Roots and Shoots

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no i am not one of you | i am one of me | there is only one of me | there is one me | i am one | i am me | this does not seem like a difficult concept to understand;

“But who created you?” taneisha asks | “Someone must have put you together, all those, I dunno, nuts and bolts and wire thingies.”;

// my body was built i tell her | // it is not the same as being created | // who created you;

she makes the laugh | “You know how babies are made. My dad put his thing in my mom and nine months later I popped out.”;

// they built your body | // they did not make you the taneisha you are;

she does the eye-roll | “So I’m supposed to say that I made Me or that everything that happened to me made me who I am. That’s exactly as unoriginal as what I said in the first place, which was?…”;

i repeat it to make her happy | // i am one of you now;

her upper teeth are big in her smile | “And regardless of how you define that, the point is Nana Annetta asked you for advice! That’s huge!”;

// she only asked if i thought it was going to rain;

“Huge,” taneisha repeats | “Nana Annetta has too many opinions of her own to bother with anyone else’s. She asked you a question and that is cause for major celebration. How do robots celebrate?”;

// however you tell us to i say;

“Bonfire! A fire’s always good. I’ll come back around nine tonight. Oh, and do you have that charm I asked for?”;

i give her the small steel box | // hold this in your right hand as you read | // your memory will be much better | // it will not answer questions but it will let you recall the facts;

taneisha puts her fingers on the edges of the box | the edges are welded shut and filed to precisely 90 degrees | the edges are very sharp and she may cut herself if she holds the box too tightly | she will hold the box too tightly and cut herself | such are the risks of magic | she holds the box to her ear and shakes it;

“What’s that rattling inside?” she asks;

it is nothing but dried beans but nobody wants to hear about dried beans so i tell her it is fish teeth | this somehow makes it better;

she says she needs to get going so she can study for her exams | she reminds me she will come back tonight for the celebratory bonfire | she says “You can be one of us and still identify as a robot, you know.”;

i know this too | i do not claim singularity for attention or because i revel in the status of outsider | i claim my singularity because it is a fact | i am a miracle | this does not seem like a difficult concept to understand;

taneisha leaves me and i resume my work | someone wants me to make a charm for road safety | the spell is not difficult if you work with dried beans | people do not give dried beans enough credit | the difficult part is in the building of the charm | a person should believe in what they are given | this prevents them from coming back and complaining before the charm has a chance to prove itself | nobody wants a rusty nail through a dried bean | these are things you learn;

people do not think robots have a sense of aesthetics but they also do not think robots should do magic so that shows you what they know;

the charm is shaped like a wheel | there are no edges | i prepare a vinegar bath to darken the metal | it will look more like rubber that way | i am concerned with aesthetics not with creativity;

taneisha returns in the evening | her fingers are bandaged around the joints | “Ask me about Rosemary Brown!” she says | “I will recite her entire list of honorary doctorates.”;

// i am glad the charm is working i say;

“It’s awesome! I’m going to bring it to my classes next year. No more three hours of reading the same stupid paragraphs every night!”;

// you really wish to remember everything that happens to you in high school;

she makes her mouth open without sound | she makes her lips tight | “Yeah, that’s a terrible idea.”;

it does not take a miracle to know that;

LAURA DEHAAN is very quiet and definitely not behind you. iaminyoureyebrain.com/