Grandma Robot (8 page)

“Henie, what you
doing?”

The robot opened her eyes and made
a face like she hated to be bothered. “Just waiting until bedtime.
If your next question was do I have all my work done. The answer is
yes.”

Karen plopped down on the couch and
felt the springs give. “That never entered my mind. I just wanted
tell you something. While you were resting I visited the
cemetery.”

“I know. I watched you from my
bedroom window. Find anything interesting?” Henie asked,
straightening in the chair as she livened up.

“Yes, that family tree you talked
about is a little clearer to me now,” Karen told her, watching for
a reaction.

“That's good to know, dear,” Henie
said, giving away nothing. Instead, she sighed.

“What are you thinking about?”
Karen hoped Henie would have shared something
enlightening.

Henie smoothed the wrinkles out of
her apron. “This would have been a perfect night to sit on the
porch if we had rockers to sit in.”

Anywhere had to
be more comfortable to sit than this old couch.
“I forgot to do that, didn't I? All right, I'll bring the
rockers down right now. You hold the door open for me when I get
back.” Karen rushed upstairs to the attic and hurried back with the
rocker Henie sat in by the trunk. “I didn't see any other rocker.
Is there another one?”

“Look in the far west corner.
There are some of Clell's boxes on it and around it so the rocker
is hard to see,” Henie recalled.

When Karen made it to the door with
the second rocker, Henie was waiting with a rag in her hand. In a
few minutes, she had the rockers dusted. “Now we can try them out.
Have a seat, dear.”

They rocked as they watched the sun
sink and turn the field across the road as red as the
horizon.

“You have good ideas,” Karen
complimented.

Henie chuckled. “Sure I do. It's
another app Amy programmed in me. Karen, do you ever take the time
to see what is around you when you relax?” Henie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I think your mind swirls with
thoughts about your writing. You never take the time to see nature.
When you have the opportunity to live in the country you should
take advantage of it. Life shouldn't be all work.

Have you noticed the sparrows
flitting from fence post to fence post? See how busy they are? They
dart down and pick up a piece of dead grass to put in their nest.”
Henie pointed across the road. “Hear the trill of the redwing
blackbirds while they balance on those electric wires.

A wren has been warbling up a storm
in that elm tree by the road ever since we sat down. I'll bet a
noisy as that tiny bird has been, you haven't heard it.

The robins are hopping about,
looking for a bug in the grass to feed their babies. A couple of
squirrels have darted down in the road ditch and back up the
tree.

That's just a few of the things
going on around here that make this place a nice house to live in,”
Henie declared. “Plenty of action going on.”

Her attention changed from nature
to traffic as she watched a white pickup with a tool box in the
back slow down.

The pickup pulled in the driveway
and stopped. A handsome man climbed out. Definitely, a farmer from
the way he was dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans.

“Who is he?” Henie whispered
behind her hand.

“I have no way of knowing,” Karen
replied softly.

The man, with sun browned skin,
approached and took off his feed store cap to reveal his disorderly
brown hair. He gave them a friendly smile. “Evening, ladies. I'm
Chris Sorensen. My farm is on the far side the cemetery. I noticed
someone had moved into the Crane house. Thought I'd just say
welcome to the neighborhood.” He climbed the steps and sat on the
floor with his back against the post.

“I'm Karen Warwick, and this is
Henie,” Karen introduced as she noted the scent of dust on him.
Clearly, he had been doing field work.

Chris shook his hat toward them.
“I'm glad to see you're living in this old house. It was meant to
be lived in. Is it just you two?”

“Yes, just the two of us,” Karen
answered.

“Not always easy for two women
living alone in the country. If you ever need help with anything,
just give me a call. I'm not always in the house, but I have an
answering machine. I'm sort of handy so if you ever need anything
fixed. I'd be glad to help out,” Chris said.

“Isn't that nice,” gushed
Henie.

“Thank you, Mr. Sorensen. We'll
keep that in mind,” Karen said evenly.

“Young man, it's a warm evening.
Could I get you a glass of ice tea?” Henie asked.

“Aw, no need to bother on my
account, ma'am,” Chris drawled shyly.

“No bother. I was just going to go
in and get us tea. I'll bring you a glass while I'm at it. You look
dry,” Henie said, getting up.

“Guess I am dry. It warmed up nice
today and got dusty out in the field,” he said.

Karen agreed, “Really nice day
though. I guess we can safely say this is spring for sure. Do you
farm many acres, Mr. Sorensen?”

“Stick with Chris. Mr. Sorensen
was my dad. I rent farm land a mile away, and I have three hundred
acres on my farm. I just finished planting the last field of beans.
Glad to get done before a rain comes.”

Henie came out carrying three
glasses. One in each hand and her arm wrapped around one. She
handed one to Chris then gave Karen hers.

“Much obliged, ma'am,” the farmer
said politely.

Henie sit down and rested her glass
on the rocker arm before she asked, “Are the cattle in the pasture
yours?”

“They are. I've got forty three
head of black Angus,” he told her. Karen noted Henie's see I was
right look as Chris asked, “What do you do for a living,
Karen?”

“I'm an author. It makes me a nice
living so I don't have to join the rat race in town,” she replied.
“I'm a city girl so Henie is acquainting me with country life, and
I find I like living here very much.”

Chris nodded. “That's mighty nice.
I've always liked living on my farm, but then this is the only life
I've ever known.”

“Your mother, Gracie, still
living?” Henie asked, holding tightly to the sweating tea glass on
the arm of her rocker.

Chris said, “She's in a nursing
home now. You know my mom?”

Karen gave her a somber look. How
was Henie going to answer?

“No, I just remembered hearing the
name somewhere,” Henie said offhandedly.

