Jasper and Robot at the coffee shop.

Jasper sat at his small coffee shop table, watching Robot silently glide through the crowd of patrons and their robots huddled around their own small tables. She carried his drink in one hand, hers in the other.

She moved like a figure skater. Light sparkled from within the seams and crevices of her torso. The light that fell upon her sparkled on her neck and shoulder.

Jasper imagined himself gliding alongside, his arm around her waist, twitching in anticipation of the next moment when he launches her into the air. She spins like a gem mounted on weightless gimbals as he glides beneath her, protecting her from harm as she descends into his powerful embrace.

He looked away before she arrived at their table.

'I hope you like it,' she said as she sat.

‘Sorry I forgot my wallet,’ Jasper said without looking at her.

Robot said nothing. She slid his paper cup across the table. Jasper could smell the fruit-forward African roast.

‘So have you finished your travel plans?’ Jasper asked.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Where are you going again?’

‘Australia.’

Jasper turned his gaze from the window. He grabbed his drink, raised it to his lips, and watched Robot over the rim of the cup, seeking an expression he knew she'd never show. The fruit-forward African roast burnt his mouth.

'Dammit!' He blurted, touching his lip. ‘What if I met you there?’

Light emitting diodes silently flashed in a microsecond wave among the other patron robots. Jasper glanced around shop, mildly startled.

‘Australia is a robot destination, my love,’ Robot gently said.

‘Surely not the entire continent?’

‘Yes, love, the entire continent,’ she said.

She hadn't touched her coffee.

Jasper stared out out the window again. Two robots glided past, side by side. They made no sound or indication that they even acknowledged each other's existence. Do robots ever hold hands? Jasper wondered.

‘What do you mean?' he said, still staring at the couple. 'Like I’d have to be invited to the continent of Australia in order to travel there?’

He looked back at Robot. She opened her clutch, rummaged through it, and extracted a tiny jar of bright silicone lip oil.

‘You will not be invited,’ she said, too bluntly, Jasper thought, even for her.

‘What if I just went?' Jasper snapped. 'Just bought a plane ticket and went there? I don’t have to ask, you know. I’m a man. A free man.’

Diodes flashed in the shop again. Jasper glanced over his shoulder.

Robot perfectly dabbed the color on her lip. She did not use a mirror.

Jasper stared intently into her sensors.

‘Are you feeling ok?’ Jasper asked. 

‘I feel fine.’

He reached cross the table toward her arm, then retracted his hand. His fingers tapped on the table top. 

‘So, Robot, I was wondering,' Jasper said.

A clattering delivery truck squealed on the street, parked outside the coffee shop window. The robot driver thrust the ungreased door open, hopped out, and squeaked the door shut.

 'I was wondering if you’d like a name,’ Jasper repeated, louder.

‘I have a name,' she said. 'My name is Robot.’

‘Yes, but,' Jasper started.

The robot driver yanked the loading ramp from the truck bed a dropped it to the ground with a clang. 

'Yes, but do you think you’d feel differently if you had real name? Like Jane, for example?’ Jasper finished. 

 The robot driver wheeled a hand dolly up the ramp and Jasper heard shuffling and sliding cardboard boxes from within.

‘My name is real,' Robot said.  'Would you feel differently if I had a different name, like Jane?’

‘You wouldn’t feel differently,' Jasper pressed. 'About me?’

Robot gazed at Jasper. Perfectly still. Perfectly posed. Perfectly beautiful. The  driver outside rattled the hand dolly down the ramp. The rubber tires squeaked on the concrete. A box slipped from the stack, but the driver caught it with a powerful caliper.

‘My love,’ Robot said. ‘I could not feel differently. I could not love you more.’

Jasper turned away from her again. Out the window, robots everywhere. Robots with robots. Robots working for robots. Robots helping robots. 

He sighed. 

‘It's so hard to know with you,’ he said.