Grandma Robot by Fay Risner

dear.
    I'm going to walk across the
pasture to that cemetery in the trees. I won't be gone long,” Henie
said.
    Karen gasped. “Oh no! That far?
That's too far for you to walk. It must be a quarter of a mile
away.”
    “Don't exaggerate. It's more like
an eighth of a mile. I bet I can make it there and back better than
you can. No more exercise than you get you would play out fast,”
Henie criticized.
    Karen shot her a despairing look.
“I don't think so, but if you insist on going, I'll take you in the
car.”
    “I want to walk. In the old days,
on foot is the way people always went to that cemetery,” Henie said
stubbornly.
    “Suppose your battery stopped
working? What would you do?” Karen worried.
    “My battery is on full charge so
that is not a problem. See you later,” Henie said with
finality.
    “Oh,” groaned Karen. “Wait for me
to shut down my computer. I better go with you.” Henie gave her a
bothered look. “Well if for no other reason than to prove I can
keep up with you walking that far and back.”
    Before she followed Henie, Karen
slipped the picture of the elderly couple in her blouse pocket.
This might be as good a time as any to ask Henie if she knew more
than she was telling about the couple. How she possibly could know
them was beyond Karen's imagination.
    Henie opened the front door. “Good.
You really can use the exercise. Maybe a walk will make your
appetite improve, and you will be able to clean up your
plate.”
    Karen groaned followed Henie
outside. “If I ate everything on my plate, you wouldn't have
anything to feed the cat. I'd have to buy cat food.”
    Henie stepped onto the top step and
looked around.
    “What's the matter? You lost
already?” Karen teased.
    “No, not at all, silly. I just
like watching the fog roll. It's pretty amazing to walk in a
cloud,” Henie said.
    “I guess I have never thought of a
fog that way,” Karen said dryly, feeling the uncomfortable, misty
haze plaster to her hair and clothes.
    When Karen came to the yard gate in
the pasture fence, she opened it to let Henie through
first.
    Henie gazed along the fence line
and clucked dolefully. “Will you look at all those peonies? This
fog flattened those pretty flowers.”
    “When the sun dries them off, they
will stand back up again, pretty as ever,” Karen said, closing the
gate behind Henie.
    “Don't forget to fasten the gate
tight, dear. We don't want to let the cattle get out,” Henie
ordered. “I'll bet chasing cattle is no fun. They have minds of
their own and usually blind when it comes to seeing an open gate
hole.”
    Once they walked up the slight
hill, Karen looked back. She couldn't see the black silhouette that
was her house. “I have no way of knowing which way we're going
without a landmark. I think this hike is a bad idea.”
    “What's the matter? You giving out
already and making excuses?” Henie gloated.
    “Never mind my stamina. I was just
worried about us getting lost. Just keep walking and get this over
with. If we can't find our way home, we'll wander around for hours
in this fog. We'll both get all wet, and I catch pneumonia. It will
be all your fault. You will have to face my mother and explain to
her how come you let me get sick.”
    “I'd be glad to do that, but
you're healthy as a horse so I don't expect facing your mother will
be necessary. Frankly, dear, as little time as possible with your
mother is all I can stand. Just don't expect me to carry you home
when you give out,” Henie said. “I'm only programmed for fifty
pound lifts.”
    “You don't hold back much. I take
it you weren't impressed with my mother.” Karen's face scrunched up
as she tried to see ahead of them. “How much farther do you suppose
it is to that cemetery?”
    “Just a half a cloud away. Keep
walking,” Henie said, grinning.
    Off to their right, the grass made
whispering rustles. Karen's eyes widen as she stared at the fog.
“Henie, what's that noise?”
    Before Henie could make a