Chapter 3: "We're Doomed"
Dr. Wakeman was going to be home any minute! Jenny worked frantically to undo as much damage as she possibly could before her mom got back, hoping to soften the blow. Using her various muli-tasking accessories, she up-righted the hedge clipper and returned it to its proper place. She also swept and vacuumed up all the pieces of broken glass and simultaneously cleaned up the spilled chemicals from her mother's destroyed chemistry bench.
"How could I have been so stupid!" Jenny scolded herself as she worked, "I should have known better than to let those two buffoons in here."
Jenny took another look at the gaping hole in the wall and her stomach felt unpleasantly heavy again. Realistically, she could rebuild the wall and fix it up like new, but not in the time she had. And there was no way she could fix all her mother's carefully crafted chemical experiments. But Jenny decided to look on the bright side.
"Oh well, my mom's coming back from that science thing, after all." Jenny thought hopefully, "She's always in a good mood right after her precious convention. Maybe she won't take it so bad."
Just as Jenny was thinking this, Dr. Wakeman had passed the Tremorton city limits. Although the convention had been the day before, having spent the night in Quakerton, Norene could think of nothing other than that foolish Steven Turner and the terrible and unnecessary danger he was imposing on the world.
"He's just the biggest, the most arrogant, obnoxious, egotistical idiot I've ever had to put up with!" Norene had been fuming with such thoughts the whole way home and thus, once she arrived, she was exhausted and a little out of it.
Norene pulled into the driveway, not really bothering to check her surroundings too much. So, she didn't see the hole right away. Instead, the first thing she saw when she got out of the car was her robot daughter, who immediately gave her a big welcome-home hug.
"Oh dear mother, I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're home. It was terrible to be here all alone without you." Jenny had lifted the short woman clear off her feet. She was practically smothering her. She made sure not to let her see the hole in the wall just yet.
"(Cough) Well, you certainly are affectionate all of a sudden." Norene managed to get out when she could muster the breath. "And what do you mean, you were all alone? You had Bradley next door to keep you company, didn't you?"
"Well yes, I did for a while, but then he abandoned me in my hour of need." Jenny lamented, partly to herself.
"Well, normally I would tell you that you should have come with me to the convention." Norene responded as she struggled to get out of here daughter's relentless grip, "But now that I've gone, I'm glad you weren't there to- Oh Dear, what happened here!"
Norene had worked herself free and had seen the hole in the wall. She recognized immediately where that hole led to.
"XJ-9, I've told you a hundred times not to go into my lab! Haven't I made it quite clear that my equipment is extremely fragile." And now you've gone and turned my home into a war zone!" Norene spoke in a raised voice, but strangely, she wasn't all that angry at Jenny. She had been all angered out after that long drive home.
Unfortunately, Jenny did not pick up on this. As physically powerful as she was, Jenny always felt utterly defeated whenever she disappointed her mother like this. She stared anxiously at her feet and waited for the scolding to continue. Then she would explain herself. But the scolding did not continue. In fact, when Jenny looked up from her feet, she saw that her mother was walking away to the front door.
"Uh mom, aren't you going to demand that I explain myself or something?" Jenny carefully inquired.
"No explanation is necessary." Norene answered as she reached the front door, "I gave you a direct order and you disobeyed. It's as simple as that."
Jenny was struck by how short her mother was being with her. It made her feel even worse.
"Mom wait, it's not that simple!" Jenny hurried into the house after her mother, "It was Brad. He convinced me to let him and Tuck explore your laboratory. I know I shouldn't have, but they promised not to touch anything."
"And, let me guess, they did." Norene finished for her as she entered the kitchen.
"Well… yeah" Jenny said, "Brad had a little mishap with your hedge clipper and he crashed into your chemistry bench. I tried to stop it. I did!"
"I can imagine. But you still were the one who let them in. And if even my XJ-9 can't obey her own mother, then it seems we're all doomed." Norene said as she sat at the table with a cup of tea.
"What do you mean we're all doomed?" Jenny asked, confused, "I mean, I know what I did was pretty bad, but it wasn't quite that bad."
After a few sips of her tea, Norene calmed herself and decided it was time to conclude this issue with her daughter.
"Forgive me dear. I've been feeling pretty angry toward someone else over the past eighteen hours and I was taking it out on you." Norene said with sincerity, "I'm going to go lie down for a while."
Norene then got up and left Jenny all alone in the kitchen. She thought for a moment.
"Whoah, does this mean I'm off the hook?" Jenny wondered aloud.
"Not a chance!" Her mother called from somewhere upstairs, "You're grounded for a month and you can start repairing that wall right now."
Jenny sighed, "Brad's so going to pay for this."
End of Chapter Three
Author's notes: Well, here's the latest chapter. I hope people have been reading my story. I wouldn't know it, having received so few reviews since I started. C'mon guys! Your reviews are my reward for writing this story. Even if you can only think of insults, go right ahead. I can take it.
Anyway, enough of that. I know this chapter was a bit short, but it makes a good transition chapter for what happens next. I promise the plot will pick up soon. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I'll post the next chapter very soon. I look forward to all your reviews.