The Unfairness of It All

By Sapphire

The bright Californian sun greeted Judy Witwicky as she stepped outside the door on her way to get the morning paper.

"Good morning, Bumblebee," she softly said to the car parked right outside in the driveway.

The car's radio came to life and Judy recognized a snippet from the song 'Good Morning Starshine' playing at soft volume from the stereo system.

Smiling she patted the hood as she passed by, knowing that the car, which wasn't really a car at all, could feel the touch.

Everybody had been surprised, most of all she herself, when she discovered that she actually liked the car slash alien robot, who had moved if not into her house but at least onto her property, only a few weeks ago.

She had to admit, that at first the thought that Sam was actually in need of a gun toting alien super robot as a bodyguard had not sat well with her. What mother could really blame her for not being too happy about the idea that some other also gun toting alien robots might come after her baby boy one day in order to revenge their leader's death by said boy? But then she figured that if indeed the Decepticons should ever come to Earth and found out what Sam had done, she'd rather have somebody with the proper ability and fire power looking after him. A rolling pin just wouldn't do the job. And all things considered, having met Optimus Prime and the others, Bumblebee was positively cute compared to them.

So she had sat down with the robot and they had a good long talk. That is, Bumblebee had done the sitting down while she had remained standing – much less intimidating this way. She had laid out some rules and regulations, there had been negotiations, and after that life has gone on pretty much as always with the exception of a new car now parked outside on her driveway that once in while played a song perfectly matching a given situation.

She opened the mailbox and fished inside to get the paper, only to find some envelope stuck in the box as well.

"When did that show up?" she asked more to herself than to anybody in particular, as she turned the heavy envelope in her hands. There was no stamp on it, so it had not come with the regular mail, which wasn't due for a couple of hours anyway. Their name and address was written on it by hand in an elegant flowing script and the envelope was fastened by a sort of embossed seal with some kind of bird on it.

The car radio switched stations and Billy Joel's 'River of Dreams' started with the line: "In the middle of the night."

She looked up surprised, having forgotten for a moment that she wasn't alone. "Oh, thanks, Bumblebee. I guess it must have been okay then, with you watching and all."

One thing that she hadn't counted on when she had agreed for Bumblebee to stay, was that he pretty much also worked as the perfect alarm system. Somebody had tried to break in two houses over about a week ago, but before the thieves had been able to get away, Bumblebee had taken care of them. If the thugs were still rambling on about some giant robot that had attacked them, it had been attributed to the drugs they had taken before the break in.

She considered taking the envelope inside and showing it to Ron before opening it, but then curiosity got the better of her, and she ripped it open.

A heavy stock card fell out, embossed with the same seal that had closed the envelope shut, and suddenly she recognized that eagle-within-stars design. Her hand flew to her mouth and she uttered a small 'oh!'.

With suddenly shaking fingers she opened the card and read.

The President of the United States cordially invites you in honouring the contribution to the safety of this country by Captain William Lennox, USAF Tech Sergeant Patrick Epps and Samuel James Witwicky.

The date was two weeks from now, the place the White House. The signature was without a doubt that of the president.

Judy gulped. An invitation into the White House by the president himself. To honour Sam, her son.

Who would have thought?

What was she to wear?!?

Panic gripped her for a moment.

And then Judy got really, really angry. Part of the agreement for Bumblebee to stay with them was that she couldn't tell anybody the truth about what had happened and where that new car of Sam was in truth coming from. So far this hasn't been a problem, really. They had given an interview were they lied through their teeth, but then, who would really believe in giant robots? Then they had cooked up a story that Sam had won the car in an out-of-state contest, the lucky dog. Still no problem.

But not being able to tell her friends that she had been invited to the White House to personally meet the president – well that was simply unfair!