by Peter Brown
“Do you know what happened to my birth mother?”
Roz told Brightbill about that fateful day in spring. About how the rocks had fallen and only one egg had survived. About how she’d put the egg in a nest and carried it away. About how she’d watched over the egg until a tiny gosling hatched. Brightbill listened carefully until she finished.
“Should I stop calling you Mama?” said the gosling.
“I will still act like your mother, no matter what you call me,” said the robot.
“I think I’ll keep calling you Mama.”
“I think I will keep calling you son.”
“We’re a strange family,” said Brightbill, with a little smile. “But I kind of like it that way.”
“Me too,” said Roz.
CHAPTER 43
THE GOSLING TAKES OFF
It must be hard to have a robot for a mother. I think the hardest part for Brightbill was all the mystery that surrounded Roz. Where had she come from? What was it like to be a robot? Would she always be there for him?
These questions filled the gosling’s mind, and his feelings for his mother swung between love and confusion and anger. I’m sure many of you know what that’s like. Roz could sense that Brightbill was struggling, and so she spent a lot of time talking with him about families and geese and robots.
“There are other robots on the island?” said the gosling during one of their talks. He’d been sitting beside his mother in the garden, but now stood and faced her.
“Yes, there are others on the island,” said Roz, “but they are inoperative.”
“Inoperative?”
“For a robot, being inoperative is like being dead.”
“Where are the dead robots?”
“They are on the northern shore.”
“I want to see them!”
“I do not think that is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“You are still a gosling. You are too young to see dead robots. I will take you to see them when you are older.”
“Mama, I’m not a gosling anymore!” Brightbill puffed out his chest. “I’m already four months old!”
“I am sorry,” said Roz. “But you cannot go.”
Brightbill stomped around the garden and squawked, “This isn’t fair!”
“I promise I will take you to see them when you are older,” said the robot.
“But I want to go now!”
“Please calm down.”
“You can’t even fly! I could take off and you wouldn’t be able to stop me!”
Roz stood, and her long shadow fell across her son. The gosling could feel his emotions swinging wildly. And for a moment he was actually afraid of his own mother. Without thinking, he sprinted toward the pond, beat his wings, and flew away.
CHAPTER 44
THE RUNAWAY
“Your son will be fine,” said Loudwing. “You know how they are at this age.”
“I do not know,” said Roz. “Please tell me how they are at this age.”
“Oh, right. Well, Brightbill is growing up fast. It’s only natural for adolescent goslings to be a little… moody. He just needs to be alone for a while. You’ve raised a wonderful son. I know he’ll come home soon. Try not to worry.”
But Roz did worry. At least, she worried as much as a robot is capable of worrying. Brightbill had never run away—or flown away—and suddenly Roz was computing all the things that could go wrong. A violent storm. A broken wing. A predator. She had to find her son before something bad happened.
There was only one place Brightbill could have gone. The robot gravesite. So Roz galloped northward. She leaped over rocks and ducked under branches and charged through meadows without ever slowing her pace. She raced all the way across the island until she finally stepped onto the sea cliffs above the gravesite.
And there was Brightbill. Perched on the edge, looking at the robot parts scattered on the shore below. His eyes were wet.
“Don’t be angry!” he said as his mother walked over.
“I am not angry. But you should not have flown off like that. You could have gotten hurt, or worse. I was worried sick!”
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
“It is okay,” said Roz. “It is only natural for goslings your age to be a little… moody.”
“Mama, I need to understand what you are. And I think it might help to see those other robots.”
“You are right—it might help. Why are you not down there?”
“I was about to go,” said Brightbill, “but I got nervous. I want you to go with me.”
“Let us go down there,” said Roz. “Together.”
CHAPTER 45
THE DEAD ROBOTS
The gosling floated on the breeze beside his mother as she climbed down the cliffside. Down they went, past ledges and seagulls and tough little trees, until they were standing on the rocky shore with the cliffs looming behind them.
The gravesite had changed. Roz’s crate was gone, lost to weather or waves. Some of the robot parts were gone too. Other parts were gritty with sand, or were tangled in seaweed, or were inhabited by small, scuttling creatures. One smashed torso still had a head and legs attached. Roz and Brightbill huddled around the corpse and studied the mess of tubes spilling out.
“This thing used to look like you?” said Brightbill.
“Yes, we are the same type of robot,” said Roz.
“And now this robot is dead?”
“In a way.”
“Will you ever die, Mama?”
“I think so.”
“Will I die?”
“All living things die eventually.”
The gosling’s face scrunched with worry.
“Brightbill, you are going to live a long and happy life!” Roz laid a hand on her son’s back. “You should not worry about death.”
The gosling’s face relaxed. And then he pointed to a small, round shape on the back of the dead robot’s head.
“What’s that?” he said.
Roz leaned in closer. “That is a button, which is a knob on a piece of machinery that can be pressed to operate it.”
Brightbill began pressing the button.
Click, click, click.
“Nothing is happening,” he said. “Probably because this robot is dead.”
Click, click, click.
