ROBOLAND

It was a calm august morning in Yorkshire Avenue, Portland. Jerome Walter, a fifteen year old high school student, was reading a book in his bedroom. It was titled “Autonomous Mobile Robots by Roland Siegwart”. For an american teenager, It was indeed a queer thing to read such books in the early morning of a late summer. Jerome was naturally curious. He read one page after another. While he was in the middle of a page he saw two curious words′ ′ Artificial Intelligence”. He stopped reading , and he tried to remember something that he heard about this word in the last few days. The harder he tried, the more distant it became. Jerome looked into the street through a square window of his bedroom. From across the road, a bird sang Whippoorwill. Jerome did not pay any attention to it. He sat back in chair and pursed his lips then took a deep breath. Yellow sun rays were falling into the room through a thin white curtain drawn across the window. He wants to go out and see a rugby game today. The Old Town Jackals will play Country Rugby Club for the first time this season. The match was held at 9′o’ clock morning at the south end of the street Yorkshire Avenue. Considering the recent form of these two teams, it will be one of the thrilling matches of the season. And he thought there would be more than three hundred fans to see the game. He looked into the clock hanging on the wall, it showed the time was 30 minutes past seven in the morning. Jerome looked into the page again. His eyes again fell on the seemingly familiar words. ”Artificial Intelligence ″ was written in bold letters in the book. After thinking for a few moments, he stood up and walked across to the nearest corner of his bed and gently grabbed at the end of the bed sheet. An iPhone was lying on top of the bed. Jerome gave a hard press on the power button and a picture of an empty battery came on to the screen. He took a mobile charger from the cupboard and plugged in a port near the bed. Looking at his reflection in a mirror, he waited there in the light of morning sun for a couple of minutes.

While he kept looking in the mirror ,he saw the Iphone blinking on the bed . Jerome moved to the phone. He took it on the palm and turned it on. In the home screen, he clicked web browser Safari and swiped away a few notifications that came on the top of the screen. He searched for the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ on the web, he found a scientific article and read with a face screwed with concentration. After reading it for a few minutes, he went back to those notifications he ignored earlier. In the whats app, there were a handful of messages but most of them came from chat groups that he did not care about. He saw there were 5 text messages from his classmate Ava Miller. He clicked on her chat. It read like this….

“Hi Jerome.

I tried to call you twice last night but your phone was switched off.

Well, If you don’t mind, would you come to my home today ? I will show you some cool stuff.

I told my mom about you. She is very much excited to see you.

Bye”.

Jerome’s lean freckled face turned slightly red as he read the message. He checked the call log of the previous night,, he saw two missed calls from Ava Miller. She is one of the most beautiful girls in the Portland Public High School. Even Though she joined Portland high school this year, she has already become very popular among senior high school boys. There were many cool boys in the school who were just desperte date her but she won’t go with any of them. Now she had invited Jerome to her home. Good manners and nice talks were showing results, Jerome thought. Ever since the charming girl had befriended him, he had done his best to live up to his reputation. He is now one of her close friends. She is a friend that anyone would be proud of. However, Jerome was modest, this friendship did not spoil him.

He knows Ava’s father Timothy Donald Miller. He is a renowned robotic scientist in America who has made valuable contributions in the field of robotics. He is currently working for a federal agency in Washington and he was in the news for the last many days. He would like to interview Mr. Walter for the school science magazine. It is not easy to get an interview from him. But with Ava helping him, it can be done. Jerome read the message and knew that it was an opportunity that would never happen again. Suddenly, something else struck in his mind. He wondered what if his father Mr. Andrew Walter won’t let him go to Avas home. Thinking about what Mr. Walter might say, Jerome was very much worried. Even the prospect of losing today’s rugby match would not trouble Jerome to any greater extent. He knew today rugby match was a huge loss but he couldn’t bear to miss the opportunity. Finally, after thinking about it for some time, an idea came to his mind. He knew from experience that if mom asked father behalf of him, Jerome would get permission for anything; and felt sure that if mom asked dad to let him go to Ava’s home, his dad would definitely approve it.

Jerome looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It showed that the time was just two minutes past eight in the morning. After spending some time inside the room, Jerome left the room. He was going to the kitchen to see mum so that he could convince her to help him. Mrs. Jennifer Walter is a plump looking woman with a kind face. As any other mother in the world, she really cared about her only son, Jerome Luis Walter. As Jerome entered the dining room, he heard sounds of Mrs. Walter washes dishes from the kitchen. She seemed to be really busy in the morning. He looked around the room, and today’s breakfast was being prepared in the Kitchen. Mrs. Walter, who was washing plates in the sink, saw her son at the kitchen door.

She asked quietly,

”Wassup Jerry so early today. Oh I forgot, you are going to see rugby today. Isn’t it? When are you going to see the match? By the way?

Jerome replied, “ahh.. Mom, Today I’m not going to see the match. I have some other plans. Is it okay if I go to my friend’s house today?

Mrs. Walter stopped washing dishes and turned her head towards Jerome. She said, “Jerry, You can’t go to your friend’s home today. You have other things to do. Your class tests will start this week”.

Jerome stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. Then said: " Well. Mom, You know that I’m an editor of our school magazine. I would like to interview Ava’s father for the magazine.”

