A middle-aged man with a hunched back slammed the door open to his meticulously clean penthouse. With a folder full of papers to grade under one arm, he yawned from a long day at work. Running a hand through his messy, graying brown hair, all he could think about was getting the stupid paperwork over with so he could go to bed early.
"Welcome home, Dad!" A friendly, robotic voice greeted him, holding a tray of freshly-baked muffins. "I've cleaned your house and made you muffins!"
"Yeah, yeah, that's nice, Norm," the Drusselsteinian man muttered absent-mindedly. Sighing, he plopped the folder down onto the kitchen table and pulled up a chair. While the constant smile remained on the robot-man's face, he was feeling a bit disappointed. Was the work he did for his father today not good enough? Norm made a silent promise to himself to try even harder tomorrow to please his dad!
Reminder: Parent-Teacher Conference tomorrow!
The message covered his field of vision for 1.74 seconds.
"Remember, sir. You have that parent-teacher conference tomorrow," Norm said once it faded away.
"Sheesh, don't remind me." His creator turned towards him, looking rather irritated. "Look, you wanna make yourself useful? Go pick up my dry-cleaning, you oversized junkpile."
"Okay. Be right back!" he placed the muffins on a counter, so that they would be cooled by the time he returned.
It was a rather foggy night out. With all the humidity in the air, he wondered if it would be counter-productive to pick up his father's dry-cleaning right this moment. Still, he was the boss, and by default of his programming, he would be happy to do anything his father told him to. Norm's auditory processors picked up noises from 30.48 meters away.
"YAPYAPYAPYAP!"
"Fluffy! No! Bad dog! Get back here!" Norm calmly turned towards the source. Dogs often tried to get at him because of the squirrel that ran the power in his chest. It was no surprise to him, since this often happened at least once every time he left the penthouse. What did surprise him though, was the blonde, petite teenage girl, chasing the black poodle that had gotten off of its leash. She was dressed unusually fancy for a simple walk: she wore a sleeveless, rose-pink dress with faux diamonds at the trim of the collar, and matching high-heeled shoes, her long, curly hair flowing loose. She looked different, but he was sure he had seen her before. Searching his database, he was eventually able to match a name to the face: Suzy Johnson, resident of Danville. "Norm?" she asked, her big blue eyes looking up at him. She seemed just as stunned to see him as well.
"Hello, Suzy Johnson. Do you remember me?"
"No, because it's so easy to forget you starred in a D-List sitcom with a giant robot businessman," she said as she rolled her eyes.
"Oh, well in that case, let me refresh your memory. I am Norm. But, you do seem to remember that we were in a sitcom together, despite not having any previous memory of me." Face-palming, Suzy had forgotten that as a robot, he had a difficult time understanding sarcasm. In the awkward silence, Norm looked for something to say to carry on the conversation. "I like your dress."
"Really? I hate it; it's so ugly. But, because I'm a bridesmaid, I have to wear it to make the bride look 'prettier'."
"Who's getting married?" Norm asked.
"My big brother and his stupid fiancée, Candace, are getting married a month from now. Just got back from buying the stupid thing. Only reason I'm wearing it in public is because my dog wouldn't shut up till I took her on a walk. Anyways, what's a giant robot doing out and about that his creator couldn't be bothered to do?"
"I have been ordered to pick up my dad's dry-cleaning."
"'Ordered', huh?" Picking Fluffy up, the small dog began to settle in her arms. "Well, I'll do just about anything to get away from my house for a while. Walk with me, we can talk about it on the way."
"So that's basically all you do these days? Just clean, bake, fix stuff, and pretty much whatever your creator tells you to do?" Suzy's tone of disapproval was tinged with pity.
"Well, yes. It is in my programming," Norm replied cheerily.
"Do you ever get a 'thank you'?" Suzy asked. Norm paused, carefully scanning his memory, several times.
"For some strange reason, it appears any memory of Dr. Doofenshmirtz thanking me for my work is not present. Even in cases he does not say it, I'm sure he still appreciates it, nevertheless."
"Oh, really?" Suzy raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Well, does he at least show it, then?" Again, Norm scanned his memory.
"Hmm...well, typically he just comes home, takes care of paperwork and then goes to bed. Although, he does eat the dinner I make sometimes."
"And what does he say about the dinners?"
"...Nothing I can recall."
"So, let me get this straight:" she turned to him as they arrived in front of the Danville Dry Cleaners building. "You do all these things for old man Doofenshmirtz, day and night, without any thanks or reward?"
"I...I suppose so. But he is my father and I love him."
"Does he love you?"
"Of course! At least...I think he does."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Listen, I better get back to my house before my parents start to worry. Feel free to talk to me if you come to your senses." Suzy begun to walk away as Norm's smile turned to a frown.
"Suzy?" The girl stopped in her tracks. "...How do I get my father to love and appreciate me?"
"Tell you what," the blonde looked over her shoulder, "why don't we meet up at the park tomorrow, and I can give you some pointers?"
"Really? You'll help me?"
"Sure. I've been looking for something to fill up my weekend."
"But tomorrow is Thursday. Don't you have school?"
"The teachers do," she smirked. "Kids don't." Norm's smile turned back around.
"Thank you, Suzy. I will see you at the park at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning."
"It's a date," she said, the sound of her heels clicking on the pavement as she left.
