Shovels at Dawn

Amelie is outdoors on a cold, cold night. They find their mind starts to wander while she works.The sneering face is accompanied by chipmunky giggles and speckles of green glitter tease at the maid-bots peripheral vision.

"Amelie," the wind whispers. A snowdrift overcomes the robo-maid.

Amelie continues to shovel despite the gust undermining the past hour and a half of effort.

Then the wind stops, as does the robot. They look at their shovel. On its head is a strange box twinkling with green glitter.

WHAT HO IS THIS? IDENTIFYING

It is a roll of analogue film that just happens to be compatible with Amelie’s built-in camera, which they haven’t been using since everything is digital…!

It’s the sort of discovery that makes her think…

WHAT WOULD I DO,
IF NOT . . . ?

. . . THIS

The borrowed snow boots are tight on Gertrude’s feet. The air is cold and the snow is wet. A part of her regrets saying anything to Amelie. She could still be inside, in the (relative) comfort of the laundry room where she’s been sleeping for several months now. But she knew it was the right thing to to do to come out and help Amelie. Uncomfortable, but right.

She digs her shovel into the nearest snow bank, grunting with effort. It’s heavier than she had thought. Her arm muscles strain, and she quickly begins to sweat despite the chilly environs. This isn’t going to be easy. But nothing in her life has been. She feels like she’s been dragged along by others during her time here at the B&B. So she wonders...

Have I been pulling my own weight?Gertrude looks back to Amelie, who is looking at a roll of film. "Oh, cool. I didn’t know you were into photography, Amelie," she says, in an effort to break the (metaphorical) ice.

"Photography has always been in me," Amelie replies, demonstrating how literal this response is by carefully inserting the roll into their forehead. "I just never had any film.

"Maybe it was supposed to come with me and The Amazon Delivery Personnel dropped it off." There is something beautiful about Gertrude coming out to help, so Amelie asks, "Do you object to me taking a picture of you when you shovel your first scoop. I remember you promised to help me one day… I didn’t think it would be on such a cold night and…"

They feel…"…I’m touched. I would like this to be my first photo, but only if you permit me to capture the moment."

Gertrude flushes under her mask. A photo? She hadn't had her picture taken once since she ran away to the Bed & Breakfast. Truth be told, she isn't at all comfortable with how she looks at the moment. Her hair too stringy. Her shoulders too broad. Too much weight on her frame.

But she can tell that this means a lot to Amelie. The robot's current demeanor is a far cry from how they acted when Gertrude first arrived. She doesn't want to disappoint her friend. "O-okay," Gertrude says. She grunts as she drives her shovel back into the snow, lifting up a large chunk of it. She then turns towards Amelie and poses awkwardly. "Like this?" she asks.

Amelie takes the picture of Gertrude’s pose. Sure it’s a little contrived, but it seemed more important to get permission than to take a candid shot. And given Amelie’s sharp sensors and lightning reflexes, it would have been easy to snap a shot of that doe that leapt out behind Gertrude… but Amelie centered the shot on her, as promised.

"Alright," Gertrude sighs, tossing aside the snow in her shovel. "Let's get to work." She diligently begins to dig and toss, dig and toss, slowly but steadily beginning to clear a path towards the propane tanks. It is exhausting work, but Gertrude seems determined to get it done. Her muscles strain in protest, and sweat drips down her back.

After some time, she takes a break, leaning heavily on her shovel. She is huffing and puffing, her mask hiding the discomfort on her face. "Oof. This is harder than it looks," she pants. "I think I should sit down for a bit."

---

Amelie says to Gertrude, "Rest is important. So is teamwork. If we each work on the same section until it is done, starting another path will not feel intimidating."

SUPPORTING STATISTICAL EVIDENCE:
❄️ 54.8% OF NEW ENGLAND SHOVELERS SAY TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
❄️ 37.5% OF NEW ENGLAND SHOVELERS PREFER TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER
☀️ 6.4% OF NEW ENGLAND SHOVELERS MOVE TO FLORIDA FOR THE WINTER AND SAY ‘IT WILL MELT BY THE TIME I RETURN.’

