Tom Kerr is a writer based in Asheville, NC, USA. His children’s stories have been published in the USA and abroad and he may be contacted via GURU.com, a professional Web site for freelancers. Please click on headline for this fun-filled juvenile-market robot story.

A Rusted Robot in the Woods, by Tom Kerr

Sometimes we have to be careful what we wish for because it just might come true…

“I wish we could find something cool in the woods,” said Bobby. “Instead of just the same old rocks and sticks and spider webs.”

He held back a branch so his two friends could walk underneath it, and then followed them along the path.

Claudia did too. “I read about a group of kids who found an old car in the woods and made it into a fort,” she said. Then she stopped to examine something shiny in the dirt, but it turned out to be just an old crusty bottle top.

“My big brother and his friends once found a tree house,” added Joey. “But we never find anything interesting, do we?”

All of a sudden the three children stopped in their tracks. Right in front of them, as clear as the noses on their faces, was the most amazing thing they had ever seen in their lives.

“Wow!” said Claudia. “Is that what I think it is?” She squinted her eyes. Next to a big oak tree stood what looked like a small man, made of rusty metal, covered in a tangle of vines and weeds.

Bobby stepped a little closer and adjusted his eyeglasses. Then Joey, who felt especially brave, walked right up to the rusty robot and used the sleeve of his jacket to rub some of the mud off the face of the strange looking object.

Everyone was silent and nodded together. Sure enough, they had discovered an old rusty robot in the woods behind their neighborhood. The robot looked sort of like a fire hydrant with legs, and had wheels for feet and arms that were shaped like little vacuum cleaners. A tangle of wires sprouted from its neck, and a little door on the robot’s stomach was hanging open like an abandoned refrigerator. Claudia peeked inside and saw more wires – plus a dirty, mud-caked battery.

“That looks like the kind of battery my uncle has on his motor scooter,” she said.

The trio of friends made a plan to clean up the old robot. Then they covered it in leaves to hide it and quickly ran home to prepare for the next day’s adventures.

The following morning was not a school day, so they met after breakfast and each brought some cleaning supplies. Joey had some scrub brushes and a can of oil in his knapsack. Bobby had a fresh can of bright silver spray paint and a screwdriver. Claudia had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone, lots of rags and sponges, a canteen full of lemonade, and an old battery from her Uncle’s garage.

They spent the whole afternoon scraping rust, mud, and muck off the old robot. Then they rubbed it with oil until it shined like a new penny. The next day they built a little grass and bamboo hut for their robot, and Claudia plugged in the battery she borrowed from her Uncle’s garage. The waited with their fingers crossed for it to spring to life.

But nothing happened. The robot just stood there not moving, not humming, not rumbling, and not flashing its small green light bulb eyes.

“Oh well,” Joey sighed. “At least we found something for a change.”

“Yeah,” agreed Bobby. “Even if it doesn’t work, it still used to be a real robot.”

“We can always pretend it still is a robot,” said Claudia. “At least if we use our imagination we can make believe.”

So the three children pretended to play with the robot. Although it stood there like a dull rock, in their minds they could imagine that once upon a time, a long time ago, the robot was loads of fun. They thought that it had – once upon a time – probably been super useful for doing things like picking up dirty laundry, washing your father’s car, helping Mom carry the groceries to the kitchen, taking the dog for a walk, or playing kick ball.

But really it just sat there in silence and did not do anything.

The next day was Monday and the kids had to go to school. But they planned to meet up after they got home and finished their homework and visit their rusty robot in the woods. They all had chores to do, but they skipped those, hoping that their parents would not notice, so that they could see their robot one more time.

But when the three friends arrived at their little grass hut, the robot was nowhere to be found. They searched high and low, but saw no trace of the robot.

“Maybe somebody found it and took it to the scrap heap at the junk yard,” said Joey with sadness in his voice.

“Do you think it is possible that an animal dragged it away?” asked Bobby.

“What would an animal do with a rusty robot?” said Claudia. “Do you think it started up all by itself and rolled away on its little wheels?”

“No way,” said Joey and Bobby. Then Joey noticed some tracks in the mud.

“Those look like wheel tracks!” he said. “But it could not be a bicycle, because they are too small.”

So the kids searched the woods, hoping to find their rolling robot, but it was nowhere in sight. Soon the sun began to set, and it was starting to get dark, so the children headed home. They were worried that their parents might be upset with them, because nobody had done any after school chores, and now it was almost time for supper.

If they tried to explain that they were on an important mission to visit a robot, it would sound like a story they made up, and nobody would believe them. So they just walked slowly back to their houses, sad and disappointed about how everything turned out that day.

Bobby’s Dad was just getting home from work when Bobby got to his house, and was so surprised to find out that Bobby had raked all the leaves in the yard and vacuumed the whole house. But Bobby hadn’t done any chores because he was away looking for the robot in the woods.

Joey got home and his mother was smiling. She offered him a cookie and thanked him for doing such a good job of cleaning his room, straightening his closet, and even remembering to take out the trash.

“But I didn’t do anything,” Joey thought to himself as he took a bite of the cookie.

Claudia’s father and mother were also beaming and proud of her for doing the laundry and folding it and putting it away.

“But Claudia,” her father said, “You didn’t have to also clean and organize your Uncle’s garage after school. But he told me you did it because he let you have an old battery. He is so pleased with you that he wants to take you along this weekend when he and your aunt go to the beach!”

“But I didn’t do anything,” said Claudia.

“Don’t be silly!” said her mother. “That was a lot of work! Here, come and have some supper because you must be hungry! But save room for peach pie. I made it because it is your favorite!”

Claudia went outside to walk the family dog after dinner, and the night was dark, except for a few stars in the sky.

Her dog began to bark and wag its tail. Something else was shining in the distance, and it was not silver like a star but green.

Claudia looked closer and saw two small green lights, off in the distance on the hillside, shining through the woods. They were blinking on and off like little eyes, and were moving toward the same spot where she and her two friends had built a little hut for the rusty robot to rest.

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