Chapter 10

 

The next morning after breakfast, Henie came to the office door. Karen looked up from the pile of her mother's black and white pictures.

Henie said, “Sorry to interrupt. I'm going for a walk. I figured I best tell you so you wouldn't think I disappeared and start searching for me.”

“I don't think a walk is a good idea this morning. Have you looked outside? The fog is so dense you can barely see your hand in front of your face,” Karen admonished.

“So?”

“So you might rust if you stay outside in all that dampness long enough to go for a walk,” Karen insisted.

“Nonsense, I'm made of a rust proof material. Won't ever happen,” Henie countered.

“Well, where were you going anyway? To the barn to see the cat?” Karen asked.

“Already been there and fed Sock. The kittens are growing and so playful. You really should go see them, dear.

I'm going to walk across the pasture to that cemetery in the trees. I won't be gone long,” Henie said.

Karen gasped. “Oh no! That far? That's too far for you to walk. It must be a quarter of a mile away.”

“Don't exaggerate. It's more like an eighth of a mile. I bet I can make it there and back better than you can. No more exercise than you get you would play out fast,” Henie criticized.

Karen shot her a despairing look. “I don't think so, but if you insist on going, I'll take you in the car.”

“I want to walk. In the old days, on foot is the way people always went to that cemetery,” Henie said stubbornly.

“Suppose your battery stopped working? What would you do?” Karen worried.

“My battery is on full charge so that is not a problem. See you later,” Henie said with finality.

“Oh,” groaned Karen. “Wait for me to shut down my computer. I better go with you.” Henie gave her a bothered look. “Well if for no other reason than to prove I can keep up with you walking that far and back.”

Before she followed Henie, Karen slipped the picture of the elderly couple in her blouse pocket. This might be as good a time as any to ask Henie if she knew more than she was telling about the couple. How she possibly could know them was beyond Karen's imagination.

Henie opened the front door. “Good. You really can use the exercise. Maybe a walk will make your appetite improve, and you will be able to clean up your plate.”

Karen groaned followed Henie outside. “If I ate everything on my plate, you wouldn't have anything to feed the cat. I'd have to buy cat food.”

Henie stepped onto the top step and looked around.

“What's the matter? You lost already?” Karen teased.

“No, not at all, silly. I just like watching the fog roll. It's pretty amazing to walk in a cloud,” Henie said.

“I guess I have never thought of a fog that way,” Karen said dryly, feeling the uncomfortable, misty haze plaster to her hair and clothes.

When Karen came to the yard gate in the pasture fence, she opened it to let Henie through first.

Henie gazed along the fence line and clucked dolefully. “Will you look at all those peonies? This fog flattened those pretty flowers.”

“When the sun dries them off, they will stand back up again, pretty as ever,” Karen said, closing the gate behind Henie.

“Don't forget to fasten the gate tight, dear. We don't want to let the cattle get out,” Henie ordered. “I'll bet chasing cattle is no fun. They have minds of their own and usually blind when it comes to seeing an open gate hole.”

Once they walked up the slight hill, Karen looked back. She couldn't see the black silhouette that was her house. “I have no way of knowing which way we're going without a landmark. I think this hike is a bad idea.”

“What's the matter? You giving out already and making excuses?” Henie gloated.

“Never mind my stamina. I was just worried about us getting lost. Just keep walking and get this over with. If we can't find our way home, we'll wander around for hours in this fog. We'll both get all wet, and I catch pneumonia. It will be all your fault. You will have to face my mother and explain to her how come you let me get sick.”

“I'd be glad to do that, but you're healthy as a horse so I don't expect facing your mother will be necessary. Frankly, dear, as little time as possible with your mother is all I can stand. Just don't expect me to carry you home when you give out,” Henie said. “I'm only programmed for fifty pound lifts.”

“You don't hold back much. I take it you weren't impressed with my mother.” Karen's face scrunched up as she tried to see ahead of them. “How much farther do you suppose it is to that cemetery?”

“Just a half a cloud away. Keep walking,” Henie said, grinning.

Off to their right, the grass made whispering rustles. Karen's eyes widen as she stared at the fog. “Henie, what's that noise?”

Before Henie could make a guess, out of the haze emerged a black cow. She perked her head up at the sight of Karen and Henie and cocked her tail.

Karen hissed. “A – a cow! A big cow. What do we do?”

Henie eyed the cow. “Keep walking. She's not …. .”

Karen grabbed Henie's arm and jerked her sideways, causing the robot to stumble. “Watch out. You almost ran into a cow. We're in the middle of the whole herd. This is all Amy Brown's fault.”

“I'm more than willing to let you pass the blame on now that you're ranting and raving, but how could this be Amy's fault?”

“She shouldn't have programmed the bad idea app into you that got us in this mess. Wh – what do we do now?” Karen stuttered.

“Sing,” whispered Henie.

“Really? Sing?” squeaked Karen.

“Cowboys used to do it all the time while they circled the cattle,” Henie said in a low voice.

“I'm not real fond of western movies, but I'd swear those cowboys sat high above the cattle on horses where it was safe,” countered Karen.

