MILDRED’S STORY

                                                 by Patrick Breheny                pjbreheny@hotmail.com

     From the window, Mildred watched the activity around Mr. Lees’ drowned body, That didn’t surprise her, but she was startled to see Howie the robot come running, emitting black smoke from his head in the fashion of an old bus spewing diesel fumes from its tailpipe, then throw the chimney he’d become into the pool they just pulled Lee from..

     Howie had joined his robot twin Harry in self destruction, and she moved from the window. She turned on a soap opera without the sound, though could get some gist of the melodrama as she waited for someone to notify her.

     It was about thirty minutes before the manager Mr. Tom came up to knock on her door, and she was relieved it wasn’t any of the officials. She opened to his knock with the security chain on, and said “I know. I saw.”

     “Can I come in and speak to you?”

     “I’m distressed. Not up to company.”

     “Yes, two of them. I understand. But arrangements.”

      It took more than a bit of self control not to say, Just dump him in the garbage. She gentrified it enough to say, “Handle as you see fit.”

     “But you have to have some responsibility about that.”

     If she wanted this to go away without attracting too much attention to herself, she supposed she did. She unlatched the night chain and let Tom in.

     He was looking at the emergency number once left by robot Harry and still scrawled on the mirror. She wondered if he was thinking. was that a testimony to not too thorough room cleaning” Or maybe the cleaners thought they wanted it left up?. She and Howie hadn’t bothered to remove it. She thought he’d also be pondering, Did the phone drown too? She’d call later, and if it rang in the room, follow the sound. She was unemployed now.

      Tom said, “We’re thinking of some sort of ceremony. Of course no monks, he’s a robot. We can set a bonfire in the lot.”

     The referred to lot was a vacant piece of land next to the downscale Crown Hotel in Bangkok, scheduled for construction.

     “It won’t be a cremation, that’s a religious rite, but an…incineration. For your consolation. Our condolence to you”

      “That’s kind of you. I’ll try to muster the strength for it.”

     “There’s something else. He left a kind of will.”

     “A what? How did…? How can you know that?”

     “He left it with me.

     “Am I in this will?”

     “ I have to show it to a lawyer. Come to the burning, say a few words.”

     “You can’t tell me if I am in it?”

      “I don’t know if its legal. First the lawyer. For now, take part in the service.”

       “When will that be?”

       “They’re gathering the wood now.”

       “No, when the lawyer?”.

        “Tomorrow morning.”

        Mildred, Mr. Tom and the rest of the staff were present. Everybody wore black. Usually the attire at a cremation was white, but this was the immolation of a machine, be it one that had some sort of mind. Tom asked Mildred to eulogize. She paraphrased scripture to say, “Remember thing that thou art junk, and unto junk thou shalt return” .Even among those who spoke enough English, the scriptural irony was lost---they were Buddhists.

     They seemed satisfied she’d said something profound, however brief, whatever it meant. Tom poured lighter fluid on a rag, ignited it, then flung the rag over on the wreck that was already doused with gasoline. Howie’s chassis was steel beneath the fake skin, and his frame first expanded like he took a deep breath, glowed magnificent silver and red, he looked angry and vengeful and mighty, but as he continued burning he became a blackened pile of, well… the junk prophesized in the gospel of Mildred. Somebody poured water from a long hose extended from the hotel onto the smoldering mess, and it then stunk like a doused unemptied giant ashtray.

     They had a deep hole dug, pushed it in, and tamped the earth above firmly as if to insure a vampire or  mummy or at least the stench would stay down, though she knew it wouldn’t be long before that construction crew came to break ground, filling trucks with dirt and debris, to haul  off to a landfill or dump in the ocean.

     In the evening, the staff had a kind of vigil around the pool, drinking long into the night. Nobody was bothering to mention Howie or Mr. Lee, much less say nice things about them. There was a lot of speculation about the future of their jobs, so Mildred gathered Tom had not told them about any will.

     When most of the crew were intoxicated or asleep in those plastic cocoon chairs, Mildred saw Mr. Tom had retreated to the lobby. She followed, and he was about to comfortably recline on the sofa when she arrived. He ceased his descent when he saw her, left space for her to sit.