Chris set his empty glass on the
porch floor. “I best keep moving. I still have to fix me some
supper. You ladies have a nice evening now.” He put his cap on as
he headed for the pickup.

“What a nice young man?” Henie
purred.

“I suppose. He seemed polite
enough. Hope he doesn't make a nuisance out of himself,” Karen
stated.

Henie frowned. “It wouldn't hurt to
find something that needs fixing once in awhile so you could
invited that nice young man over. I repeat there is more to life
than work.”

“I'm not about to call that farmer
for help. We can handle anything that needs done around here,”
Karen declared.

“Sure we can,” quipped Henie.
“That isn't the point. You need to give that cute farmer a reason
to come visit.”

“What did you bring that glass of
tea out here for? It's sweating all over your rocker arm,” Karen
said to change the subject.

“I couldn't very well not have a
glass in my hand while the farmer was here. How would that have
looked?”

“Oh.” Karen started her rocker
squeaking again as she stared into the dusk. “Oh, look! The
fireflies are out. Isn't that a pretty sight?”

“Sure is. That's always a fun
thing to do for kids in the country. Remember when you used to
catch lightning bugs when you were a kid?” Henie asked.

Karen shook her head. “No, Mom
wouldn't let me.”

Henie slapped her rocker arm with
her free hand. “Just like her mother. I knew it. Why wouldn't Helen
let you catch lightning bugs?”

“She said the next thing I'd do
was bring the nasty things in the house and let the lid get off the
jar. She'd find insects crawling on everything. She couldn't have
that,” Karen related as she stared into the darkness.

Henie stood up. “Stay put while I
put this glass of tea in the refrigerator. I'll be right
back.”

Chapter 9

“In a few minutes, Henie was back.
She handed Karen a jelly jar.

“What is this for?” Karen
asked.

“A jar for you and one for me.
We're going to catch lightning bugs. Get out in the yard and see
how many you can snatch out of the air,” ordered Henie.

So for the next hour, the two of
them laughed and encouraged each other as they grabbed at the air.
When they succeeded in catching a lightening bug, they held closed
fists over the jelly jars to release the bugs and slipped on the
lid.

Finally, Karen held her jar up so
it caught the living room window light. “Think we have enough,
Henie. My jar looks almost full.”

“So is mine. Now let's take them
in the house and put them on our bedroom dressers. It's always fun
to watch them light in the dark after we go to bed,” Henie said.
She paused. “You do want to take the jars in, don't
you?”

“Sure I do,” Karen said, taking
Henie's jar so Henie could hold the railing to step up to the
porch.

Karen rushed to her room and set
her jar on her lamp table. She went across the hall and set Henie's
jar on her dresser.

In the mirror, Karen watched Henie
wiggle into her white, cotton night gown by the bed. Karen looked
at her image in the mirror and then at Henie. The robot was taking
the pins out of her hair and running her fingers through it. The
bun spilled wavy hair down to her shoulders.

“Henie, do you think I'm anything
like my mother?” Karen asked.

Henie picked up her white night cap
on the foot of the bed, stuck it on her head and pushed the ruffle
out of her eyes. She came to the dresser, laid her handful of hair
pins in a pile and met Karen's eyes in the mirror.

Henie smiled at her. “I was afraid
you were headed that way at one time, but lately you've loosened up
enough that you're plumb likable.”

Karen turned and gave Henie a hug.
“If I have loosened up as you put it, it's all your fault you
know.”

“In that case, I'll gladly take
the blame for something that's turning out right in your world,”
Henie said, patting Karen's back.

The next afternoon, Karen stopped
typing, thinking she needed to take a coffee break and rest her
fingers. A car rumbled into the driveway, stopped. A door slammed.
“Who could that be?”

She was almost across the living
room when the front door burst open. “Mom!”

“Hello, Karen,” her mother said
cheerfully. Slung over her right arm was the handle of a tote box
full of bottles and rags. Over her left arm hung a large black
purse full of pockets.

Karen pointed at the box. “What
have you got there?”

“My cleaning supplies. I thought
as long as I was coming I might as well bring them along just in
case,” Helen said offhandedly. “I know I was taking a chance not
bringing a broom with me, but I thought surely you have one of
those.”

“I told you the house is in good
shape. You shouldn't have bothered to come all the way out here,”
Karen defended.

“I know you did. How about fixing
me a cup of coffee for go power while I look around just to make
sure.” Her mother wasn't used to taking no for an answer. She made
a swipe across the lamp table with her finger. “Well, I'll be.
That's not dusty.”

“I told you,” Karen said quietly.
She glanced upstairs and didn't see Henie. If she was lucky, the
robot would stay in her bedroom until her mother left. She headed
for the kitchen. “Let's go make that coffee. As long as you're
here, you might as well have a cup with me. I'm ready for a coffee
break.”

“Why are you talking so low? Do
you have a sore throat?” Helen said as she felt Karen's
forehead.

“No, Mom. I'm fine. Stop that,”
Karen replied as she grabbed her mother by the elbow and headed her
to the kitchen. Helen set her cleaning supplies on the counter
along side the purse and slid into a chair at the table. She folded
her hands together and watched her daughter start the coffee
maker.

Karen sit down by her. “It doesn't
take long. We'll have coffee in no time.”

“Good. That's just enough time to
tell me what's going on out here. Spill the beans. I can see you're
nervous about something,” Helen ordered.

“Now what makes you say something
like that. I'm fine and enjoying every minute of country living,”
Karen defended.

“Uh huh, but you didn't sound like
everything was all right when I talked to you on the phone. You
asked questions I never thought I'd hear from you. Something or
someone put you up to it. A mother knows such things.” Helen looked
down her nose at Karen.