Sorry, Sorry, That Was Me

Ping. Ping. Ping. Far out on the water the bell buoy rang, and the sound came in through the lighthouse window. Iggy heard it and rolled his one round wheel. Whirr, whirr. Iggy was a small helper robot, no taller than a teapot, with two clicky arms and a little light on his head that glowed when he was happy.

Iggy lived in the lighthouse on Lighthouse Island with Opal and Pell. Opal was a bigger helper robot with a bell in her chest that went ting. Pell was the puffin keeper, and he wore a woolly hat all year, even in summer.

Every evening Pell lit the big lamp, and the light went round and round, out over the water. Every evening Opal folded the warm towels, one, two, three, and put them in a basket. Every evening Iggy carried the basket to the bath. Whirr, whirr, whirr.

Shhh, shhh, shhh, went the sea, all the way around the island. Iggy liked that sound. He liked it so much that when he saw the moon in the window, big and round as a dinner plate, he rolled over fast to look at it. Too fast.

His wheel rolled right into the towel basket. The basket tipped over. One, two, three, the warm towels slid down, down, down, and flopped into the bath water. Pop, went a bubble. Pop, pop. Opal's soft knitted puffin, who had been sitting on top of the towels, went in too, and floated with his little orange beak in the air.

Iggy stopped. His head light stopped glowing. Click, click, went his two arms. Opal looked at the wet towels in the bath. She looked at her puffin, floating.

Iggy rolled behind the door. He beeped a small beep. Beep, beep. Opal heard the beeps. But beeps are not words.

So Iggy rolled back out and held up a shell from his pocket. It was pink, and it was a present. Opal said, "Thank you, Iggy." But her puffin was still in the bath, and his beak was still wet.

Iggy looked down at his one little wheel. He tried the words very small, just to see how they felt. "Sorry, sorry, that was me." Then he rolled close to Opal and said them so she could hear. "Opal, I rolled too fast. I tipped the basket. Sorry, sorry, that was me."

Opal's arm came round Iggy with a soft click. "Thank you for saying sorry," she said. "That's the warmest thing you've said all evening."

Then Pell came in with his woolly hat on and a lantern in his hand. "Wet towels? That's easy," he said. He hung them on the rail by the big lamp, one, two, three. He set the knitted puffin up there too, on his little flat bottom, beak turned to the warm. "There. He'll be dry by bath time."

Bath time came, and the moon came too and sat in the window. Pop, went a bubble on Opal's nose. Pop, pop, pop. Iggy held out the last warm towel, the soft blue one, and Opal wrapped herself up in it like a shell.

The puffin was warm and dry and smelled of salt and clean towel. Opal tucked him under her arm and yawned a big round yawn.

They sat by the window and listened. Shhh, shhh, shhh, went the sea. Ping, ping, ping, went the bell buoy, far out and small. "Sorry, sorry, that was me," said Iggy, very quiet, just to hear it. "All warm now," said Opal.

The lighthouse light went round and round, slow and soft, out over the water. The moon stayed in the window. Iggy's little light glowed low, like a night-light. Shhh, shhh, shhh, went the sea, and everybody in the lighthouse was ready for sleep.