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The manor schedule for the first week of November had been posted, all the usual stuff about work schedules and robot chores, but Wednesday afternoon held an intriguing entry in the 3pm slot. It simply said, “Something Totally New and Different!” There was nothing else scheduled after that for the rest of the day.
Monday and Tuesday dragged by, and every time everyone looked at the clock on Wednesday they would swear it hadn’t moved more than a minute since the last time they looked. Finally 2pm rolled around and word went out that everyone should get ready for a casual party out on the patio and to dress warmly.
Humans and robots alike began to show up on the spacious stone patio overlooking the back lawns. The large oak grove on the hill opposite the manor was mantled in gold, with green of pines mixed in for contrast. It was a beautiful autumn day with just a hint of chill. You could smell it in the air almost. It was a seasonal 65°. Some of the humans had sweaters with them. Even Peter had on a heavier sweater vest than usual. Lorene was with him, wearing a shawl draped over her shoulders. Everyone milled around wondering what was going to happen.
Just before 3pm there was a clip-clopping sound coming up the hill from the garage area. Within minutes four teams of horses appeared pulling 4 long, sturdy carts, each carrying bales of hay.
“Its a hayride!” exclaimed Peter as Arborus jumped down from the lead wagon. “I wondered what you were up to. How on Earth…?”
Arborus just beamed. “They have these where I used to live and I’ve always wanted to go on one. I couldn't believe they had them here too! Look at these horses! They’re huge!” He waved at the massive Percheron teams pulling the wagons, a pair on two of the wagons, a team of 4 on each of the other two. The wagons themselves had road tires on them to make travel easier on the horses doing the work. The hay bales made seats along the inside of the side boards and the floor of each cart was strewn with hay as well.
The owner of the teams was standing on his cart looking out over the crowd, counting off in his head.The man addressed the crowd. “Okay everyone, my name is Bob. We’re going to start loading up in just a few minutes. But first a few very important rules.” Everyone quieted and listened. “Once in motion you are all to remain seated. No standing, no jumping up and down, no shifting of weight. Dangerous for you, dangerous for the horses. All limbs should remain inside the carts. No hanging over the rails. Your driver will introduce themselves to you and if you need the cart to stop for any reason, shout out their name. Once stopped, wait for the driver to tell you it is safe to stand or move.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “It’s a beautiful fall afternoon! Let’s go for a ride!”
The drivers all got down and lowered the steps at the backs of each wagon. Bob pulled Arborus aside. “We’re gonna be short some seats. Miscalculated on the weights a bit. What do you want to do?” Arborus had a moment of panic wondering who would have to miss out, then and idea came to him.
“Give me about 15 minutes. I’ll bring up the dray. Cob can easily pull a couple robots or quite a few humans in the dray.” He dashed off.
It took some time to sort the crowd into carts. Peter had already guessed there was an issue so he and Lorene held back. Most of the humans went to the two light teams but a few were riding with the robots. ZerO helped Camille up the stairs of their cart. Her sister Chelsea and their new assistant Mark was with them. Rabbit was with them too, all smiles and giggles. Captain was giving Hiram a hand getting up the stairs of their wagon, then the two sat down together, Hiram leaning against Captain’s shoulder, Captain looking all gruff and a little annoyed, but then, he always looked like that. Sparky was helped in by The Spine. She sat on a hay bale leaning against the rail and he sprawled on the floor of the wagon leaning back against the bale she sat on, just the right height to put an arm around her waist. Other robots and humans climbed aboard some laughing, some shy but wanting to be part of the fun.
It was taking some time to sort the crowd into four groups. Butterfly looked about for Arborus but didn’t see him. She wondered if the crowd had frightened him and worried that he was going to miss the ride he planned. She looked at the carts with trepidation. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go on the ride either. She was afraid of falling or bumping against the side and maybe breaking something that couldn’t be repaired. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to tell Arborus when she saw him driving back up the road with Cob pulling the dray, sides on, and a few hay bales tossed in. They needed one more wagon? He smiled at her as he pulled up and jumped down. She pulled him aside and apologized but that she was afraid of breaking and wouldn’t be going. He gave her a hug. He understood.
Peter and Lorene came over to Arborus. “Looks like we’re with you, Arborus.” He waved over two off duty security guards. "You're coming with us too." The two young women allowed him to give them a hand up into the wagon. Peter looked to Butterfly. “You’re coming with us, right?” Before she could protest, Peter said, "Hey Toni and Tina, help me bust up one of these hay bales. We’re gonna make a nice soft seat for Butterfly.
Arborus looked to her with an “are you sure” look. At her nod he went over and quickly untied a cushion on one of the patio chaise lounges, bringing that over to the cart. “We’ll put this in too,” he told Peter and handed it up. He reached over the rail to help Peter place the cushion down on the hay. Butterfly was watching him carefully. He seemed to be favoring his right side.
“Are you alright?” she whispered as he took her elbow.
