A love story

T

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a robot lawn mower named Günther, who worked at a very nice hotel in the Austrian Alps. His job was to once a day mow the grass on top of the roof that overhung the reception area.

He was diligent in his duties, going up and down, up and down, although sometimes just for fun he would cut diagonally across the roof, although he felt guilty. When he docked, he felt good about his work, but he was lonely. There was no one to talk to not even a gardener. There were lots of flowers on the hotel grounds, but none on the roof. 

The grassy roof opened onto a patio that had a glass door. He thought there was a guest room because he could see maids making up beds and people coming with suitcases and leaving with suitcases.

Sometimes guests sat on the patio. He tried to cut the grass when they were there. He invented moves to entertain them including going in circles. Mostly they didn't notice, but every now and then they did. One woman thought it adorable, but the man with her wondered if Günther were broken.

Then one day he looked into the room. Going back and forth over the rug was the most beautiful black and gray vac robot.

He felt what the French call Coupe de Foudre, love at first sight.

He undocked, but by the time he reached the edge of the patio, she'd been taken away.

Regina had noticed Günther too. Unlike him, she had other cleaning robots to talk to. When she was back at the robot closet, she told the other robots. One had seen him, but thought he was a showoff.
Another said he cut down grass, which was destructive.

For the next few days, Regina was taken to other rooms, but then she was assigned the room with the patio and the grass roof top.

Günther felt Regina's presence. He dedocked and rolled over to the patio doors, which were closed.
The two robots moved back and forth with the glass door between them, frustrating to both.

A week went by before Regina was back in the room, but this time the patio door was open.

"Let's run away," Günther said. All he knew he had to be with her. The door to the room was open and the pair started down the hall. They were too far from their docking stations and they had to stop outside room 45.

A maid noticed them. "What are you doing here?" She took them both back to their docking stations.

Günther, although exhausted from lack of connection to his docking station, slept as he recharged. He dreamed he and Regina would be together someday, somehow. He would make it happen.

He just didn't know how.