Grandma Robot Read Online Free PDF

called that cat by a name. She
rushed to the kitchen and found Henie opening a drawer. “Henie, you
did get rid of that cat?”
    Henie smiled, “Yes, dear. I put the
cat outside.”
    “How did you know that cat's name
is Sock?” Karen demanded.
    “The cat answered to that name,”
Henie said demurely.
    Karen looked bewildered. “That's
odd.”
    “What is odd, dear?” Henie asked
as she took a fork out of the dish drainer, wiped it dry and placed
the fork the tray in the drawer.
    “That the cat is hanging around
here now. I haven't seen him in the yard before,” Karen
replied.
    Henie rolled her eyes toward the
ceiling. “Pooh! There's nothing at all odd about it. You ever see a
country place that didn't have at least one cat hanging
around?”
    “That's true, but how do you know
that?” Karen asked.
    Henie's brown eyes shifted back and
forth as she contemplated her answer. “Well …. well, that's what
I'm programmed to know if I ever work in the country like now.”
Putting an end to the discussion, she hustled passed Karen and went
upstairs to her room.
    Again it occurred to Karen, she
kept getting sidetracked. She still needed to tell Henie when to
vacuum. She followed Henie upstairs and found her standing in her
bedroom, looking out the window.
    “Henie,” Karen said. “I need to
talk to you a minute.”
    “Yes, dear. Come look out the
window. Isn't this the prettiest view? This high up we can see for
a long ways,” Henie said admiringly.
    “I agree. This is a view that must
have been treasured by the people who built this house. I'll bet
they stood right here often and looked over their land,” Karen said
as she studied Henie's back. The robot reminded Karen of someone's
grandma. She even smelled like a grandma, a mixture of vanilla and
cinnamon. There wasn't anything wrong with that.
    “I'm sure of it,” Henie answered
softly. “They saw that nice big red barn that now needs painting.
I'll bet they had a chicken house and hog house behind the fence,
and the green yard had a row of peonies along the edge.
    Years ago, you could have seen a
pond in the pasture and just past the dam, the brambles of a
blackberry patch.” She stopped looking out the window and turned to
find Karen watching her. “I'm sorry to ramble on. You should
interrupt me when I do that. Did you want me to do something for
you right now?”
    “No, I just wondered if I could
suggest you run the vacuum cleaner early in the mornings while I'm
asleep. I think I can sleep through the motor noise, but it's most
disconcerting when I'm trying to write,” Karen said.
    “That is what I'll do if that's
what you tell me to do, dear,” Henie agreed amicably.
    Karen nodded. “Good, I'm glad we
got that settled. Now I need to get back to work.”.
    She took one more look over Henie's
shoulder. The only outbuilding was a large barn in bad need of
repair. How was it the robot knew about all those other things like
a chicken and hog house that wasn't there now? The pasture was
hilly and green with spring grass, but she didn't see a
pond.
    The phone rang just as Karen sat
down at her desk. “Hello.”
    “Hi, this is Amy. How are things
going with the robot?”
    “All right, I guess,” Karen said
half heartedly.
    “Oh no, something is wrong. I can
hear it in your voice. What happened?” Amy demanded.
    “I can't put my finger on it
exactly. Out of curiosity, how did you decide to name the robot
Henie?” Karen inquired.
    “Well, I don't know for sure. We
came up with a bunch of names. I wasn't the one that settled on the
name for your robot. I think Joe did,” Amy said.
    “Isn't Henie a strange
name?”
    “It is now that you mention it. I
can check with Joe and see how he came up with that name. I'll let
you know if you're really interested,” Amy assured her. “That
doesn't seem like much of a concern. What else is
wrong?”
    “Were the robots programmed to
appraise furniture? Henie said she liked my fifties
couch.”
    “She