Weird Little Robots

by Carolyn Crimi

  “Penny Rose, come here! This is interesting!”

  She hurried into the family room, where her father and mother were watching a girl about her age being interviewed on TV.

  “This girl reminds me of Lark! Listen!” Dad said.

  Penny Rose settled down between them and watched as the girl pointed to things on a table.

  “I got this one the other day,” she told the interviewer. She held up a bright orange bottle cap. “And this I got the day before,” she said, holding up a blue paper clip. “Every day the crows leave something for me. It’s like . . . magic!”

  “Oh, my gosh,” Penny Rose murmured.

  The interviewer looked into the camera. “Well, it’s not quite magic,” he said. “Crows have been known to give small items to people as a way of showing appreciation for being fed and taken care of.”

  “Honey, you should call Lark and tell her this is on!” Mom said.

  “Mmmm,” Penny Rose said. But she didn’t move.

  So Lark wasn’t making it up after all. Crows brought gifts to people as part of their behavior.

  It was actually science.

  When it was time to hand out candy, Penny Rose put on the witch hat. The brim was huge. She could pull it down over her face and hide if necessary.

  Penny Rose brought the pumpkin dish to the front hall and pulled up a chair just inside the front door. Her parents had heard that their street got lots of trick-or-treaters, so they had extra candy in the kitchen. She had never handed out candy before. How much should she give away? Should she give two of the same kind or two different ones? It seemed like there should be candy rules for Halloween. It would make life a lot easier.

  Mom came into the living room and put on some Halloween music. Dad put on his skeleton mask and started to dance to “Monster Mash.”

  “You’ll scare the little kids!” Penny Rose said.

  “With my dancing or my mask?”

  “Both!” Penny Rose said.

  Dad stopped dancing and took the mask off. He ran his fingers through his curly hair. “This thing makes my head sweat. I’m happy to keep it off.” He walked over to Penny Rose and peered into the bowl on her lap. “Any Butterfinger bars?”

  She dug through the bowl until she found one. “Not a lot.” She held it out to him.

  “Wouldn’t be Halloween without Butterfingers!” he said.

  He said this every year.

  “Wait!” Mom said. She fiddled with her iPod until scary sounds came out of the tiny speaker. “I found this creepy sounds playlist. Listen to this!”

  She played a wolf howling. Then bones rattling. A ghostly wooooo sounded especially spooky.

  “Isn’t it fun?” Mom asked.

  “Yeah,” Penny Rose said halfheartedly. “It’s great.”

  When the first trick-or-treaters walked up the steps, Penny Rose hesitated. She looked up at her parents, who stood behind her.

  “Give them two each,” Mom whispered.

  Penny Rose handed the firefighter and the fairy princess two tiny boxes of candy corn. They stared into their trick-or-treat bags as they scurried away.

  Mom and Dad waved to the parents, who waited at the end of the walk. Soon there was a steady stream of ninjas, pumpkins, and skeletons. Penny Rose was glad that she didn’t recognize anyone from school. Most of the kids were little.

  At one point, while Penny Rose was doling out candy to a ballerina, she thought she saw Jeremy out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked again, it was someone in a wild white wig and a suit.

  Just then, as two pirates clomped up the front porch, Penny Rose spotted something large and silver hurrying past her house.

  “Honey, is that Lark?” Mom asked, squinting into the darkness.

  It was Lark, and she was wearing a robot costume. Behind her was her mother, dressed up like a fancy witch. Her mom held a witch hat in one hand and Lark’s little brother, Finn, with the other as she rushed to catch up with Lark.

  “It is Lark!” Dad said. He broke into a huge grin. “Lark, come on over so we can see your costume!”

  Lark stopped in her tracks. Her mom and her brother caught up to her.

  “Honey, why are you going so fast?” her mom asked. Finn scowled. It looked like his mummy costume was squeezing him too tight.

  Lark shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Let’s go see the Mooneys,” Lark’s mom said.