Mrs. Miller: Why do you need to take your friend’s parents’ interview?

Ava’s father is a senior scientist in a federal agency. I believe I’d better go to her home today and see if I can get the interview done”. This is a serious thing, He explained.

Mrs. Walter stood there looking at her son’s face, not knowing what to say.

After a moment, she asked, “What did your father say?″

Jerome was a bit embarrassed by this question. He always tries to avoid his Mr. Andrew Walter in such situations.

He said, Mom, I have not spoken to dad about it yet. Will you help me with this?

"His cheek turned a little red.”

Mrs. Walter noticed the change in his features and spoke softly to him.

"Okay Jerry. We will see it later.

Jerome nodded.

Then Mrs. Walter said in a comforting voice, ”Now you will have your breakfast. Go to the dining room.”

Jerome went to the dinning hall adjacent to the kitchen. He saw his father sitting beside the table while reading the newspaper. He sat down opposite his father. Mr. Andrew Walter was a short, stout man who was in his mid forties. He had thick whiskers and greying hair. Few moments later Mrs. Walter entered the room carrying breakfast. There was a small stack of plates and a glass. She served them food. They had deviled eggs for appetizers. Mr. Walter scooped a spoon full of deviled eggs and put it into his mouth. Then Mrs.Walter served them bread and mutton chops. Jerome eyed Mrs. Walter while She was pouring milk into Mr. Walter’s mug. She caught Jerome’s glance. She stopped pouring milk and put the mug back on the table. While they were on the midst of a delicious breakfast, Mrs. Walter suddenly made an announcement.

Andy, she spoke to her husband in a soft tone, Jerome wants to go out today. It is not to see rugby football. He wants to take an interview with his friend’s father. He said it is for the school science magazine.

Mr. Walter slowly took his eyes from the food. He looked at Jerome who went slightly red by the time. Mr. Walter asked, ”Why did he change the plan?

Jerome took a deep breath and said: Well, my friend Ava texted me in the morning. She wants me to visit her home if possible and I want to take an interview with her father. It’s for the school magazine.

After taking a few moments to think, Mr. Walter said: Its amazing how children change their mind from time to time.

A minute’s silence fell into the room. Only thing that could be heard in the room was a metallic sound from an old pendulum clock hanging in the wall.

Mrs. Walter broke the awkward silence. She said that The interview must be within one week. It’s urgent I believe.

However, Mr. Walter had a lot of worries about his son’s future. He could hardly believe that a mere passion for robots would give his son a bright career. Sometimes Mr. Walker would have a bad dream; armed cops storming his house to arrest Jerome. Mr. Walter asked, ” What about your class tests - don’t you want to study?”

Mrs. Walter looked at Jerome, just as the same intent to hear what he had to say.

Jerome took a moment and replied, “Eh.. Well Those exams are postponed for Friday so there will be no exams in the coming monday.”

Mr. Walter, looking at his wife, said: I think he always loves his friends. But I doubt that he spends his entire life just vibing with them.

Finally, Mr. Walter made up his mind that Jerome would visit his friend’s home and ask him to come back before evening.

Mr. Walter said “I think You better come back home before evening. Do you think you understand?

Yes, I understand, Jerome said.

Mr. Walter did not wish to ask any more questions. He gave a thoughtful nod and went back to finish his meal. However, there was huge relief in the face of Mrs. Walter. When there were no questions to be heard from his parents, Jerome realised that now he had permission to visit his friend’s house. Jerome looked at the clock and realised that he hadn’t much time left. He finished his breakfast and went up to change into his best clothes. Meanwhile, He sends a Whats app message to Ava.

He typed,

Hello Ava.

I’m coming today.

I will there within 30 minutes

Bye.

Jerome put on clean underwear, new blue jeans and a nice looking white t-shirt. Then he put a blue denim jacket over the t-shirt. He grabbed a backpack from the cupboard. Jerome was careful to take a notebook, a pen, wireless headset and a mobile charge bank into the back pack. After taking a helmet from under the table, he ran to the porch. His bike Specialized Allez was on the porch. It was a gift from his parents on his 15th birthday that he celebrated just two months ago. Now Mrs. Walter appeared at the front door. She handed him 100 dollars and said:

” Now you can go. Remember the money has to last all day and be back here at home in the evening. And don’t eat a lot of stuff that is going to make you sick to your stomachs.”

Be careful on the road and don’t get overheated said Mr. Walter from behind Mrs. Walter.

Jerome astride his bike and rode off on the black tarmac. Jerome sped down the road for he knew that he didn’t have much time left. Halfway towards Portland Town, there was a street called Southern end. His friend Daniel Carter lives here. Jerome looked at Carter’s house and he saw that Carter was sitting on a swing in the garden. Carter saw Jerome riding past his house. He waved at Jerome. Jerome grinned at Carter as rode past his house. Carter is an intimate friend of Jerome but he doesn’t know that Jerome was on the way towards Ava’s house. On any day, Jerome would love to take Carter anywhere he goes but this opportunity comes at a bad time for Jerome. Jerome can ride faster if he rides alone. Having promised Ava that he would be there within 30 minutes, Jerome was determined to keep his promise. He rode about 15 minutes through Portland suburban roads before he reached the town.