RollerBot (Part 1)Taresh cautiously tilted the container. He...
RollerBot (Part 1)
Taresh cautiously tilted the container. He knew the rattle of Lego bricks spilling on the carpet would undoubtedly upset his mother, but he needed to find the matching wheel, which he suspected had worked its way down to the bottom of the large plastic bin. He tipped it over and let the hundreds and hundreds of varying building blocks slowly pour out. Then, he listened for the sound of his mother’s footsteps on the stairs, but they didn’t come.
He used his fingers to rake through the pieces until he found the wheel. He attached it to the axel and slipped the connector into place. His robot now stood nearly as tall as his thigh. The massive colorful figure featured a hinged jaw, ball joints, large gripping fingers, decorative tubes and transparent accents jutting out from the shoulders and chest, and four sturdy wheels on each foot. But, something was missing.
He lifted the lid on the small carved wooden box on his bedside table. Inside, were seven items—a pin with smiley face on it, a worn eraser, a plastic pocket knife, a dented toy car, a spring from a retractible pen, a smooth dark rock, and a long black string with sturdy rubber hooks at either end. It was the grappling hook he sought and he fished it carefully from the tangle of his father’s old things. His father said this grappling hook belonged to an action figure from when he was a small boy. The figure was lost over the years, but the string with its two useful hooks remained stuck at the bottom of a cardboard box for decades until he discovered it while helping Grandma Danvi clean out her garage.
Taresh’s father gave it to him and told him about the great battles he would stage with his toys. The hero always escaped danger with the use of the grappling hook. He told Taresh how he always thought a grappling hook was a useful piece of equipment and joked that he wanted a real one to take with him as he commuted to and from work. After his father died, Taresh put it with the handful of special things his father had given him—not gifts, really, but memories.
Taresh looped the string around his creation so it hung across its chest. The pretend mechanical man was finished and ready for adventure. “You are… RollerBot,” the boy said.
Then, the creation of plastic bricks turned its head up toward the boy and said, “RollerBot.”
Taresh stumbled backward until his legs hit the side of his bed. He fell onto the mattress and thumped his head against the wall. His eyes went wide as he watched the plastic figure examine its own arms, fingers, feet, and finally the grappling hook. “You… you can talk?” Taresh said.”
From downstairs, his mother’s voice called, “Honey! Dinner!”
To be continued…