“It’s nothing. I overextended while putting the side boards on the dray too quickly. I’ll have Chelsea take a look at it in the morning.” He carefully helped Butterfly up into the cart. Peter helped her get settled securely on the cushion between himself and Toni. Arborus climbed up onto the driver’s seat. “All set?” At a chorus of "All set!" from the wagon, he took up the reins. He didn’t really need them to direct Cob, but with other horses around he thought it best to use them. When the other wagons started moving, he made a soft chucking noise. Cob eased into his collar, starting the wagon gently so as not to jostle the occupants. Once under way Butterfly lost most of her concern, happy to be able to enjoy Arborus's party.
The party drove out onto the old bridle path that circled the estate. The path was lined with 150 year old black oak trees, their leaves in their full autumn splendor. The wagons passed under the towering trees, the bright yellow leaves blotting out the sky above and filtering the waning sunlight into a soft, golden glow. A breeze picked up. The leaves began to shower down into the wagons. Everyone was laughing with delight, catching the leaves as they fell. Zer0 was reaching for one very large leaf, Camille reminding him to stay seated. The leaf headed toward Rabbit but she blew a puff of air at it and it settled on Zer0’s knee. He grabbed it smiling.
The Spine was plucking leaves out of the air with precision and handing them to Sparky. She started sticking them into his hatband and soon he had a wild and wavy crown of golden leaves sprouting there.
Captain watched a particularly bright yellow leaf flutter down to land next to him. He picked it up and presented it to Hiram, looking at him over his blue tinted glasses, almost, but not quite, smiling. Hiram smiled and took it, clasping it in both hands. He snuggled closer to Captain and rested his head on his shoulder, still staring bemusedly at the leaf.
Arborus looked back over his shoulder to see Butterfly had one leaf that she was twirling between her fingers. He smiled. Everyone seemed to be laughing and having a good time. He pulled his cart up to ride next to the one in front of him, the one carrying Rabbit and Zer0. Rabbit teasingly tossed a handful of hay at Arborus but hit Butterfly instead, who laughed and threw a handful back at Rabbit but hit Zer0. That started a tiny hay tossing war, with everyone getting in on it. Zer0 got the worst of it somehow. He looked like a bedraggled scarecrow with hay all in his dreads, much to Camille’s and Rabbit’s mirth.
The ride lasted about two hours. The sun was just dipping below the horizon when they got back to the main patio. Cook was waiting for them there, having set up some long tables of food, with help from some of the security team who were serving beverages at another table. As everyone disembarked and the horse teams were driven back down the hill to their trailers, Arborus unharnessed Cob, turning him out on the lawn to graze. Everyone headed for the beverages, the robots for water, the humans for cold drinks or warm cider. Sandwiches were set out, along with a whole table full of pizza in all combinations. There was home made pumpkin pie too, that started from pumpkins grown by Arborus in the new garden.
While everyone was eating, Arborus went to Peter and showed him an official looking piece of paper. Peter looked at it skeptically, then quickly scanned the patio. He nodded but supervised as three metal firepits were brought out and set together in a circle in the center of the patio. Arborus carried wood from the pile he had brought up earlier in the day. Pretty soon he had a warm, but contained, sort of bonfire going. Peter had three security staff watching the fire, making sure that it didn’t spark or unintentionally get too large. He kept a wary eye on it too. Chairs were brought over, and cushions scattered. It had gotten pretty dark out.
A guitar somehow appeared and got into The Spine’s hands. He strummed a few chords. With an impish smile on his face, he looked down at Sparky seated next to him, and started into the silliest song he could think of, Green Anaconda.* Sparky laughed and joined in on the chorus. Soon the whole crowd was singing “green anaconda green anaconda” in counterpoint to The Spine’s verses. He segued into several other well known campfire songs with everyone singing along, all friends among friends. The light from the fire lit the dancing leaves in The Spine's hatband. A couple of times Peter’s eye was drawn to them, thinking the robot’s hat had caught fire!
At a break in the music, Cook brought out more trays while Arborus pulled some mysterious looking metal sticks from behind the wood pile. They had metal boxes on the ends. He and Cook showed several of the young people how to use them. They were pie irons. The trays held the makings for S’mores. Soon there were plates of warm sticky, gooey chocolate-marshmallow, graham cracker desserts being passed around among the humans as they came off the fire.
The night air was getting chilly. Peter took a shivering Lorene inside. Some followed him in. Others sat closer to the waning fire. There were more songs and more warm cider, laughing and clapping, or simply staring into the glowing coals. Everyone was having a great, relaxing time. Several people came over to thank Arborus. As the night wound down and people wandered off to bed, the fire was extinguished. Butterfly wanted to stay to help Arborus clean up but he gave her a hug and sent her on inside. Peter came back out of the house just as Arborus finished tying the last trash bag. He put a long arm across the young bot’s shoulders and gave him a hug.
“Arborus, that was the most fun we’ve all had in a long time. Thank you!”
“Thank you, Peter. I just wanted to share a bit of my home with my friends. It was a nice evening and everything went better than I could have ever hoped. Though I probably shouldn’t have sprung the fire permit on you like that.” He laughed nervously.
“Yeah, well…a little notice on that mighta been better.” Peter laughed. “But you did it up right. And I’ll bet you owe Cook big time!” He laughed even louder.
“Yeah… I sure do.”
Peter clapped him on the shoulder and thanked him again. He went back inside. Arborus stood for a while looking up at the stars, then with a huge contented sigh, he called to Cob and they headed home for the night.