"He got up and adopted the posture of a robot. He was very good at his robot imitation and has been told as much many times. He entered her peripheral vision, walking and sounding like a robot — a robot, he decided, who had a slight limp. She had laughed at this before, and he thought she might laugh today.
“I feel like that’s what I did,” his mom said into the phone. “It’s that what I turned in?”
Finally she saw Max and forced a smile. He continued walking, turning his head to smile at her, pretending he was not noticing he was about to walk into the wall. Thunk. He hit the wall. “Ohhh noo,” he said in a voice half robot, half Eeyore. “Ohhh noo,” he groaned again, trying to walk through the wall, his robot arms rotating futilely.
She laughed, first silently, then out loud. She snorted. She had to cover the recivere to avoid being heard. “that’s okay,” she said, recovering. “No problem. I guess I just have to get started. I’ll have it to you in the morning. Thanks Candy. Sorry to call you at home. This’ll be the last time. See you tomorrow.”
She hung up the phone and looked over at Max.
“Come here,” she said.
He stepped over to her, his forehead at the level of hers. Quickly she took Max in her arms and squeezed him. It was so sudden, though, and the hug was so intense — her arms almost vibrating — that Max let out a gasp.
“Oh Max. You make me happy."