     “Mr. Tom, what is in that will?”

     “Tomorrow. I don’t know if it counts as good.”

      “Why not?”

      “Because, state of mind. He wrote it just before he committed suici…wrecked himself.”

      “What did he leave and to who?”

       “The lawyer first. If its real, we have some talking to do.”

       “If it’s real?. You said, if it’s good, now it’s if its real. Why might it not be real?

        “Because it’s written on a napkin   Tomorrow the lawyer. Then I’ll tell you.”

        “No, I’ll be with you.”

     There was an attorney specializing in all matters, with an office on Sukhumvit Road at Soi 25, a block away.

    Before they went upstairs, Mildred  said, “I’m about to find out, so what’s in the will?”

    “You’re a beneficiary.”

    “What did he leave?”

    “Control of the hotel to me and of the language school to you.”

      The receptionist greeted, then brought them to the executive office of Mr A to Z, who had an oaken varnished desk and wore a three piece pin stripe suit, for which in this tropical climate he kept the air conditioner set around freezing

    Mr. A to Z carefully examined the napkin. He read it three times, then said, “This is a holographic will, meaning one that is handwritten, and that has the greatest credence in courts everywhere because it expresses clear intent.”

     He seemed to detect their relief, but continued, “Now the not so good news.” To Tom he said, “You are clearly named as trustee and executor, with majority shares in the hotel, but,….” addressing her, ”ma’am, he names you as beneficiary at the school but only refers to you as Mildred with no last name.. If you were his wife or even consort, then he means you of course, but that has to be established. That’s the small issue. The big one is, he was a robot. He managed to take ownership of property, but can a robot bequeath anything? There are probably no statutes prohibiting such yet, but none allowing it either.”

     He then called Nok the receptionist and told her come in to make a copy of the will., Mr Tom  almost ripped the napkin in half pulling it out of A to Z’s hand.,

     “No copy. This is a consultation as I agreed to pay your for, like an estimate. I want to know what you’d charge.to represent us.”        

       Mildred said “At least let him make a copy for his records.”

       “He doesn’t need a record.”

       A to Z said, “I’m not sure I want you as a client.”

      “Up to you. Sounds like it could be a landmark ruling to me.”

       When they left, walking along the street, she said,

       “I can’t believe you’d be so rude to him. And how did you pay for that consultation?”

        “Hotel petty cash.”

        “Sending the money already? None or it’s yours yet.”

        .”When  the will is accepted, I want a share in the language school too.”

        “ In return for?”

        “For being the executor and trustee. But really, for vouching for you.”     

       “The records will show I lived with him.”

        “You were always an unnamed companion with a registered overnight guest.”

         “Every night.”

         “He paid by the day and there’s not even a computer. Only paper records show he ever stayed there, and I have those.”.

         “There are the staff as witnesses.”

         “Whose side do you suppose they’d take? I can be fair. You don’t have anything yet, and your rent for today’s not paid.  I can let you stay and eat in the restaurant while this plays out, but first I need a written agreement with you that I get half of what you get for my efforts.”

          “ How do you run the hotel while you’re waiting.”.

           “I’m the manager and we still have spending guests. And Mildred, for legal proceedings, they’ll want to know your full name.”

             “I’ll tell them when I have to.”

             “Why not now to me?”

             “Maybe I’m not too proud of what I had to do to survive here.”

             “Where are you from? How old are you?”

              “You ask a lot of questions I don’t care to answer.? How old are you?”

               “That’s neither here nor there.”

               “Where did you learn that?”

                “How to negotiate?”

                “No, to say ‘neither here nor there’. That’s New York talk.”

                 “An expression I heard on TV. You’re from New York?”

                  “No, I heard it on TV too. Old NYPD Blue segment.”

                  “Howie said you’re from Virginia.”

                   “Okay.”

                   “What state is Virginia in?”

                   “I don’t know offhand what state Virginia is in.”

                    “You don’t know because Virginia is a state.”        

