Roe-bot Girl: The Bright Beginning (Roebot Girl Book 1)

by Amy Braat

  Chapter Two: Meeting the New Nanny

  The new nanny was late today, so Naan had to stay with me until she showed up. Naan was very upset and called the nanny service two times in the last thirty minutes. They could not get hold of her either, so they were sending yet another nanny to babysit me. Naan was pacing the floor waiting and looking very upset.

  To my surprise, the lady who showed up looked like a grandmother. She actually brought an apron and wore a dress. It looked like she had just stepped out of a 1950s movie, shopping bags and all! She had a smile and mannerisms that were warm and welcoming. I wondered what was wrong with her since no instant nanny could look this perfect. Naan was very curt and practically shoved the day's agenda at her with the phone numbers of my parents and other information, quickly leaving.

  “Hi, Roberta, my name is May, but you can call me Granny,” she suggested as she put down her bags on the counter and closed the door.

  “I would really like to call you Granny. I do not have a grandmother,” I commented.

  “What is wrong? You have a thoughtful look on your face?” Granny asked.

  “I was just wondering what is wrong with you. Most instant nannies are the rejects.” Oh why did I blurt that out? I suddenly was regretting what I had just said, oh how embarrassing to say such a thing.

  But, Granny just laughed as she motioned for me to sit and said, “I love kids, so I babysit for some extra spending money to get out of the house at times. I am not normally a nanny. The service your parents use is for babysitters and full-time nannies. When your nanny did not show up, I was the first one they could contact. Since my husband, James, and I would like to take a long trip to visit our grandkids who live across the country, this will help fund our adventure.” Granny then changed the subject while she looked down at the pile which Naan had left for me. “Okay, what is all this paperwork about?”

  “It is my required homeschooling work, my daily schedule and rules my mother has made. Most nannies do not care and ignore the list or do not even read it.” I had hoped she would be like those nannies, but my mother had so many rules and they were so tedious and dreary. Oh, tedious and dreary were vocabulary words I had to learn the other day. Tedious and dreary are another way to say dull or boring. Who would have thought those words would pop into my head.

  Interrupting my thoughts, she remarked as she put on her reading glasses. “Well, since I just met your mother I would not want to cross her, so I had better read this.”

  “Naan is not my mother! She is my parents’ assistant,” I insisted and then felt guilty for the outburst.

  Granny smiled as she asked, “Oh, I am glad. I thought her name was Lyla?”

  “Her real name is Lyla, I call her Naan when no one is paying attention. It stands for Not At All Nice, which after this morning you might agree with.”

  “Roberta, it is not NAAN to call her that, but it does seem to fit her well. How about while I am here, we call her by her given name of Lyla. Can you do that for me?” she requested.

  “All right,” I reluctantly agreed and at the same time was embarrassed that the nanny would lecture me on not being nice.

  “What do you normally do right now?” Granny asked.

  “About an hour or so after breakfast I am supposed to go swimming. I finished breakfast about an hour ago,” I told her.

  “How about you change into your swimsuit, and while you are swimming I'll look over these instructions. How does that sound?” Granny suggested.

  “Okay, the pool is down on the main level. Here is my phone, the workout app tells you what type of strokes and how many laps I am supposed to do. If you click on the stroke name, it will take you to a videoshowing you how to do the stroke.”

  Granny asked with surprise, “You mean you do not just play in the water?”

  I was confused about what she was talking about since I thought pools were for laps.

  “Well, you better get ready. I'll be out here when you are done,” Granny continued.

  I changed into my swimsuit as quickly as I could. Then I grabbed my flip flops and cover-up and went out to the main area where Granny was reading the paperwork.

  “Great, let’s go,” Granny said as we headed down to the pool.

  Granny had a little bit of a problem using my phone. She kept losing the program, and getting into the wrong workout. So I just winged it like I normally did anyways and worked on my favorite strokes which were the freestyle and breaststroke. I did not like the backstroke or butterfly as much, so since Granny or my mom won’t know the difference I’ll swim my favorite strokes. Is this the definition of playing in the water Granny was talking about, right? I will have to ask her later.

