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.]