Rather than info-dump on Gertrude, Amelie follows the advice of slightly more than half of humans who respond to polls, and helps Gertrude finish the area. With the two working the same path, it is indeed rewarding to see their efforts pay-off one-third of the way into the job.

Working together steadily, Amelie and Gertrude clear the path to the propane tanks. No sooner have they finished the task than the first rays of dawn peek over the horizon. The light gleams off a few icicles hanging from the tanks. One particularly large icicle is perfectly positioned, and as the light shines through it, it creates a prismatic spread of rainbow colors on the snowy ground.

"Wow. Now, that’s a pretty picture," Gertrude says, leaning on her shovel as she stops to stare at the dazzling display.

---

Little does Amelie know, the human eye cannot see the pink and purple swirls of aurora borealis. "Ah, yes. The icicle creates a sharp contrast with that cloudless patch of sky. An excellent suggestion for a photo!"

Amelie captures the image mere seconds before the icicle falls off of the roof.

"Oh my. How piteous." Little does Amelie know, their Kung-Fu Mode toggles off while Camera Mode is active. And this only matters now because snow is sliding off the roof of the B&B!!!

"Ermph?" is the sound coming from a very large mound of snow that has buried the robo-maid, who is now lying flat of their back. "Erttle hrmp?"

Gertrude chuckles at Amelie's antics. She digs the robotic maid out of the snow pile, grabbing their arm and hauling them free. "Come on, let's keep going. How about we clear the path to the mailbox next?"

Gertrude sticks her shovel into the snow again as she gets to work, putting her back into it. She hums a little tune to herself to help make the work go faster.

---

Amelie wants to thank Gertrude before getting back to work, but there is too much snow in the maid-bot’s mouth. To spit it out would be rude. To talk with one’s mouth full is rude. What to do?

Gertrude chuckles, then she stoops down and writes her own message. "Gertrude + Amelie = Friends."

She then has a bout of inspiration strike her, and she spends several minutes adding a rather detailed image of a masked girl in a parka holding hands with a robot dressed like a maid. The maid holds a flower with a heart as the bulb! Several creative liberties with the design have been taken, but the result is quite nice, especially since she did it all with just a finger!

Amelie is touched by Gertrude’s drawing. "Although your written statement is undeniably factual, I am touched."

⚠️WARNING:
• 0% PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH LIFE FORM
• SENSORY INDICATORS ON HULL FULLY FUNCTIONAL
• SEARCHING FOR LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS…

1 FOUND:
AMEL-2900 ≠ TOUCHED

"Let us take a selfie, Gertrude. I know it is called self-ie, yet I do not wish to take my first selfie alone."

AMEL-2900 ≠ TOUCHED
AMEL-2900 ≠ TOUCHED
AMEL-2900 ≠ TOUCHED
≠ TOUCHED ≠ TOUCHED
≠ TOUCHED

Amelie uses her selfie extension. She strikes a pose.

≠🫵’D!

Gertrude poses beside Amelie, her mask hiding her own smile. Once the flash goes off, they go back to shoveling the snow. Soon enough, the path to the mailbox is clear. As they do so, dawn's light hits the ice and throws rainbows all over the yard. It's like the icicle from before, but multiplied by a thousandfold.

"Whoa," Gertrude breathes.

---

There is silence for a time as the masked girl and the robot stare at the rainbows. That silence is broken by a heavy thud as a snowball thumps against Amelie's chassis. Gertrude chuckles. "Ever been in a snowball fight before, Amelie? Hit me if you can!" She ducks and dodges as she works to pack another frozen projectile to throw!

Amelie snaps a picture of Gertrude making the pitch… and PAF! It’s a hit.

"You will pay dearly!"

⚠️DO NO HARM: HUMAN TARGET IS FRAGILEAmelie makes sure their snowball misses. Two more miss, albeit narrowly. Sensors predict Gertrude’s dodges within a ±6.23mm margin of error. The maid-bot throws the snowballs extra fast to ensure Gertrude won’t dodge into them.

"Shucks, I have missed by six and a quarter millimeters, rounding to the nearest decamicron. You win. Flawless victory!"

Amelie tosses a very large snowball into the air, another and another—then whips tiny crushed ice-balls at bullet-speed! The tiny ice-balls strike each large snowball—they burst like a fireworks display, aligned just right to form a glittery rainbow as flakes descend through the red-gold rays of the rising sun!

