Shared Sorrow

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Shared Sorrow

Dr. O'Shay had just finished his dinner, when the doorbell rang. “Any of you kids expecting any friends over?” he yelled.

“Īe!” Cobalt and Uran replied from the other side of the house. Astro, who was in eyesight of the professor simply shook his head no.

“I wonder who could be calling at this hour?” O'Shay muttered as he walked toward the front door and opened it. Standing there was police inspector Tawashi, and an an attractive woman about a head shorter than him.

“Good evening, Hakase,” the inspector said. “Sorry to disturb you at this hour, but it was unavoidable. Tenma Sensei is scheduled to be released from the mental institute where he has been incarcerated for the past decade, and protocol requires that you and Astro be notified within 48 hours of the fact.” Tawashi glanced at the woman standing next to him and continued, “This is Doctor Inoue Nanora, who has been handling Tenma's case, and she is the one who has certified that the doctor is now mentally competent to be released.”

The professor bowed slightly, “Pleased to meet you Inoue Sensei,” he smiled.

The woman returned the gesture, and cleared her throat. “I've been Tenma Sensei's psychologist for the past few years,” she started, “he's made remarkable progress during that time, and it was under my recommendation that he be considered for parole. I don't think that he's a danger to society anymore, and that there isn't any further reason to keep him locked up in a mental hospital any longer. Of course, the law requires that the courts consider the feelings of those that the patient has hurt, and in this case that would be you and Astro.”

As Nanora Inoue finished her statement, Astro had walked towards the doorway and looked out. “I've seen you before, Inoue Sensei,” he said, “You were present a few times when I visited Otousan.”

“Do you have any problems with him being released from the hospital, Astro?” the psychologist asked.

“Īe.” Astro smiled. “But where will he live?”

“Tenma Sensei has expressed the desire to move back into his old house.” Inoue answered. “Of course the place will need some major repairs first, during the interim period we'll probably put him up at a halfway house to monitor him while we allow him to oversee the repairs to his property.”

“That's good.” Astro nodded. “Would it be OK if I helped him settle in?”

“Tenma asked about that himself, Astro,” Inoue answered. “Well, it seems that there won't be any issues with getting his release approved, unless you have any objections, Hakase?”

“You will be keeping an eye on Umataro, won't you?” Dr. O'Shay asked.

“Yes, he will be supervised during the interim period at the halfway house, and I will be calling on him periodically once he moves back into his own residence. He will be restricted in some ways, for example his computer usage will be monitored.”

“Then I don't have any objections.” The professor nodded. “Umataro has always been a friend of mine, though we have had our major disagreements. I'd like to be able to bring him back to the Ministry to work on some projects eventually, when you feel that he's ready.”

“Yes, eventually that would be a good thing for him,” Nanora agreed. “Well, I think I've taken up enough of your time, Hakase. Konbanwa.”

She turned about and Tawashi accompanied her back to the police car parked at the curb. They drove off into the night. “Would it be all right if I missed school tomorrow and visited Tenma Sensei?” Astro asked.

“Yes, I think that would be fine,” the professor said. “I know this is what you were hoping for for the past few years.”

“Don't worry,” Astro said. “You will always be the father figure to me, Hakase. But Tenma Sensei needs me, I think I fill a void in his life.”

“More than you can ever know, Astro,” O'Shay sighed, “More than you could ever know!”



Astro waited outside the boarded up house. He had to force himself to agree to meet Dr. Tenma and Doctor Inoue Nanora at the house that had once been strangely attractive to him, but now only served up feelings of grief and sadness. He'd been standing on the sidewalk in front of the building for perhaps ten minutes when a Metro City taxicab pulled up to the curb and discharged the psychologist and his creator in front of him. Inoue paid the fare, and asked the driver for his cell phone number so she could call him for a return ride in an hour or so.
As the cab pulled away, Astro waved at Umataro and smiled. “Otousan wa O-genki desu ka?”

“Genki desu,” Tenma voiced, as he looked up at the house. “My, the place looks worse than I expected.”

Astro nervously opened the front door and stepped inside, he motioned for Tenma and Inoue to follow him. The inside of the building was dark as the power was disconnected and all of the windows were broken and had been covered up with sheets of plywood. Astro turned on his eye searchlights to provide illumination. He tread carefully, with each step he could hear the crunching sound of broken glass underneath his moon boots.

