The Robo-Buddy Fable

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Tony. Tony was an ordinary boy in most ways. He lived in a house with his mom and dad and went to school. However, Tony was different from other children in one curious way. He had everything. Tony had a cat, a dog and a turtle. He had a large bedroom inside his large house. And inside his large bedroom, Tony had nearly every toy. He even had lots of video games to play on the television in his room. Quite simply, Tony had it all.

But because Tony had so many toys and games, he didn’t play outside very much. He never played on a soccer team or basketball team because he could play sports video games in his room. Tony never played outside. He never became fast from chasing rabbits and he never learned to be quiet while fishing at the nearby pond.

Now Tony, like many children, could talk to animals in a way adults couldn’t. He could talk to his pets and all of the animals and birds outside. But unlike other children, Tony never became friends with the animals outside because he liked watching animals on TV better. Over time Tony’s cat, dog and turtle stopped talking to him since all he did was watch television and play video games, which they found boring. Tony never wanted to play fetch with his dog or pet his cat. The animals grew lazy, quiet and fat over the years. Even Tony’s turtle seemed to get lazier.

During a late-spring day, Tony realized he was getting bored by television but he didn’t know what else to do. He realized he needed a friend but he didn’t know how to get anything except to ask his parents, so he did. The next day, Tony’s parents gave Tony a robot as tall as he was. The robot was made of metal and plastic and completely electric. The robot had lights for eyes and ten little moveable fingers. The robot could talk and said his name was “Robo-Buddy”, and immediately Tony loved him.

Robo-Buddy and Tony watched TV together and played many games. Sometimes they even went outside and Tony would try to teach Robo-Buddy to talk to the animals, but the animals were always scared of Robo-Buddy and ran away. Even Tony’s dog didn’t want to play fetch with Robo-Buddy. Likewise, Robo-Buddy didn’t like the animals and found the notion of talking to them “illogical”.

One hot summer day, Tony decided to do something different. He wanted to go to the pool. He hadn’t been to the pool in over two years but he didn’t want to go alone. Tony thought about calling some of neighborhood children or kids from his school, but he didn’t remember their phone numbers. In fact, he had forgotten almost all of their names. So with no one else to go with, Tony took Robo-Buddy.

At the pool, Tony saw lots of children splashing, yelling and playing and it all looked like so much fun. Tony instantly threw his towel and pool toys to the side and jumped into the water. What Tony didn’t notice though, was that he had jumped into the deep end. Tony desperately tried to keep his head above the water. Tony waved his arms around and tried kicking with his feet, but it was no use. Tony was going to drown. You see, Tony didn’t know how to swim because he never took swimming lessons like the other children. Apparently he never learned how to swim from watching television or playing underwater video games either. Meanwhile, Robo-Buddy, who was picking up Tony’s towel and toys, saw Tony drowning and immediately went towards the water. Robo-Buddy then jumped into the water near Tony.

But because Robo-Buddy was an electric robot, sparks shot out of him when he fell into the water. This electrocuted Tony and everyone else who was in the water nearby. Tony was the only one who died.

Not far from the pool, there was a park; and at the park several children played in the trees with the squirrels and birds, all of them completely unaware that a boy they rarely saw, Tony, had been killed by his toys.