Test Run

Jacob

I held Josh’s hand and helped him out of the car in the parking lot. He really did seem real, as I keep saying. I knew he was waterproof so it was no concern taking him to the water park. The water park’s parking lot was hot, and spring is in full spin. I really needed an “A” on this assignment and I couldn’t forget that. Josh looked really cute in his bathing suit and t-shirt. We walked towards the big sign which said “THE WATER ZONE!”  I looked down at Josh and he looked up at me and smirked. I smiled back. I bought two tickets at the front booth, and the lady smiled at me.

“Is that your little brother?” she said.

“No…” I said, “Uh…it’s my son….”

She frowned. “Son?” she said, figuring I was a teenage mom, but then she noticed something. She saw a bar code on his arm, which I hadn't noticed before.  She then smiled again. “He’s a Sonic…”

“Uh…yeah…how did you know?” I said, surprised.

“We have one owned by our park…” she said, “Except he’s seventeen. Maybe you should meet him. His name is Jacob” she nodded, “They are great, aren’t they?”

“Uh….” I said, feeling a bit taken aback “Yeah, they are…”

I felt a tug at my shirt. I looked down. “Just a minute, Josh”

“LETS GO!” he said, excited.

He then started to run ahead of me. I looked at Josh. I then looked at the lady who nodded. “Go ahead” she said and rolled her eyes, while she was still smiling a bit.

I walked down the walkway with Josh running in front of me. A big blue waterslide greeted us.  I wondered about Jacob. I wondered what he was like. I didn’t know Sonic made robot teen boys. He probably appears like a real teen boy working an afterschool job. This was getting weird, and I started to wonder how many of these realistic people were actually robots. It had to be a boy I never seen at school, and that did make some sense. Maybe I should ask that women at the ticket counter to introduce me to Jacob. I haven’t had a lot of luck with real boys lately anyway. The nicest person I’ve met so far isn’t even a person or someone my age. Can you imagine what a guy my age that is a robot would be like?

I had to stop. I was thinking crazy like this. I never was big on technology, and I’ve always had the normal amount of interaction with it. I look at my phone, and I surf the internet when bored, but I never considered technology to be anything more. Was it more?

Josh tugged at my shirt. I smiled at him. “Go ahead” I said, “Climb up the slide…”

I had to remind myself this wasn’t anything more than a school assignment. This wasn’t a test run for anything.

I then said to Josh “Josh, can you wait a minute…” but I stopped. He was already climbing up the slide ladder. I then turned around and I started to walk back to the lady at the ticket booth. I walked back to her and she looked at me.

“Hi” she said.

“Hi” I said back and tried to smile. “I’m Jennifer, by the way. I’m just taking care of Josh for a class assignment. You know the baby assignment you get in health class?”