Encourage a Young Writer

Today is National Encourage a Young Writer Day. I can’t think of a better day to celebrate our Blythe, young writer extraordinaire! Her writing is imaginative, descriptive, funny, sweet, sometimes sad, and almost always terrific. We are delighted when she’s willing to share her scribblings (or typings) with us, and know she will make as terrific a writer later as she is now. To encourage her we say, “Write away, Blythe! Write away!”

Here is a story Blythe recently wrote for a writing contest.

A.N.D.I and Me

Blair cocked her head at the little robot that stood about two feet tall. Her dad tinkered with some wires, connecting them and then yanking his hand away when he got shocked. The pain didn't deter him however and he kept working at it.

"Daddy," Blair said, brushing bolts and screws away to clear a small little place on the cluttered table her father called his Idea Desk and setting a plate down with a clink. The plate held a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread which was cut in halves. The only kind of sandwich the stubborn mechanic would eat. 

Blair's father looked up. "Oh thank you Blair bear." He said before looking back at the robot, not even glancing at the plate. Blair sighed and crouched down, flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder. Her light brown hair was streaked with arctic blue that shown nearly silver when it caught the light and looked fantastic in a fishtail braid, the hairstyle Blair currently wore. 

The fourteen-year-old girl watched her father who was absorbed into his own little world. He paid no attention to his daughter as she watched. Finally, Blair sighed and stood up, picking up a half of the sandwich and taking a bite as she made her way to the balcony, the only light source in the attic her father spent so much time in. She knew the other half of the sandwich would soon be claimed by the flies. 

"I'm going out!" Blair called before slipping out the balcony door. She looked around before turning to the Oak tree that stood right next to the balcony. Its strong branches swooped up to the sky like it was trying to reach the clouds. Blair smiled and hoisted herself up on a branch before scrambling down the tree, careful not to scrap her elbows or knee. She got to the lowest branch, about five feet from the ground. She jumped down, landing like a cat before walking briskly away.

Blair eventually ended up at her friend Evander's house. She rapped her knuckles on the door and it opened. A rather large woman opened the door. Her blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun that sat atop her head and a flour-covered apron was tied around her waist. "Ah, Blair!" Evander's mother cried. "What a delight!" Blair smiled.

"Thank you, Mrs. Mahoney." She said. "Is Evan here?" She asked, peaking into the house. She caught a glimpse of one of their maid robots and her smile shrunk a little. But it wasn't because of Mrs. Mahoney. For as long as Blair could remember she and her older sister, Arwen, took care of everything. Blair's mom died when Arwen was ten, leaving a father who spent every spare second closed off, a ten-year-old girl with no clue how to survive in the modern world, and a two-year-old, still learning how to talk. Because their mother was not around, the girl's father fell into a depressive state. He would sit on the balcony of their old, well-loved home, and stare as the sun turned into the moon and the clouds faded to stars. 

Blair's family wasn't poor but they weren't rich. They could afford a home, clothes for their backs, and food for their mouths, but no maid robots or any of the newest technology. So their dad had taken it upon himself to build robots out of scratch for their family. Most of his attempts resulted in Blair putting out small fires or suddenly hearing an explosion in the middle of the night. But for the most part, she lived with it. She had lost hope a while ago for her dad's projects, and it made her worry that he wasn't eating as much as he used to, but she reminded herself that every day would bring new adventures and new ideas. 

Mrs. Mahoney bit her plump bottom lip. "I believe so. You may go check." She said before laughing. "I'd do it myself but my cookies are going to burn." She then shut the door and Blair heard the automatic lock click. That was her cue to leave. 

Blair made her way to the side of the large house and ducked under the weeping willow that covered the Mahoney's backyard from the outside world. Blair got to her knees on the side of the house and pressed her thumb on a brick, a slightly lighter color than the rest of the home. 