  As I climbed out of the pool, I tried to not sound like I was bragging when I said to Granny, “I got 25 laps done and tread water for a while, though I’m not sure for how long since the stopwatch on my phone malfunctioned.” I had a big grin since Granny had trouble operating that program also.

  “In the schedule, it says it is almost time for lunch. What would you like for lunch?” Granny asked.

  “I can order it; corn dogs, ice cream and cookies,” I replied mischievously as my stomach started to grumble.

  “Your mother says you are not to order junk food. How about a nice turkey and cheese sandwich with fresh veggies and fruit?” Granny asked as we started walking upstairs.

  I do not like turkey on sandwiches. If I have to eat healthier this hotel had a wonderful grilled veggie sandwich, so I suggested, “Grilled veggie sandwich instead?”

  When we arrived at the room, I had a great laugh and ended up sliding the card into the door to open it after Granny had tried five times and failed. Granny ordered the lunch while I took a shower and dressed. My heart dropped a little when I entered the main room and noticed my schoolbooks spread out on the table, thinking, bummer no more fun, Granny is going to make me work.

  “Lunch should be here in about half an hour, so there is a lot of time for you to begin your work,” Granny suggested.

  Bummer, I thought as I realized I couldn’t fool Granny, so I relented and sat down frowning and started working on my schoolwork, knowing it is better to get it over with quickly. I had the bad thought that maybe the reject nannies were not so bad after all. I could, at least, get away with so much more with them.

  So, I worked hard and finished my math and science before lunch arrived. They were my favorite subjects so it was easier. Social studies, on the other hand, and spelling were my least favorite subjects. I tried to get Granny to answer the questions for me or allow me to use the internet, but Granny made me read and do the assignments instead. I am smart and none of the tricks I had tried on the other nannies worked on her. So I was so thankful when lunch came until I saw that it was all healthy food, realizing Granny followed my mother's healthy list exactly. I could not help but pout all through lunch, which was my favorite meal until today. No chips, soda or cookies, how could someone call this a meal? Oh wait, my mother did. I was really missing the reject nannies now for with them. This was the one meal I normally could order whatever I wanted, until now. Why did the other nanny not show up today? I bet she would have let me order cookies and chips. Now, I would have to spend the afternoon working on social studies schoolwork instead of programming my app. I was really looking forward to improving my BFA by adding games to play with your best friend. So, today was turning out to be a bad day that kept getting worse.

  My negative train of thought was interrupted. “You know what? Once you finish your schoolwork, I have a surprise for you that I think you will like,” Granny announced.

  The thought of a surprise made the schoolwork more tolerable. It was later in the afternoon before I had finished as Granny sat on the couch, knitting. Who knew when you did not cheat that school work could take so long?

  “Okay, I’m done. What is my surprise?” I asked an hour later although it felt like a year.

  “Well, your mom said we could not order sweets, but s
he never said we could not make them,” Granny revealed excitedly.

  “What do you mean?” I asked very confused.

  “How would you like to make some cookies?” Granny suggested. “I brought ingredients to make gingerbread cookies. Would you help me?”

  “Okay,” I said, somewhat unsure, having no idea what Granny was talking about. I had never made food before in my life; my parents either ate out or had take-out since we never cooked. Granny started to take items out of the bags. She asked meto get the eggs and milk from the fridge. Granny, then got out a big bowl and a hand mixer and asked after handing me a measuring cup, “Roberta, can you measure out two cups of flour into the bowl,

  please?”

  So, I carefully measured out the ingredients as Granny stirred it to mix it all up. I then rolled out the dough on a special board Granny brought and cut shapes out of the flattened dough. I liked the gingerbread man shape the best. It looked like Snow. The ten minutes it took for the cookies to bake felt like an eternity but they were starting to smell so good. I was getting really excited and soon I could not wait to eat the best smelling cookies ever.