There was something about the house that seemed to suck at Astro's soul. He looked up into Tenma's face, and he could tell that his creator was feeling the same hollow emptiness. Tenma carefully walked over to the corner of the room where several broken chairs lay sideways on the floor. He picked one of them up, and carefully set it upright on its legs, testing it by leaning on it to see if it would bear his weight. Satisfied that the selected seat was stable, he carefully sat down on the edge of the broken cushion and looked about.

“Do you feel it, Tobio?” he asked.

Astro ignored Tenma's use of his departed son's name to address him, he was used to Tenma's tongue slip by now. “Feel what, Otousan?” he asked.

“This house feels haunted,” Tenma said.

“Oh dear,” the psychologist muttered. “Perhaps you shouldn't have insisted on returning here, the memories of your son are still strong.”

“No, it isn't Tobio's presence that I feel,” Tenma answered. “I still do feel Astro's connection to him, which is to be expected since I created Astro to replace him. I can deal with that.”

“Then what is it?” Dr. Inoue asked.

“I'm not sure.” Tenma voiced.

Astro rotated his head and the searchlight beams fell upon a calendar hanging on the wall. While the year displayed was over a decade ago, the month was the current one, and that sparked the memory for Astro. “I know what it is,” he sobbed. “It's been exactly two years ago today, and this is the second time that I've felt it.”

Astro walked towards his creator and wrapped his arms around the man. He pulled him out of the chair and buried his head in Tenma's chest. Tenma ran his fingers through the boy robot's hair, he gently fingered his cowlicks and stared out into space. A blurry image floated gently in his field of view, a smiling face with brown hair, atop a flowing yellow dress.

Inoue realized that there was some common memory being shared between the robot and her patient, but she kept her thoughts to herself and waited to see what would happen next.

“Nobody told me she was gone,” Umataro voiced. “I'd forgotten all about her. How did it happen?”

“She died two years ago from a stroke,” Astro sobbed. “I used to come here to look around, I think Tobio's old memories had come to the surface and pulled me here. I saw her in the shadows around the place. She was dressed in black, and hid her face behind a veil. I think she was pulled here by old memories too, and I bet she saw me and remembered Tobio.”

“Who are we talking about?”, Nanora asked.

“My ex-wife Hoshie, and Tobio's mother,” Umataro replied.

“I visited her in the hospital for about a month,” Astro sobbed, “I even assisted Dr. Black Jack in an operation to try and save her, but the damage to her brain was too extensive. I discovered that I had the ability to share our thoughts, and I guess that helped her pass away in peace.”

“I'm guessing you'll be having second thoughts about rebuilding this place,” the psychologist spoke, “if you think this place is haunted for you.”

“No, actually I think it's sort of a shrine,” Dr. Tenma said, “don't you, To... er.. Astro?”

“Hai,” Astro nodded, wiping a tear from his eye with the palm of his right hand.

“Yes, there are plenty of fond memories here,” Umataro said, choking back the tears. “Some are bitter-sweet, but I wouldn't want to lose any of them.”

“I wouldn't want to either,” Astro nodded.

The doctor pulled a handkerchief from his vest pocket. He first dabbed the tracks of tears from Astro's face, and then dried his own, blowing his nose loudly like a diesel horn. “I'd like to get back to the hotel, if you don't mind Inoue Sensei,” Tenma said. “I'd like to start interviewing contractors so we can get started fixing this place up asap!”

“Sure, Tenma Sensei,” the psychologist agreed. “I had my doubts about the wisdom of the idea, but I can see by the look in both of your eyes that the project will help both of you heal some old wounds.”


Astro watched as the cab departed. He waited until the vehicle was just a dot against the horizon before he leaped skyward to fly back home. For a few moments back there, he'd felt his mother's presence in his heart, just as everyone had told him he would. He knew he still didn't posses the ability to really feel love in a memory as humans could, but he dimly understood now just how such a connection could last a lifetime, and how it could keep some people going when they had nothing else left.

As he entered his room, Astro knew what he had to do. He crawled under his bed and pulled out the box of junk that he kept there. Astro rummaged though his treasures carefully. He found the framed picture of Hoshie and he gently set it down on his night stand. He then found one of the candle glasses that Reno given a year ago, and he placed it on the nightstand as well. Astro gazed at his mother's photograph for a few moments, and then used his fingertip laser to light the candle. “I've got to remember to do this again next year, and every year after that,” he thought to himself. “I don't ever want to forget you, mother!”

It's been two years for me too, Atomu! I know how you feel!