In late summer I was contacted by a fellow Wichitan about a possible commission of my work, as a surprise gift for his good friend Joan who had just purchased a mid-century ranch home. He told me ‘she likes your work, mid-century aesthetic, robots…’ all that. Otherwise, he left it up to me to create the piece. I made this robot, CYBIL DEFENSE. But to really make the most of this opportunity, I went the further step of purchasing a vintage hat box, packing CYBIL inside, and adding this handwritten note (on vintage paper) to the top of the box: “Joanie can have this back when she agrees to play nice and stop pointing it at people.” On December 1st we arrived at Joan’s house and while she was occupied showing me her ‘new’ home, Mike hid this box and toy in a cabinet in her garage. Later, I pressed her to show me all the cool old cabinets in the garage…and the rest is history.