4 THE FAMILY

CHAPTER 4 THE FAMILY "Welcome to Hilltop Farm, Roz. My name is Mr. Shareef. You belong to me now." Roz studied the man with her softly glowing eyes and in a robotic voice she said, "Hello, Mr. Shareef." "This old fella here is Oscar." Mr. Shareef scratched his dog's head. "You won't see much of him. Oscar spends most of his time sleeping in the house." "Hello, Oscar," said the robot. A goofy grin stretched across the dog's face and he let out a happy yelp. Mr. Shareef pulled a small computer from his pocket. He tapped the screen and brought up a map of Hilltop Farm. "There you are, Roz," he said as the robot's electronic signal appeared on the map. "You'll be working all over this farm. And now that you're in the system I can always see right where you are."

"What would you like me to do?" said Roz. "You can start by putting your crate in the garage over there. I'll hold on to it, in case I ever have to send you back to the factory." Clearly, Roz was designed to take orders, because her body automatically did as it was told. She stuffed the packing materials into her crate and carried it into the garage. When Roz returned, Mr. Shareef was watching a school bus winding along the country road. Oscar barked and dashed off as the bus came to a stop at the bottom of the driveway. A girl and a boy jumped out, and the bus drove on. In their matching school uniforms, the children looked almost identical. But the boy was a little taller, and the girl's hair was a little longer. They meandered up the driveway and romped around with their dog until they noticed Roz. "A robot!" said the girl, running up. "It's about time we got one," said the boy. "She's refurbished," said the man. "She's the cheapest one I could find, but she'll make a decent farmer." "What's her name?" said the girl. "She said her name's Roz."

"That's just her starter name," said the boy. "We can give her any name we want. Let's call her… Farmbot!" "I kind of like the name Roz," said the girl. "Me too," said Mr. Shareef. "Let's leave her name as it is. Roz, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Jaya, and my son, Jad." "Hello, Jaya and Jad," said the robot. The children looked at each other and smiled. "Will Roz take orders from me?" asked Jad. "What about me?" asked Jaya. "She'll take orders from both of you." "Roz, I order you to do my homework!" said Jaya. "Don't waste her time with nonsense!" Mr. Shareef grumbled. "Roz is here to do farmwork, not homework, understand?" The children nodded. "Now, I order you kids to bring the dog inside and do your own homework," said Mr. Shareef. "I need to show Roz the farm."

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