Kid-Droids: Lulu's Caretaker/ Lulu 3

The hallways in the building were lined with lockers, books, papers and other supplies.  The epitome of the regular everyday school you would find in the good ol’ USA.  The school itself had gone relatively unchanged as the years past, the only new things coming into the building being the students, and the occasional staff member leaving.

Some faculty, like Mrs.Betswizer herself attended the school when she was a child, and surprisingly found herself back in this building many years later as a teacher.  She never thought that this would happen in her life, but alas it did.  Teaching young-ones just came naturally to her.  The woman loved kids, and had hoped to have some of her own someday, maybe that they might be in this school too, and she would be their teacher someday as well.  A little dream she had hoped would come true someday, was to see her students grow up, and then one day, see THEIR kids enter the same building they did. Being able to teach the same family over time as the newer generations came into existence.

Hank did not attend this school as a child however. And Lulu was...something else.

Hank and Mrs.Betswizer had only the best interests in mind for that little Nandroid though.  She didn’t understand the science behind why she was here, or why she’d ended up in her class.  But she had her duty as a role model in her developing life, and being made up of nuts and bolts wouldn’t change that.

“Oh. Do you have a minute to talk? Or are you late for work and need to hurry?”

“No. I have time.” replied Hank. He stood a good head taller than her, and was rougher around the edges, his clothes were old and had some nice handicraft work layered about them, from his shirt to his pants.  Him saying yes was a joy for her.

“Okay great.  It’s about the new student.”  As she finished her sentence the door to her class closed, and the two were now the sole inhabitants of the hallway.  As the school diligently worked in the rooms around them, without a soul with prying eyes to eavesdrop in on their soon to be had discussion.

“What about them? Are they...causing trouble for anyone?”

“Oh No! Nothing like that!”  She quickly responded. Hank loosened his shoulders a bit, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“If it was anything like that, you know happening to Lulu, I would let you know immediately. It’s about the new kids…”  The women carried herself with a mixture of confidence and some nervous excitement as she explained herself

“Are there too many kids?”

“No. N-not yet anyway. That IS something I’m worried about, alot of us are already pushing the maximum amount of students we can reasonably teach, much less fit in a classroom.  That’s a bridge were gonna cross soon and I- OH! What am I going on about! Back on track. Anyway. The new student, he’s a boy around Lulu’s….Manufacture Date?”  The Grade School teacher had no reasonable way of guessing the Kid Droid’s name, nor a idea of what to call the number of years she had been on this Earth.  Her words though, caused distaste in the tall man in front of her.

“Age. Just say Age.” He said.

“Age! Okay. His name is Nathan, it’s his first day here, he’s got a big set of glasses on his little head, I met him and his family this weekend.”  She said her words like they were already written down on a list and followed a rhythm with each new detail she revealed about Nathan.

The new information didn’t really resonate anything in the man.  He listened, hoping it would lead to something. Why would she ask to have a minute with him just to talk about someone else's kid who wasn’t even a bully or friend to his own?

“Now before I say anything else...I want you to tell me, has Lulu met...anyone else like her?”

“No?” He raised his eyebrow.

Betswizer looked right and left, making sure no one else was around to hear what she was about to say.

“Come close!” She smiled with glee, excited and giddy.

He lowered his body and allowed her to whisper

“He’s got a sister. She’s a Nandroid that’s JUST like Lulu!”

Hank stood solid, still.  Everyone word he tried to get out of his mouth just jumbled around and fell down his throat.  Failing to make his thoughts known

“I’m going to be honest….I..MIGHT...have bended the rules a bit and made sure she sits next to him. Is it wrong for me to assume they’re gonna get along because he has a robot family member? Or is it wrong because Lulu doesn’t like social interaction? AGHH! I don’t know!” She continued on and on, speaking with enthusiasm and worry, every word leaving teeth gritted through pure excitement. It’s almost as if she was the child here and she wondered if she was going to get away with stealing a cookie from the jar.

Hank stood by her side, seemingly unnoticed by her as she was wrapped up in her own little world.

Life had just started getting into a nice little groove. Yet another whirlwind came into it. This new information. He didn’t know what to do with it.

“Um..Yeah.  That’s Great.”

“I..Figured you’d be more excited at the idea?” She asked. Raising an eyebrow cheerfully. Trying to get the man to see a brighter side to it all.

“You know...Maybe Lulu just needs someone who’s like her! That’s what I’ve always assumed!” Lulu’s father re-gained some of his composure and stared at his teacher, somewhat offended once again

“My kid doesn’t need to have a friend that’s a robot in order to have any friends.” His well mannered voice started to fracture a bit. Not yelling at the teacher, but she could feel slight bitterness in his words

“What’s wrong with that? Is it against some rule or something?” Her question actually made his heart skip a beat.  Hank wasn’t really sure if that WAS against the rules. The Documents that he was given might have said something about that. He couldn’t recall though, when he read through them his only real concern was about anything containing raising the Kid, food, water, what’s different about them from human kids, that kind of thing.

He didn’t want to discuss something that went a bit personal for him.
“Nothing’s with and...I don’t think so. I’d have to go through it again, but no. I’d just want her to make friends normally. That’s it”  He lied. He did feel something wrong with it, but it was better to keep that to himself.

