saying it out loud made it real.

  Maybe even too real.

  “Oh?” Mom asked. “Is anything wrong?”

  “No,” Penny Rose said. She continued to roll the saltshaker back and forth. “It’s just that I’m a little old to be trick-or-treating.”

  Penny Rose was no such thing. But the thought of going out by herself — or, worse, with one of her parents — seemed pathetic.

  Mom put on a bright smile. “Well, then, that means we’ll all be together for Halloween instead of one of us here handing out candy. That will be fun!”

  Dad shrugged. “If that’s how you feel, Penny Rose, it’s OK,” he said. “But you and Lark had such big plans. Boxes and tubes and dials and silver spray paint and I don’t know what else.”

  All those ideas seemed like ages ago now. They had never finished their robot costumes. Lark probably had a different costume made by now anyway. Even if Penny Rose started making her own robot costume today, it would never be ready in time.

  After dinner she took the robots out from under her bed and put them on her desk.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. She took a tissue and started wiping them off. “I can’t believe that happened.” iPam’s screen lit up.

  “I don’t blame you for being mad, iPam. I hope you can forgive me.”

  iPam’s belly flashed, but she didn’t text anything else.

  “Fraction and Clunk, are you mad at me, too?”

  The two robots spun in a slow circle so that they were facing away from her.

  “First Lark, now you guys.”

  Penny Rose sighed. She gently put the robots back in the shoe box.

  “I’m really, really sorry,” she said as she put the lid back on and pushed it under her bed.

  She wondered what Lark was doing right this minute. She felt a small pang in her heart, like the soft plink of a dime being dropped into a deep well.

  Penny Rose woke up Halloween morning feeling out of sorts. The wind howled. Creaky branches knocked together outside her window. Penny Rose hunkered down in her blankets. Arvid snuggled in close.

  “Happy Halloween, Arvid,” she said.

  Arvid stretched and turned his back to her.

  It didn’t feel like a very happy Halloween. Mom had convinced Penny Rose to wear a witch hat while handing out candy, but even just thinking about doing that made Penny Rose sad. She and Lark had made fun plans. It was supposed to be the best Halloween ever. Now it all felt wrong.

  Penny Rose pulled a sweatshirt over her pajamas and padded downstairs to the kitchen.

  “Happy Halloween!” Mom said. She was eating oatmeal at the kitchen table.

  Dad sat next to her reading the paper. When he pulled it away, Penny Rose gasped.

  “Gotcha!” Dad said.

  He had on a skeleton mask that was disturbingly real. He pulled it off and smiled at her. “Happy Halloween, sweetie!”

  “Dad! You scared me!”

  “I know!” he said. “Isn’t it great?”

  Mom flicked him with a dish towel. “Are you ever going to grow up?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  Every year her dad frightened her with some kind of Halloween prank. Last year he had put a fake spider in her cereal. Another year he pretended to chop off his finger. He had placed it on top of her pancakes. “Like a cherry,” he had said.

  Penny Rose plopped down in her chair. “Happy Halloween,” she mumbled.

  It was a Saturday, so Penny Rose had the whole day to mope. Right after breakfast, she went up to her room to get dressed. Then she hunted around for buttons and pennies. She stuck a bunch in her pockets and went out to the shed. She had apologized to the robots again and again after that trip to the Lab, but they were still mad at her.

  The wind blew her hair every which way as she crossed the yard to the shed. Chimney stood near the door. Before going in, she peeked inside. Clunk spun in a slow circle while iPam rolled up and down a ramp. Data watched them from her perch. Fraction and Sharpie stood in the Lava Lamp Forest.

  They seemed to move more slowly ever since her fight with Lark and their trip to Darkling Forest. She had given them new batteries, and yet they still moved and acted as though they were running low. She decided that after Halloween she would need to buy fresh batteries. Maybe the ones she had used were old.

  But then there were the times when the robots ran without any batteries at all.

  Penny Rose didn’t want to think
about that. All she knew was that something inside them was slowing them down. It might be fixed with a little tweaking from a screwdriver and a squirt or two of oil.

  Penny Rose walked in timidly with Chimney at her side.

  “Hi, robots.”

  The robots stopped.

  “How are you?”

  No one moved.

  “Hello?” she said again, a little louder. “Are you guys still not talking to me?”

  Penny Rose expected that at least Fraction would wave to her, but she didn’t.

  “I really am sorry,” Penny Rose pleaded, a whine creeping into her voice. “I didn’t know he would do that! Aren’t you ever going to forgive me?”

  iPam rolled over to her.

  WHERE’S LARK. LOL.

  “I told you,” she said. Her cheeks grew warmer. She swallowed. “She’s taking a little . . . break.”

  WHY.

  “I don’t know,” Penny Rose said. She plunked down on a chair.

  The robots stayed perfectly still.

  “Anyway, it’s Halloween. I thought you might like a little treat,” she said. She dug the buttons and pennies out of her pocket. “You can make costumes with these like you did for your party.”

  No one budged.

  “OK, I get the hint,” she said. She got up to leave, then stopped just as she reached the door.

  “I really hope you’ll be able to forgive me.”

  She held the door open for Chimney, who scurried out.

  “Bye, robots,” she said. “See you tomorrow.”

  She shut the door gently. Before going back to her house, she decided to peek in the window again. The robots were back to their usual tricks. Clunk rolled from one end of the shed to the other. iPam slid down a ramp. Fraction and Sharpie stood in front of the mirror sticking buttons and pennies to themselves.

  Data was at her usual perch by the window at the opposite end of the shed, marble eye spinning.

  Penny Rose sighed. She didn’t know what she would do if they never forgave her. It was awfully lonely without Lark or the robots.

  That afternoon, while Penny Rose was in the kitchen putting candy in the dish shaped like a pumpkin, her father called out to her.