Kessie's Short Stories

[Astro Boy] Cobalt's Carol

Originally published 12/25/2015

He had already been told to shut up once today. Whether or not he had actually heard that plea was up for debate.

"I'm going caroling this year." Cobalt proclaimed to the only sibling around at the time, Uran.

"No, you're not." she replied in a blunt tone, emphasizing her point by signing the word 'no' with her fingers.

"Yes, I am." Cobalt rebutted, signing the word 'yes' eagerly as if it were more of a nervous twitch. "I'm going to go caroling around the city and you can't stop me."

"Cobalt, you can't even sing..."

"I can too!" he argued before belting out in song- "Let it GOOO, let it GOOO! Can't HOLD it BACK any moooOOOooore!!"

Feeling rather proud of himself, Cobalt looked over at his sister for her approval but found none. She stared back at him with a blank look and a stubborn demeanor.

"I forgot you didn't like that movie..." he then said, "So I'll sing a different one!"

"No." Uran told him with a small shake of her head. "You're not doing that."

"OH, the WEAther outside is FRIghtFul, and URan is so DElightFul-" Cobalt started to belt out as he walked away from his sister, "But SINCE I have no PLACE to GO; I'mma GO, I'mma GO, I'mma GO!!"

. . .

Perhaps putting on enough layers that he couldn't bend his arms wasn't such a good idea when all said and done. Now Cobalt was faced with a dilemma where he couldn't even pretend to use sign language if he wanted to. It didn't particularly matter though- as long as his voice could travel, others could still hear him and it would all be good. As long as he could hear himself, then it should have been good. Hopefully. Maybe. Just a little...

Cobalt had found a spot by the large tree in the city park that had been decorated for the holiday season to belt out the lyrics he could easily remember. No one paid him much mind, but he didn't care- he was having fun singing songs that told of the season while standing under that city decorated Christmas tree. The humans and robots that walked past him either stopped to stare, or just kept on going about their business as if he wasn't even there. Eventually, Cobalt started to become tired of singing the same song over and over again and slowly stopped singing. The android looked around and observed for a moment as the world went on without so much noticing him- then he wished that someone had scheduled a flash mob for that day, that would have been fun to see.

Cobalt then had an idea, and got out his cellphone to call a friend. It took about five rings before his friend answered the phone.

"Hey Ryoko! I want you to bring your guitar and tambourine to the park ASAP!" Cobalt told his friend over the line. She gave her reply slowly and carefully.

"How soon can you get here?" Cobalt then asked. The answer he received made him smile with satisfaction. "Great! I'll see you soon!"

Ending the call, Cobalt then waited a few minutes as he waited for his friend to come. Ryoko was a human girl that Cobalt had meet by accident a few years back- she had a cute little button nose, curious dark brown eyes, and her light brown hair was pulled into two carefully placed pigtails. Currently, she was nearly seven, and she didn't really talk much- but she was in great company with Cobalt and the two would find ways to get together no matter what they were doing. Cobalt saw her coming toward him and waved her over, shouting her name to get her attention. The young girl walked over to him carrying the instruments he had requested and handed the tambourine to him before taking sitting down next to him to tune the guitar.

"Ready?" Cobalt excitedly asked her after watching her tune the guitar for a few moments. It took a few more seconds before she turned to look at him to nod in confirmation that she was ready.

"Then start playing!" Cobalt declared, to which Ryoko did as she was told and started to strum the guitar to a tune that they were both familiar with.

"ALL the LEAVES are BROWN!" Cobalt then started to sing.

"All the leaves are brown..." Ryoko quietly sang along as backup.

"AND the SKY is GREY!!!"

"And the sky is gre-AY...!"

"I've been for a WALK, ON a WINTER'S day!"

"On a winter's day..."

"I'D be SAFE and WA-ARM! IF I was IN L.A.!"

"If I was in L.A...."

"California DREAMING!"

"California dreaming..."

"On SUCH a WINTER'S daaaaay!!"

Say what you wanted about how Cobalt sang earlier, this time around it came out a lot better. Maybe it was because he had a backup singer, or it was because here were instruments to drown out his bad singing. Regardless, folks actually started to pay attention to the singing now, some even felt obligated to throw a few coins their way. The money didn't matter to Cobalt (who had no idea how the use the money) or Ryoko (who had no use for money yet), so they later donated the money to a charity. They ended up earning roughly ten different currencies to give, and it seemed to be such a good amount that the two spent the rest of the day going around and singing whatever they wanted.

No matter what Uran said, there was always at least one person that enjoyed hearing Cobalt sing with Ryoko by his side.