  Penny Rose bit her lip. She peered at them from under the huge witch hat. Lark walked slowly up the path to their house. She wore one of the big boxes they’d found over black tights. She had painted the box silver and drawn a basic dial on the front. Her face was also painted silver.

  Was Lark wearing the costume that they had planned together because she had forgiven Penny Rose? Or did she do it because it was the only costume she had?

  “Hey,” Lark said.

  “Hey,” Penny Rose said. She looked down into the pumpkin bowl and pulled out two Butterfingers. She handed them to Lark.

  “I thought you two were going to —” Dad said.

  “I love your costume,” Mom said quickly. “You did a great job!”

  “Thanks,” Lark said. She turned to Penny Rose. “And thanks for the Butterfingers. They’re my favorite.”

  “I thought so,” Penny Rose said.

  Lark stood on the porch for a moment, fumbling with her candy bag.

  “Here’s another Butterfinger,” Penny Rose said. “For Finn.”

  “Thanks,” Lark said.

  Penny Rose was used to feeling awkward most of the time, but she wasn’t used to feeling awkward with Lark. Conversation with Lark had always been so easy.

  “It was nice to see you,” Penny Rose said, feeling like a mom as she said it. “Good costume.”

  “Thanks.”

  Lark hesitated.

  “I wanna go home,” Finn whined. He tugged at one of the mummy bandages around his arm.

  “Shhh, sweetie, just two more houses, and then we can go home and take your costume off,” said Mrs. Hinkle.

  “I’d better go,” Lark said. She ran a few steps to her mother, then stopped and turned. She wiggled her fingers at Penny Rose. “Bye.”

  “Bye.” Penny Rose’s voice was just above a whisper.

  She handed out candy for the rest of the night, and she could barely keep back her tears.

  Eventually the street emptied out. Trick-or-treaters and their parents went home. The Secret Science Society, wherever they were, had probably come to a decision.

  “I’m going up to bed,” Dad said. He stretched and yawned.

  “Me, too,” Mom said. She headed toward the stairs. “Coming, Penny Rose?”

  “In a minute,” Penny Rose said. “I’m just going to make myself some cocoa.”

  Mom nodded. “It’s an excellent night for cocoa.” She blew a kiss to Penny Rose. “Nighty-night.”

  Penny Rose headed to the kitchen with Arvid at her heels. The tears that had been threatening to come out, the tears she had been fighting against all day and all night, streamed down her face.

  Penny Rose took four deep breaths in the middle of the kitchen. She tore a paper towel off the roll and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  What if she was never really and truly friends with Lark again? Was the Secret Science Society even worth it?

  She opened the cupboards and was looking for the cocoa powder when something out the window caught her eye. She stepped closer to it and stared outside.

  In the corner of the backyard was the person in the white wig and suit. He was coming out of her shed.

  Penny Rose ran to the back door and threw it open. The person in the wig stopped for a moment, looked at her, then dashed out the back gate.

  Penny Rose darted out the door and chased after him. She caught a whiff of minty gum as she ran by the shed. Jeremy! Of course it was him. That strange getup was an Albert Einstein costume. She ran into the alley. He was fast and was already past the Gilmores’ house next do
or. She ran after him, pumping her arms and forcing her legs to move faster than they ever had.

  What was he doing in her shed? What if he had seen the robots move on their own? What if he took one of them?

  Someone was bound to hear her if she yelled at him, so she just kept running. Her sneakered feet slapped the alley pavement. The air was cold in her lungs and against her face. It seemed like the closer she got to him, the faster he ran. He kept running until he got to Darkling Forest. Penny Rose could see the path that she and Lily took to the Lab. It had two huge elms on either side of it.

  Jeremy looked back at her for a split second before he slipped into the darkness.

  She knew he must be going to the Lab. But she had no idea how to get there.

  She stood staring at Darkling Forest. It seemed darker and more ominous than usual. She had never been to the Lab without wearing a blindfold. How would she ever find it?

