Rare flower,
Happiest Birthday to you.
I know it will be a busy night for you with the party. But I was hoping you could spare me five minutes of your time. I want to give you something. More importantly, I want to tell you something. I think there's something wrong with me. Would you please come to our favorite hangout at 7:30? I will be there waiting.
Yours,
AOE
*******
I almost jumped when my grandfather appeared from nowhere.
"Hey, take it easy. You looked like you'd seen a ghost. I may be eighty-four, but I'm still alive", my grandfather said, chuckling.
"No, I was just a bit startled, that's all," I told Grandpa and hugged him.
He sat on the rocking chair by the window --his favorite spot. He loved staring at the big acacia tree. Sometimes, I would even catch him smiling and tearing up, but I never discussed it.
"What's that you're reading, anyhow?" Grandpa eyed the letter I had in my hand.
"An old letter, I guess. From someone with the initials AOE", I told Grandpa.
"What? Where? Where did you find that?" Grandpa suddenly stopped rocking his chair.
"Back of the drawer when I pulled it all the way. There..." I pointed at the old chest of drawers.
"Can I see?" Granda pleaded.
Grandpa scanned the letter. Tears began falling from his eyes and then into a quiet painful sob.
"Grandpa, what's wrong?" I felt his slight tremor as I embraced him tightly.
As I slowly pulled away, he began to speak. "This letter, it was for me, written seventy-three years ago," he said almost to himself. He then walked towards the window, towards the site of the acacia tree. He clutched the letter on his chest and smiled.
****
It was March 21, 2016 -- I had just turned eleven. I was upset the entire day because my father, the leading expert in robotics and artificial intelligence with a photographic memory, seemed to have forgotten about my Birthday.
When I heard the familiar sound of the car entering the garage, I immediately marched into my room and locked the door behind me.
Then there was a knock.
"Go away, Dad. I have something very urgent and important to do. I was hoping not to be disturbed", I said in disgust.
"You're not serious, eh, Cereus? Wow, that's a good rhyme" I heard a good laugh behind the door. "Son, open the door this instance. I have a marvelous surprise for you. A birthday gift, if I may add", my father persuaded.
I got inquisitive, so I stood up and cautiously opened the door. A small crack at first, "What is it? Come on, tell me." I demanded.
" You won't be able to see from this itsy-bitsy opening," my dad jested.
"Ok...ok..." I opened my door completely.
And there it was—a fine young man dressed smartly.
"Go ahead, Andrew, introduce yourself," Dad urged excitedly.
"Hello, master Cereus. My name is Andrew O. Eid, and I am at your service. I'm a hybrid humanoid robot, version 3.16. I have a 777-core processor with 16 petabytes of RAM and 3 exabytes of storage capacity. I've already stored 39 human memories and continue to learn. Considering my hardware, I have a life expectancy of 300 years", the young man said.