                   “There’ s more than one Virginia.”

                  “On what planet, Mildred?”

                  “ It’s also…a town too…in Ireland. In county Meath.”

                   “You came up with that slowly, like you were looking on the internet..”

                    “I have a good memory. Liked geography.”

                    “But no place named Virginia is where you’re from.”

                     “I didn’t say I was. Howie did. Do you know anything about running a language school?”                    

                      “I don’t have to to own shares. You’ll have to go there and snow them for now. They still have paying customers too.”

                       “You can hold things down here.?”

                      “As long as necessary, then if it all works out, I plan to stop working. It’s no good, work, just makes people old and tired, and then they die. Now let’s go back to the hotel and draw up our contract.”

                      “A bluff if I ever heard one.”

                       “Where will you go today if I throw you out, Mildred?”

                        “You think nobody would take me in? Maybe right at the Crown Hotel.”

                        “I can burn those records””

                        “ What would you have to bargain with then? “                                               

                         “A to Z talked about, can a robot bequeath? Nothing about, can a robot inherit? I wouldn’t think so. So, are you, Mildred?”

                         “ I believe I’m human, but I don’t know if that’s a program. Like my whole life was imagined then implanted as a memory.”

                         “We could all think that. Howie looked human, but he was a machine inside.””

                           “ I’m definitely a woman inside. Maybe designed better than Howie. Perfect model.”

                           “You  age, but just a little. Gain and lose weight.””

                           “Isn’t that convincing?”

                           “It is.”                           

                          “We might have to make some arrangement, but not yet, not today. Can we stop somewhere to eat before we go back to the hotel?”

          “ Sure, let’s  get  some breakfast.”

           They stopped at Au Bon Pain, western style, bagels with cream cheese, coffees.

           “I’ve been so hard with you because after Howie, I don’t know what to trust. Can’t you tell me who you are? What you do remember?”

            “My memory begins around age seven. I was in a dark space. Not a womb, a car trunk as it turned out. I was with a French couple who said they smuggled me into Laos from northern Thailand. They man told me I was a hilltribe child they’d adopted. The woman later said  I was a robot. That was easier to accept because at least I wasn’t thrown away, but I kept growing so it didn’t make sense. They had me begging, but when they tried to rent me out for sex I ran away. A religious orphanage took me off the street, so I got some education, but when I became an adult I was still alone in the world. I snook back into Thailand. I have no name, no documents. I’m just Mildred, what that couple called me.

              “You sound like you believe what you say but you might be full of shit too.”

               “You use a lot of  those western phrases,’Full of shit’”

               “What I hear from the guests that stay at the hotel. I won’t throw you out today.”

                 Mr. A to Z wasn’t so deterred by Tom’s bad behavior that he’d actually turn down business. Tom made another appointment and they went back to see him.

       A to Z, asked Tom, “So I can copy and notarize this will?”

     “And I have an agreement with her that I want notarized too.”

      “Regarding, was the benefactor a person, I’m not planning to lose my license trying for a landmark. If you tell me Howie d’Bot was his name at the school and the hotel, that’s all I need to know, but my fee is higher when I have to forget details you already told me.”

        “You’re not the only lawyer in town”

        “I’m the only one who knows you’re inheriting from a robot. As for your problem of identity, Mildred, we’ll say no records exist because you’re a stateless person, and as such you recently got some legal rights and protections. Simply prove you lived long enough with  Mr d’Bot that he’d designate you an heir, and we’ll register this will and file it.”

       “I’ll sign an affidavit that she lived with him. I was the hotel manager”

        “This agreement you two have? She signed that as?”

         “Mildred J. Doe.”

       “The name we’ll use. We should have no problems unless somebody wants to makes some.”

     Despite what Mr. Tom had said about early retirement, when the will was settled he stayed active at the hotel as owner-manager and began upgrading the property. He advertised as trendy on the internet, added a disco and coffee bar, and changed the hotel name to The New Era . He was also converting the former “short time” rooms, that had been rented by the hour for sex, into temporary free overnight dwellings for impoverished people. Those rooms were at ground level because the hotel was also a motel, with parking spaces fronting them. The regular overnight and long stay rooms were upstairs.