  “They have to cool, and then we can frost them,” Granny instructed me.

  By the time the last batch of cookies was done cooking, the first batch was cool enough to frost.

  Then, Granny showed me how to make frosting with powdered sugar, meringue powder and water. We separated the frosting into lots of little bowls and put a drop of food coloring in each one to make different colors. I made all of the gingerbread men look like Snow, my doll. I spent the last hour decorating them while laughing and having fun before my parents came home. Granny even had some candy to add as details. I knew the gingerbread Snow just needed a few chocolate chips to make him perfect.

  After I helped Granny cleaned up, I got a glass of milk and some cookies and sat at the table with Granny. “Granny, these are the best cookies I have ever eaten!” I exclaimed, smiling and taking another bite.

  “Homemade cookies are always the best,” Granny agreed.

  Then, my parents came home. I excitedly grabbed a plate of cookies and ran up to them, “Look, we made cookies! This one even looks like Snow!” I expressed happily, trying not to yell.

  “Wow, it does look just like Snow. Can I eat one or would Snow get upset?” Dad asked.

  “I think he will be okay with it since you’re not eating the real Snow, only a cookie that looks like him,” I explained after thinking about it for a minute. Then, my dad took one and bit into it.

  “They taste awesome; great job!” my dad said and I could not help but beam. Then, I offered a cookie to my mom.

  “No thank you. They look very nice, and you did a good job on them, Roe. Do not eat too many and spoil your dinner,” my mother reminded me.

  “Yes, Mom,” I commented somewhat deflated, returning the cookies to the counter as I remembered that Mom is always the health nut.

  “You must be the new nanny,” Tony introduced himself as he went over to shake Granny’s hand. “I am, Tony, Roe’s dad.”

  “Hello, thank you for looking after our daughter. I am, Andra, her mother,” Andra added.

  “It was my pleasure watching your daughter. She is very bright and a hard worker. My name is May. You can call me May or Granny.”

  “It is nice to meet you. Would you like to stay for dinner?” Andra invited her.

  “No, I have to run home and make dinner for my husband, James, but thank you for the offer. I will see you tomorrow.” Granny then packed up her bags and left.

  “She seems very nice,” Tony observed.

  “She is, but she made me do my schoolwork all by myself, and then we made cookies so I did not have any time to work on my app today,” I complained.

  “It is good for you to do other things than program once in a while,” my dad said as he looked me in the eye with his hand on my shoulder.

  “I guess,” I reluctantly agreed.

  Though, after dinner, I was really happy when my dad sat down with me and helped me with my best friend app. It was a fun way to end the day.

  Chapter Three: Granny Returns

  I got up before my parents again and started the coffee. It looked like another late night for them. Their alarm should go off in a few minutes, but until then, I ate two cookies I made yesterday. Right on time Lyla used her key and came into the main room, ignoring me as she poured three cups of coffee.

  “Lyla, I made these cookies yesterday. Would you like one?” I asked her as politely as I could.

  “Oh, carbs. I do not eat carbs. No thank you,” she rudely replied as she pushed the plate away and it accidentally fell on the floor. Then Lyla turned her back to me and kept filling coffee mugs.

  I was startled by Lyla’s actions. When my dad came into the room, he witnessed the entire episode. I stood there in shock; my cookies were gone! My precious sweets I worked so hard on were cracked and crumbled on the floor. Pour ginger Snow was broken in half with a leg missing on top of the pile of crumbled broken cookies. I was starting to break into tears.

  “Roe worked hard on those cookies, and they were really tasty. The least you can do is to help her clean them up,” my dad insisted to Lyla.

  With a frustrated look, Lyla apologized to me. “I am sorry. That was rude of me. I’ll be happy to help you clean these up.” I noted the sarcasm in her response. As I swallowed back my tears and started to pick up the cookies with my dad and her.