“Oh, Hank, I know it’s just, she’s been going to school for the better part of a year now and she still hasn’t made any friends. I keep trying to encourage her. You have too right? I’m only...worried about her...development. In social and in...psychological ways. Being that old with everything else that’s happened to her, it just isn’t healthy.” Her answer was dignified and she wasn’t wrong.

One more sigh left his mouth.  He didn’t want Lulu to get shut out from the world. Deep down somewhere in there he knew that he could bring her out of her shell. That thick, hardened shell that only really loosened up around him and her teacher.  Anybody who grew up like the way Lulu did, before she met Hank, would repel almost every kind of connection.  He should consider himself so lucky that she connected to him.

“I know. I know. I’m working on it.”

“In what ways? Have you tried getting her some...do they have Therapists at Sterling for this kind of thing...OH! Have you ever thought of getting a Nandroid? Like an older one, ya know! Haha, n-not like a little one like her. Maybe she needs a-?” she was cut off

“No. They don’t. Believe me this stuff is new, I asked them if there were anything they could do to help out and...frankly it’s beens kinda of a shitshow. I don’t know why. If they were going to do this Kid-Droid thing you’d think they would’ve planned this out better...Prepared more...I don’t got the money to be buying a Nandroid or one of those off models, were already strapped for cash, and I ain’t doing any down payments or stuff like that.”

Disappointed, he came back a bit from his ramblings and saw the teacher’s face grimmic a bit. Before she asked her ill-fated question.

“And her...eye?”

Shit. He knew she would bring that up.

“I almost got it, Next paycheck, I’ll have enough. And it’ll be the first thing I do when I get it.” His answer was guilty, he hadn’t been able to take care of her better and faster than he wanted to, shame trailed on the tip of each word.

The teacher opened her mouth to continue her conversation, but her hand raised and then froze stiff.  Remembering she had a class to teach. She waved away and said some final words before they parted

“Listen I want you to know I’m not trying to give you a hard time, I just care about her, she’s one of my students that’s all. We’ll talk about it later..”

“Thanks Carol”

“Don’t wor- Oh god, I’m probably behind right now.” Carol’s last words were to herself as she quickly went through the door and the rapid shut signaled the end of their talk

She may have meant that, but being confronted about it his status as a Dad didn’t sit right with him. It sneered and waved around his body making him feel il. Clenching his throat a little bit.
Even if Carol had good intentions and ideas, Hank didn’t like his fatherly skills being questioned or critiqued.

He returned to his car just trying to wave off this feeling. Like he had done before, nothing he could do to fix it right now, only thing he could do was try and make things better later. When he had money.

It was nice to have someone to confide too for a little bit. He couldn’t be an open door with her, but it was nice to know there was someone out there who cared.

But beyond it all was that new kid, or the potential to meet his Nandroid sister.

She didn’t say anything about that sister being in school with him. So what was Lulu gonna do? Talk to someone older than her? She already had trust issues with people that were up by a few years.  And if they were younger? Well hell he hoped that they weren’t as dumb as a toddler, he’d feel second hand embarrassment for Lulu if she met them.

“Would they even make a toddler?” he muttered to himself. As he sat down in his drivers seat.

A thought porturded, he remembered a small little booklet they sent to him in the mail a couple of months ago. It detailed frequently asked questions that he might ask and answers to them all. Not really telling if these were questions asked by other Caretakers like him, or if they were just questions they THOUGHT they might end up having.

“If your Unit for an extended period of time does not form relationships or bonds with their human peers, DO NOT WORRY, this is little cause for Alarm. Sterling Robotics assures that all “Kid-Droids” will, in time, eventually form a bond and make friends.


His grip grew a little tighter.  Pressing down hard on the paper, and then turning the page to another relevant topic.

“What do I do if my “Kid-Droid Unit” encounters another Adolescent Unit?”
“Before answering, it’s important to remember that we highly encourage “Kid-Droid Units” to form bonds with anyone they please, whether it is another competing Companies line of Advanced Androids, one of the various Robotic Assistants, or our own companies patented Nandroids, no matter who or what, the Unit should embrace bonds or relationships of any kind.

With that said, we do not recommend that Caretakers seek out each other intentionally and artificially introduce their “Kid-Droid” Units in ways that were not natural such as “Meeting Down the Street, finding each other on the job, or in public'' We highly encourage the Units to meet each other first, and then through that Caretakers meet each other second.  We understand that some events are out of anyone's control and “Kid-Droids'' and their Caretakers can meet in a number of ways.  It is only a guideline and we understand the need to deter or ignore this rule. But we still urge you and others to follow this guideline to ensure a natural neurological and social development.

“Well that's just great.”  He tapped on the page again repeatedly, skimming up and down to see if he missed anything and no, he did not.

The last words that bounced around his head before he moved the gear shift were,
‘Maybe...if she does meet them...maybe it will be alright. No. No, maybe it’s better for her to just be friends with that new kid..thats IF they even become friends, Lulu never really made friends easily with people or robots.”

He rubbed his face and then sighed, feeling selfish, horrible for even thinking that.

‘Maybe I’m just worried that her meeting another...Robot Kid...that just grew up differently would be too much for her.”  He then kept asking himself if it was wrong to be thinking like that. If his fears even were justified, plausible.

If there was a brightside, it at least showed that he was just protective of her. Maybe a bit over-protective. But better that then nothing.

That’s what he told himself as he left the school parking lot, and went on his way to run some errands before he went home.  First stop, the grocery store.