She heard the all too familiar whirring noise of the tech and the bricks slid away, revealing Evander's room. She spotted the blonde hair, blue-eyed boy at his desk, playing a video game. Blair rolled her eyes, smiling fondly. Blair hopped into the room, the bricks closing behind her. She and Evan had installed the secret panel years before behind Mrs. Mahoney's back, but she found out anyway. Mrs. Mahoney didn't mind, she was just glad Evan was doing something other than playing video games.

Blair walked over to Evander and flicked the back of his head. "Hey, dork." She said. She crossed her arms, set them on the boy's head, and then rested her chin on her arms. 

"Hey blueberry," Evander said, not taking his eyes off his screen. He called Blair blueberry because of her hair, even though she hated it and their fights ended with Evan getting beat up.

"SugarCrash?" Blair asked, indicating the game he was playing. Evander's avatar slammed his fist in the ground, shattering it and sending a giant gumball monster down into the Earth. Evander grinned. 

"You know me so well." He replied, his pink tongue poking out the corner of his mouth while he played. Blair sighed, reached over, and hit the power key on his neon green keyboard. The screen went black.

"Blaaaaaaiiiirrrrrr!" Evan whined, turning in his chair to shoot her a glare. Blair smiled innocently and grabbed the controller out of his hand, setting it on top of the shelf that was so covered in dust Blair wondered when the last time Evan cleaned it was. 

Evander gave her a look and stood up, raising his arms over his head to stretch. "Your house or mine?" He asked, yawning. 

Blair shrugged. "Arwen's at a friend's house and dad's working on a robot so whatever you wanna do." 

Evan raised an eyebrow, pursing his lips. "Another robot?" Blair sighed and nodded.  

"I don't understand my father either." She made her way to the secret panel again, trying not to step on the clothes that littered the floor, and pressed her thumb to the wall. 

The pair got to Blair's house and she reached a hand out, turning the doorknob. The smell of metal, oil, and the wood candles that the girl's mother used to lit greeted the teens. Then Blair heard laughing. Not I've-watched-a-funny-video laughing but real, happy, excited laughing. Blair shared a looked with Evander. He shrugged.

"Arwen?" Blair called, walking into the house, straining her ears. The laughing came again.

"Hey, Blair bear. You’re back!" Arwen called. 'The kitchen.' Blair thought. Then she heard a voice.

"It works! It works! I told you it'd work!" Followed by hysterical laughing. Blair and Evan turned the corner and they both gasped.

The little robot was standing on the table. Arwen sat next to it, grinning and the girl's father was dancing around like a hooligan. "It works!" He cried over and over. Then he spotted Blair.

"Blair honey it works! It finally works!" Their father practically screamed. He ran over to the girl and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her over to the table. Evan followed hesitantly.

Blair went to her sister's side and their dad turned back to the robot. "I present to my two finest daughters, A.N.D.I! Which stands for Artificial Network Data Input." The mechanic said excitedly. He listed fact after fact about the robot while the three teens watched, interested.

"C'mon shake its hand!" Arwen and Blair's father said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He pressed a button on the robot's back and it powered to life. Little eyes and a smile formed on the screen their father called it's head.

"Hello. I am A.N.D.I. Artificial Network Data Input. What can I help you with today?" The robot asked. A cold, clear voice with a synthesized edge. Perfect diction. No soul.

The girl's father's eyes lit up. "A.N.D.I can you shake our hands?" he asked, trying to make his words as lucid as possible. "Is that clear?"

A.N.D.I looked up at the dad. "Crystal," he said before walking stiffly over to the edge of the table and sticking its tiny hand out. "Hello, Arwen. It is good to finally make your acquaintance."

Arwen giggled and gave the robot her pointer finger to shake. "Hello A.N.D.I. What a handsome robot you are." Pink circles appeared under A.N.D.I's eyes.

"Thank you, lady Arwen." The robot said before turning to Evander. "Hello, Evander. It's nice to finally meet the man of Blair's dreams." Evan blushed deeply and Blair shrieked.

"That is not true!!" She cried as Evander and A.N.D.I shook hands. Evan laughed. The robot then turned to Blair and stuck its hand out.

