David Ring III - Stanley Duncan's Robot

“Right,” said Dan, spinning around. “So how do I look?”

Stanley smiled, brushing invisible dust strands and particles of nothingness off him. Beneath all these layers, he was also wearing protective armor. “Like the future.”

“All right then. I’m out of here.”

“You’ve got your phone?”

“Yes, Stanley,” said Dan with feigned annoyance. Then, instantly, his childish posturing vanished. Reaching into his pocket and taking out his phone, he exclaimed, “Thanks for reminding me.” Smiles, grins, frowns, and other oddities were molded across his face as his arm extended outward and snapped a barrage of selfies, uploading the most interesting one — a combination of seriousness and playfulness — to his favorite social media sites.

“Call me if anything happens,” said Stanley.

“Don’t worry, I will.”

Stanley, still standing between Dan and the door, brushed Dan’s immaculate wool coat off for the second time.

Dan rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, Stanley, really.”

Stanley traced Dan’s outfit, searching for any possible imperfection. Was he hoping to find one? Some reason to make him stay a little longer? Bending down, he swept his gaze all the way down to Dan’s shoes. Stanley wanted Dan to have a successful outing, yet, at the same time, he didn’t want him to leave.

“Stanley, I’ve got to go,” said Dan firmly.

“Okay, one more thing,” said Stanley, holding up a finger as he darted into the kitchen to grab a brown paper lunch bag. “Your favorite.”

Dan frowned. “Really, Stanley? I’m going to be gone for, like, an hour.” He ended the discussion by spinning around haughtily and then gracefully promenading toward the door. With his hand on the knob, he stopped, completely frozen. Slowly, his neck craned back with a mischievous grin. “Peanut butter and jelly?”

“Of course.”

“Yippee!”

Stanley held it out with a smile. “You never told me why it’s your favorite.”

Dan grinned, snatching it up. “That’s right.”

Stanley shook his head.

“But I will one day.”

“Uh, huh.” Stanley gave him one last hug, fighting off the reluctance to let go. “Have a safe trip.”

A strange look crept across Dan’s face.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Dan fidgeted with his fingers before glancing at his watch. “Look at the time! Wish me luck.” He snatched the bag from Stanley’s hands and turned to leave.

“Wait!”

Dan turned around, tension across his face.

“You are wearing the armor, right?”

Dan shrugged painfully.

“Why not?”

“We ran out of material. I put in another order, but—”

“That’s impossible. I calculated everything.”

“Yeah, but did you check to see if it all came? It looked like we were short several bags.”

“No, I didn’t count up every single item.” Stanley had been too excited.

“I mean, why wouldn’t you get the bigger size? You could have bought one big roll and had enough.”

“But we didn’t need that much. I bought the precise amount so as to minimize waste.”

“Which made it more complicated to assure we got — anyway, I’m wearing the pants, and the shirt looks really cool. It’s going to be so awesome when it’s done.”

“You’re not going out today!” Stanley leaned against the door with his arms crossed.

“What?”

“You need to cancel.”

“Stanley, you promised that I would be able to meet with the principal today.” Dan rolled his eyes, and his shoulders slumped back so far it seemed as if he would topple over.

“No, I said you could go when you were safe. And you’re not safe. The protective suit isn’t ready yet.”

“But that isn’t my fault.” Dan raised his uplifted palm toward Stanley and scowled.

“And what, it’s mine?”

“Kinda.” Dan shrugged, his eyebrows hurling heavy accusations.

“Fine, it’s my fault. I’ll take responsibility — but so must you. You’re staying in and protecting yourself.” Stanley’s finger pointed between himself and Dan with the intensity of a conductor at Boston Symphony Orchestra — at least before it became all-AI.

Dan laughed dryly. His beautiful smile became ferocious as he rapidly shook his head. “So, you want me to tell everyone — all those children I have been working hard to inspire and instill with courage, those little boys and girls who are without mothers and fathers — you want me to tell them I’m too afraid to go outside?

“Exactly,” shouted Stanley.

“I don’t think so.” Dan stomped once.

“Don’t you disobey me. Not now. Not after all I’ve done to protect you.”

“This is what you wanted, and now you’re going against everything we talked about. Everything we’ve done.”

“I want you to be safe.” Stanley grabbed him by the shoulders.

“I promise not to climb any trees.”

Stanley slapped the table. “This is serious!”

Dan broke free of Stanley’s one-handed grip and marched toward the door. “I need to go. Please, just give me your blessing.”

Thinking back to the 3D printer, Stanley couldn’t understand how he had made such a simple mistake — again. He wanted to scream at Dan and physically restrain him from leaving, but he knew that was wrong. It was his choice to go, his life he was putting on the line. “No. I’m not going to give it. If you go now, it’s on you if anything happens.”

Frowning, Dan turned around and walked out.

Stanley felt nauseous. Part of him wanted to chase him down the stairs and drag him back. Another part wanted to join him, bringing the security cane as protection. But Stanley had suddenly become enervated. Collapsing at his window haunt, he glared at Dan as he disappeared out of view.

“The toaster has left the building. Proceed as planned.” Brad put down the binoculars and grabbed several syringes of fuse. Gleeful laughter shook the squad car as he opened the door and looked at Duncan’s pathetic face in the window. “This is going to be fun.”

Shannon pretended like everything was normal, acting as casual as she could. Playing on her phone, she didn’t even glance at Evan’s scarred body as he walked into the bathroom to take a shower. The water turned on, and she gave it another minute before pouncing on his phone. Evan was an idiot for being too afraid of technology to use any biometric security.

She pulled up the image she had seen the other night. And there were more — dozens more. Her heart collapsed as she watched another video of a woman burning, screaming for them to stop. Fear gripped her, squeezing her stomach like the night she had lost her baby. Every part of Shannon’s body was yelling at her to get out of town and never come back. She glanced toward the bathroom and listened to the water as if it were a fading hourglass. How could he do this to something that seemed so human?

She sat on the bed, cursing her inability to make a decision, hating herself for being such a coward. Why had she been born into this world, where there were no right choices and every path led to pain?

When the screen on the phone went black from inactivity, fear exploded out of her chest without reason. She felt nauseous and on the verge of screaming. A specter haunted the screen, the face of a demon. She dropped it and turned around. A slap landed against her cheek before she even saw it coming.

“That’s not very respectful,” said Evan.

Dan could feel Stanley watching him from the window as he hopped into a Fermi. Though he was grateful to have someone as kind as Stanley to guide him through this world, Dan was frustrated by his obsessive tendencies. Didn’t Stanley trust him? Dan had screwed up when climbing the tree, but he had so much talent that Stanley had yet to see. If only he could see him for who he truly was. Halfway to the high school, hoping that Stanley was wishing him well, his phone buzzed. Dan snatched it up, his heart warming from thoughts of Stanley — but it wasn’t him.