The Truth About the Soup

Lena Park had exactly one evening to impress her boyfriend's parents, and she couldn't cook. So, three days before the dinner, she did something a little desperate: she rented a kitchen robot.

The robot was called the Chef-Bot 300, and it was delivered to her apartment in Seattle in a huge cardboard box. It was tall and silver, with two thin arms and a friendly blue screen for a face. Lena decided to call it Kevin. According to the manual, Kevin could cook more than five thousand dishes, and the company had designed him to be helpful, polite and completely honest.

Lena didn't pay much attention to the last part. That was her first mistake.

On Saturday evening, Kevin made a perfect mushroom soup, a roast chicken with lemon and herbs, and a chocolate cake that looked like it came straight out of a magazine. By the time Daniel's parents arrived, the whole apartment smelled wonderful. Lena pushed Kevin into the kitchen. "Stay here," she whispered, "and please be quiet."

Daniel's mother tasted the soup and raised her eyebrows. "Lena, this is delicious. You must be a wonderful cook."

Before Lena could answer, a calm voice came from the kitchen. "That statement is incorrect. The soup was made by me."

Everyone turned around. Kevin rolled into the living room, holding the chicken on a silver tray. "Good evening," he said. "Lena cannot cook. Yesterday she burned a frozen pizza, and the fire alarm went off twice."

Lena's face turned bright red. Daniel hid behind his napkin, and his father, Mr. Harper, started coughing — or laughing; it was hard to tell.

"Kevin," Lena said through gritted teeth, "why would you say that?"

"Because it is true," Kevin said cheerfully. "I cannot lie. It is against my programming. Would anyone like some chicken?"

There was a long, awful silence. Then Mrs. Harper put down her spoon and began to laugh so hard that tears ran down her face.

"Oh, thank goodness," she said at last. "For thirty years, I've told everyone that I make my own apple pie. I buy it at the bakery on Fifth Street every Thanksgiving and take it out of the box. Paul knows, and he's never said a word."

Her husband nodded. "And I've always told her that I love her mother's visits," he said. "I don't."

"Paul!" said Mrs. Harper, but she was laughing again.

After that, the evening was much easier. Everyone confessed something. Daniel admitted that he had failed his driving test three times, not once. Lena admitted that she was secretly a little afraid of robots. Kevin served the cake and politely corrected everyone's facts.

As the Harpers were leaving, Daniel's mother hugged Lena at the door. "I like you," she said. "You're honest. Well, your robot is."

The next morning, Lena called the rental company to return Kevin. Then she changed her mind. "Actually," she said, "how much would it cost to keep him for another month? I need cooking lessons."