  She needed a plan, and she needed to think of one quickly. Unfortunately, she was not very good at thinking of plans quickly. All she really knew was that she had to find him. She ran back to her yard and through the back gate. The door to the shed was open.

  Penny Rose held her breath as she approached. She stood just outside the doorway for what seemed like hours, afraid of what she might see if she went inside.

  She finally gathered up her courage and crept into the dark shed. She groped for the Christmas lights and plugged them in.

  Penny Rose gasped. It was chaos. Lava lamps lay on their sides. The ramps and the slide had been knocked over. Boxes were upended.

  “Robots! Where are you?”

  Penny Rose frantically dug through the mess that was once roboTown, picking through shoe boxes and toilet-paper rolls and train tracks.

  Where were the robots?

  “Robots, please! Where are you?”

  Tears of frustration and anger streamed down Penny Rose’s face. He stole the robots! He stole the robots!

  She knelt in the middle of the shed and took another four deep breaths. She had to come up with a plan.

  Then, from the corner of the room came a soft meep.

  Penny Rose crawled on her hands and knees over to the corner where a big cardboard box sat and pulled it aside. There, huddled in the corner, were iPam and Sharpie.

  “Oh, iPam! Sharpie! You’re OK!”

  She leaned over and ever so gently picked them up and put them in her lap.

  “What happened?”

  BAD BOY STOLE THE OTHERS. CHASED OUT BY CHIMNEY. WE HID.

  “Oh, iPam, I’m so sorry! I’m going to find him, and I’m going to bring them all back! I promise!”

  She picked up the two robots and stood.

  “I’m taking you inside where no one can get you. And then —”

  What?

  She looked around her, thinking.

  Lark.

  Lark could help.

  Lark had to help.

  Penny Rose raced back into the house and tiptoed up the stairs to her bedroom.

  Arvid greeted her with a yawn from her bed. She kissed each robot and put them both on her nightstand.

  “Make sure they stay safe, Arvid,” she told him.

  iPam’s belly lit up.

  WE WANT TO COME.

  “No, iPam, you can’t. I can’t lose you, too.”

  iPam spun quickly in a circle.

  WE WANT TO COME WE WANT TO COME WE NEED TO COME WE NEED TO COME WE

  “OK, OK,” Penny Rose said. “But you’re staying in my tool belt.”

  Penny Rose put on her tool belt, which already had a monkey wrench, scissors, wire, and a few nails in it. She found a flashlight in her desk and tucked it into the biggest pocket. She slid the two robots in carefully and gave them each a pat.

  “Not sure what else I’ll need,” she said. “I guess I’ll just have to figure it out as I go.”

  She pulled on a jacket and went out into the hall. Her parents’ room was silent. They were probably fast asleep. She tiptoed to the top of the stairs and looked down.

  Someone was standing next to the front door.

  Penny Rose’s heart pounded. Whoever, or what ever, it was had a pale, ghostly face and black holes for eyes.

  Goose bumps spread across her skin. She was about to scream when she realized what she was seeing.

  Her father had hung his skull mask on the hat rack by the door. She let out a breath.

  Just then she had an idea. She walked toward it slowly. She jammed the mask into the pocket of her jacket and ran quietly into the kitchen. She grabbed the broom from the broom closet and put her mother’s iPod and speakers into her tool belt.

  Penny Rose scurried down Skillington until she got to Lark’s house. She crept around to the back and saw that the light in Lark’s ground-floor bedroom was on. Her window looked out onto the birdhouses, which were now all swaying in the breeze like tiny lifeboats bobbing in the sea.

  Lark’s shades were mostly pulled down, but Penny Rose could see through the space between the shade and the windowsill if she crouched. Lark sat at her desk, writing, probably her Nightly Bird Report. She was eating something.

  Penny Rose tapped on the window. Lark started, saw Penny Rose, then frowned slightly and stood. She pulled the shade up, opened the window, and bent down so that her face was directly across from Penny Rose’s. Lark’s breath smelled like Butterfingers.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  Penny Rose took a deep breath and let the words pour out. “I’m really, really sorry for what I said to you, which I know wasn’t nice, and I’ve really missed you. But now I need your help because it has to do with the robots, and I know I can rely on you and that you always have great ideas.”

