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Penelope lived in a very ordinary house with a very ordinary garden. The only thing extraordinary about Penelope was her passion for oddity. She collected buttons with three holes, spoons with slightly too-long handles, and miniature rubber ducks that only floated sideways.

One morning, while inspecting her tomato plants, Penelope discovered a pineapple. This was odd because pineapples don't grow in her climate. This was extra odd because this pineapple was covered in bright, fluorescent polka-dots.

Penelope picked it up. It didn't smell like a pineapple; it smelled faintly of fresh-cut grass and pencil shavings.

"Well, hello there, little anomaly," she said to the fruit.

She took it inside and placed it on her kitchen table. Her neighbor, Mr. Splinter, who believed everything in the world should be perfectly normal and beige, peered through her window.

"Penelope!" Mr. Splinter called out, his face twitching. "Is that... a spotty pineapple? Pineapples are yellow! Get rid of it! It's upsetting the natural order!"

Penelope smiled sweetly. "But Mr. Splinter, it's a polka-dot pineapple! It's magnificent!"

She tried to cut it, but her knife wouldn't go through the tough, brightly-patterned rind. She decided to keep it as a houseguest.

That evening, as Penelope was reading a book, the pineapple began to gently hum.

HMMMMMMMM-bloop-HMMMMMMM.

Penelope listened. It sounded like a tiny, enthusiastic choir singing inside a glass jar. She put her ear closer.

"Excuse me," she whispered. "Are you singing?"

The pineapple stopped humming. A tiny, high-pitched voice came from inside. "Well, yes! But I'm terrible at it! I'm trying to practice my tenor part!"

"Oh, you have a lovely tenor voice," Penelope lied kindly.

The pineapple sighed. "Thank you. But I should warn you, I'm not a real pineapple. I'm actually a small, slightly confused robot scout sent from a planet where all fruit is polka-dotted. We use the humming to charge our batteries."

"That's wonderful!" Penelope exclaimed. "But why did you choose a pineapple disguise?"

"My mission report said to blend in with the most exotic, tropical flora," the voice said. "I clearly misunderstood the local environment."

Penelope laughed, a full, warm sound. She spent the rest of the evening listening to the robot scout pineapple practice its singing, completely delighted by her new, spotty, humming, slightly-confused friend. Mr. Splinter, meanwhile, was at home re-painting his fence an even more boring shade of beige.