Maryanne, the new girl at school was polite, kind, and pretty. She always did her homework, and she was respectful to the teacher and friendly to the students.
She did well in every subject, spelled like a dictionary, and could do math problems in her head just as quick as a wink! She knew all the games that the kids played at recess, and she often joined in.
Nobody really disliked Maryanne. But they couldn’t help feeling as if something were just a teeny bit off about her.
“Maybe she has super-strict parents,” Jennifer suggested to her friends during recess one day. “That could be why she’s so perfect and even a little bit strange.”
“I don’t know,” answered Eva, shaking her head. “From what I heard, Maryanne lives alone with her dad. He never comes to pick her up from school. If he was really strict, you’d think he would do that.”
“True,” agreed Brittany. “But there is something about her!”
Jennifer thought for a moment. Then her face lit up. “I have a great idea! I’ll have a sleepover at my house this Friday. I’ll invite you guys, and Maryanne can come, too. If we spend a lot of time with her, maybe we’ll figure out what’s going on.”
“Perfect!” cried Brittany.
“Let’s invite her now!” Eva added.
Jennifer laughed. “Just as soon as I ask my mom!”
The next day, when Jennifer and her friends invited Maryanne to the sleepover, Maryanne agreed right away.
“I would love to come,” she said, smiling her perfect smile. “You girls are too kind. I will look forward to it.”
“She even talks strangely,” Jennifer whispered as soon as she, Eva, and Brittany were far enough away from Maryanne.
“I know!” Brittany cried. “You girls are too kind. What kid says things like that?”
Eva jerked her thumb toward Maryanne. “That one.”
“Well, at least she’s nice,” Jennifer replied. “This will sure be one interesting sleepover!”
On Friday evening, Maryanne arrived at Jennifer’s house at seven o’clock on the dot. As always, her blonde hair was perfect, worn in two thick braids that never seemed to get messed-up. Her hair was so perfect, Jennifer thought it looked almost fake.
Maryanne wore her perfect smile, too, and a perfect set of unwrinkled clothes. “Good evening, Jennifer,” she said.
“Uh, hi,” Jennifer answered. She swung the door open wider. “Come on in.”
Brittany and Eva were already waiting in the kitchen. They called out their greetings to Maryanne. Jennifer’s mom came downstairs from her home office and greeted Maryanne, too.
“Who wants to make bagel pizzas?” she asked.
“Me!” cried Jennifer, Brittany, and Eva.
But Maryanne said, “Why should we make pizzas from bagels? I can make a Chicago-style pizza pie in no time. I am not hungry, but I would be happy to prepare one for you.”
Everyone watched in amazement as Maryanne flew around the kitchen, gathering ingredients and putting them together in record time. Before long, Jennifer’s house was filled with the delicious aroma of baking pizza.
Jennifer’s mom blinked. “Why, thank you, Maryanne.”
Jennifer glanced at her friends. No one said a thing. But Jennifer knew they were all wondering how any human being could work so fast.
After a tasty pizza dinner, Jennifer and her friends decided to do makeovers on each other.
“Come on, Maryanne!” said Jennifer. “We can play with my mom’s old makeup and do each other’s hair.” Jennifer was dying to style Maryanne’s perfect tresses.
“I do not care for makeup,” Maryanne said. Then she smiled pleasantly at Jennifer. “But you may style my hair.”
Maryanne had so much hair, it took all three of the other girls to work on it.
“You have perfect hair!” Brittany told Maryanne.
“It’s just like the hair on expensive dolls,” Eva put in. “I can’t imagine it ever getting dirty.”
Jennifer thought Maryanne’s hair felt like doll hair, too.
When the girls were done with their makeovers, they settled in to watch a couple of Halloween movies. Halloween was still a couple weeks away, but Jennifer and her friends enjoyed being creeped-out. As they watched, they ate ice cream sundaes, all except Maryanne, who said that she still wasn’t hungry.
Finally, it was time to settle down and go to sleep. Jennifer turned out the lights, and the girls whispered for a while. It had been a fun night, but Jennifer was dissatisfied, and she could tell Brittany and Eva were, too. They still had no idea what made Maryanne so strange!
In the middle of the night, Jennifer woke up to a loud scream. It was Brittany, who had nearly stumbled over Maryanne on her way to the bathroom.
“Look!” cried Brittany. “Look!”
Jennifer turned the lights back on. Then she and Eva stared in horror as Maryanne writhed on the floor, making strange glitching noises like a computer that wasn’t working properly!
“System overload. Restart immediately,” buzzed a flat, mechanical voice from somewhere inside Maryanne’s chest.
“She’s a robot!” screeched Jennifer.
“Oh, my gosh.” Eva melted to the floor in horror. “Oh, my gosh.”
Just then, the front doorbell rang. The girls looked at each other. Who could it be at this time of night?
Together, they went to answer it. A strange, hunchbacked man was standing there, holding a remote control in his claw-like hand. “I received the alert that my daughter must be restarted,” he said in a gravelly voice. “I have come to retrieve her.”
Jennifer stood back and watched, frozen with fear, as the weird man carried Maryanne away. It was now crystal-clear to her and her friends that Maryanne’s “father” was a mad scientist who had designed a very realistic robot daughter for himself.
The secret was finally out and somehow Jennifer thought it had been much, much better not to know.
Just for Fun Activity
You can have fun making these not-so-realistic looking robot treats! They make great (and yummy!) Halloween favors!
You will need:
• Box of your favorite candy
• Starbursts
• Other various candies
• Googly eyes
• Glue
Start with a miniature box of candy that you like, such as Junior Mints, Milk Duds, or Nerds.
Stand the box on one of its short ends so it is as tall as possible.
Use tacky glue to attach the bottom end of the box to two small, flat, wrapped candies, like Starbursts. These are the robot’s feet.
Use another candy (such as a Starburst, or, if you want a round head, a peanut butter cup or chocolate coin) to glue to the top of the box for a head.
Glue two googly eyes on the front of the head.
Glue an M&M or Skittle on each side of the box for arms, and one on top of the head for a little robot cap!
Make as many as you wish and have fun giving the robots to your friends! (Everything is edible but the M&M’s or Skittles, which shouldn’t be eaten because of the glue.)
The Transformation Tank