RoboHen Frightens the Animal Children

The day that Stanley Elephant turned eight, his family threw him a wonderful surprise party. They invited all of his friends and relations. That day, the sun shone brightly. As the guests began to arrive, Mama Elephant rushed out to show them where to hide, among the bushes that lined the driveway. There were so many that they had to find spaces on the sidewalk where Stanley would not see them.

Finally, when all the guests had arrived, Mama brought Stanley outside. She walked beside him, covering his eyes with her hooves. When she let Stanley peek, he was so excited that he squealed with delight! All of his favorite people were smiling at him and yelling, "Surprise! Happy Birthday, Stanley!" A giant chocolate cake was waiting for him to cut it. There were balloons floating slightly above the bushes. 

"Stanley, please forgive me, but you will have to wait another moment for your big surprise," said his mama. "I arranged for a special performer to come entertain us with his 101 Things Machine!" (Little did she know that RoboHen had decided to advertise as an entertainer for children's parties just so he could test out the exciting new features on his machine.) Stanley's friends Myra Rabbit and Esme Kangaroo leaped higher than you can imagine when they first caught a glimpse of this amazing machine. But when RoboHen suddenly started punching buttons, they leaped as far away from it as they could, for lightning was coming out of the machine and striking the tall trees above them. All the animal children scattered, running at ninety miles an hour away from the sparks. It is difficult to describe what chaos ensued. 

Stanley's mother didn't even try to be polite to RoboHen. She showed him the highway right away. After he left, the delicious cake and the lovely company combined to save the day. Thank goodness! Poor Stanley's mom was only trying to provide a special occasion for her son. Thankfully, they all survived and ate cake and were merry. That was the end of RoboHen's career as a birthday party entertainer.

That Rotten RoboHen

A RoboMom spelling word story.

Bad RoboHen just did not want to obey his mom. She asked him to pick up all of his toys from the doorway, and he sassily said, "Maybe I will, and maybe I won't." Then he kicked them down the stairs into his basement lair. And then, as if that weren't enough, he stomped on his red crayon and ground it into the fluffy white carpet. Before she could punish him or even complain, he escaped out the window.

RoboHen's mom wondered what she could do to contain her son's behavior. She was not even completely awake yet, and already he had sassed, disobeyed, made a mess, and flown away. "Here we go again," she thought. Instead of fussing at him or punishing him, this time she decided that would be a mistake. "Today," she resolved, "I will make a RoboHen TRAP!" First she called the painter and asked him to paint the outside wall of RoboHen's room a sparkly silver color, knowing that RoboHen would see it and want to come closer. Then she put a giant plate with a supersweet treat right on the windowsill. It was a triple chocolate raisin marshmallow peanut butter pie. After that, she tied a string to a sparkly rainbow bracelet and laid it next to the treat. Finally, because she knew RoboHen might just take the bracelet and the treat with his grappling hook, she called the Mayor to arrange a surprise.

So when RoboHen sneaked back toward the lair to see what awaited him, he was amazed to glimpse the delicious dessert and the shiny bauble. He thrust his grappling hook out to grab the chocolate confection, but he was startled when an instant parade came marching by. They stamped across the pavement and grabbed pieces of pie as they went. All that remained when they were through was a tiny piece of decaying raisin. RoboHen was so mad that he stormed up to his Mom and demanded that she explain herself.

"Well," she said happily, I knew you would see through my trap, but I thought you would not be able to resist the sparkle. I guess that is payment for your rotten behavior."

He had to agree, and he spent the rest of the day cleaning up the crayon, picking up his toys, and hoping that his mom would relent and make him another treat. She did not.

[Note: Jackson thinks that RoboHen would have built a toy-picking-up machine and a crayon-picking-up machine so that he would not have to do any work as punishment. He also thinks the RoboHen stories have gotten less exciting. I agree... perhaps Jackson will write another one soon.]

Saving Mom

Another spelling word story from RoboMom.

One day, that bad RoboHen skipped school. He was racing around his lair and joking with his assistants when he heard a noise. Someone was shouting from far away. He needed to find out where that noise was coming from, so he ran all around, listening hard, until he was panting and out of breath. RoboHen found nothing at first. He was hopping mad. There was no telling who was making the noise, but it sounded upset.

Suddenly, he heard a thump right under his chicken feet. He pulled up the trap door handle of the 101 Things Machine, hoping that would reveal a clue. Instead, there sat his poor mom, wrapped in a pink blanket, with a baby elephant on top of her! The elephant greeted him with a huge trumpet - BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRM! - and RoboHen's mom, who could not talk because the elephant's foot was on her beak, nodded to him frantically. RoboHen started plotting right away.

The room had recently been cleaned and painted bright purple, so there were lots of supplies scattered around. RoboHen quickly strapped on his skates and grabbed a faded sheet, which was acting as a dropcloth. He quoted Mighty Mouse as he skated toward the elephant with the dropcloth in one claw: "Here I come to save the day!" Using all of his weight, he bumped into the elephant with a great thump, letting go of the sheet at the same time. It floated onto his enemy's face, and RoboHen began tickling the elephant-shaped lump under the sheet with all his might. For a couple of minutes, he had no idea who was winning.

Then RoboHen had a bright idea. Remembering where he was most ticklish, he hunted for the elephant's belly button. Eureka! The elephant started shaking and whuffling and eventually leaped off poor RoboHen's mom to escape from his tickling tormentor. RoboHen grabbed his mom and swung onto the ladder of the 101 Things Machine, flying up to safety and closing the trap door behind him. His mom was thankfully unharmed - it was a much lighter elephant than it looked. She was so thankful that she made RoboHen his favorite treat, a giant bowl of mango sorbet.