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Hi, I'm Tank

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BENCHY

I walked into the shop and the lights turned on, which Illuminated wood dust in the corners, buckets and tools strewn about. A rabid raccoon could walk into this space and make less of a mess. I took a deep breath and smiled. Sawdust. Oil. Sawdust. Paint. Sawdust. Iron. Wood.
Home.Lights twinkled at me from my right. Next to the door was a large table, clean and clear, not a tool in sight.
"That's a trick I wish I could do" I said, as I walked around an oil spill with sawdust on top of it. I'll sweep it up at the end of the day today."You can. Technically." The lights twinkled back at me. The voice came from a speaker, mounted above the table in front of a tidy tangle of wires. I knew there was a camera up there too, but it wasn't where my eyes were drawn to.I chuckled. "Technically" I sat down on my chair - a torn up barstool with a worn-out and too-small child's coat tossed on top - and pulled out my phone. "What's on my list today, Benchy?"Benchy, my workbench, turned the little LED inside the 3D-printed boat on top of their computer and replied. "Five acute issues. Twenty ongoing projects. The to-do list has three thousand five hundred and ten items on it."I looked around at the projects on tables across the room. "Gimme those top five please?"Benchy's app dinged a notification on my phone, and I looked down to see a written list - with check marks boxes. The voice read them out loud as I followed along."First. You put oil on that knife handle yesterday. Check and see if it needs another coat, then wrap it. Steve is leaving for Great Falls later, he said he can deliver it to the post office there.""Second. And third. And fourth. We have three batches of seeds to start today to be ready when the cold hits. I can plant, but you need "Do The Legwork" I interrupted to... do the legwork. I do say that a lot.""Yeah, but it's ok. You're worth your power anyways.""Hey! I set up those solar panels, thank you very much! Just because you had to roll me out there doesn't mean I wasn't involved!"I smiled. A new joke! Benchy must have downloaded an update.I walked over to the knife and picked it up. It was BEAUTIFUL. A gift for my son, who had hiked the pass to get to Helena a few years ago. We mostly just sent each other memes, but he never missed his video chat with his mom every Sunday afternoon. Good kid. Looks funny with his new big city haircut."What's the last one, Benchy?"
"Yes. Your birthday is coming up, what do you want?"I laughed in surprise, a deep bubble from my belly rising up to pop with a gleeful "Ha!". I shook my head. "Jo conscripted you to work on me too, huh?" I shook my head again, smiling. "She doesn't believe me when I say 'nothing' does she? Should I ask for a specific kind of party? What kind of parties to guys turning 40 have? 'Hey everyone, let's all get together Saturday night. You can watch me fall asleep at 8:30 in my easy chair.'""I'll send Emily a message and inform them that they're all invited over for exactly that. On Saturday. Also, I am amending the acute tasks list to add another item. I have a grocery list." My phone pinged a new notification at me again. "I need milk, vinegar, charcoal, and mustard seeds. And a new three-way valve. Or 8 gauge copper pipe. Either could do.""When do you need those by?"
"Actually, Aaron says he has the copper tubing. He will bring it on Saturday. He specifically said to communicate that they will also be bringing permanent markers and... I can't read the rest out loud. Body art is involved."I chuckled again. "Ok. Send me your list. We're due for a delivery from Deerfield in the next few days, I can get the rest in town." I slid the knife into its leather sheath and looked at my phone screen face-up on the table in front of me. "What should we tackle first, Benchy?""Get me dirt, charcoal, and a barrel and I'll start planting." Benchy replied. "Then you can go into town."