     He was this day surveying the full length wall and ceiling mirrors in one of those downstairs rooms, thinking they were now inappropriate and should be removed. He had left the door open, and realized two people had arrived and were standing in the doorway. It took him a moment to recognize the woman as the widow of the former owner, Mr. Lee. He didn’t know the elderly man with her, but Mrs. Lee was in her sixties, so he didn’t think they had mistook that the New Era was still renting short time rooms.

     Mrs. Lee said, “I see you’re doing great things with my property.”

     Tom had to adjust to the surprise visit and challenge, but came up with,

     “That’s all been settled in court.”

      The man said, “The property was stolen from her husband by a robot con artist.”

     “The property was acquired by majority shares. There’s nothing illegal about that.”

     “There were bad things happening here. Drownings, Mr. Lee, the man named Ainsly, Howie d’Bot”

     “Those were determined accidents, and a suicide”

      “Very convenient demises.”

       “If you believe that, it might be a good reason to be careful.”

     “Is that a threat?”

      “No, you brought it up. And who are you?”

      “A friend. Also her lawyer.”

       “Her husband let go of controlling shares. You have no case.”

      “We have other remedies.”

       “Do you expect me to to start bargaining with you now?”

       “No, just start considering your own options.”

       “I am. Would you be interested in buying any mirrors?”

      They left. He didn’t dismiss them as flippantly as he’d pretended. .He couldn’t see how they could present a problem, but checked with A to Z, who didn’t think either that Mrs. Lee had any legal redress.

      Tom was enjoying his entrepreneurship, and continued with the project of refining and upgrading the New Era Hotel, while looking out for the less fortunate.

     Mildred was excited at taking over the school with Hank, the previous owner, majority shareholder and founder. Hank was still essential to the operation, and she let him share his office with her and keep his massive desk, so long as he took down the Chicago Sears Tower photo and replaced it with a ceramic emerald colored statue of an elephant ,to represent Thailand.

     Being bi-lingual, she was qualified, credentials or not, to teach beginning English classes that the native ESL teachers mostly couldn’t. She taught the lowest basic classes for free, because students at that stage, especially adults, had not had the benefits of education or income, and English competency was often an employment qualification even if never actually used.

     Despite her and Tom’s initial enmity, they found their shared ambition  a bond rather than a divider. Mr. Tom was living with Mildred, and they finally wiped that emergency number off the mirror. Wherever that phone was, maybe drowned with Howie, its monetary value was now insignificant to her. Robo-Mate kept sending her e-mails offering more assignments, she’d read and then delete them.

    Though he was bi-lingual and lived with the teacher, soon to be his fiancé, Mr. Tom took one of the classes she taught at the upper beginner level, the better to communicate with his increasingly upscale hotel clients  

     Just when things seem they can’t be so good, they can’t. That came in the form of a registered letter from A to Z, months after the will had been validated, regarding a matter so urgent he would only discuss it with them in his office.

     Back there again, A to Z laid it out. The A, the Administration, that had built and owned Harry and Howie, were interested in that landmark ruling of inheritance by robots that A to Z had ducked. Their opinion was that their AI property took control of the hotel and language school, so they were rightful heirs to the assets.

     And Robo Mate figured out why Mildred was no longer accepting work. They had a stipulation in her employment contract stating that any gifts given to a rented robot belonged to Robo Mate.

     Mrs. Lee had to be lurking behind all of this. .A to Z’s advice to Mildred was, “You are a stateless person, not a robot. You pretended to be a robot because that was the only work you could find.”

      “Maybe the truth.”

      “No maybe.. You are a stateless person. Say it. Act it. .Mean it. Be it. You both need allies. Keep doing good things. Give scholarships to the needy. As you gentrify the hotel, don’t just give free lodging to poor locals, hire some. .Get the best people to work for you, and pay them well.. Donate to charities, especially the religious ones. The A is smart but they’re engineers, too technocratic for such subtleties. Get public sympathy on your side, and the court will rule for you.”

