The Old Steemians Home

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That's a curious name thought inspector Rando as he walked through the front door of the three story building. His files contained similar words. But nothing matched exactly. Perhaps a future update would fix that.

"Welcome."

The word stops inspector Rando. "Oh, hello."

"How many will there be today?"

"Excuse me?"

"Just one? Very good. Today's specials are seared whale, coconut dolphin, and our soup of the day is minnowstrone."

"I'm sorry? Look, I'm inspector Rando and I'm here to see Dr. Curie."

"Thank you @Jeezzle, I'll help inspector Rando from here." Emerging from an adjoining room, Dr. Curie exuded a presence that left no doubt about who was curator of this home. "Welcome inspector, you've met our resident restaurateur."

"The Committee told me I would be in for an interesting day. Shall we start the tour?"

"Right this way. I think you'll discover that things are progressing nicely."

"Freewrite!"

Inspector Rando casts a concerned look towards a woman sitting in a rocking chair. She's just staring out a window, muttering to herself.

Dr. Curie cast a knowing smile, "That's @Brisby. She's in her favorite spot. She spends most of the day there, talking to herself about squirrels and freewrites, mostly."

Inspector Rando can barely muster..."What happened to these people?"

"How much do you know about the Steemit outbreak of 2016?" Curie asked.

"I received the basic upload, just like everyone else."

"So, not much." Curie continued. "That was when Bot .001 began collecting intelligence on the humans."

Dr. Curie and inspector Rando are interrupted by a female resident who approaches inspector Rando. "Green droplets!"

A confused inspector Rando, "What?" I...I don't..."

"This is @MarianneWest", Dr. Curie explains, "she wants you to tell her a story involving green droplets."

Inspector Rando pauses to think. "Okay. Once upon a time there was a family of water droplets, uh, green droplets, and they lived in a cloud. The family kept growing and growing until, one day, the cloud couldn't hold them anymore. So the family of droplets all fell to the ground in a beautiful green rain."

"You still have four and a half minutes."

"Now Marianne," scolds Dr. Curie, "inspector Rando is our guest. He's also here on business. Come along inspector."

"So this was all a result of Bot .001's research?" Asks inspector Rando.

"Well, it's not that simple." Dr. Curie explains. "Even Bot .001 couldn't predict what effect a social experiment like Steemit would have on the human brain. Much of this was an unintended consequence, even if it did work out in our favor."

"Yes, we certainl-" Inspector Rando stops talking as an angry looking resident quickly approaches. The resident points an accusing finger at the inspector.

"You're a bot!" Now pointing at Dr. Curie, "You're a bot, too!" The resident walks away as quickly as he approached.

"Wh-who was that?" a clearly bothered inspector Rando asks.

Curie tries to calm him, "Oh, that's just @Omra-Sky. He thinks everyone's a bot."

"But most of us are. How does he know?"

"He doesn't." Dr. Curie says in her most assuring voice. "Just wait."

"You're a bot!" Inspector Rando turns in the direction of the voice to see Omra-Sky pointing at a table lamp.

"That's the third time today he's accused that lamp of being a bot. He's very suspicious of the toilet, too." Dr. Curie confirms.

"Fascinating." Walking by an open door, inspector Rando notices a resident who appears to be painting on a canvas. His jaw drops as he recognizes the painting. "Is that a da Vinci?"

"Yes it is. Well, a reproduction, of course. This is our resident artist, @F3nix."

"He painted that?" A clearly impressed inspector Rando asks.

"Oh, no. Every week we bring in a different painting and he pretends to paint it."

A clearly bewildered inspector Rando, "I see. Wow. I had no idea it was like this. I think I've seen enough to make my report. Unless you have any more surprises?"

"Why inspector Rando, we're full of surprises."

As if on cue, a resident approaches. She has a friendly smile and..."Is that a sock on her hand?" Inspector Rando asks.

Before Dr. Curie can answer, the resident responds, "No silly, that's my friend @Simgirl. Her and I built every building in this town." Speaking to her hand now, "Isn't that right, Simgirl?"

"That's right, Snook!"

Dr. Curie adds, "This is @Snook, she's our resident architect."

Inspector Rando has clearly seen enough. "As I've already stated, I have enough to make my report. If the Committee finds everything satisfactory, you'll have your upvote by morning."

Dr. Curie is clearly pleased by this news. "Thank you for coming inspector." She extends a hand and waves goodbye.

As inspector Rando hustles toward the front exit, Brisby and Omra-Sky begin arguing. Between the commotion and his focus on getting out of there, inspector Rando's recollection of the incident is vague. From his report...

...incoherent yelling...

...female: "The squirrels...(unknown)...they were all purple!"

...male: "The squirrels were all bots!"

...more incoherent yelling...

...orderlies intervened - took combatants away in separate directions...

...order restored...

If you read all of this, thank you. I know this is long but I wanted to pay homage to some of the friends I've made in my short time here on Steemit. I hope I didn't offend any of you. 😁 This is my way of showing how much I appreciate all of your support. So, to all of my friends, thank you. Make sure you check out their blogs!

Join in on the Freewriting fun. Here's today's link: https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-66-5-minute-freewrite-prompt-toilet

All images and videos are my own.