Grandma Robot Read Online Free PDF Page A

gets cold. You must
be starved by now since you don't eat breakfast.
    Eating in the kitchen will give
your eyes a rest from that computer screen for awhile. Besides your
meal digests better that way I think.” Henie started to
leave.
    “Wait! I'm curious about
something. Amy told me yesterday to call you Henie. Is that really
your name?” Karen asked.
    “Actually, my name is Henrietta.
That was shortened to Henie .... .” She fumbled for the right
words. “Some time or another.”
    The robot forgot a detail as
important as when she got her nickname. That was really strange. “I
thought you had total recall,” Karen insisted.
    “Only about things programmed into
me as part of my job. The history of my name is not one Amy thought
was important I guess. Perhaps, you need to ask her about it if you
want to know,” Henie said, before she shuffled back to the
kitchen.
    Karen grabbed the journal and made
another entry about the transformation of the robot from yesterday
to today. Also, she jotted down Henie's hesitation to give
information about her name. Karen felt she might be hiding
something.
    About the middle of the afternoon,
Karen found she was having trouble concentrating because of loud
noises in the living room.
    The rumble of the
vacuum cleaner was just a tad louder than Henie humming The Old Rugged Cross .
Karen opened the door to tell her to be quiet. She needed peace to
be her most creative while she worked. She'd tell the robot to find
a different time to run the cleaner.
    Karen stepped into the living room
as a dark blur skittered at her and streaked between her legs.
“What was that?” She squealed, peering back into her
office.
    “My gracious! What a racket you're
making? What was what, dear?” Henie complained, shutting off the
vacuum cleaner.
    “An animal of some kind just ran
into my office,” Karen said shrilly, edging backward toward the
couch.
    Henie peeked around her into the
office. A blue gray cat perched on Karen's chair. Nervous because
of all the sudden attention, the cat greeted them with a tentative,
“Meow.”
    Karen leaned against the couch as
she pointed her shaky finger at her chair. “That’s a cat. How did a
cat get in here?”
    “The vacuum cleaner scared him,
and he ran in your office to hide. Either, it was that or your loud
voice frightened him. That was enough to scare me,” Henie scolded
softly as she walked slowly toward the cat.
    “I meant how did the cat get in
the house. I don't have a cat.” Karen kept her eyes on her chair as
Henie edged closer. “Be careful, Henie. That cat's wild. It might
attack you,” warmed Karen, edging to beside the door so she'd be
out of the way if the cat got away from Henie.
    “Don't worry, dear. What's the
worse the cat can do? Scratch my vinyl skin coating? I won't feel a
thing. I certainly can't bleed,” Henie joked.
    “I don't know what patching you up
entails, but I don't want Amy mad at me for letting you get
damaged,” Karen declared.
    “If worse comes to worse, between
the two of us, we might figure out a way to mend me without Amy
knowing. So stop worrying about something that hasn't happened.”
Henie turned back to the cat. “Naughty kitty, you shouldn’t disturb
Karen,” Henie scolded softly as she snatched the cat by the back of
the neck.
    The cat struggled in Henie's arms
and gave a complaining meow as the robot headed across the living
room.
    Karen followed along behind her.
“You didn't answer me. Henie, how did that cat get in this
house?”
    “When I opened the back door, the
cat must have streaked in as if it owned the place.” In a low tone
as she disappeared into the kitchen, she scolded, “Sock, you have
to be seen and not heard. Karen doesn't like to be disturbed, and I
don't think she likes cats.”
    Karen dropped into her office
chair. It came to her, she forgot to discuss what time might be
better for Henie to run the vacuum cleaner.
    As she thought about what just
happened, she remembered Henie