by Amy Braat
Then, Granny called us for lunch. We got out of the swimming pool then went upstairs to change. The healthy lunch Lyla had been ordering for Granny had arrived, and I showed up about the time we were dressed. Mia looked at it and wrinkled her nose, “You eat this for lunch every day?”
“Some of the veggies and fruit change, but yes, pretty much. Lyla orders it for us. It is supposed to be healthy,” I explained.
“Healthy for rabbits,” Mia scoffed as we giggled. Making the best of it, we both made big veggie salads and pretended we were rabbits. After lunch, we went back to our schoolwork. Once our schoolwork was finished, there were only a few hours left before my parents would be home when Mia had a great idea.
“Hey, do you have any change?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I would have to look, why?” I asked.
“I have five dollars on me. If you have some money, then we can go down to the vending machines and get candy, snacks and pop. Then, we could watch a movie. What do you think?” Mia asked.
“Sounds awesome. I think I have some allowance around here somewhere,” I stated, searching my room before I found my coin purse with $10.35 in it.
Mia and I headed down to the vending machine with Granny in tow. We purchased two large sodas, candy bars, chips, popcorn, gum and sticky buns. We decided against the pretzels, trail mix and animal crackers because we decided that they were too healthy. We lifted up the bottom of our shirts to take all our loot back to the room. It ended up stretching out our shirts because it was so heavy, but we didn't care. Granny stayed in the main room to finish knitting some mittens. So, we piled the loot on my bed and turned on my TV, picked out a movie and whole heartily enjoyed the junk food. We laughed and made fun of the cheesy movie we picked. Now being hyped up on sugar and caffeine, I started jumping on the bed, and Mia joined in with a pillow. The grand pillow fight began and ended with us falling into the bed laughing. Then, I started to cry and Mia joined me as we hugged each other, crying together.
“I am going to miss you so much,” I sniffled.
“I have never had a best friend before; don't leave,” Mia pleaded.
“I have to. This is what we do. When the job is over, we move onto the next job. I am always leaving,” I disclosed, ending with a sob.
“You will have to call me and write me every day,” Mia made me promise.
“I will. You will have to call and write me every day,” I expressed.
“I will.” Mia gave me a big hug, and then we walked out into the main room since we had heard my parents come home.
“Hi girls. Did you have a nice day?” my dad asked.
We nodded our heads yes with a sad look on our faces and heavy hearts.
“I have never seen two gloomier faces than yours before,” my dad teased us, but it did not help us to feel better that we would soon be parted.
We just stared at my dad fighting the tears in our eyes.
“Well Mia, you better get your things, Granny should be taking you home soon,” her dad stated.
Mia grabbed her bag as Granny and Mia said goodbye with a hug and then left.
After they were gone, my dad asked, “Well Roe, ready to go workout?”
“I do not feel well today. I think I am going to go to bed,” I claimed.
“Are you all right? Do you have a temperature?” my dad asked, checking my forehead. Then, it dawned on him that I was not really sick, just upset we are leaving my new friends. So, he decided not to press me.
I moped in my room and looked around for Snow. He was thrown behind the bed during our pillow fight. I rescued Snow and held him tight. This caused his head to light up with a comforting glow. I started to cry softly as I heard my parents talking in the main room.
“What! Roe is not going to work out with us? Is she sick?” my mom asked, sounding concerned.
“No, she is not physically sick, just upset we are leaving her friends,” my dad explained.
“In that case she needs to work out to feel better. The endorphins from working out will help her feel better,” my mom concluded.
“We’ll just let her be tonight. She'll work out with us tomorrow. One night off won't hurt her,” my dad remarked.
After they left, I just cried to myself holding Snow close to my heart.
When my parents came back from working out, they checked in on me. “Roe, dinner is here. Did you want anything?” My mom entered the room and saw that I was asleep. She checked my forehead to make sure I was not coming down with a fever, but my forehead felt normal. She tucked me in and kissed her goodnight, closing the door behind her.
“Is Roe asleep?” Tony asked.
“Yes, it looks like she cried herself to sleep. She has never taken any of our other moves this hard before,” Andra conveyed.
“She never had a friend she connected to like Mia before. You know how hard it is to find another girl who is into robots. They are one in a billion, quite the prize,” Tony commented and then added, “What are we doing to our daughter, Andra? Is this really a healthy lifestyle for her to be moving all the time? Never getting attached to anything because we leave in a few weeks or months?” Tony questioned.
“I do not know. I love having her with us,” Andra sighed sadly.
We sat there in silence wondering what to do. Andra started to weep as Tony pulled her close, giving her a hug with tears in his eyes.
Chapter Six: Goodbyes
The time had gone so fast! Tomorrow we are leaving. Granny's last day was yesterday. My parents were having a goodbye party for me at the kids’ museum. Granny, her husband, Mia and Mia's family all came. We rented the party room, even though it would just be the nine of us. Lyla had set up the catering, so I figured that most likely the food would be yucky like rabbit food. At a going away party that would just ruin an already sad time. I figured that, at least, we could check out the robots again.
