It was a bright summer afternoon, and the smoky aroma of Gergő’s expertly grilled meats still lingered in the air. The two neighboring families were enjoying the peace of the garden—or at least the appearance of it. Gergő was proudly explaining Robi the robotic lawnmower’s latest software update to Tibi.
“Now it even draws a map of our garden, Tibi! It optimizes the mowing route… Genius!” Gergő enthused, showing off the app on his phone.
“Uh-huh,” Tibi nodded skeptically. “And what if it becomes self-aware and goes off to see the world? Or if Mrs. Tordai lures it away for a little gossip? I trust manual labor more.”
Meanwhile, Zita and Borka were supervising the little ones at the sandbox. Zita, fully immersed, was building a complicated sandcastle.
“This will be the castle of peace and harmony!” she declared, carefully shaping a sand cake for Zalán.
“Here you go, darling, a vegan sand muffin!”
Zalán clapped happily. “Baby cake! Yummy!” Kende tried to taste another sand cake, but Borka laughed and took it away.
“Better not, Kende!”
The older kids, Milan and Zente, were already planning the next big showdown at the other end of the garden.
“Wait a minute… Where’s Robi? I can’t see him on the map. The app says offline. That’s impossible!”
Suddenly, the garden went quiet. The monotonous hum of the robotic lawnmower was missing.
“Offline?” Tibi’s face immediately turned worried. He jumped up from his chair. “I knew it! Something’s wrong! It’s escaped! Or it’s been stolen! Or it’s gone over to Mrs. Tordai and is mowing her geraniums!”
“Calm down, Tibi!” Borka tried to reassure him. “It’s probably just stuck somewhere.”
But the calm was gone. Milan and Zente sprang into action.
“Robi’s missing? This is a mystery!” Milan shouted.
“We’re detectives!” Zente replied. “We’ll find the runaway robot! I’ll be Sherlock Holmes!”
“No, I will! You can be Watson!” The rivalry started again as they set off to look for clues. And they found some: strange wheel tracks in Zita’s flowerbed, a mysteriously toppled garden gnome.
Zalán shouted from the sandbox, pointing toward the garden gate:
“Robi went! To the shop in a BMW!”
The adults’ reactions were mixed. Tibi paced back and forth in despair.
“It’s probably stuck! Or the battery’s dead! Or the neighbor’s cat kidnapped it!”
Gergő was fiddling with his phone. He muttered, “A drone would be so useful now… or a thermal camera…” He added it to his mental shopping list.
Zita pulled a small pendulum from her pocket. She closed her eyes.
“I’m trying to sense Robi’s energy vibrations… The pendulum will help.” The pendulum began to swing slowly, sometimes pointing toward the wooden box hiding the waterworks, sometimes toward Gergő’s grill.
“Hmm… strong metal energy…”
Borka had had enough of the confusion. She stood up from the sandbox.
“Alright, people, enough panic! Let’s organize the search! Tibi, you check behind the garage and under the hedge! Gergő, you check the compost and around the waterworks! Zita, follow your pendulum! Kids, look under the bushes!”
The chaotic search began. Milan and Zente followed the “clues,” which led them to Mrs. Tordai’s fence. The old lady, as if she sensed something interesting was happening, was already standing at the fence, watching curiously.
“What are you looking for, my dears? Is it the little wheeled lawnmower? I saw it going round and round so diligently!” she said kindly, her eyes missing nothing. The boys quickly moved on before Mrs. Tordai could question them.
Gergő was digging through the compost. Tibi checked behind the garage. In the garage, as usual, instead of a car, the kids’ vehicle fleet was lined up: the little ones’ toy motorcycles, the battery-powered off-roader that Kende and Zalán usually rode in, Milan’s electric quad with its weak battery, and a few bikes leaning against the wall. Robi wasn’t there either.
Zita, with her pendulum, confidently headed toward the waterworks. “It’s definitely pulling this way!”
At that moment, Kende, who had been playing by the terrace steps, suddenly headed for a dense, shady bush at the end of the garden. He crawled under the leaves without hesitation, then a moment later shouted excitedly:
“OOOO! Robi!”
Everyone hurried over. Tibi pushed the branches aside, and sure enough: Robi was there, hopelessly tangled in an old, coiled-up garden hose under the bush. Its battery was completely dead, which is why it was offline.
Laughter and relief swept through the group.
“See, Tibi? No panic, just a little garden tangle,” Gergő said as he carefully freed the mower and put it on the charger.
Tibi wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Well, that… that was a possibility too. But next time, we’ll watch the hose more closely.”
Zita triumphantly raised her pendulum. “The pendulum would have led us here! I felt the hose’s negative energy!”
“No way! I found it!” Kende shouted proudly.
Milan and Zente argued about whether Kende really found it or if their “clues” led to the bush.
Borka brought out the leftover cocoa rolls with a smile. “Let’s celebrate the successful rescue!”
Zalán shouted happily, “Robi’s here! Cake! Yummy!”
The sun slowly set, bathing the garden in golden light, where the runaway robotic lawnmower was peacefully charging. The memory of the garden camping gained another humorous chapter, which Mrs. Tordai probably shared with the whole street the next morning.