He hadn’t always been like this, of course, but had taken a turn a few years ago after a fall—a dumb one, too, just from pulling a weed from the sidewalk cracks in front of his house. Before that, he’d been a really fun grandfather if you liked movies and bad puns, which Eli happened to. Eli’s grandmother had died ten years ago—he had only vague memories—and in that time Eli had spent countless hours kicking around with his grandfather. Sometimes they’d have local adventures—like having lunch at an Istrian soccer club or going to a hookah lounge—but a lot of the time they’d just eat junk food and watch movies. Eli missed that.

His grandfather seemed content to look out the window, and Eli couldn’t think of anything to say anyway so he googled “time with robots nursing home.”

He was sort of surprised when a bunch of articles and videos popped up.

“Robots Provide Companionship at This Nursing Home”

“Why China Is Putting Robots in Nursing Homes”

“Robots Are Coming to Grandma’s Nursing Home”

He clicked on the one about China because the robot in the screen grab looked cute. He watched with his phone on mute, but there were captions, so he could follow along. It was about a nursing home in China where they want to try to put a robot in every room; something about how there aren’t enough caretakers for the rapidly aging population.

“Look at this dope,” his grandfather said. “It’s all zombies out there.”

Eli looked out the window where a man was walking while staring at his phone.

Back at the video an old woman was being asked, “Do you want a robot in your room?”

“I don’t really care one way or the other. I do think humans are better.”

An old man who was asked the same question said, “A robot might make me less lonely. But maybe not, because I’d know it wasn’t a real conversation.”

Another woman: “I’d only want a really good robot. Not a bad one that felt fake.”

The robot in the video was pretty fun looking. Pink and white and glossy, about waist high. One of the old ladies kept calling it “Cutie” during a shot where they were all interacting with it in a common area much like the one Eli was sitting in.

“You’re bossy,” the robot said.

“Did it just say you’re bossy?” a woman who was off-screen asked.

Then a man appeared on-screen and said, “There’s no such thing as a perfect robot.” He was the inventor, apparently. “But that’s okay. Mistakes can be funny.”

Another woman said: “No robot is as good as a human. I don’t even think it’s possible that in the future a robot could be as good as a human. What do you think?”