Robot Friend: A New Vignette by Torn MacAlester

Chris and Doug smiled hap­pi­ly as I held on to them for the pic­ture. I tried my best to smile too, but I had found that my smile fright­ens most peo­ple, so I always tone it down for pic­tures. Doug’s mom snapped the pho­to with her phone, then Doug ran off to the left. In an instant, Chris fol­lowed. I eyed Doug’s mom for a moment before I turned in time to hear.

“Hur­ry Sam­my,” Doug yelled.

“Yeah!” yelled Chris.

“Here I come,” I yelled, run­ning fast enough to catch up with Chris, who ran a few meters behind Doug.

“I’m going to win,” screamed Doug.

“You’re a cheat,” answered Chris.

“Where are we rac­ing to?” I asked as I eas­i­ly followed.

“It’s a secret,” Doug gasped as he slowed.

“You’re still a cheat,” Chris stat­ed as he caught up and stopped just as Doug stopped. I fol­lowed suit.

“I win,” gasped Doug.

“You did not,” said Chris. “You just gave up before I could pass you.”

“Yeah,” I added, know­ing that Doug had stopped just as Chris neared pass­ing him.

“Says you, slow­poke,” Doug snapped back. “Sam­my the slowpoke.”

“Awe,” I feigned a slight­ly hurt tone.

“He can’t help it,” Chris answered. “He’s sup­posed to play fair with us.”

“Yeah,” I said, know­ing that I could out race any human by bet­ter than twice as fast.

Short science fiction by Torn MacAlester

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