Grandma Robot by Fay Risner Read Free Book Online Page A

fried
chicken, green beans, carrots and strawberry Jello salad she put on
her plate. All the while, she eyed the dessert on the other end of
the table, chocolate cake.
    Karen decided to leave some of the
food to have room for the cake. She leaned back in her chair and
rubbed her full stomach. “Okay, Henie, I give up. I'm ready for a
piece of cake.”
    Henie critically stared at the
plate. “Didn't your mother ever tell you, children are starving in
this world that would love to have half of what you just ate. You
should appreciate the food you get and clean up your
plate.”
    “Oh, yes, I heard that from my
mother. When I ate her food I made sure not to put too big a
portions on my plate so I could eat everything. That way she'd let
me have dessert,” Karen explained truthfully.
    “Just remember you're the one that
filled your plate. It wasn't me holding onto the serving spoons,”
Henie pointed out as she scraped the scraps off into a pet
bowl.
    She carried the bowl to the back
steps and called, “Here kitty, kitty.” She waited a minute and
called again, “Here, Sock.”
    No wondered that
pesky cat has stuck around instead of going back where he came
from , Karen thought. She's been feeding him.
    “Where could that cat have gotten
off to,” Henie mumbled. “I better go check in the barn. Maybe the
cat didn't hear me.”
    She was down the steps and walking
across the yard before Karen got to the screen door. “Where do you
think you're going?”
    “To find the cat,” Henie said
without stopping. “I thought I'd check in the barn.”
    Karen flew out the screen door and
caught up with Henie. “That old barn doesn't look safe. I don't
think it's a good idea to go in there.”
    “Nonsense, just because the
building needs a few repairs doesn't mean it's unsound,” Henie
said.
    “All right, but I'm going with you
against my better judgment,” Karen insisted.
    Henie looked put out with her. “You
really don't have to if you would rather not.”
    “Yes, I do. You're worth a bunch
of money. I don't want Amy to charge me for letting you get broken
when she comes to get you,” Karen argued. “I can just see it now.
Amy will ask how this accident happened. I say the barn fell in on
you. She's really going to like that.”
    “That's not going to happen. I
don't intend to repair the barn for heaven's sakes. I'm just
looking for Sock,” Henie snapped.
    Careful Karen.
She's getting mad. Change the subject. “Why don't you call him Socks?”
    Henie looked perturbed. “It doesn't
take human science to come up with the answer.”
    “You mean rocket science,” Karen
corrected.
    “Don't always
correct me, young lady. In your case, human science is a lot closer
to what you might know than rocket science is. How much closer is debatable
from all these dump ideas you have,” Henie
flipped.
    “Fine, but the name Socks is much
easier to say than Sock so why name a cat that?” Karen
insisted.
    “If you had paid attention you
might have seen the cat only has one sock,” Henie replied dryly.
“Now if you're going with me help me find my cat.”
    The fact that Henie was now calling
Sock her cat didn't get by Karen as she unhooked the door. The
rusted hinges squeaked and groaned in protest. For a moment, Karen
wasn't sure the hinges were going to hold the door in
place.
    Karen stood just inside the barn,
letting her eyes adjust to the light. Apparently, Henie didn't have
the same problem. She walked around, looking the building over and
reminisced, “There was a time long ago when I'll bet those stalls
held a pair of dappled gray driving horses and two draft work
horses.”
    Karen glanced at the stalls with
the thought she wouldn't take that bet, either. She'd have to
remember to ask her mother what kind of horses had been in the
barn.
    Henie headed for a feed manger
along the back wall, calling, “Here Sock. Come to me.”
    Karen listened for an answering
meow. All she heard were pigeons cooing in the hay loft. A