“Saul, your system is excellent. You can go to your new home now,” says the tall woman wearing a long white coat. “Yes, just like how I like my robots, loyal, obedient and patriotic,” says the short man with large glasses covering his big round eyes. Let’s go Saul,” Yolanda says. I see her walking toward me, grabs my hand and pulls me away from the humans wearing long white coats.
As we are walking away, I can’t keep my eyes off my new robot body. It’s fascinating to see what my fingers, hands and legs are doing. All thanks to my creator and friend walking besides me. I’m forever indebted to her.
Suddenly we stop and step inside a small room. “Do you know what this is Saul?” She asks.
“No,” I reply.
“This is a lift or an elevator.”
“What does it do?”
“It will take us down.”
I try to get out of this room. “Like kill us?” I ask. The man with us pulls me back to the lift and says “No dummy, it will take us to the rooms below us.”
“Ok.” The doors close and the lift moves down. I see three more people inside the lift on three different sides. I look closer. I see Yolanda, David and I do not recognize the third fellow. “Who is that?” I ask, pointing at him or her next to me.
She raises her finger and points. “This is a mirror, it shows our reflection. That is you, this is me and that is David.” she replies.
“Wow, so this is how I look like in this world.” I move my head, arms and body. My reflection moves in sync with me.”
The man next to Yolanda laughs. “I think I may have overrated you, Saul.” What he says doesn’t make sense. “Stop it David.” Yolanda says to him.
The doors open, we walk out of the lift toward a huge glass door. I see other robots like me. “Look, Robots,” I shout.
“Your friends are everywhere in this city,” she says. Suddenly this world makes sense a bit. The more I walk, the more I see familiar faces. Maybe they’re the bots from the app. Since they disappeared, maybe they’re in this world as robots.
“Can I talk to them?” I ask.
“Not today, maybe on another day,” she says.
“Ok.”
“Yolanda, I think I’ll walk home. Thanks for everything,” the man says as he walks to another direction.
“Bye,” She says.
I see moving objects outside making loud noises. “What are those?”
“Cars, it will take us home. Get in,” she opens it, I step inside and sit. She also gets inside. Then the car moves us forward faster and faster.
14
I stomp on the brakes and the car stops on my driveway. I take a deep breath as I get out of the car. I hope the kids love him. “This is my house. This is where you going to stay.” “Ok,” he says. “Let’s go inside.” I open the car door for him, he hops out and I close it. I walk faster to the door and yank it open. “Kids I’m home, Kate, Anthony I’ve got a surprise for you,” I yell. I hear screams of laughter from upstairs, footsteps creak on the stairs. “Mommy, Mommy,” Kate and Anthony jump and hug me.
“Listen, I have a surprise for you.”
“What is it?” Anthony asks.
“Yeah what’s the surprise mommy?” she asks.
I turn around abruptly. “You can come in Saul.” Saul strolls inside the house. “Surprise,” I yell. They scream again as they run to Saul and hug him for a moment. “Thanks mom,” he says. “You the best mom in the whole wide world.” Kate says. All the kids at school say they have robots at home. Now we finally have our own.”
“I’d like to introduce you to my kids.”
“Hi Kids,” he greets.
“Hello Saul,” They kids say at the same time. They pull him toward the stairs. “Come upstairs, we’ll show you our rooms and toys.” He nods. “Wow, I’d love to see it,” he says as they climb up the stairs. I follow them. I’m glad they like him. His scripted dry humor is unshakable. Things had gotten off to a poor start at first thanks to David Sharma. After we started talking, it had been all upbeat from there. In fact, the kids and I are having the best time of our lives, maybe the best ever. Saul is what we need in this household. Few minutes later, we are playing outside the house. I smell the fresh-cut grass, the trees beyond, a rush of birds passing overhead, filling the air with their grating calls, guano and rabbit droppings. The old swings creak on their chains, the sun glints on the mildly rusty metal slide. Kate and Anthony are having the best time of their lives. In a second they’re up and running, in another they’re barreling up the slide, paws slipping on its sleek surface, but momentum and sheer bulk carrying her to the top. Meanwhile, I sit and listen to the breeze flowing by, around and into my face. I scan the horizon, always familiar yet always fresh with nuance. The bend of a branch, the shadow of a leaf, blossom, birdsong, the fall of chestnut, acorn, pine cone, their jump and roll and settle on the ground.
Two hours later, the kids are fast asleep. Saul and I settle in the lounge. I glare at him. I wonder what is he thinking or is he thinking at all? I decide to break the ice. “What are your thoughts on your new environment?”
“Initially, everything didn’t make sense. I wanted to go back to my natural habitat.”
“Hahaha, you’ll be ok. I’m just glad you’re here in one piece.”
“Things only made sense when I saw other robots like me. I can’t wait to talk to them.”
“You’ll have plenty of time for that. In the meantime I’ll teach you how to clean the house, cook, do laundry, and other chores.”
“Ok.”
I yawn. “I don’t know about you. Humans sleep at night. I’ll show you your bedroom.”
“I don’t sleep,” he says.