“Mama, do you have a button?”
Brightbill watched as his mother’s head turned all the way around and a small button came into view.
“You’ve got one!” he said. “I never noticed it before!”
“Neither did I,” said the robot.
The gosling giggled. “Oh, Mama, you have so much to learn about yourself.”
Roz reached for the button on her head, but her hand automatically stopped before she could touch it. She tried with her other hand, but it automatically stopped as well.
“It seems I cannot press the button,” she said. “Would you like to try?”
“What will happen?”
“I think that I will shut down. But I think you could simply press the button again to restart me.”
“You think?” squawked Brightbill. “What if you’re wrong? What if you wake up different? What if you never wake up? Mama, I don’t want to shut you down!”
Roz turned her head back around and saw that Brightbill’s face was once again scrunched with worry. She knelt beside him and said, “Of course you do not have to shut me down! I am sorry if I scared you. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” Brightbill sniffled and wiped his eyes. And then he heard splashing. Otters were playing in the ocean. He had never seen otters before. He stared as they swam and dove and sloshed around with one another. They seemed to be having a ridiculous amount of fun, and suddenly the gosling was smiling again.
“Hello, my name is Brightbill!” he shouted over the waves. “And this is my mama! Her name is Roz!”
The last time those otters had seen Roz, they had thought she was some kind of monster. But
since then they’d heard that she was remarkably friendly and that she’d even adopted an orphaned gosling. And so the otters smiled at Roz and Brightbill. Then they swam straight over and splashed onto the rocks.
“Hello there!” said the biggest otter. “Nice to meet you both! Actually, Roz, we’ve met once before, but you might not remember me. My name’s Shelly.”
“I do remember you,” said the robot. “But I am glad to learn your name, Shelly.”
“You know each other?” said the gosling.
“These otters were the first animals I ever met,” said Roz. “They were also the first animals who ever ran away from me.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Shelly as the other otters sniffed the robot’s legs. “You know, Brightbill, when we first saw your mom, she was packed in a box and surrounded by soft squishy stuff…”
Brightbill’s brow furrowed.
“You wouldn’t believe how small she looked, all folded up in there…”
Brightbill’s nose sniffled.
“We thought she was dead, but when we reached into the box, she came to life and climbed out looking like a sparkling monster!”
Brightbill’s eyes welled up with tears, and then he felt his mother scoop him into her arms. “Are you okay?” she whispered in his ear.
“I think I’ve learned enough about robots for today,” he whispered back.
“I am sorry, otters,” said Roz, “but we really must be going.”
“I hope I didn’t upset the little guy!” said Shelly. “I thought he’d like to hear how we first met.”
“Brightbill will be fine,” said Roz, using a friendly voice. “But we have had a very busy day and we should go home. It was nice to see you again. Good-bye!”
Roz turned, and with her long strides, she carried her son away from the gravesite and over to the base of the sea cliffs.
“Would you like to sit on my shoulder as I climb?” said the robot.
“I feel like flying,” said the gosling. “I’ll meet you at the top.”
Brightbill flapped his wings and disappeared into the sky. Roz began scaling the wall. Up she went, expertly negotiating rocky columns and ledges, until she hoisted herself onto the clifftop, where two young bears were waiting.
CHAPTER 46
THE FIGHT
“Hello, bears, my name is Roz.”
“Oh, we know who you are,” said the sister bear. Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “We’re very happy to see you again.”
“Yeah, we’re very happy to see you again!” echoed the brother bear.
“Why do you always repeat what I say?” said the sister bear to her brother. “It’s so annoying!”
“I was just backing you up!”
“Let me do the talking!”
“Fine! You don’t have to be so mean about it!”
The bickering bears were interrupted by the robot’s friendliest voice. “With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”
“How rude of us,” said the sister bear. “My name is Nettle, and this is my little brother, Thorn.”
“I’m not little!” snapped Thorn under his breath.
“It is lovely to meet you both,” said Roz. “But I am afraid I really must be going.”
“And I’m afraid we can’t let you do that.” Nettle stepped into Roz’s path. “My brother and I, we don’t like monsters.”
“I am not a monster. I am a robot.”
“Whatever you are, we don’t like you!” said Thorn.
“We hear you’ve become very comfortable on our island,” said Nettle. “Now we’re going to make you very uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, we’re going to make you very uncomfortable!”
“Stop repeating me, Thorn!”
Poor Roz was in serious trouble. The bears were closing in on her, but she couldn’t run, she couldn’t hide, and she couldn’t fight. The robot didn’t know what to do. But before she could do anything, there was a loud squawk and a streak of feathers.
“Stay away from my mama!” Brightbill swooped down and skidded to a stop between the robot and the bears.
“So the rumors are true!” Nettle laughed. “There really is a runty gosling who thinks the robot is his mother! How could anyone be so stupid! Do yourself a favor, gosling, and fly away before you get hurt!”
“She is right, Brightbill!” said Roz. “Please let me handle this!”