  Lark hesitated for a split second.

  “Go on,” she said.

  Penny Rose told her the whole story. She told her about the note from the Secret Science Society and the secret meetings in the library and Jeremy’s Albert Einstein costume and how Data had warned her to get a lock for the shed.

  “So you told them about the robots?” Lark said. “Even after our proclamation?”

  “They don’t know they’re alive,” Penny Rose said. “But I’m scared that Jeremy might have seen them moving around in the shed. Now he’s at the Lab in Darkling Forest, and I don’t know how to get there!”

  They stared at each other through the screen.

  Penny Rose felt a small jab on her hip. “Oh, wait,” she said. “Someone wants to say hi!”

  She pulled iPam and Sharpie out of her tool belt.

  “Oh, you guys,” said Lark. “I’ve missed you so much!”

  iPam’s belly shone brightly.

  LARK! IT IS U! LARK LARK LARK!

  Sharpie clapped her metal arms together.

  “They’ve really missed you,” Penny Rose said. “Come on, can’t you help us? For them?”

  “OK,” Lark said. “I’ll help. But for them. Not for you, Penny Rose!”

  Penny Rose nodded. “That’s fair. I might have an idea, but I want to know what you think.”

  Lark listened to Penny Rose’s plan. When Penny Rose was finished talking, Lark immediately pulled her desk chair over to her closet and climbed up on it. She reached her hand to the top shelf, grunting with effort, until she found what she was looking for. Penny Rose watched as she brought a cardboard box down from the shelf.

  “I’ll be out there in a second,” she said. “Wait in the front yard.”

  Penny Rose crept around to the front of the house. She fidgeted with the mask in her pocket while she waited for Lark.

  Time moved slowly. Penny Rose started to wonder what would happen if Lark never came out. It was possible she had decided not to help Penny Rose after all.

  Just then she saw Lark heading toward her wearing a strange helmet with binoculars attached to it.

  “What is that?” Penny Rose asked. “You look like an alien.”

  Lark handed another helmet to Penny Rose. “These are night-vision
goggles. They’ll help you see in the dark.”

  “Why do you —”

  “Oma Maud gave them to me. They’re for owling at night.”

  Penny Rose slipped the contraption over her head and looked at her feet. She could see the grass and the sidewalk more clearly. Everything around her — the trees, the leaves, the fences — glowed in shades of green, gray, and blue.

  “These are cool!” Penny Rose said. “I can see so much better!”

  “I know,” Lark said, adjusting hers. “Now let’s go.”

  They crept along the edges of the sidewalk by the streetlamps. Penny Rose had so much she wanted to say to Lark, about how bad she felt and how much she missed her, but she wasn’t sure how to say it without messing up.

  “Why do you think he brought them to Darkling Forest?” Lark asked. “Why didn’t he just bring them home?”

  “I think because he saw me. He knows I don’t know how to get to the Lab. He can hide them there.”

  “But why?”

  “He probably wants to take them apart. To figure them out. If he saw the robots moving around, he would have to figure out why.”

  “But it’s magic!” Lark said.

  Penny Rose kept walking. She had never agreed with Lark about that, but this wasn’t the time.

  “So why don’t we just barge in there and demand he give them back to us?” Lark asked.

  “Because they keep the door locked anytime they’re in there,” Penny Rose said. “If I knock on the door, he’s not going to just let me in.”

  “What if I knock on the door?” Lark said.

  “Why would he let you in?” Penny Rose asked.

  “I don’t know,” Lark said. “What if we just wait until he comes out?”

  “Because the longer he’s in there alone with the robots, the more damage he can do to them,” Penny Rose said.

  “You’re right,” Lark said. “I just hope he falls for it.”

  “Me, too,” Penny Rose said quietly.

  They walked until they reached the DEAD END sign at the top of Skillington Avenue. Darkling Forest loomed before them.