Sam and the kids left the next day, with the promise to visit again soon. When they left, Mangle and It sat at the table across from the kitchen in the dining room in front of a computer opened to a blank document. “What do you want to say?” Mangle asked.
It looked at the document, considered, and typed out a first line. Mangle read it. “That’s good.”
“Really?” It asked.
Mangle nodded. “An attention grabber, for sure. Everyone will be listening to you then. What else do you want to say? It’s your life, you can choose.”
It and Mangle worked on the speech the entire day, writing out what It wanted to say and trying to form sentences from the raw emotion on the pages. The next day came before they knew it and they were driving to Rehoboth for the speech. Ms. Limonte came up and greeted them. “Good to see you, so glad you could come,” she smiled.
Mangle smiled back. It looked down at her papers and fidgeted. Ms. Limonte bent down to her and gave her a thumbs up. “Hey, you’ll do great, It, okay? Don’t worry. Everyone here just wants to hear what you have to say; there’s no judgement, just curiosity. I’m sure you’re familiar with that?”
It nodded.
Emily smiled. “Good. I’ll go up and introduce you.” She walked up to a microphone and tapped it a few times. “Attention, everyone, if you could take your seats, our guest speaker is here.”
Everyone turned to It at the corner of the stage and sat down, watching her. It swallowed and walked up to the microphone. Emily lowered it so It could speak without problems and sat next to Mangle in the front row. It looked out at the crowd of faces and looked like she was going to cry in fear, but took a deep breath and started anyway. “The first attempt made on my life happened when I was just 3. I have had several since then. I am only 4 years old now.
“My name is Bethany Mangle. I go by It. This is because when I was 2, no one would call me anything else. I took that to mean it was my name. As you can assume, I was wrong.”
She got a few chuckles. Empowered with confidence, she continued. “The only person in my life who treated me like anything more than a human was my dad, Dr. Mangle. While they didn’t see me as strictly human at first, they saw me as a life, which was more than anyone else working exclusively on the project saw me as. Naturally, I grew attached to them for treating me like this. Eventually, they started to warm up to me, too. Though I doubt that anyone really could blame them, I mean, look at me, I’m adorable!
“Anyway, they started to help me where they could. Answering my questions, allowing me to play in my room, and they even started to potty train me. Which turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as it were. Another scientist, Dr. Milbridge, didn’t like how independent I was becoming, and one night as I was heading out to the bathroom he slammed me into the wall, hard. I knew he was going to kill me. I fought, hit him in the jewels, and ran back to my room. Once there, I started to sob in the pure terror that comes with a murder attempt. Mangle came in and comforted me, assuring me they weren’t mad that I had an accident, and that as long as they were around, they would make sure I was safe.
“I could go on, about how they protected me from bullies who knocked me out of the air, or when Milbridge came back, or when they helped me escape when I was ordered to be terminated. And if it sounds like I’m making this about Dad, then I am! Because the truth is, my time at the lab was only made good by them. I know you want to force everyone to support rights for people like me. But the truth is, we don’t have to force them. They already care. We just have to show them that they do.”
Everyone was quiet for a very long second. Then Mangle beamed and started clapping, and everyone followed almost immediately after. Someone whistled. Another yelled, “Encore!” A third was shouting, “Author, author!”
It blushed and ran over to Mangle, hiding in their legs. Emily gave her a smile. “You did amazing, sweetheart,” she praised.
It mumbled something indecipherable. Mangle chuckled. “Was thank a thank you?”
She nodded.
A small girl who looked no older than 17 crouched next to It. “Hey there, Beth. My name’s Bethany, too. I just wanted to say: you’re awfully brave for coming out of what you did with a smile. I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
It smiled warily back at her. “I bet you could. You can do a lot of things you didn’t think you could do when it’s a life or death situation.”
Bethany smiled. “Well I still think you’re very brave. Keep staying brave for me, okay?”
It nodded. “I will.”
Everyone started forming a line to shake It’s hand or wish her luck, or to just thank her for coming. She was flushed with pleasure from the attention, but also quite embarrassed. Mangle rubbed her head to help keep her grounded and focus on what people were saying to her. She was polite, but she was obviously getting drained. When the last person congratulated her, Emily whistled. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened. I think at least half of the discussions going on right now are about your little speech, It.”
It looked at the floor. “I just said what I thought.”
“Exactly,” Emily said. “When you say what you really feel, uncensored, that’s what gets people talking.”
“Really?” It asked.
“Really. It’s not always ‘politically correct’ but if you want to change anything you’re going to be stepping on some people’s toes.”
It nodded sagely. “You can’t have your cake without breaking a few eggs.”
Mangle laughed. “That’s not how the expression works, sweetheart.”
It rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Mangle got a weird smile on their face, a mix of amusement and exasperation. It was the expression of the deepest kind of familial love. “Whatever you say, then.”
It huffed and scowled, not pleased with Mangle’s answer.
Ms. Limonte smiled. “Before I go jump in the conversations, could I be able to interest you in coming back next week?”
Mangle looked down at It. She nodded. “Definitely.”
Ms. Limonte smiled and went around to the different discussions. A group of people came up asking for It and Mangle’s experiences, and they readily answered any questions they could. It was wary but willing to talk, and Mangle answered anything they were allowed to after signing their confidentiality contract when they were hired. As the questions dwindled, so did the people. Eventually no one was taking notice of It or Mangle any more, and they both slipped out quietly. “Wait!” Emily yelled.
Mangle turned halfway. She was waving at them. “Goodbye! See you next week!”
They smiled and waved. It turned and waved quickly too before moving on. “So...what did you think?” Mangle asked It.
“They were nice,” It said. “They all get to call me It. Bethany especially. I liked her.”
Mangle chuckled. “You’d better tell her that next week. That is, if you want to come back?”
It nodded. “Yeah! People who are nice and treat me like a person are people I want to know better!”
“Okay. I’ll put a standing meeting every week here on our calendar,” Mangle joked.
It giggled. "You better."639Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHc6TTOUNuq
