Bobby picked up the silver toy robot that the bullies had smashed and stuffed it into his bag before going into class. He could hear the robot going click-click-click while he was trying to spell ‘truck’ and ‘motorcycle’ and ‘train’.
“Train is ‘rain’ with a ‘t’,” it said.
“That’s right,” Bobby replied under his breath and went on writing, and writing, and writing. When he looked up the classroom was empty and his father Richard was staring down at him with an anxious frown on his face.
“Hey, buddy,” Richard said, “Are you alright?”
Bobby looked down at his hands, now covered in smudges yet still clinging onto a pencil with a blunt nip. The scratched and torn paper under it was covered with words like ‘pain’, ‘main’, ‘vain’, ‘gain’, ‘rain’, ‘faint’, ‘taint’, ‘saint’, ‘plain’, ‘slain’, ‘slain’ and ‘slain’. He could read all of them, but he didn’t understand what some meant. He looked up and said, “My hand is tired, daddy.”
Richard embraced him and lifted him off the chair before turning to the worried teacher and nodding to indicate his thanks. As he made his way to the door, Bobby stretched out his hand and said, “My bag, daddy, don’t forget my bag.”
Richard turned back and slung the small knapsack over one arm then walked out the door. Bobby looked about him in wonder, for the school corridor was empty. He had never seen the corridor empty of people before. But as he turned to look to the front entrance, he saw the headmaster and a security guard watching them.
When they reached his side, Headmaster Lehman asked, “Is he alright now, Mr Wayne?”
“Yes. Thank you for your concern.”
Lehman stroke Bobby’s hair. “You gave us quite a scare, Bobby. Listen to your daddy, okay?”
Bobby nodded a little apprehensively because the headmaster only talks to the kids if it was a serious matter. The whole way to the car, Richard would not let him down and Bobby was glad, for it meant that if he was to see his mommy now, then his daddy would see her too.
They didn’t drive straight home as usual. Instead they went to Dr Lucy Tomei’s office. The moment he was carried into the interview room, Bobby’s eyes fell on the purple lollipop that the psychiatrist held up for him. Richard put him down and waited outside.
The doctor said, “I heard you had a little problem in school, Bobby.”
“I didn’t do anything bad.”
Tomei leaned her chin on the table top and gazed at him from across the table. “Tell me what you did.”
“I spelled a few words in class.”
“Do you remember what you spelled?”
“Train. T-R-A-I-N.”
“What else?”
“Just train.”
“Do you remember if anything happened while you were writing?”
Bobby was thoughtful for a moment. Then he said, “I heard the robot tell me that train is spelled like rain with a t.”
Tomei’s shoulders stiffened but she kept smiling as she asked, “What robot is this?”
“It’s the one I saved from the bullies.”
“What other words did the robot tell you?”
“Only train.”
“Are you sure the robot didn’t say anything else to you? What about before it taught you how to spell train?”
“It said, I was supposed to go with my mommy.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Bobby shrugged. Then a little defensively, he said, “It is just a broken toy.”
“Why did you save it then?” Tomei said as she sat up but kept her elbows on the table.
“Because it was with me and mommy when I woke up.”
“In the car?”
Bobby nodded. “Yes, in the car.” A pause as he tried to think of an explanation. “I know it was wrong to take it from the other boy, but he wouldn’t wake up.”
“The robot isn’t yours?”
“No, it isn’t,” Bobby said, a little shame-facedly. “But I didn’t steal it. It asked me to save it.”
“You saved it again today, didn’t you?” the psychiatrist asked with a frown.
“Yes, Brad and Tom were trying to break it.”
“Do you know why they did that?”
“The robot told them that they were stupid and that when they grow up they will go to jail.”
“Why do you think the robot said that?”
“Because it knows.”
“What do you mean?”
“It told me that mommy, and Jackie and his daddy were dead, and it was right.”
“Did your daddy talk to you about the other boy?”
“No, the robot did. It told me that Jackie likes to play soccer, just like me.”
Tomei smiled and said, “Let me go out and get a soda for us okay.” She got up and left the room to talk with the father. A few minutes later she returned with sodas for them both.
“Now, where were we?” she asked.
“We were talking about my robot.”
“Has the robot told you anything else?”
“Yes. It says that it will tell me how to meet mommy tonight.”
“But what if the robot is wrong?”
“It is never wrong,” Bobby insisted. “It can’t be wrong.”
“Why not?” Tomei asked and waited for a reply. When he didn’t respond, she said, “You miss mommy, don’t you?”
Bobby nodded.
“Don’t you think you should grow up first and fly an airplane?”
Bobby kept his head bowed. Then he looked up and said, “Yeh. I need to grow up first before I can fly an airplane.”
“That’s right,” Tomei said with a reassuring smile.
“I guess, I don’t have to go to mommy just yet.”
“That’s right.” Tomei reached out one hand and said, “Why don’t you leave the robot here?”
“Okay,” Bobby said. Then he fished into the bag and passed her the toy. He stood up to say his goodbye and she opened the door for him. After assuring Richard that Bobby was fine, she returned to her office and dialed a number, all the while staring at the toy in her hand.
“I found it,” she said into the receiver. “It is a little beaten up but still potent.” A pause. “I will need a new casing, a porcelain doll will be nice. I hear that the judge’s granddaughter collects them.” Another pause. “Yes, she is under twelve. She is susceptible.”
Tomei put down the phone and took out a screwdriver from inside her drawer. She pried open the robot’s abdomen and took out a red jagged crystal which she reverently placed on a cushion of velvet inside a lead box. She placed the first box into a second one and sealed it inside the safe. Then she closed back the robot.
Two days later when Bobby returned, she showed him the robot but he was no longer interested in it. After he left, she threw it into a bin. An hour later a package arrived. Inside was a porcelain doll and a card carrying the name and address of a nine-year-old girl.
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