Test Run

Robot Party

My mom was working for the evening at the real estate firm, and I had to do something with Josh. I figured I give Will one more shot. I made Will promise that he would be good to Josh. I looked at him as we stood at the front door, and I held Josh’s hand. Will opened it and looked at us and grinned.

“You and dad will have a nice time” I said, then remembered he never told me what he was doing this evening. “Um…what are you guys doing this evening?”

“Watching all the Star Wars movies” said Will.

“Cool!” said Josh, happily and quickly letting go of my hand and running into the house. “That’s my first movie!”

I folded my arms at Will. “You promise to be good to Josh, and don’t pull any crap, okay?”

“Okay” Will promised and nodded his head. I lie to my mom on the cell phone and I would be studying late with a friend, and I was about to turn my back, when Will asked “Where are you going tonight?”

“Um…” I said, “I’m studying late with a friend. You know, the midterm for social studies…”

“Oh” said Will, and he felt the tug at his shirt. Josh seemed so excited by everything. It was the way he was programmed. His programming was very cute. Robots are simple, I’ve learned, and very sweet. Their programming only seemed to handle a couple reactions and everything was pretty new to them. I didn’t have the heart to ask Josh if he was going to be kept or reused by the school after this week was up. I think they might keep Josh. I didn’t see why they wouldn't. Maybe he was just being cute on the bus when he was saying he wouldn’t be kept by them.

Will shut the door and forgot about me. I pulled out the piece of paper from my jeans and looked at the address.

The party was at a house after hours. A small house off the highway, and I got behind the wheel. I closed the door and pulled out of Will’s driveway. It was so weird to think that there is a secret world of robots, and I was learning more about how to be a real, better person from them then I did from any of the real ones I knew. However, I would be crazy to date a robot. They weren’t real, and I thought it was crazy I was even going to a party for them.

I turned on the radio and some music came on. I turned off the radio and thought about all this. I just looked ahead at the highway. It was a warm night and I was told it would be a pool party. I wasn’t wearing a bathing suit. I had one in the car just in case.

I hoped Will would be nice to Josh. He promised me he would. I was going to kill him if I found out he wasn’t nice to Josh. Josh is a really cute kid, and Will hasn’t been a good dad. I know this was just an assignment and he was just a robot. However, he seemed so real and he was such a charming kid. I felt like he was mine, and I felt like he was a real kid. I think I’ll be a mess when this week is over. I didn’t have the heart to ask him about warranty, and even if he was really going to be destroyed after the time was up.

I pulled up to a small house, with some cars in front of it. I looked at it. It was a small, one floor house and I knocked at the door. I heard some voices in the back. A boy opened the door, in his blue bathing suit. A really cute robot.

“So” he said, “You’re Jennifer?”

“Yes” I said, “Is Jacob here?”

“Yeah” he said, “I’m Oliver. Are you Jennifer?”

“Yes” I said, “Hi Oliver…”

I looked behind him and another boy was behind him in his t-shirt and bathing suit. His hair was dark too. He stood there, holding a drink of dark liquid. It looked like oil in a plastic cup. I walked into the house and I looked around.

It was a simple house with a little table. A door opened up in the back which led to a small pool.  Josh sat with his feet in the water. He turned around.

I also noticed some girls too walking around the pool. I wondered if everyone here was a robot.

“Hi Jennifer” he said.

“Hi Jacob” I said and I smiled.

He then got up from the pool and walked over to me. I looked at the other robots. “This is Oliver, John and Tim…Alice and Jenn are our friends here...they are robots too”

“Um…are you  all robots?” I asked.

“Yes” said Josh. “Guys, this is Jennifer. She’s that real girl I met.”

“Hi” I said and I smirked. “So, who’s house it this?”

John waved and Tim just stood there. I didn’t know how to really make small talk with robots. Is it really like making small talk with humans?

“It’s a vacant house” said John who smiled. I then looked over at Tim. All three of them were really good looking. I sensed something weird about Tim, though. He was quieter than Josh and John.

“Is Tim okay?” I asked, feeling a little silly that I was even talking with these guys like they were more than machines. They seemed so real though and really cute. I really liked Tim, for some reason I couldn’t quite figure out.

“Tim is okay” said John. “So, what’s going to school like?”

“It's okay” I said, “Humans get up in the morning, and we get on this yellow thing called a bus. It takes us to school where other humans teach us things.  There are subjects like math, science, English, and health, which is where I first met a robot. I have to take care of a robot kid for health class to learn what it’s like to be a parent. I got partnered up with another guy in my class. I guess school is becoming more advanced. Before robot kids, they would just give plastic babies that weren’t realistic at all…”

John shrugged.  Jacob smirked. Oliver laughed. “I met him. He’s as realistic as we are…”

“Yeah” I said, “You guys are so realistic, I can’t believe I’m not talking to real humans. Can I ask a question, if you don’t mind? How do you guys seem to function like real people? Everything about you guys seems super realistic. Your reactions to me seem so natural. How does it work?”

I really wanted to learn what robots were like. I hung out with them, and they here all really nice. I met a couple nice boy and girl robots, and we all got along. It was a nice party, and not too exciting. I then went home to pick up Josh. This pool party really solved a lot of my questions about the robot word, and made this assignment more interesting than I ever thought.