"Yes! I am the champion!" Gertrude laughs, pumping her fist. The early morning cold is all but forgotten as she revels in her victory. She turns to regard Amelie.

"I’ve had a lot of fun with you this morning, Amelie. Your personality has really begun to shine through lately. You’ve been caring and considerate, and you’ve stopped taking yourself so seriously. You’re really coming into your own.""You know, I think you’re more than just your programming," Gertrude continues. "You were created to be a maid, but you’re so much more than that. You can really do anything you want to do. Whatever makes you happy, y’know?" Behind her mask, she blushes and looks down at her boots. "But, uh, I don’t want to come off as presumptuous or anything."

Amelie is stunned by the compliment.

It is touching because it is true. (Amelie’s CPU does not shout her down about being touched.)

"Why thank you, Gertrude. You have taught me, one multiple occasions, the error of ‘all work and no play.’ Even now, one might argue that the two of us are not operating at maximum efficiency. Yet, we are more efficient than one working alone, and simultaneously, I am having much fun that would have been unachievable, if alone."

They download a new skill, but not one related to efficient shoveling…As Amelie starts shoveling the sloped driveway, they use their shovel to roll a large snowball that serves as a snowbot base. The base is patted with the shovel to look more cube-shaped, then Amelie continues to shovel to make the torso snowball.

"Gertude, this is F-R-zero-five-T-Y the Snowbot, or will be. Perhaps you can build a snowwoman to be their friend."

Gertrude obliges, stacking the snow with her shovel until the snowbot has a friend at their side. She smiles, then turns to the last bit of snow remaining blocking the path to the driveway. "Alright. Let's finish this."

Putting her back into it, Gertrude almost finishes clearing the way. But she has been working all morning, and fatigue is starting to settle in. She stops just short of completing the task, breathing heavily and leaning on the shovel. She huffs and puffs and turns to Amelie. "Sorry. I thought I could do it... You're able to do so much. Have I... Have I been pulling my own weight, Amelie?" she asks

Amelie finishes the job, and clears off the furniture on the front porch so Gertrude can sit down.

"You do that and more, Gertrude. You offer to help others when their weight is perhaps too much to bear, and you are simply a pleasure to be around because you’re a good friend, and a thoughtful person.

"Your very presence makes the load lighter." Looking at the neat paths, and the snowwoman and the snowbot side-by-side, Amelie extends a hand toward the scene as if it is supporting evidence. "Look what we accomplished together, and we finished the job approximately seventeen minutes ahead of schedule.

"That’s two minutes more than the bare-minimum for a hot chocolate break. Shall we?"

Gertrude takes Amelie's words to heart as she looks at the trio of clear pathways. She lets out a long, contented sigh. "Yeah. We did a good job. Let's go get that chocolate."

She turns to head back inside the Bed & Breakfast, but she is surprised to see Yazeba standing on the front porch! Wrapped in a warm, fuzzy bathrobe and holding a steaming mug of hot chocolate, the witch peers across the icy yard. At length, she nods. "Hmm. Not bad," the witch says.

Gertrude feels her heart skip a beat. Is the crotchety witch actually acknowledging her efforts?

Seeing Gertrude's surprise even through her mask, Yazeba smirks and crooks a finger. "Come. I've something to show you."

---

The empty room was finely appointed in pastels and earth tones, with a warm wooden floor and a bed piled high with soft fabric and throw pillows, no two the same. It had a wardrobe and a vanity (though the mirror was missing?), but the most arresting furnishing by far was the polished floor-to-ceiling bookcase, carved with a vine and leaf pattern that bore engraved masks like fruit. There were no books on its shelves… yet.

"Wow," Gertrude breathes. "I've never seen this room before. Whose is it?"

"It's yours," Yazeba says.

"M-mine?" Gertrude gasps.

"A step up from the laundry room, I would say," Yazeba replies. "You've proven yourself worthy of more permanent accommodations. Keep up the good work."

And with that, the witch departs, leaving Gertrude to stare after her in wonder...

---

And that is the story of how Amelie began to become more than their programming, and of how Gertrude earned her place at the B&B!