       Tom asked, “What will we owe you?”

        “A percentage of your profits. That will be incentive for me to keep helping you. We’re a team.”                         

     Time passed, they married, Mildred became pregnant, and they went back to Tom’s home town for the birth.  Tom told everyone they left the child with the grandparents to care for, an arrangement that was common when people went to Bangkok to work and

send money home. More time passed, then the boy first arrived in Bangkok at seven years old, but after eighteen more months did not get any bigger. Everything had changed during that period, and quickly.  Robots were endemic. Laws had been passed prohibiting robotic procreation, and it was known there was an imperfection in even the most advanced models. They could age themselves, but their progeny would be born looking age seven and never look older. Some robots had been programmed with old ideas, to believe they had consciences and infused immortal souls, insidious and archaic fallacies. Everyone knew people had no souls. Concepts of altruism were a threat to the social order. because entities with those convictions could become leaders to other fools who would admire and follow them.

     The government didn’t think any age 7 by appearance boys came out of Mr. Tom, though they weren’t sure of that either. They locked him away where they could observe and determine if human or robot, and if the latter, could he reproduce without a womb.

     In Mildred’s cell, she was examined by numerous doctors, all of whom reported she was a human being. She said her son was just growing slowly. Not accepting that diagnosis, the authorities summoned The Inter Faith Leader Of All Previous and Present Nonexistent Religions, for a Testimonial.

      He spent a few days indulging himself with her, then stated, “She in all ways appears a female human. I could also detect in her an idealism and inspirational empathy from her own suffering that seemed genuine.”

     And this troubled him. People didn’t have souls, there was no accounting for deeds, no afterlife, but they were still accorded death rites traditional to their cultures, whether by cremation or burial. Robots who lived righteous lives were deemed to only be errantly programmed that way, with the delusion of a conscience, and therefore satanic. The idea that there was a ‘satanic’ or ‘diabolical’ concept presented a contradiction, in that the belief in Evil implied a belief in Good, not simply the mandated Doctrine of Is. Not accepting Is was bad, but not immoral or evil., because such phenomenon didn’t exist. That was one of the Unexplainable Truths. That there were Unexplainable Truths was itself The First Unexplainable Truth.

     His Extreme Holy Unholyness declared, “She is a robot in defiance of her own data, pandering as a moral human even as she has been a selfish obtainer. She is therefore a witch, and the old punishment for witches is still appropriate for modern times”

     Mildred protested, “Of course I’m not perfect. A perfect human being is imperfect.”

     The authorities concurred with His Unholiest.

     They burned her at the stake, on live international TV to set a proper example, and rid themselves of her, her admirers, her good deeds, and her vile imaginary immortal soul

      But the world was shocked at the emotion and obvious agony when the flames reached her, and she screamed again, “I am not a witch, I am human.”

     The Highest managed to audibly retort, “Extreme programming,”

     Modern TV conveyed perception of all the senses, and when it was over she didn’t smell charred as would be expected, but emitted a pleasant floral fragrance. Worldwide viewers could also feel a benign euphoric peace at the spot where she was. The Highest himself was so moved it was almost on his lips the utter, “It’s like she went to Heaven.”

     But he caught himself. He knew better than to disrupt stability. He instead ordered, “Get some lime quickly to banish this foul reek, then bury her a mile deep, under concrete and steel from where her cadaver and delusions can never again rise.”

     He intended to insure that such foolish thoughts as sin and redemption would stay buried for at least a while longer, and believed that no one much cared about such nonsense anymore anyway. Only a misprogrammed robot could behave as humans formerly did, and actual humans had become veritable robots, sublty guided by algorithms in their beliefs and opinions.     

      Except for Mildred. She could have recruited other moral witches.  Robot Howie’s evolved empathetic feelings of guilt and responsibility had destroyed him, and Mildred had those too, but her reaction was to embrace and adapt them. She could be selfish yet compassionate, look out for herself and still care for others.

       She only had one name, but he nevertheless knew who she was, what he had burned.

       She was the last human being. He hped she was.