Mechanical Read Online Free PDF Page B

room.
    Jessica’s mom looked up and smiled. “Hi Drew,
nice to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you too,” I replied, glad for
the many hours that the creators had drilled us on correct and
polite behavior among adults.
    I was then tugged away and we headed upstairs
where I dumped my stuff in Jessica’s room. I couldn’t help but
notice, as I gazed around, how perfectly it matched her. A light
peach color covered her walls and although this and yellow were the
main themes, it wasn’t obnoxious or too bright.
    “So, I started a little bit on our
assignment,” Jessica said, gesturing to the floor where diorama
parts lay strewn about.
    We had been assigned the medieval jousting
portion of our history studies so Jessica had bought little plastic
horses and people. “They didn’t have medieval horses or knights ...
so we’ll have to figure something out to make them seem ...
authentic,” She told me, biting her lip in thought.
    I nodded, still staring at the strange little
figurines and wondering what we could do with them.
    “Maybe we can color them?” Jessica suggested.
She pulled out some markers and paper from her desk and we sat down
on the floor. She started scribbling out a small little square and
soon we were inventing coats of arms and armor. Jessica grabbed
some tape and held it up to one of the tiny horses. She threw her
head back and laughed. “This is ridiculous,” she cried, holding up
the horse and paper for me to see.
    I laughed too, seeing how strange and tacky
it looked. “Well, what about a lance?” I asked, imitating a knight
holding one.
    Jessica held up a toothpick. We both burst
out laughing as we tried to figure out some way to attach the
‘lance’ to one of the figurine’s small, plastic hands. All of a
sudden, I stopped short, my breath caught in my throat where a
laugh had threatened to escape only a second before.
    Jessica stopped momentarily and stared at me.
“What’s wrong?”
    I looked at her, suddenly realizing how
strange it must have seemed. “I just have a headache,” I said,
conjuring up a plausible lie.
    “You want something for it?”
    “It’ll go away soon,” I assured her. I
frowned in thought. I had laughed many times before, but it had
always been a forced laugh, never an authentic one. I hadn’t even
known what a real laugh felt like or what it was like to be happy
enough to laugh, to really laugh ... until now. I had
laughed with Jessica over something so small and meaningless, but I
had actually felt something. I stared at the tiny, plastic
statuette, wondering how something so trivial could bring this out
of me. I shook my head. No. That couldn’t have been the case. I
wasn’t human. I couldn’t become human.
    Jessica said something about food,
interrupting my thoughts, and I distractedly followed her as she
left the room and went downstairs. As we made our way to the
kitchen where Jessica said the snacks were stored, we passed the
living room and I saw Michael sitting on the couch. He turned
around when he heard our footsteps and smiled at seeing me. “Hey
Drew,” he called, getting up from the couch and following us into
the kitchen.
    “Ugh, Michael, go away,” Jessica groaned,
grabbing a bag of chips from the cabinet. “This is a girl's only night.”
    “I was just saying hello,” he protested.
    “Well now that you’ve said it, goodbye,”
Jessica said, waving him out of the kitchen.
    “See ya, Drew,” he called, laughing as
Jessica swiped him with a dishcloth.
    I smiled back and waved.
    Jessica came back wearing an annoyed grin and
shaking her head. “Brothers,” she said with a laugh. “You got
any?”
    I shook my head.
    “Lucky you.”
    We headed upstairs to her room and started
snacking while we worked on the diorama. Awhile later, I heard
footsteps from the doorway and turned to see Michael. “Hey, guys,”
he said.
    I heard Jessica sigh. “Whatcha want now,
Michael?” Exasperation threaded her voice. She tapped her fingers
on the