"Hello, Blarf," A.N.D.I said, smiling innocently. Blair's eyes narrowed and she stuck out her hand. The robot set his hand on the girls.

"It's Blair not-AH!' Blair yanked her hand away and shook it. "Hey! What was that for?!" She glared.

"What happened Blair?" Evan asked, looking very confused. The robot laughed. The laugh was hollow and mechanical.

Blair frowned. "He shocked me." Evan went to Blair's side and led her to the sink, turning on the water and putting Blair's tingling hand under the cold water.

Arwen giggled. "Guess he doesn't like you." She joked, but nobody knew that she was actually right. While the robot was nice and helped with the chores around the house and got the mechanic out of the attic prison, A.N.D.I seemed to hate Blair.

He'd wake her up at five in the morning, blasting music in her ears. He'd follow her around the house, 'accidentally' tipping things over. Blair had to lunge to grab vases or books to keep them from crashing to the floor. The little robot even shoved Blair and Evander onto each other whenever they were at Blair's house.

But Blair kept quiet. She knew how excited her father was. He kept coming out of the attic, he would go on walks with A.N.D.I and show him off and their dad would usually ask Arwen to make him a snack, which was highly unusual since, before A.N.D.I, he hardly ate a thing. So Blair tolerated the annoying robot. 

"Oh c'mon Blueberry! It's not that bad." Evander said. Blair had gone over to his house and now sat on his bed, which had probably not been made for a while. Evan sat in his gamer chair, which was turned towards his friend. 

"It's not horrible but it's annoying." Blair retorted. She held up her hand and counted things off, lifting a finger for each thing. "He trips me, he wakes me up at FIVE, he's broken at least six plates, he keeps shoving us together, he keeps me on my toes, he shocks me every time I touch him, he sings Baby Shark non-stop whenever I'm in the room, he-" 

"Okay okay I get it I get it!" Evander said, setting his hand on Blair's mouth to shut her up. "Maybe just like power him off for a day and see if that does anything?"

Blair swatted Evan's hand away. "I've already tried that." She said, scowling. Then her phone rang. She picked it up and set it to her ear, flipping one of her ponytails behind her back. "Hello?" She asked. Silence. Then a blood-curdling scream came from the phone before the dial tone was heard.

Blair froze, her eyes wide. "What the heck?" Evan breathed. And then they both bolted to the side panel. Blair frantically pushed her thumb against the brick but it didn't move. 

"Come on come on come on!!" Blair screamed. Evan grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. 

"Blair, calm down. Everythings gonna be okay. I promise." He reassured her, his voice as calming as he could make it. "Take a deep breath and we'll go out the front door." Blair nodded, sucking air into her lungs. 

As soon as the couple made it to Blair's street she sprinted to her house. She crashed through the front door and skidded into the kitchen, panting. 

Arwen looked up from the kitchen table, a protein bar raised to her mouth. 'She's safe.' Blair realized. She heard Evander come in behind her, breathing heavily. 

"Where the fire?" Arwen asked, surprised before taking a bite out of the bar and glancing at the clock. "Gah!" Arwen grabbed a duffle bag that was next to the kitchen table. "I'm late!" She shoved the rest of the protein bar in her mouth and slipped on her shoes. 

Then Blair's eyes went wide. That dirty little robot had tricked her! Blair curled her hands into fists and her eyes narrowed. That was the last straw! "Wheres A.N.D.I?!" Fury laced the relief in her voice.

Arwen looked up at Blair. "I don't know. Buts dads upstairs. I'm having a sleepover with Ellis." Blair's sister made her way to the front door. 

Evander shot a worried look at Blair. He could see how mad she was. A.N.D.I had messed with her and she had thought that her sister or father was in grave danger. 

Blair turned, looking over at Arwen. "Alright-" She said before she froze. Arwen smiled and blew her sister a kiss. 

"Bye!" Arwen opened the door and turned, setting a booted foot out onto the porch, not noticing that A.N.D.I was in the duffle bag waving as the screen he used to display his emotions smirked. 

"Why you little-!!" Blair shrieked and lunged forward to grab him.