Mateo wasn’t scared of the dark when he went to bed, because he knew that his house was as safe as a fortress, and that his mummy and daddy were either downstairs watching television or somewhere nearby.
Not to mention, his covers were warm like a shield, and there was a little light on in the corner that was protecting him when he closed his eyes. There was nothing to worry about, and normally he slept very deeply and had wonderful dreams.
But one night he couldn’t fall asleep. He knew this was nothing to worry about, and he’d fall asleep eventually, but it got later and later, and his heard mummy and daddy brush their teeth in their bathroom, and then he heard them softly close the door to their room and turn off their light.
And then he heard Daddy snore!
But still he couldn’t sleep.
And then he heard a noise. It wasn’t a scary noise, but it was a curious noise. Mateo knew that Mummy and Daddy were asleep, and Grannie hadn’t come to visit, and no friends were sleeping over, and the goldfish was in its tank sleeping it in its little house by the rock, so what could it be?
Very bravely, Mateo got out of bed, and wrapped the covers around him like a shield, and opened his bedroom door. He listened…
There was the noise again. It was coming from the spare room. It sounded as if someone was moving things around, but very quietly. Was it a mouse?
Mateo quickly opened the door to the spare room and flicked on the light.
It was nothing scary, but it was something very unusual.
There, standing by the waste paper basket with a ball of screwed up paper in one metal claw, was a small, square robot.
It stared at Mateo absolutely terrified.
Mateo stared back at it, absolutely mystified! It had three wheels at the bottom, and a round little body, and two arms with pincers on the ends, and a head like a shoebox with big eyes like avocados.
Mateo was about to call for Mummy, but the tiny robot put its finger to its mouth, and looked at Mateo desperately.
“Please don’t,” said the robot. “They’ll throw me away this time.”
“Who’ll throw you away?” said Mateo.
“The grown ups. The last time they got tired of me, they threw me up into the attic, and this time they’ll throw me away for sure.”
“Who threw you up into the attic? When?” said Mateo.
“Twelve years ago,” said the Robot. “So I hide up there, but sometimes I like to come down and work and, oh…” He burst into tears.
“Twelve years ago?” said Mateo. “But we’ve only lived here for six years, because I’m four and mummy and daddy moved here two years before I was born. So four and two is six. We’ve lived here six years.”
The robot just hung its head.
“I know!” said Mateo. “The people who lived here BEFORE us put you up there, WE would never do such a thing. My Mummy and Daddy are nice.”
“You won’t tell them that I’m here, all the same?” said the robot. And Mateo saw that it was trembling.
“What is your name?” asked Mateo.
“Why?” said the robot.
“Because how else am I supposed to call you?” said Mateo.
The little robot thought. “My name is Yugi,” it said.
“And so you come down out of the loft,” thought Mateo. “And work all night? What do you work at?”
“I’m a cleaning robot,” said Yugi. “I clean everything up. But then I put everything back the way it was before morning, because otherwise the grown ups would know I was here.”
Mateo thought about this, and it made him very sad. Here was a kind little robot, that nobody loved, but who came down every night to clean up because he was a cleaning robot, and then had to untidy everything again just so he wouldn’t be found. Found by people who didn’t even live here anymore. It was tragic.
“Come with me, Yugi,” said Mateo.
“W-where?” said the little robot.
“I have to show you something.”
Mateo and Yugi entered his bedroom. There was lots and lots of toys, and Mateo sat down next to a toy crane.
“Here,” he said, beckoning Yugi over. “Join me here! Let’s play!”
“What’s play?” asked Yugi.
“Well, it’s when you… when you make things and make things happen,” said Mateo.
“Oh I see! Right away!” said Yugi and sped over and began putting all the little toys into a storage box.
“No it doesn’t mean tidy them away,” laughed Mateo. “You don’t always have to tidy, you can have fun!”
Yugi watched Mateo loading some bricks into the crane and raising the bucket up, and then joined in.
They had fun! Yugi had never played before, and he was as happy as he’d ever been.
Mateo didn’t remember going to bed that night, but he must of done because he woke up in the morning under the covers, with mummy in the bedroom.
“Oh look at this mess, Mateo! There are toys everywhere! When will you learn to tidy up?”
Upstairs in the loft, Yugi was hiding, and listening. Mateo’s mummy was angry. They’d made a mess, and it was all his fault.
He decided he’d never come out of the loft again. He only caused trouble, and now he’d got Mateo in trouble. He’d stay up here for ever and ever.
The next few nights, Mateo listened out for Yugi but didn’t hear a sound. After three nights of waiting, one sunny morning he pulled down the ladder to the attic and climbed up. He’d never been up here by himself, only with Daddy a long time ago when he was a baby. It smelt funny was a bit spooky.
But Mateo was brave, and flicked on the switch to light the only bare bulb in the whole space.
And there was Yugi, sat in the corner, crying.
Mateo went and sat next to him, and told him that because they were friends, if Yugi wasn’t going to come down out of the attic, then neither was he.
Downstairs, mummy and daddy were making lunch.
“Mateo! Come down, please!” mummy yelled.
But there was no reply.
“I’ll go and find him,” sighed Daddy.
But when Daddy got to the top of the stairs and said “Mateo! Lunch!” there was no reply.
Daddy checked Mateo’s bedroom. He checked the bathroom. He checked in the shower! He checked under his and mummy’s bed. But Mateo was nowhere to be found.
And then, he spotted the hatch to the attic was slightly open. He pulled down the ladder, climbed up, and saw that the light was on.
And there, in the corner, cuddling a very scared little robot, was Mateo.
“What are you doing up here, and who is —“ Mateo’s daddy's voice faded out. He stared around the loft. And he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The old tools and paintings, the Christmas decorations, the old suitcases, they were all tidy, clean and perfect.
Mateo’s daddy walked around slowly, in a daze. Somebody must have spent days and days sorting out all their old clutter. It was in neat rows, and perfect piles, better than the nicest shop in the world.
“W-w-who did all this…” stammered Mateo’s daddy.
Mateo stood up. “Dad. This is Yugi. He cleans things and he’s my friend.”
Daddy walked over to Yugi, who trembled whenever he even thought of a grown up because grown ups had always been so mean to him.
Daddy smiles warmly, and held out his hand. “Hello, Yugi,” said Daddy. “I’m Colin. Thank you for all your hard work. Would you like some lunch?”
From that day forward, Yugi was a member of Mateo’s family. He ate dinner with them, he went to Peacock Park with them, and he even had his own little bed in Mateo’s room.
But sometimes, if Mateo woke up in the night, he could hear Yugi doing what Yugi liked doing best. Tidying up. But now, now he didn’t have to live in secret anymore, so when he tidied up, he didn’t have to mess things up again.
He was the happiest robot in the world, in the tidiest house in town.
