The Wild Robot

Roz turned her head back around and saw that Brightbill’s face was once again scrunched with worry. She knelt beside him and said, “Of course you do not have to shut me down! I am sorry if I scared you. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” Brightbill sniffled and wiped his eyes. And then he heard splashing. Otters were playing in the ocean. He had never seen otters before. He stared as they swam and dove and sloshed around with one another. They seemed to be having a ridiculous amount of fun, and suddenly the gosling was smiling again.

“Hello, my name is Brightbill!” he shouted over the waves. “And this is my mama! Her name is Roz!”

The last time those otters had seen Roz, they had thought she was some kind of monster. But since then they’d heard that she was remarkably friendly and that she’d even adopted an orphaned gosling. And so the otters smiled at Roz and Brightbill. Then they swam straight over and splashed onto the rocks.

“Hello there!” said the biggest otter. “Nice to meet you both! Actually, Roz, we’ve met once before, but you might not remember me. My name’s Shelly.”

“I do remember you,” said the robot. “But I am glad to learn your name, Shelly.”

“You know each other?” said the gosling.

“These otters were the first animals I ever met,” said Roz. “They were also the first animals who ever ran away from me.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Shelly as the other otters sniffed the robot’s legs. “You know, Brightbill, when we first saw your mom, she was packed in a box and surrounded by soft squishy stuff…”

Brightbill’s brow furrowed.

“You wouldn’t believe how small she looked, all folded up in there…”

Brightbill’s nose sniffled.

“We thought she was dead, but when we reached into the box, she came to life and climbed out looking like a sparkling monster!”

Brightbill’s eyes welled up with tears, and then he felt his mother scoop him into her arms. “Are you okay?” she whispered in his ear.

“I think I’ve learned enough about robots for today,” he whispered back.

“I am sorry, otters,” said Roz, “but we really must be going.”

“I hope I didn’t upset the little guy!” said Shelly. “I thought he’d like to hear how we first met.”

“Brightbill will be fine,” said Roz, using a friendly voice. “But we have had a very busy day and we should go home. It was nice to see you again. Good-bye!”

Roz turned, and with her long strides, she carried her son away from the gravesite and over to the base of the sea cliffs.

“Would you like to sit on my shoulder as I climb?” said the robot.

“I feel like flying,” said the gosling. “I’ll meet you at the top.”

Brightbill flapped his wings and disappeared into the sky. Roz began scaling the wall. Up she went, expertly negotiating rocky columns and ledges, until she hoisted herself onto the clifftop, where two young bears were waiting.

CHAPTER 46 THE FIGHT

“Hello, bears, my name is Roz.”

“Oh, we know who you are,” said the sister bear. Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “We’re very happy to see you again.”

“Yeah, we’re very happy to see you again!” echoed the brother bear.

“Why do you always repeat what I say?” said the sister bear to her brother. “It’s so annoying!”

“I was just backing you up!”

“Let me do the talking!”

“Fine! You don’t have to be so mean about it!”

The bickering bears were interrupted by the robot’s friendliest voice. “With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?”

“How rude of us,” said the sister bear. “My name is Nettle, and this is my little brother, Thorn.”

“I’m not little!” snapped Thorn under his breath.

“It is lovely to meet you both,” said Roz. “But I am afraid I really must be going.”

“And I’m afraid we can’t let you do that.” Nettle stepped into Roz’s path. “My brother and I, we don’t like monsters.”

“I am not a monster. I am a robot.”

“Whatever you are, we don’t like you!” said Thorn.

“We hear you’ve become very comfortable on our island,” said Nettle. “Now we’re going to make you very uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, we’re going to make you very uncomfortable!”

“Stop repeating me, Thorn!”

Poor Roz was in serious trouble. The bears were closing in on her, but she couldn’t run, she couldn’t hide, and she couldn’t fight. The robot didn’t know what to do. But before she could do anything, there was a loud squawk and a streak of feathers.

“Stay away from my mama!” Brightbill swooped down and skidded to a stop between the robot and the bears.

“So the rumors are true!” Nettle laughed. “There really is a runty gosling who thinks the robot is his mother! How could anyone be so stupid! Do yourself a favor, gosling, and fly away before you get hurt!”

“She is right, Brightbill!” said Roz. “Please let me handle this!”

But the gosling stood his ground. He spread his wings and hopped around, ready to defend his mother. The bears roared with laughter. Then, with a flick of her paw, Nettle sent Brightbill tumbling over the ground, over and over, until he flopped onto his back and stared up at the sky, stunned.

“This is our island,” snarled Nettle.

“And it’s time for you to go,” growled Thorn.