Stickin’ Around (a ‘Slipgates’ Story)
Unspecified W.U. area, near future.
“It’s a robot.” Her husband explained in the same flat, mildly irritated but trying to stay polite tone he had used a hundred times before in this argument. “It is a machine. Like the dishwasher. Or the printer. Or the car. It’s just a thing. Hell, even a pen. It’s a thing. It doesn’t care that you love it.” He said, the weariness of his age and how sick he was of this argument showing in his voice.
His wife shook her head, leaning down to pet the little robot. “Oh don’t listen to Rick, sweetie. You clean for me when my achy old bones can’t manage. That makes you a real sweetheart! Yes it does!” She attempted to pinch where she imagined the cheeks would be on the smooth uniform plastic coating, shimmering dully in the light like frosted glass. She patted it on the top instead, like a puppy. “Robby is a good boy.”
Rick rolled his eyes. “And now you’ve named it, Betty? Come on. It’s a machine! It is a good robot, I guess, but just let it do its thing.” He slumped back into his ancient poofy chair, now much less poofy over the years, and pulled out a tablet to read the news. “Get with the times. We’ve got digital newspapers now, and we have a robotic maid too. We saw the jetsons as kids, we knew this day was coming. Just be happy you have less work to do.’ He then smiled at her. “And more time to spend with me and the grandkids, right?”
Betty nodded. “Of course, of course, we’re in The Future now, woooo.” She wiggled her fingers melodramatically. “But it doesn’t mean we have to do away with our manners. Now, good little robots get a sticker!” she peeled a little unicorn sticker off a sheet and stuck it to the hull of the robot. The robot did not react. “See? He likes it.”
“Mhmm.” Rick said, losing interest already. He heard a glass fall in the kitchen, the cat yowl, and the robot zoomed off to fix their problems. “Prompt, I’ll give him that at least.” Rick grumbled after the machine.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. The grandkids came over, and they had fun making legos together. The robot, for its part stayed right where it was supposed to, plugged into its charging station in the corner, as the kids laughed and played with their favorite grandparents. After the day had turned to night, and the parents had picked up their children, the old married couple finally went to bed. They had been together for almost a century, and even though they may not see eye-to-eye on the whole robots and androids and AI business, they did still very much love each other. Rick smiled and put a kiss on Betty’s forehead before rolling over and falling asleep.
He had fitful dreams, and at about two in the morning he got up to get some water and clear his head a little. as he walked into the bathroom, he saw the robot. It was sitting in front of the mirror, looking at itself. It was looking at the sticker Betty had put there earlier.
Rick stared, and then sat down next to the robot. It did not react to his presence. He hesitantly reached out and made a motion to peel off the sticker for it, but the robot backed away. He stared again. Then he got up and left. The robot watched him go, then returned to looking at the mirror. The old man returned, with the sheet of stickers. He put a little tiger sticker next to the unicorn sticker, so that they were holding hands. The robot looked at the new sticker in the mirror for a minute, utterly silent. then it slowly backed into him, and crawled into his lap.
Rick stared down at the robot in his lap, and then chuckled softly to himself. After a moment, he patted it on the head. “Good robot. I guess.”
Author’s Note:
This was one of the stories I wrote at the spur of a moment and a time trial. I had 30 minutes to come up with characters, plot, everything, and write it all within that 30 minutes. took me about 24. My inspiration was visiting my grandma, seeing an appliance next to a mirror in her house.
