Acouple of months ago, my family and I went on a trip to London. After staying there for a week, my mother suddenly remembered that her friend also lived in the city. She immediately contacted her, and after a little chit-chat, her friend invited us over to her house. We left shortly after to meet her.

When we arrived at her home, I discovered that she had one child, who was in the university. While the grown-ups were deep in conversation, I started to feel bored, so I decided to explore their three-storey house.

First, I went into a rather dull bedroom. Then I checked out the ground floor, but there wasn’t anything particularly entertaining for a 10-year-old like me. So, I headed up to the first floor, where I noticed an odd-looking metal door with a sign that read: “Keep out”. Ignoring the warning, I decided to go inside.

Inside, there was an enormous machine with four large openings at its corners. Above each opening was a label: “Cleaner Robot,” “Chef Robot,” “Pranky-Bot,” and “Artist-Bot.” Next to each label was a button that said, “Start working!”

Curious, I pressed the “Start working!” button for the “Cleaner Robot” and stepped aside, waiting to see what would happen.

There was a sudden low humming sound that seemed to come from the machine and then a robot came out from one of the machine’s openings. It slowly moved and started to clean the room. I was dumbstruck. I stared at it with my confused eyes. I was wondering what to do when I heard my mother call me. By that time, the robot had cleaned every nook and cranny of the room. I didn’t know how to stop the robot so I left it as it was and ran downstairs.

Then I was in trouble as my mother asked, “Where have you been and what have you been doing?”

I was thinking of an excuse when there was a sudden loud sound, Crash! Our hostess rushed up the stairs to see what the matter was. While I was nervous and my mother was worried, my mum’s friend returned and looked surprised.

She asked me, “What mischief were you up to while we were talking?”

“I’m sorry, aunty. I tried to play with that funny machine,” I replied honestly, looking scared.

Her expression softened, and she smiled before asking, “Did you like my invention?”

“You made that?” I exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah, she’s great at inventing things,” my mother added.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked, “What was that crashing noise?”

“Oh,” she replied with a chuckle, “that was the cleaner falling down the stairs.”

“I hope it isn’t broken,” I said feeling guilty.

“Oh no, it’s fine, no need to worry yourself,” she assured me.

While I munched on a snack, my mother and her friend continued their chat, laughing like old friends. Meanwhile, I couldn’t stop replaying the robot mishap in my head — it was both hilarious and fascinating. Soon, it was time for us to leave. As we bid farewell, I couldn’t help but glance back at the mysterious machine one last time. I knew this quirky adventure with a robot would be etched in my memory forever.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 1st, 2025