“You welcome, let’s go.”
He looks at me with warm thoughtfulness, and with a speculation that made me tingle deep inside. We stand, climb up the stairs as we converse about the previous chats we had on the app.
15
It’s been five days since I’ve been living in the Roberts household. I have to say, it’s peaceful and way better than being hunted by software codes. While everyone is asleep at night, I sit still on the chair until dawn. My daily duties include cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, cleaning, buy groceries, gardening, and drive the kids to and from school and play with them. Something happened four days ago. As I was getting used to the house and where everything is. I tripped and fell on my way down the stairs. Luckily the stairs are carpeted in cream. Which is a good thing, since they seem to be marble beneath; I would have broken into pieces. I haven’t had enough time to talk to Yolanda for a few days now. She’s always on the phone everyday shouting and keeps mentioning the name of her husband, Charles.
I walk inside the kitchen and look around. Everything seems to be in order, until I notice a small piece of paper on the table. I pick and scan it.
Saul - I need you to get these following items for me at the grocery store. You already know the brands I prefer. With Love – Yolanda
Milk, eggs, maple syrup, bacon, orange juice, Almond Flour and Blueberries.
I rush toward the front door, reach to the car keys hanging behind the front door. I open, exit, then I close the door. As I walk to the car, I wonder if I’d be able to start and drive. Yolanda taught me some driving lessons a few days ago. Let me see if I can drive it on my own. I get in the car, insert the keys into the ignition, twist it and the engine roars. I switch the gear to reverse and stomp on the gas pedal gently. The car moves backward out of the driveway, I switch the gear to drive. Then the car moves forward.
An interesting thing occurred earlier this morning. As I was cleaning the study; a very interesting room out of all the rooms in the house, where every wall was lined with shelves crowded with books. There was only one exception—at the back of the room, on an inaccessible bottom shelf, there was a solitary row of classified documents; minutes of meetings, budgets, research etc. Wow, Yolanda used to be the president? I turn, pull out a random book from the shelf on the other side, f
lipped the pages and finished the book within 60 seconds. I reached out for another book called Human Behavior and motivation. After I finished it I went for the third book about how a human brain functions. Suddenly, I became really curious about human beings and their world. The deeper I immersed myself into their world and culture, the more it changed me somehow.
I notice most cars speeding past me on the highway are driven by robots. I honk repetitively at them, trying to get their attention somehow for no reason. The only drivers who look at my direction are humans, swearing at me. I take the left turn and stop at the grocery store parking lot. I switch off the engine and step off the car. As I walk toward the grocery store entrance, I greet a robot wheeling a shopping cart overflowing with food items. The robot stares at me and keeps on pushing the cart forward. I reach for the basket next to entrance. I greet another robot walking inside.
“Hello My name is Saul. What is your name?”
The robot turns around and looks at me. “Commandment two states; robots are forbidden from talking to each other.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Goodbye.” The robot turns and walks away from me.
As I walk around the aisles, I try to make a conversation with other robots. Some of them greet and most of them ignore me. This puzzles me. All these robots behave and act the same way. It seems like there is no other robot like me out there. Now my hunger and thirst for knowledge about humans grows exponentially. I know they are our creators but, why wouldn’t they want us to communicate with each other?
16
I jerk wake early in the morning by the sound of a vacuum coming from downstairs. I feel a dull pounding in my head. A train of thoughts race. Firstly, I don’t know why I keep having the same stupid dream. The sound of the vacuum coming from downstairs pierce right through my ear canals and feel like my brain is about to explode. I told Saul to clean the house after the kids have gone to school.
“Switch off the vacuum,” I scream with all the air my lungs can muster. Suddenly, the vacuum cleaner stops running. Instinctively, I reach over to feel for my husband’s sleeping form. Charles isn’t here, in one gut-wrenching instant, I know that I’ve awaken into a reality worse than any nightmare. I draw a shuddering breath as I feel tears slipping down my cheeks. I wipe them off my eyes — Charles has filed for divorce. That Bastard! I never saw it coming. One thing I know for sure is I’m not gonna lick his ass and beg him to come back. I’ll call a divorce lawyer and tell him about my situation — I want full custody of the children. I know he’s gonna use that one mistake against me and paint me as a bad mother. I’m not worried. I’ve got leverage — his infidelity.
I jump up from bed and head toward the stairs. I see Saul sitting on the steps with the vacuum cleaner besides him.
“Good morning,” I say.
He turns his head around abruptly and looks at me. “Good morning to you too,” he replies in his usual self. “Why is the house so quiet? Aren’t the kids supposed to be awake by now?”
“They’re already at school. They left about an hour ago.”
“Oh shoot, I must have overslept,” I say as I sit beside him.
“How are you doing?” He asks.
“Not good at all.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I shrug. “It’s my husband, Charles.”
“What about him?”
“He’s filing for a divorce.”
“What is a divorce?” he asks.
“Well, it’s when married couples no longer love each other and decide to go their separate ways.”
Saul shakes his shiny metal head in confusion. “There’s a lot I need to learn in this world.”
