Category: Odd Electronics

Mrs. Jenkins’ mother had passed away a week ago, and now the Jenkins children had no grandparents at all.   “We’re both orphans now,” Mrs. Jenkins whispered to her husband at the funeral.   He nodded and they both cried.

Three weeks later, the Jenkins family poked around an antique shop half-heartedly. They’d planned this vacation hoping that it would cheer everyone up after the funeral.   Instead, they all seemed to be performing the motions of playing tourist while lacking any interest at all in what they were seeing.

“Well, I don’t see anything,” Mr. Jenkins said.   “Who wants to go back to the beach?”

“Not me,” Cameron said. “It’s too sunny and sandy and windy and loud.”

“Why did we come here anyway?” Daniel asked. “We aren’t having any fun.”

“Hush,” Mr. Jenkins said. “Of course we are.”

“I’m not,” Cameron said. “I want to go home.”

Mr. Jenkins opened his mouth to reply, but he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to go home, too. Not just to their snug little home in a little town at the edge of a big city.   He wanted to go back to his childhood home. It felt like everything should be in its place, just as it existed in his memory, but he knew that it was all gone. He sighed.

“Hey, everybody, come look at what I found,” Mrs. Jenkins said just then. The boys followed their father to the back of the store where Mrs. Jenkins was waiting.

“What is it?” Cameron asked.

Mrs. Jenkins was standing in front of what looked like a dusty metal statue. She smiled.   “It’s a robot. The really old kind like my parents had when I was little.”

“That’s a robot?” Daniel asked. “It’s so big and weird looking. Does it even work?”

“The tag says that it doesn’t function well. It needs a good home,” Mrs. Jenkins said.   “What do you think?’

“Well, it probably won’t take up much space,” Mr. Jenkins said. “What do you think boys?   Should we add him to our family?”

“It’s a him?” Cameron asked. He looked up at the robot. “I guess it does look like it has a funny mustache. Grandpa had a mustache. I remember.”

Daniel squinted. “I don’t remember Grandpa. He had a mustache?”

“I want it,” Cameron said. “We can call him Grandpa.”

“Yeah, let’s get it,” Daniel said.

The Jenkins family left the antique shop with an old robot and smiles on their faces. It didn’t take long for the robot to become one of the family. Everyday he slowly shuffled from one room to the next performing small tasks. Everyone smiled and patted his arm when they saw him. “Hi, Grandpa,” they’d say. “How are you today?”

The robot hummed and coughed in response and they would nod and smile. Sometimes he came to a halt in front of the back window and just sat and stared.   Mrs. Jenkins left a blanket on the chair by the window, and whoever was closest would put it over his shoulders.

Cameron made a birdfeeder at school that he hung outside the window so that the robot could watch the birds when he was at the window. He and Daniel loved to share all of their art projects with the robot. The robot would always accept them and hang them on the walls like treasures.

They also liked to practice their instruments when the robot was around. He often recorded their performance to play back later at a random time. “Grandpa loves us,” Daniel said once. “That’s why he likes to remember what we play for him.”

“I think he must,” Mrs. Jenkins said. “And we love him, too.”

“Of course we do,” Daniel said. “He’s Grandpa.”

“I’ve brought home a treat today,” Dad said.

“What is it?” Walter asked.

“Close your eyes and hold out your hands,” Dad said.

“Oh, weird,” Walter said. He opened his eyes. “It looks like a hairy bowling ball. Is it dead?”

“That is a coconut,” Dad said.

“That is so weird. It’s like a grown up kiwi fruit, but less squishy,” Walter said. He tried squeezing it harder between his palms and then turned it around in his hands. “So, how do you open it?”

“Follow me!” Dad led the way to the garage, where he pulled out a hammer.

“No way!” Walter said. “Can I hit it?”

“First we need to drain out the coconut water,” Dad said. He used the hammer and a nail to make two holes and then poured the water into a bowl in the kitchen.   Then, he spread out a towel on the floor and handed Walter a hammer.

“After you crack it open, we can scrape out the insides,” Dad said. “Well, go on.” He held out his arms wide. “Hit it like a piñata.”

“Yes!” Walter said. It took a few hits, but the coconut cracked open.

“Dad, is there supposed to be a phone inside?” Walter asked.

“No, there’s not,” Dad said. They both looked at the little black cell phone inside the coconut. “How did it get in there?”

“I don’t know,” Walter said. “I checked it, it was sealed tight.”

“I think it had to be or the coconut water would have leaked out,” Dad said.

The phone started ringing. “I think you should answer it, Dad,” Walter said.

“Yes, of course,” Dad said. He picked up the phone and tried swiping the screen.   Nothing happened. After a few moments the phone stopped ringing.

“It doesn’t have any buttons,” Dad said. Dad was turning the phone around in his hands when it started to ring again. He nearly dropped it.

“Careful!” Walter said, and reached his arms out to catch it if it fell. It didn’t.

Dad held the ringing phone up close to his face.   “Hello?” he said. The phone lit up. A blue light blinked at one end, next to a steady yellow light. White letters on a green square on the front showed the time, date, and GPS coordinates.

“Oh, good, you found my phone,” a deep voice said from out of the phone. “Just keep talking and I’ll find you.”

“What do you mean? How will you find us? Where are you?” Dad said.

“That’s great. Keep going,” the voice said. There was a banging, clattering sound outside, as though something had bumped into the trashcans out front. A moment later, there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get the door,” Dad said. Walter followed right behind him.

A tall man was at the door. Walter had never seen someone so tall. He was unusually skinny and had a long, long face.   Walter was pretty sure he wasn’t human.   However, he wasn’t completely certain.

“Hello,” the tall man said in a deep voice. “I believe you have my phone.”

Dad looked down at the phone in his hand. The screen was dark, and the blue light was off, but the yellow light was still on. He handed it to the tall man.

“Thank you,” the man said. “These new phones are always getting lost the moment you set them down. I’ll have to send it back to the lab. Where was it this time?”

“Inside a coconut,” Walter said.

“That’s a new one!” The man said. “Thanks for finding it. Well, I have to go.” He walked down the street and turned the corner.

“Do you think he’s still there?” Walter asked.

“I doubt it,” Dad said.

Walter ran to check and walked back. “He’s gone. Do you think he was an alien?”

“I have no idea. That was so weird,” Dad said.

“Weirder than coconuts,” Walter said.