Between the Lanterns(61)

August shot forward in his seat once more, eyes wild with worry, hands reaching for Bobby’s, and said, “But they didn’t tear down the generator outside of town, did they? I bought it years ago, you know! They can’t tear it down. It’s still working, too, right?”

Bobby pulled his hands away and wiped them on his pants, as if wiping off some errant crazy left there by his old friend, and replied, “Man, yes. Jeez. It’s still there. I just wanted you to know that they might replace them with solar-powered ones. It’s gonna happen. They replaced all of the ones on South Oates with solar-powered models, but they all went out for some reason. Once they figure out why and fix the problem, it’s gonna happen.”

August nodded and sat back once more, saying, “Don’t worry, Bobbo. I’m gonna make some calls. They won’t be replacin’ those two down on West Main Street. I’ll pay a significant amount of Credit to make sure.”





-





August opened the door to their old bedroom. Everything looked the same as that day, except the bed had been made. He sat down and remembered the last time he had made love to his wife… to anyone for that matter. It had been right here in this bed, 30 years ago.

Over the years, there had been plenty of opportunities to be with other women, especially as a wealthy bachelor who traveled the world regularly. But he never had the need to be with anyone else because he felt Sam’s presence at least once a day when he cooked. And that was better than sex with a stranger.

Woodrow stood in the corner, wearing a navy blue dress with white dots all over it. The baseball cap that said, “Kiss the Cook” was now a little crooked, but the necklace holding Samantha’s engagement and wedding rings still looked the same.

August unpacked his bag onto the bed and got to work. 30 years was a long time for any robot to be idle, much less one made of wood. When they had built him, they had known he wouldn’t last for very long. He was just wood and string.

But the string was synthetic and strong as steel. It was fine. No maintenance required. The wood, on the other hand, was in need of some love. And that was something August had plenty to give.

A few hours of deliberate and gentle care later, August felt satisfied that Woodrow was up to the challenge. He stepped back and put his hand on his hips while looking the old, wooden robot over from top to bottom.

“Woodrow. Power on,” August instructed.

The automaton made of wood stirred to life. His eyes lit up, glowing for just a moment. And then they went out. August’s heart fell to the floor. It was supposed to work… it should work. He didn’t have a backup plan, this was it.

Frantically he looked at his timepiece and saw the hour was growing late. He rushed to Woodrow and threw open the panel in his chest, revealing the machinery within. The motor was fine. It was titanium and would last forever, basically. The circuit boards, on the other hand, were toast. They had rotted through for some reason.

He looked and tried to figure out why. Then he noticed something missing. Dust. There was no dust on the automaton at all. Not a single speck. Which meant that Holly had eventually been able to clean him.

Looking closer at the circuit boards, he took them out. They fell apart in his hands. No wonder he couldn’t power on. August thought carefully. He needed to replace the ruined chips and put in new ones. And he needed to do it quickly.

August rushed back to the workshop where he tore and rummaged through everything inside. He found six of the same circuit boards, the ones he needed, only they were rotted through, as well.

“Where can I find more of these damn boards!” August yelled.

They weren’t memory or programmed functions boards. They were power circuits that he designed, so it’s not like he could walk down and buy some from the local tech store. August had developed this type of chip when he stole power as a broke twenty-something to power his cellphone. Then he began using them for anything he wanted to be fuelled by the Tesla generator outside of town.

“My cellphone!” he shouted in triumph.

August yanked it out of his back pocket and looked at the little cellphone. As he did so, August realized that it was too small. The chip wouldn’t fit.

“What else did I use them for in the house?” he asked himself quietly, thinking hard.

“LifeLanterns!” he said.

He had manufactured tons of those chips for his LifeLanterns. He quickly remembered that all of them had been at the shop. He had abandoned the shop, hadn’t he? They had all been stolen 30 years ago. But hadn’t he bought two LifeLanterns in Thailand? They still worked. He used them all of the time in his bungalow. He just needed to go and…

His bungalow was in Malaysia… on the other side of the world, right? August had forgotten where he was for a minute.

“Fuck! I can’t believe this!” he screamed, pounding on the workbench. “I came all the way around the world just to fail? Why, God? Why are you doin’ this to me?”

That was when August remembered there were still two working lanterns in this town. He had forgotten what he had asked Bobby to do with them at first, but now he knew exactly where they were.

On West Main Street.





Chapter 28





BETWEEN THE LANTERNS





There wasn’t enough time to get down to West Main Street, take the boards out of the lanterns, come back here, and then install them. He knew that without question.