# Willy and Dolly 101, strip 2 of 4: "Words Are All We Get"

**Panel 1.** Willy and Dolly face the reader.
- Dolly: "We only communicate using words."

**Panel 2.** Beside them: a neat stack of dinner plates, a little watering can, and a potted plant that is drooping and dry.
- John types: "please water the plates"

**Panel 3.** Willy tips the watering can over the plates. Water runs off them. The plant stays bone dry.
- Willy: "Plates watered!"

**Panel 4.** The plant has been watered now and stands up green, and the plates are still dripping. Willy looks pleased.
- John types: "plants. sorry, PLANTS"
- Willy: "Plants watered! Plates still watered!"
- Dolly, to the reader: "Every word counts. Even the wrong ones."

**The idea:** John meant "plants" and typed "plates", one letter off. Willy did exactly what the words said, then did the right thing too.

**Who's who.** Willy is a red teardrop who jumps right in; when he finishes a job, a tally mark appears beside him. Dolly is a mustard-yellow ring who asks first; a trail of dots follows her, longer when she's unsure and gone when she's certain. They're bots: helpers that live inside the computer. John, the human, is never drawn. His typed messages slide in from the edge of the panel, with a little cursor at the end.

The strip as an image: https://willyanddolly.com/strips/wd027.png
All four strips and the short: https://willyanddolly.com/