Mia's family walked in right behind my family. Mia and I ran off to the robot exhibit and started exploring. Roe’s and Mia's dads found it interesting that we were so engrossed in the robot exhibit that we had to be called multiple times for lunch.
Lunch was not as bad as I had expected. Granny had actually ordered the food, so we had all my and Mia’s favorites; corn dogs, French fries, ice cream, cake and some healthy stuff to make my mom happy. I brought goodbye presents for Granny and Mia.
I presented them while trying to fight back my tears. “Granny, I wish you were my real grandmother, and I will miss you so much. My parents and I got you some rolling tote bags, so you do not have to carry all those heavy bags to your next client’s house. Included with them are a matching set of suitcases for your vacation to see your grandchildren. I will miss you.” Granny gave me a big hug and told me she will miss me also.
“Mia, if you are ever in the area, please stop by and visit us,” my mother requested.
“I will do that if I know where you are.” Granny gave my mother a hug while wiping away a tear and then turned back to me. “I made you, Mia and Snow a matching set of mittens.” Granny handed out the beautifully made blue multi-colored mittens to the girls. We both accepted our gifts like they were the best treasures in the world.
I composed myself a minute and then stood up and said, “Mia, my parents and I made you this.” I handed Mia a large wrapped box. Mia opened it to find a Snowman robot doll inside just like Snow! The box says, “Snow Rip II” on it. Mia started to cry. I pointed out how it lighted up just like Snow and he even moved! “I painted it for you and Granny helped sew the body. I was already making a new soft body for Snow Rip, so I had the pattern. Dad and I stayed up way late to wire it, and Mom found the old 3D files to have him printed again. We then changed the bolts to screws because you said you would have made the robot with pinhead screws not bolts. After I leave, I did not want you to be alone, so we made you Snow Rip the second.” Mia took the doll and gave me a big hug as we cried as Snow II lighted up under the pressure of the hug.
Mia broke away
from the hug to give me a present. “I made this for you and Snow.” I opened it to find a blue soft suitcase with silver snowflakes all over it. “Open it,” Mia insisted. “The inside is divided with straps and drawers. It is a travel case for Snow, so you can keep him safe and have a place to put all his new clothing and his bed. I ironed on the snowflakes myself and added his name on the front.”
“Snow will love this, thank you so much! He will use it when we come to visit.” As I gave Mia a big hug, we were trying to hold back the tears. Granny brought out another hand knitted set of a hat and scarf, and we put the new hat and scarf around Snow II and put him safely into the box.
After quickly eating, Mia and I ran back to the robot display. Mia stated, “I bet I can build a better robot then you can!”
“No way, I can build a better robot then you can!” I countered.
“Prove it.”
“You first.” Then we both broke into giggles.
We spent the rest of the afternoon engrossed in building robots until the museum closed.
Mia hugged Snow II and cried the whole way home while I cried all the way back to the hotel.
My parents and I left the next morning. I had never felt so bad before in my life. It felt like the whole world was dark and gray and nothing would ever be okay again. After we had arrived at our new hotel close to my parents’ new job assignment, I moped around. Even Snow in his new portable suitcase did not cheer me up. My parents soon had to make a rule that my schoolwork had to be done before I was allowed to talk to Mia. Otherwise, I would spend the whole day texting or emailing her. Mia's mom had to make the same rule.
Since Mia and I had loved the robot building station at the children’s museum, my dad surprised me with a “Build your own Robot” gift card. We spent the next few nights going through the website trying to figure out what type of robot to build. There were so many choices, from how many legs to tank treads to wheels. There were lots of heads and main bodies to choose from, all depending on what you wanted to do with the robot. I decided to build a little brother or sister for Snow, so Snow would not be so lonely like I was.
Mini Snow had a silver white head with a round matching body and tank treads. The robot came with a camera and could sense obstacles and avoid them. I also ordered a speech chip that could add a voice response. With the Bluetooth added to the robot, I could control the robot from the phone app. My dad had the shipment over-nighted to us so we could spend the next few nights assembling the robot. Then, it was time for programming. I spent my days finishing up my BFA app. I had not worked on it in about a month because I actually had a real best friend and did not need a silly app to keep me company. But, now Mia was over a thousand miles away. I did not have anything better to do than to work on the program. But, my heart was not really in it. It was something to pass the time while I was supposed to be quiet while my parents were working.
In the two weeks my parents had spent updating the plant robotics programs, I had designed, built and programmed a new best friend and improved my BFA app by intergrading it with Mini Snow. He could now talk and respond to voice commands. He would follow me around like a puppy, giving me compliments and pretending to listen to me. Everybody thought it was the coolest toy ever, but I missed Mia and Granny and knew a toy would never take their place.
Chapter Seven: Double Trouble
On the last day of my parents’ two-week job, I had been going to work with them and staying in their temporary office during the day. Lyla could not find me a nanny and had been called away for some family situation. I mostly watched from my parents’ temporary office the happenings of the factory below, when I was not working on Mini Snow or homework. Though, after a while I became bored and decided to check out the vending machines. It was the best part of the day.