  Once the cookie pieces were picked up, Lyla went over to the sink to wash her hands as though they were poisonous. As I thought, “Lyla and my mom do not know what good food really is!”

  That is when we heard a knock on the door. Tony opened the door to greet Granny, who showed up with bags again. She put one bag in the freezer and one in the fridge. I started to get excited thinking that maybe she brought more cookie-making supplies! I could not wait to see what she brought today.

  “Good morning, Ms. Lyla,” Granny smiled.

  “Good morning, May,” Lyla replied and then changed the subject to business and talked to my parents the rest of the time she was there.

  After breakfast, my parents and Lyla left for the day. Granny handed me my schoolwork and I begrudging began to work on it, starting on math and science first since those subjects were fun. After about two hours of working while Granny knitted, she said, “It’s time for swimming. Let’s take a break so go get ready.”

  I could not wait. I needed a break so I jumped up and changed into my swimsuit in lightning speed. I looked at the workout plan before heading down and set up Granny with the stopwatch program on my phone. Granny practiced using the app a few times, and then we were ready to go. This time Granny did a great job with the app and kept me on track. I even had to work on my backstroke and butterfly, which I did not like, but Granny looked so proud that she had mastered the app that I did not complain.

  Lyla had also set up lunch for us which was super healthy rabbit food. Yuck. I tried really hard to be pleasant, but a boring salad with no dressing and no dessert is a horrible lunch, especially when I have spelling and social studies to work on this afternoon. Today was looking to be a bummer of a day. Granny could tell I was not happy with the options Lyla had picked. So, after lunch Granny told me, “I have another surprise for you once you finish your schoolwork.”

  I could not wait to see what Granny had brought, and she would not tell me no matter how many times I asked or tried to trick her into telling me. So, I got through the tedious schoolwork in record time, that is, once I actually started working on it and stopped bugging Granny.

  “I am done Granny. What is the surprise?” I inquired, trying not to jump with excitement.

  “Do you like ice cream?” Granny asked.

  “Who does not like ice cream? Of course, did you bring ice cream with you?” I hoped.

  “No, I brought the ingredients to make ice cream. What is your favorite flavor?” Granny wondered aloud.

  “French Vanilla or Moo
se Tracks,” I replied, licking my lips. Oh, how yummy!

  “Well, I brought a bag of different candy bits and chocolate. Pick out what you would like in your ice cream,” Granny suggested.

  I went through the bag and had to sample each one, then I picked out my favorite candies: cinnamon, chocolate and nuts. I was so excited the whole time as we measured out the ice and added it to the outside of the ice cream maker. Then, we added a cream egg mix that we cooked, milk, more cream, sugar and then vanilla. We closed the ball up and rolled it back and forth before refilling the ice and salt mix. We rolled it some more before it resulted in the best tasting ice cream ever, or so I thought. Granny just smiled as I happily dug into my big bowl of ice cream which consisted of vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate mixed with a nut butter flavor. It was so yummy that I savored every spoonful!

  “So, what would you like to do the rest of the afternoon?” Granny asked.

  “I normally work on my programming once my schoolwork is done,” I said between ice cream bites.

  “What are you programming?” Granny asked.

  “An app I call my Best Friend App, or BFA for short,” I replied.

  “That sounds delightful; what does it do?” Granny wanted to know.

  “It will respond to your voice and answer questions, give you compliments, play games and have a conversation with you. That is what I am working on right now,” I explained.

  “When you are done with your ice cream, you'll have to show me your app,” Granny suggested.

  “Will do!” I promised, before shoveling in the last spoonful of ice cream into my mouth.

  Once all the dishes were done and the ice cream materials were put away, I showed Granny, Snow and my app. Granny thought Snow was a really cool robot doll. She just thought the app was the best idea, and then Granny gave lots of hints and advice on how to make the program even better. So, I went to work with Snow on my app. I wanted an app to color coordinate the outfits we wore. I was not getting it to work right, so I would have to ask my dad to help me later.