More cattle emerged from the mist to surround and stare at the women. “You think we're going to run into two horses in this fog we can mount?” Henie quipped.

“Of course, not,” snapped Karen.

“Then we better wing it while we're a foot and sing,” Henie advised.

“What tune did you have in mind?”

“I think a hymn would be appropriate since we're in this predicament. We could use some divine help. In The Garden seems perfect. Do you know it?”

“I don't have it memorized. I usually sing it from a hymnal at church,” Karen grumbled.

Henie squeezed Karen's hand. “Well, hang onto me for moral support and follow my lead. Just do the best you can. Sing low and no sudden movements.”

Karen watched one very curious cow, edging along with them. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed them. “You should tell that to the beast following us.”

“Just start singing.” Henie took a deep breath and began. Karen joined in. “I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear falling on my ear the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

They finished the song as they came to the fence line. “We're here,” Henie said, sounding relieved. “See we found the cemetery.”

As easy as that was for you, even in a fog, I'll just bet you've been here before, Karen thought.“Thank goodness, and I think we lost the cows.”

“That was the idea. I thought that song was right for the the spot we were in. Didn't you? Of course, as off key as you were, they probably got tired of listening to us mutilate that pretty hymn.” Henie turned east and went through the gate in the cemetery fence.

They walked through the moisture laden, calf high grass as they skirted along the fence line by the graves. Karen's jean legs and Henie's skirt soaked up the moisture like a wick in a lamp.

Henie rounded the corner and stopped by the two older sandstones belonging to the Cranes. “This is who I came to see.” Her voice was sad as she patted the top of Clell Crane's tombstone.

“Why did you insist on coming here today in this awful fog?” Karen complained.

“Today is Clell's birthday. They're the people in the picture I showed you in the attic,” Henie said. “I just wanted to pay my respects to him on his birthday.

You're from a different generation so you may not be aware of it but visiting loved ones in the cemetery is something humans used to do. On Memorial Day, they left flowers on loved ones graves. I've always thought just any time is right to leave flowers or pay visit. It doesn't have to be just on a once a year holiday.”

“Don't you think it's time you told me more, Henie? How about telling me the truth for a change,” Karen said.

“I have always told you the truth.” Henie sounded put out.

“Maybe, but you do it a bit at a time. I figured out some time back when you start a sentence with I'll bet that means you're telling me the truth when you're talking about Henrietta and Clell Crane.” Karen pulled the picture out of her pocket. “My mother brought me some old pictures, because on your say so I asked about my family tree. When she was here, she was amazed and a little shaken up by you. By the way, it takes a lot to shake up my mother.”

“I noticed,” Henie said, grinning.

“Seeing you wasn't funny to Mom. Since she remembers her Grandma and Grandpa Crane she recognized you from this picture.” Karen held the picture in front of Henie. “Down to what color your dress. Just our luck, by coincidence, you happened to be wearing it the day Mom was here and jogged her memory.”

Henie gazed fondly at the picture and rubbed a finger over Clell's face. “That was a wedding anniversary. The last one.”

“What is your last name, Henie? Mom asked me so I made up one,” Karen shot at her.

Henie's lips pressed tightly together as she looked from the picture to Karen.

“The truth, Henie,” Karen demanded.

“I think my last name is Crane,” Henie said.

Karen swallowed hard. “Doesn't that seem impossible even to you when you say it?”

“All I'm saying is, I might be your great grandmother, and Clell, God rest his sweet soul, your great grandfather,” Henie admitted.

“Can you explain how that can be when the Cranes are both buried here?” Karen wavered a finger at the graves.

“I can't. That's the plain and not so simple truth of it. I know how strange this sounds to a practical woman such as you. I know I'm a mechanical robot that isn't supposed to have a past. When I came to your house, I felt and looked like a teenager. I powered down for the night and woke up the next morning an old lady. I didn't understand it any more than I expect you to understand. I felt right away like your house was my home. I realized I knew more than the information I had programmed in me.

All sorts of memories were in me from seventy to eighty years ago about the farm and your great grandparents. Now that is the truth.

I didn't ask to channel your great grandmother. It just happened. I don't mind, but if that bothers you, you call Amy and tell her to come get me.” Henie walked toward the gate. “We can go now. Keep up with me until we get back to your yard gate. I'd hate to lose you in the fog. The cows might get you if you're in the pasture alone unless you memorized the words to In The Garden.” As an after thought, she turned and waved at the headstone. “Bye, Clell. Happy Birthday.”

Mid way across the pasture, the sun came out, and the fog lifted. Karen had time to give what Henie said some thought. She had seen the transformation in Henie and watched her connect to the house as if she belonged there more than Karen did. She couldn't rationalize Henie's story. She wasn't sure she wanted to since she'd grown fond Henie. It was nice to have a grandmother in the house with her.

Karen looked ahead of them. In the distance she saw the house. She pointed it out.

Henie quipped, “Just where we left it. Imagine that, and you're not lost yet.”

“Right, and I kept up with you all the way to the cemetery and back. Imagine that?” Karen retorted.