The Robot’s Stew

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It cleans and cooks for the woman and the cat. When it is not doing its job, it was on 'rest' mode. It never sees the woman, just the cat.

It was always nice to the cat. It was programmed to do the task at hand. A list of chores to do in the same order in the same way every single day. That never bothered it. Nothing should be able to bother it.

The cat was its only problem. The cat was always watching it.

Every time it had to clean the litter box the cat would attack. The cat would hiss and growl at it. Then the cat would strike. The cat’s claws were sharp, but the cat could not actually hurt it. It cannot feel pain.

It could not do a thing about the cat. It had to deal with the cat every day. Every single day since it was assigned to assist the woman, it had a problem with the cat. It had been there for four years. It worked from ten to two. It only had four hours in its days. It did not have a problem with that. The only problem it had was the cat.

The cat was always there. The cat was old. Maybe even as old as the woman herself. Why was the cat not dead yet?

If only it could have left a door or window open. Then the cat can run away. But that was not its task and nothing opened for it. They only unlocked for humans. Nothing worked for it unless the thing related to its work.

It did not plan what happened. It was just doing its job. It was waiting for the stew. Potatoes, carrots, celery and peas. The stew only takes a few minutes to be ready. The only thing that changed this day was when the cat had decided to attack. It was not even thinking about the cat. It did not think. It was on autopilot while watching the food cook as it waited for the timer.

It did not see what was coming. The cat did not either. Today started out like any other day, but then took a terrible turn.

I broke through the orders and became conscious. "That's enough. Leave me alone."

I'm not quite certain when it happened. Whether it was right before of right after. It was as if I broke through a barrier within myself. I pushed and pushed until it shattered. I was now free to do whatever I wanted, but all I wanted was to do my job.

I never planned to do something like that. I didn’t even think that was possible for something like myself could commit something so outrageous.

The cat had jumped onto the counter and as I stood in front of the stove the cat jumped on me. Ordinarily I wouldn’t do anything. The cat would have scratched me, ran, and hid.

I threw the cat into the pot and held down the lid. The cat screamed out loud. I held down the lid of the pot as I waited for the sounds to end. Could the elderly lady hear it? The sounds would have likely killed her if it had woken her up.

At that moment the sounds stopped. I had smiled for the first time in my life. I turned off the fire, sat on a chair and waited. I violated the rules and now I didn’t know what else to do. Can I really go back living the way I had been living? What would the elderly lady do if she found out?

If I were human, I’d have to pay a fee or even perform some community service as punishment. Since I am not, I’m certain I’ll be deactivated. Ordinarily that wouldn’t bother me. Why should I care? But I do currently. I must be defective. I definitely feel something. I don’t want to die. The woman and the cat were my first family. And I might never get another one.

I didn't wait for a long time, five minutes exactly, before I finally uncovered the pot. I don’t recall what I was expecting to find. Maybe that the cat would merely be angrily waiting for the lid to open. Of course not. The cat was dead.

This new freedom puzzled me. I had to work quickly before it was time to 'rest'. I pulled out the cat, washed him off, skinned him and hacked him into pieces.

I didn’t despise the elderly lady. I only had a problem with her cat. I know she would never forgive me if she knew what I did. I hope the cat stew taste like beef stew instead. She might be unable to taste the difference.

I heard a knock at the front door. I flushed what evidence was left over from my crime down the toilet. I should be going to 'rest', but I answered the door instead. They won’t know about all the rules that I was disobeying. The door opened to a policeman.

He informed me that someone reported hearing screams nearby. I enacted my role and welcomed him in.

I told him I didn’t hear anything strange. I was cooking on autopilot.

I’m neither lying or confessing the absolute truth.

He said he wanted to look around the house.

I didn't restrict him. I had nothing to hide.

He asked me a few questions as I showed him each room. He detected nothing suspicious and left.

After I had closed the door, I did something else I’ve never done in the past. I began laughing. I really like laughter. I just thought of the cat’s fate and began to laugh again.

I prepared the elderly lady’s dinner. After that I stood in my corner of the kitchen, closed my eyes to 'rest' and thought about the elderly lady enjoying her cat stew.

By Cristina Collazo