Grandma Robot by Fay Risner Page B

when you start a sentence with
I'll bet that means you're telling me the truth when you're talking
about Henrietta and Clell Crane.” Karen pulled the picture out of
her pocket. “My mother brought me some old pictures, because on
your say so I asked about my family tree. When she was here, she
was amazed and a little shaken up by you. By the way, it takes a
lot to shake up my mother.”
    “I noticed,” Henie said,
grinning.
    “Seeing you wasn't funny to Mom.
Since she remembers her Grandma and Grandpa Crane she recognized
you from this picture.” Karen held the picture in front of Henie.
“Down to what color your dress. Just our luck, by coincidence, you
happened to be wearing it the day Mom was here and jogged her
memory.”
    Henie gazed fondly at the picture
and rubbed a finger over Clell's face. “That was a wedding
anniversary. The last one.”
    “What is your last name, Henie?
Mom asked me so I made up one,” Karen shot at her.
    Henie's lips pressed tightly
together as she looked from the picture to Karen.
    “The truth, Henie,” Karen
demanded.
    “I think my last name is Crane,”
Henie said.
    Karen swallowed hard. “Doesn't that
seem impossible even to you when you say it?”
    “All I'm saying is, I might be
your great grandmother, and Clell, God rest his sweet soul, your
great grandfather,” Henie admitted.
    “Can you explain how that can be
when the Cranes are both buried here?” Karen wavered a finger at
the graves.
    “I can't. That's the plain and not
so simple truth of it. I know how strange this sounds to a
practical woman such as you. I know I'm a mechanical robot that
isn't supposed to have a past. When I came to your house, I felt
and looked like a teenager. I powered down for the night and woke
up the next morning an old lady. I didn't understand it any more
than I expect you to understand. I felt right away like your house
was my home. I realized I knew more than the information I had
programmed in me.
    All sorts of memories were in me
from seventy to eighty years ago about the farm and your great
grandparents. Now that is the truth.
    I didn't ask to
channel your great grandmother. It just happened. I don't mind, but
if that bothers you, you call Amy and tell her to come get me.”
Henie walked toward the gate. “We can go now. Keep up with me until
we get back to your yard gate. I'd hate to lose you in the fog. The
cows might get you if you're in the pasture alone unless you
memorized the words to In The
Garden .” As an after thought, she turned
and waved at the headstone. “Bye, Clell. Happy
Birthday.”
    Mid way across the pasture, the sun
came out, and the fog lifted. Karen had time to give what Henie
said some thought. She had seen the transformation in Henie and
watched her connect to the house as if she belonged there more than
Karen did. She couldn't rationalize Henie's story. She wasn't sure
she wanted to since she'd grown fond Henie. It was nice to have a
grandmother in the house with her.
    Karen looked ahead of them. In the
distance she saw the house. She pointed it out.
    Henie quipped, “Just where we left
it. Imagine that, and you're not lost yet.”
    “Right, and I kept up with you all
the way to the cemetery and back. Imagine that?” Karen
retorted.
     

Chapter 11
     
    When they arrived home, Karen
wasn't about to mention it to Henie, but she was bushed. She headed
to her office to sit. Henie followed her. “Would you like a glass
of ice tea, dear?”
    “That sounds good,” Karen said,
quickly turning on the computer like she meant to work.
    Henie stared at the answering
machine. “Your machine is blinking at you.”
    “So it is.” Henie left for the
kitchen as Karen pushed the button. “Hi Karen. This is Amy Brown.
It's time to give back the robot. I'll be coming for her in an
hour. Don't bother to call me back with directions to your house. I
had to get them from your mother.”
    In the kitchen, Henie was just
pouring the glass of tea when Karen went to tell