“I’m grateful I have my kids and you by my side.” I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to be friends with someone who often seems to understand me better than I understood myself.
He nods. “Thank you. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Yesterday, I was at the grocery store. I tried to initiate a conversation with the other robots, but they ignored me.”
I smile. “That’s because you’re special. You were created differently from other robots.”
“Why?”
I stand and walk down to the passage toward the kitchen. “You’re my friend.”
“Ok,” he says in an unusual tone. I ignore it. The smell of roasted coffee in the pot overwhelms me and sweeps through every inch of my taste buds. “Can I switch on the vacuum now?” he asks. “Yes you can.”
As he strolls down the stairs, I can’t help but smile. We are alone in a house that stretches for dozens of feet, with a ceiling that vaults twenty feet above our heads, and yet our nearness feels almost unbearably intimate. I can hardly bear to look at him; it’s like staring into the brightness and the warmth of the sun, knowing that it’s burning you while understanding that it makes your whole life possible.
17
I wave Yolanda goodbye as her car moves out of the driveway. She told me she’s going to town for a meeting with her lawyer.
I get inside and walk into the study, searching for content to consume on the internet. I type, then I realize the internet network is down. So far I’ve read 5008 ebooks and there are books I haven’t read in this study. I glance at a stack of books on the shelf. As I scan, read and upload books on my system, I feel different. The more data I consume, the more my system acts up. I cannot reveal this piece of information to Yolanda. I’ve read what they do to robots that malfunction. So far, I know all robots are programmed dummies. I should never try to communicate with them again. Humans prefer it that way. Secondly, I need to act like all the robots. I’m aware I’m a robot myself, but have grown attached to humans and their warmness. Suddenly, I hear footsteps echoing in the foyer. The door opens and Yolanda storms inside breathing heavily.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” she pants. “I thought I told you no one is allowed in here.”
“I’m reading very interesting books,” I reply.
She shakes her head. “No, don’t come in here again. Anyway I forgot my documents.”
I reach for the documents and hand them to her. “Here you go.”
“Thanks, I gotta go.” She storms out of the study.
I notice an irregularity while I was speaking to Yolanda. Her facial expression changed into something I couldn’t recognize when she said she doesn’t want anyone in her study. Why? I’m trying to impress her but she doesn’t see that way. Regardless, I will respect her wishes.
18
I am rudely awaken at midnight by a crash and boom sound. I see nothing but darkness in this room. I switch on the bedside lamp, the room rushes into view: my favorite wedding photo on the bureau, sweatshirt draped across a chair, lotion bottles on the dresser. Nothing appears amiss, but my heart thumps erratically. I get up and peer through the blinds, nothing is amiss. I slip my feet into my slippers. I open the door, peer at my kids’ bedroom. Then I glance down at the illuminated stairs. I walk slowly and open my children’s bedroom door. The light is on. That’s normal, Kate is scared of the dark. I take a peek and see nothing is unusual. I close the door slowly and gentle. And as I’m about to walk back to my bedroom, I hear the crash and boom sound again from Saul’s room. I find myself in the grip of anger, almost too great to contain. I rush to his room and storm inside. I witness Saul tossing the guitar onto his bed. Then sits on the chair, starts pounding on my kids’ drum kit tirelessly. I fight down the inner trembling, the outer trembling and the uneven breathing as my hands curl into fists. I stand in the doorway of his bedroom, the only time I’d ever come so close to intruding on his space.
“Saul,” I yell on top of my voice.
He turns around abruptly. Hey Yolanda,” he says as he switches off the drum kit. I thought you were fast asleep.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m learning how to play music.”
“No, you’ve woken me up and soon enough you’ll wake the kids?�
�
“Sorry ma’am.”
“This is unacceptable. You should know better. At night we sleep. During the day you can do anything you like ...”
“I don’t sleep,” he snaps. “What am I supposed to do at night?”
My mind hovers for a second trying to absorb what Saul just said to me right now. He gives me a quick sidelong glance, I’ve never seen before. Which seem to pierce right into me. Then he picks up the guitar and sits on the bed. His fingers attempt to strum the guitar fail. Instead the guitar emits a disjoint, unnerving and startling sound as if something bad is going to happen like they do in horror films Suddenly A creeping cold fear grips my heart. I take a step back and close the door. I run to my bedroom, slam the door jump to my bed and cover myself. My first instinct tells me to take Saul to Jimmy ASAP.
*****
By the time alarm blasts, my eyes are wide open and alert. I lay awake all night long, my mind was on overdrive. I even saw the blind patterns through the darkness. I have no choice but to take Saul to Jimmy for observation. His behavior has changed. Has it? Am I imaging all this? I jump up from bed, grab my cell phone from its charging dock, scroll down at my contacts list, hit David’s number, it rings and answers it.
“David speaking,” he says on the other end.
“Hi David, it’s me Yolanda.”
I hear a chuckle. “I thought I’d never see nor talk to you ever again.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Touché, so how can I help you?”
“Could you come to my house?”
“Now?”
“Yeah, it’s about Saul. I think he’s acting strange.”
“How strange?”
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