Saturday, June 27, 2020

My robot likes chewing on the belt of my bathrobe. When it’s working, I make sure to flip the belt out of reach. Before I head out today, I clean out the robot’s dust-catcher and set it to vacuuming. When I get home, I don’t see it back in its nook and don’t hear it working. I scan the room. The robot is sitting on the floor next to where the bathrobe hangs. Somehow, the belt had flopped back down. The robot had grabbed it and gotten it wrapped up in its works. I pick the robot up, cradle it in my arms, and carefully pull the belt out. I set the robot down and tap its power button. It sets off, continuing on its path. I turn on the air conditioner, sit down in my TV chair with a book, and doze off. I am awakened by the feeling of something nuzzling at my toes. The robot has wandered over and is trying to vacuum around me. It backs off and comes at me from other directions, gently bumping at the sides of my feet and, once it gets under the chair and comes forward, at my heels. It turns and comes out from under the chair on the other side. I doze off again without moving. When I get up, I see that it has found its nook again and plugged itself back in. It will hibernate happily for another week.