The Mother came slowly towards the arch, then stopped. And for a moment, all three were looking at me: Josie at the front, beaming happily; Manager, just behind her, also smiling, but with a caution in her look which I took as an important signal from her; and then the Mother, her eyes narrowed like people on the sidewalk when they’re trying to see if a taxi is free or already taken. And when I saw her and the way she was looking at me, the fear – the one that had all but vanished when Josie had cried, ‘You’re still here!’ – came back into my mind.
‘I didn’t mean to take so long,’ Josie was saying. ‘But I got a little sick. I’m fine again though.’ Then she called back: ‘Mom? Can we buy her right away? Before someone else comes in and takes her?’
There was silence, then the Mother said quietly, ‘This one isn’t a B3, I take it.’
‘Klara is a B2,’ Manager said. ‘From the fourth series, which some say has never been surpassed.’
‘But not a B3.’
‘The B3 innovations are truly marvelous. But some customers feel, for a certain sort of child, a top-range B2 can still be the most happy match.’
‘I see.’
‘Mom. Klara’s the one I want. I don’t want any other.’
‘One moment, Josie.’ Then she asked Manager: ‘Every Artificial Friend is unique, right?’
‘That’s correct, ma’am. And particularly so at this level.’
‘So what makes this one unique? This…Klara?’
‘Klara has so many unique qualities, we could be here all morning. But if I had to emphasize just one, well, it would have to be her appetite for observing and learning. Her ability to absorb and blend everything she sees around her is quite amazing. As a result, she now has the most sophisticated understanding of any AF in this store, B3s not excepted.’
‘Is that so.’
The Mother was once again looking at me with narrowed eyes. She then took three more steps towards me.
‘You mind if I ask her a few questions?’
‘Please go ahead.’
‘Mom, please…’
‘Excuse me, Josie. Just stand over there a moment while I talk to Klara.’
Then it was the Mother and me, and though I tried to keep a smile on my face, it was not easy, and I might even have let the fear show.
‘Klara,’ the Mother said. ‘I want you not to look towards Josie. Now tell me, without looking. What color are her eyes?’
‘They’re gray, ma’am.’
‘Good. Josie, I want you to keep absolutely silent. Now, Klara. My daughter’s voice. You heard her speak just now. How would you say her voice was pitched?’
‘Her conversational voice has a range between A-flat above middle C to C octave.’
‘Is that so?’ There was another silence, then the Mother said: ‘Last question. Klara. What did you notice about the way my daughter walks?’
‘There’s perhaps a weakness in her left hip. Also her right shoulder has potential to give pain, so Josie walks in a way that will protect it from sudden motion or unnecessary impact.’
The Mother considered this. Then she said, ‘Well, Klara. Since you appear to know so much about it. Will you please reproduce for me Josie’s walk? Will you do that for me? Right now? My daughter’s walk?’
Behind the Mother’s shoulder, I saw Manager’s lips part, as though about to speak. But she said nothing. Instead, meeting my gaze, she gave me the smallest of nods.
So I started to walk. I realized that, as well as the Mother – and of course Josie – the whole store was now watching and listening. I stepped beneath the arch, onto the Sun’s patterns spread across the floor. Then I went in the direction of the B3s standing mid-store, and the Glass Display Trolley. I did all I could to reproduce Josie’s walk just as I’d seen it, that first time after she’d got out of the taxi, when Rosa and I were in the window, then four days later, when she’d come towards the window after the Mother had removed her hand from her shoulder, then finally as I’d seen her a moment ago, hurrying to me with relieved happiness in her eyes.
When I reached the Glass Display Trolley I started to go around it, taking care not to lose the character of Josie’s walk even as I tried not to brush against the boy B3 standing beside the trolley.
But as I was about to start on the return lap, I glanced up and caught sight of the Mother, and something in what I saw made me stop. She was still watching me carefully, but it was as if her gaze was now focused straight through me, as if I was the glass in the window and she was trying to see something a long way behind it. I remained there beside the Glass Display Trolley, one foot poised, heel off the floor, and there was a strange stillness in the store. Then Manager said:
‘As you see, Klara has extraordinary observational ability. I’ve never known one like her.’
‘Mom.’ This time Josie’s voice was hushed. ‘Mom. Please.’
‘Very well. We’ll take her.’
Josie came hurrying to me. She put her arms around me and held me. When I gazed over the child’s head, I saw Manager smiling happily, and the Mother, her face drawn and serious, looking down to search in her shoulder bag.
PART TWO
The kitchen was especially difficult to navigate because so many of its elements would change their relationships to one another moment by moment. I now appreciated how in the store – surely out of consideration for us – Manager had carefully kept all the items, even smaller ones like the bracelets or the silver earrings box, in their correct places. Throughout Josie’s house, however, and in the kitchen in particular, Melania Housekeeper would constantly move items around, obliging me to start afresh in my learning. One morning, for instance, Melania Housekeeper altered the position of her food blender four times within as many minutes. But once I’d established the importance of the Island, things became much easier.
The Island was in the center of the kitchen, and perhaps to emphasize its fixed-down nature, had pale brown tiles that mimicked the bricks of a building. Sunk into its middle was a shiny basin, and there were three highstools along the longest edge where residents could sit. In those early days, when Josie was still quite strong, she often sat at the Island to do her tutorial work, or just to relax with her pencil and sketchpad. I found it hard at first to sit on the Island’s highstools because my feet couldn’t touch the floor, and if I tried to swing them, they would become obstructed by a rod that crossed the highstool frame. But then I copied Josie’s method of placing elbows firmly down on the Island’s surface, and from then on felt more secure – though there always remained the possibility that Melania Housekeeper would appear suddenly behind me, reach for the taps and make water come out with great force. The first time this happened, I was so startled I nearly lost balance, but Josie beside me barely moved, and I soon learned there was nothing to fear from a few specks of moisture.