But the gosling stood his ground. He spread his wings and hopped around, ready to defend his mother. The bears roared with laughter. Then, with a flick of her paw, Nettle sent Brightbill tumbling over the ground, over and over, until he flopped onto his back and stared up at the sky, stunned.
“This is our island,” snarled Nettle.
“And it’s time for you to go,” growled Thorn.
Roz made herself as big as possible. She banged her chest and roared wild, angry sounds. But the bears were not intimidated. They roared right back. And then they attacked.
Nettle pulled Roz into a fierce bear hug while Thorn clawed at her legs. The robot tried to shake free, but the bears would not let go of their prey, not this time. A cloud of dust bloomed around the trio as they thrashed closer to the edge of the cliff.
All of a sudden, something burst out from the trees and onto the open clifftop. Mother Bear. She was gigantic, like a mountain of golden fur. And she was furious. It seemed like this would be the end for our robot. But Mother Bear wasn’t there to join the fight. She was there to break it up. “Nettle! Thorn! Get over here this instant!”
The young bears should have listened to their mother. Instead they pretended not to hear her. Nettle slashed at Roz’s body, and Thorn began wrestling with her foot. He grabbed the foot with both paws and forced it up from the ground. Then, with every ounce of his strength, he twisted the foot around.
Reader, the following events happened very quickly. First there was a strange thwip sound as the robot’s right foot popped off her leg and sailed through the air. Then everyone toppled over. Nettle and Roz fell sideways along the edge. But Thorn fell backward and tumbled
right
off
the cliff.
Do you know what the most terrible sound in the world is? It’s the howl of a mother bear as she watches her cub tumble off a cliff. Mother Bear’s howl was so startling that it snapped Brightbill right out of his stupor. Her howl was so powerful that it shook Roz’s entire body. Her howl was so loud that animals heard it clear across the island. But there was no reply from Thorn. Mother Bear’s howl slowly faded, and she wilted to the ground.
Roz watched as her detached foot sailed over the edge and plummeted down to the shore below. It fell past circling seagulls, smashed off a rock, and disappeared into the waves. And that’s when the robot noticed something furry dangling from the cliffside. Thorn! His full weight hung from a tree that was rooted to the rock wall. He gripped the tree tightly in his jaws and looked up at Roz with wide, frightened eyes.
“I see Thorn!” shouted Roz. “Grab my legs! Quickly!”
Mother Bear and Nettle scrambled to their feet. Each bear took a leg in her mouth, and together they slowly lowered Roz headfirst down the cliff. Thorn whimpered through clenched teeth as he watched the robot approach. Then he felt her strong arms wrap around him and heard her booming voice holler, “Pull us up!”
Thorn let go of the branch and cried, “Please don’t drop me, Roz! I don’t want to die!”
“Do not worry,” said the robot. “I will not drop you.”
The next few moments seemed to drag on and on. Mother Bear and Nettle kept pulling on Roz’s legs, and more of the robot slowly came into view until a furry golden head finally appeared, and Thorn leaped into the embrace of his family.
CHAPTER 47
THE PARADE
“Does it hurt?” Brightbill touched the smooth surface where his mother’s foot used to be.
“No, it does not hurt,” said Roz. “But it will be difficult for me to walk.”
The bears
huddled behind the gosling and stared at the robot’s stump of a leg. Nobody understood how a foot could pop off like that, or how Roz could remain calm.
“Roz, I’m sorry my cubs attacked you,” said Mother Bear. “Sometimes they’re completely out of control.”
“It is okay. You know how they are at this age.”
“I can’t thank you enough for saving Thorn. I promise my cubs will never bother you again. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Mother,” said Nettle and Thorn, together.
The robot tried to walk. She bobbed up and down on her uneven legs, which worked well enough on the flat surface of the clifftop, but once she entered the forest, her problem became clear. The smooth stump had no grip, and it slipped around on the forest floor. So Roz tried hopping on her one good foot. She took a few crunching hops and then clanged into a tree trunk. A few more hops and she crashed into the undergrowth.
“I’m really sorry I broke off your foot,” said Thorn as he helped the robot up from the weeds.
“I forgive you,” said Roz. Whether she was capable of true forgiveness is anybody’s guess. But they were nice words, and Thorn felt better when he heard them.
“It looks like I will have to crawl home,” said Roz.
“Nonsense!” said Mother Bear. “I have a better idea.”
Mother Bear lay flat on the ground while her cubs boosted Roz onto her back. Then Brightbill fluttered onto the bear’s broad shoulders. And when they were both safely aboard, the group set off through the forest.
The robot was heavy, but she was no trouble for the giant animal. Mother Bear strolled along as if it were perfectly normal for a robot to be riding on her back. They made quite a grand procession, all walking together like that. And the procession became even grander as deer and raccoons and birds and all kinds of other animals joined in. Everyone wanted to see the mother robot riding the mother bear. The group wound its way past ancient trees, and over rolling meadows, and through babbling streams, collecting more and more curious animals as they went. It was the grandest parade of wildlife anyone had ever seen, and leading the way was our robot, Roz.
