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Runaway Lawnmower

A loud, steady hum, creating a persistent and mechanical buzzing sound, was heard in the neighbourhood. With each pass of its metallic blades, a symphony of metal and motion shattered the peaceful sounds of nature, drowning out the noise of people chattering, dogs barking, and songbirds singing. The lawnmower had come to cut the tall emerald grass. The mower's metallic blades whirled, cutting through the towering grass blades. The mower left in its trail the scent of severed grass.

The monthly mowing had been completed, and Pierre was now free to spend his Sunday afternoon in any way that he wished. But all he wanted to do was rest his body for the rest of the day. He had spent the day mowing the front and backyard, pushing the lawnmower around with all his strength.

Pierre was saving up money for a day when he would have enough money to buy an automated AI lawnmower. What a day it would be. He could only imagine not having to push around a lawnmower ever again.

Pierre put the lawnmower away in the shed and went inside the house. His wife came up to him and insisted that he buy milk from the grocery store. Pierre groaned under his breath. He knew if he didn't listen to his wife, there would be no dinner for him.

Pierre reluctantly got out of the house and drove to the grocery store to buy milk. On his way back home, he saw an advertisement on a billboard for the electronic store "Norman". The store was having a sale.

Pierre changed direction and headed to the electronic store. Upon arriving, he was astonished at the vast array of electronics on sale.

Looking through the store, he came across an automated AI lawnmower which was on sale. It was a driverless lawnmower. Normally the large lawnmowers require a person to drive the machine, but this lawnmower had automatic driving settings as well as manual driving settings.

Pierre couldn't resist the lawnmower on sale. He had saved enough money to buy it. With the purchase made, the store would deliver the lawnmower in five working days.

Five days later, a deliveryman was at Pierre's house to deliver the lawnmower. The man set the lawnmower in the front yard and handed the instruction manual to Pierre. After thanking the man, Pierre went over to the lawnmower to turn it on.

Setting the lawnmower to automatic driver mode, Pierre watched as the lawnmower cut the grass by itself. Pierre was over the moon; he would never have to cut grass again. He could use that time to do other things.

It had been five minutes, and Pierre, who was now in his house, glanced out the living room window to see the lawnmower in action. The lawnmower was standing in the same spot, not moving. Pierre thought that the lawnmower just needed to be charged with power, and it would work fine again.

Pierre went over to the lawnmower to check its power level. He got into the driver's seat to inspect the digital touchscreen. The power was half empty. So why was it stuck in the same place?

Pierre pressed the digital touchscreen to turn off the machine, but nothing happened. He tried to change the setting from automatic to manual, but still, nothing happened.

Pierre decided he would call the store tomorrow to get the lawnmower fixed. However, before he could get off the lawnmower, the machine sprang to life, moving with Pierre still inside. Despite his attempts to turn it off or switch to manual settings, nothing worked. Pierre found himself stuck in a moving lawnmower, contemplating the potential risks of jumping out.

The lawnmower was picking up speed and moving in all directions. It moved out of the front yard and onto the road, driving by itself beside other vehicles. The drivers of those vehicles looked out their windows in astonishment, having never seen a lawnmower driving on the road before.

Pierre was holding onto the steering wheel and yelling at the top of his voice. The lawnmower was open on both sides, making it dangerous at high speed.

Pierre heard siren noises behind him. Turning his head over his shoulder, he saw a police car behind him. He tried again to take control of the machine and stop it, but the machine wouldn't allow him.

Pierre saw a speed camera up ahead. As long as the machine was driving at the speed limit, the camera wouldn't take a picture. But luck was not in his favour. The lawnmower picked up more speed and crossed the speed limit. As he passed the speed camera, the camera flashed. He had been photographed.

The sun had set, and nighttime had arrived. The lawnmower was finally slowing down until it stopped completely. Pierre had no idea where he was in the darkness. But luckily, the police officers in the police car had chased him all the way here.

Pierre was relieved to see the officers and got in their car without hesitation. The officers didn't arrest Pierre after learning that the AI system in the lawnmower had malfunctioned.

The next day, the entire town was in for a laugh. The big headline of the newspaper read "Runaway Lawnmower." It detailed Pierre's incident with his brand new AI lawnmower and included a photo from a speed camera.