When I walked into the library, I saw Joslynn bent over another peculiar book with another odd machine to her left. She didn’t notice my entrance until the library door shut with a grinding crash. She jumped and screamed at such an obnoxious noise piercing the silence she immersed herself in.
       “Gabe!” She shrieked as she slammed the book closed. Her body untangled itself from the blanket and chair as her grey eyes met mine.
       “Forgive me, Joslynn. I just wished to say ‘hello’.” I took off my hat and set it on a shelf along with my coat. Before I could finish this her arms were wrapping me in a hug.
       “I needed a visit from someone. I wanted to show you this!” She sounded just like an excited puppy when she had a new idea. But I always feared the depressed spiral that would follow when she considered her idea failed.
       “Let’s see then!” But yet again she was one step ahead of me. Dragging me to her large desk she flipped open the book. I admired the pages as they fell together with perfect finesse.
       She picked up the machine with such care and held it up so I could see.
       “It’s going to be a mechanical puppy. Since you’re allergic I wanted you to have one that wouldn’t almost kill you.” She giggled and smiled at me. She knew I was watching the machine keenly. With all its perfect cogs, bolts, and sheets of metal. It was the skeleton of a dog. Even the metal was bent. It had her mark and it was perfect.
       “Joslynn, my dear! I’m speechless! It’s perfect.” She set it down and enveloped me in yet another hug.
       “Thank you, Gabe! It means a lot to me that you stopped by. Say, how did you know I was here? No one knows I’m here.” Her ski slope nose crinkled as she tried to figure it out.
       “I had an employee show me up.” 






       Joslynn’s Book Store.
       Earlier that very week.


       I walked through the doors and sighed. I hated this and every part of it. With everything I am and have I hated that store. Two very bored employees stood at the desk with expressions that seemed to say watching paint dry would have been more fun.
       I walked to the back of the store and began to walk up the winding stairs. The smell of dust, old books, and traces of vanilla corrupted my sensory. I walked down a seemingly endless hallway. She must’ve wanted to drown me in the color brown. The walls were brown. So was the edging, the carpet, the curtains, and each and every single frame was brown.
       Just outside her door I shut my eyes and squared my shoulders as I mustered the strength to see Joslynn.
       “Don’t linger outside, big brother!” The door flung open and there was her cheery face there to greet me. Like absolutely nothing was wrong. “Come in!”
       I walked into the library and instantly became disgusted. All the dead machines that lingered within the books. All of which she never noticed. They were all books to her eyes. Just lessons to learn. She never questioned how such an innocent 16-year-old gained possession of a popular bookstore. She never questioned why mom and dad never seemed to be home. They were just working. Always working.

       I didn’t have the guts to tell her each and every day that our parents died in a fire. I am only a man. I couldn’t stomach it. The grief she endured that day broke her, quite literally. I wish you could’ve seen the difference. She was so happy and innocent. Now she drowns herself in lies and fake smiles.
Every day she would wake up and ask where mom and dad were. That first day I told her but she had no recollection and sank further into grief and despair.

I sat myself in a nasty old chair with cracked green upholstery. Even though it was absolutely disgusting to the eye I had fancied this chair for quite some time.
“How’s your project going, Jos?” I asked my little sister who stood there bent over the same dog skeleton.
“It’s going good, big brother! I want to make our parents proud when they come home.” She had such a sweet smile on but her dark brown eyes were glazed over. As if she were being pulled into some memory.
“Does it have a name yet?” I tried to be nice, I really did. She picked up a little black collar with a hammered sheet of metal that said ‘Roudy’. There was a little gear that clinked against the name tag.
“It’s Roudy! I named it what I hoped its personality will be.” She beamed down at her machine in progress.
“Tell me more about it.” I crossed my arms and got comfortable because I knew this was going to take a while.
“I thought you’d never ask!” She picked up a thick brown headband and placed it on her head. Small little wires connected it to earrings she put in.
“I use this headband to send wireless signals to the dog. Telling it just how to move and what to do. Just from the messages my brain sends off. It’s a whole new connection between man and animal. It’s a bond that god himself couldn’t create. Look here.” She placed a finger tenderly on the dog’s leg and within the minute the leg moved. I was in awe. Such a young and damaged girl created such an advanced machine.
“Brother, are you listening?” I looked up at her and beamed.
“Jos! It’s amazing!” A weight lifted off my chest. This felt like the first time in forever that I could be honest with her.
“Thank you, big brother. I’m so excited to complete this one! It’s my first effort on a machine ever!” She threw her arms around me and kissed my forehead.
“Of course, little sister.” I smiled at her as the weight regained its place on my chest. I wasn’t going to tell her the truth. That she’s delusional and our parents are dead. I can’t. It’d break my dear sister.