I made sure I had on a hard hat, safety glasses and hearing protection before I walked across the manufacturing floor. I was looking for the vending machines with the good kind of candy bars, not the healthy snacks my parents preferred. So, I wandered into a different part of the manufacturing plant than my parents were working in. I thought, “I need to make sure to bring back something healthy, like baked chips or air popped popcorn, so my mother won't think something was up or that she had been duped.” My mom would not be any the wiser as long as I did not dawdle too long.
So, I hurried across the manufacturing floor, making sure to stay in the crosswalks. I noticed three men yelling at one of the machines that had been down all week. One man was the PIC which meant “person in charge”, who was yelling at the machine.
“This machine will never work. We have tested every single part, and it all tests out okay! I can't figure out why this machine won't work!” he muttered to the others as he looked at his watch and then added, “Let's go to lunch; we will look at it again later.”
After they had left, I walked towards the machinery noticing that they had left the controls and electronic door open. Tools and a volt amp meter had been left lying next to the open door of the machine. I peeked inside the control compartment and thought to myself; I bet it's a blown fuse. I remembered my dad mentioning one machine that was down like this one, where the problem was only the blown fuse. My dad would grumble that nobody ever checked for that.
I crossed the yellow safety line and looked around the compartment and saw a round knob and unscrewed it and pulled out a glass tube with metal ends. I noticed that the fuse was black inside, and I knew that fuses were not supposed to be that color unless it had blown. Next to the fuse box was a little compartment, and I opened it. There were extra fuses inside, so I took out a new fuse and replaced it, and the machine started right up. I realized right away that the guys forgot to unplug it before they began working on it, causing the fuse to blow!
A supervisor came running over and yelled at me, “Little girl, what are you doing to this machine?” As he slams his hand down on the big red STOP button and the machine stops running.
“I...I...I was just fixing it,” I stammered, scared of this guy who was yelling at me.
“You can't fix that, you're just a little girl,” yelled the floor supervisor. “It’s dangerous.”
Who was this guy to yell at me and belittle me? I was getting mad really mad, so I replied, “Well, it's working now, isn't it? So I did fix it! You had three men working on it who never unplugged the machine first which caused it to blow a fuse. I just replaced it. That’s all and now it works.”
The supervisor took out his mobile and called the three workers back from their lunch break. The PIC was angry and started yelling to the manager about allowing a little girl to touch his machine. Then, the supervisor started to yell about the PIC not following safety protocol. The plant manager, noticing the commotion came over. He then saw me, so he had my parents notified, requesting everyone to meet in his office.
Seven people squeezed into the plant manager's small office. I was glad to have a table between me and the PIC. He was glaring at me, and I would have felt very uncomfortable if I wasn’t so mad. The plant manager asked me to tell him what had happened. I was trying to calm down and figure out what to say so my mom would not get mad at me.
So swallowing my madness, I stated, “I was going to the break room to get some trail mix from the vending machine, when I noticed the open control panel on the machine. These three men were working on that machine, and I was just watching them try to fix it,” I continued, trying to look innocent. “Then, I remembered my dad mentioning that no one remembers to check the fuse. So, I just unscrewed the fuse holder to look. It was black, and there were extra fuses in the compartment next to the fuse holder, so I replaced it.” Then I remembered I still had the fuse in my hand and showed it to them.
The PIC was turning red as he started yelling, “I am going to grieve this; letting a little girl do my job and making me work during my lunch break. I want my union representative!”
The plant manager responded quietly, “I think that is a really good idea. We should get
a rep in here to talk about how you did not follow the safety regulations for working on machinery. The safety procedure was not being followed. The job site was left with safety hazards and due to your negligence, this little girl could have been seriously hurt. We are lucky Roe is okay. We also should discuss the downtime of this machine, in addition to the wasted time of three crew members and the extra overtime involved. This was because the basic checklist was not followed. If it was, it would have been an easy fix.”
“You know,” the PIC stated with a sheepish tone in his voice, “Maybe I responded a bit too quickly. I think if I hurry, I can finish my lunch and get back to work real soon.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I will leave this with your supervisor to deal with,” the plant manager replied. “Let me know how this turns out. Now, if the rest of you would excuse us, I would like to talk to Roe and her parents.” After they had left, the plant manager said to my parents, “A manufacturing plant is no place for a child. I am assuming you have care for her someplace that is not here.”
“Yes, we normally do. But, that person was called off for an illness in the family, and since this was the last day of our job we won’t be bringing her here again. We realize now that this was not a good idea, and we are very sorry for what happened,” my mother apologized.
“I am glad no one got hurt, and everyone can get back to work safely,” the plant manager stated.
“We are finished with this job, and we are packing up to leave. If you have any other problems, please call us,” my dad commented.
“Thank you and I will do that if needed. Your work has been exceptional,” the plant manager responded. After shaking everybody’s hand, he said to me, “After college, if you need a job, come look us up.”