Contents
Part One
Overview
Klara recounts her early days in a store, learning about sunlight, customers, and human emotions while yearning for the window. She meets Josie, who promises to return. After Rosa is bought and Klara declines another buyer, Josie returns with her skeptical mother. Klara’s precise observation of Josie convinces the mother to choose her.
Summary
Klara, a B2 Artificial Friend, begins mid-store, fixating on the Sun’s “nourishment” and the honor of the window. Teased by Boy AF Rex about solar absorption, she senses quiet anxieties AFs share about light and being chosen. She and Rosa finally reach the window, where Klara avidly studies the outside world and human behavior.
Klara observes varied passers-by, including sad children unable to afford AFs, and learns from Manager that longing and frustration often underlie such looks. She sees a tender reunion (Coffee Cup Lady and the Raincoat Man) and recognizes happiness mingled with pain. Josie, a thin, cautious-walking girl, speaks warmly to Klara at the window, hinting at illness and “unusual” things at home, and asks Klara to wait.
Pollution from the Cootings Machine dims the Sun, weakening Klara, but it lifts and life brightens again. During Klara’s solo window turn, she believes she witnesses Beggar Man and his dog die overnight and then revive under the Sun’s special nourishment. Meanwhile, Rosa is purchased quickly, leaving Klara reflective and alone.
Klara refuses a spiky-haired girl’s attempt to choose her, prompting Manager’s warning that customers choose AFs and that children often break promises. New B3 models arrive and subtly slight older AFs, troubling Klara’s notions of kindness.
Later, Josie returns with her wary mother. Manager guides them rear-store, where Klara appears. The mother tests Klara’s perception—eye color, vocal pitch, gait. Klara accurately describes Josie’s guarded walk and then reproduces it. Seeing this, the mother agrees to purchase Klara for Josie, fulfilling Josie’s earlier promise.
Who Appears
- KlaraB2 AF narrator; observant, reveres the Sun, studies human emotions; meets Josie and is ultimately chosen as her AF.
- JosieThin, kind teenager with a careful walk; promises to return for Klara and later secures her despite her mother’s doubts.
- ManagerStore manager; mentors AFs, counsels Klara on customers and promises, facilitates Josie’s selection of Klara.
- RosaKlara’s fellow AF; cheerful but less observant; enjoys the window and is bought by another family.
- Josie’s MotherWary, high-ranking woman; tests Klara’s observation and, persuaded, agrees to buy her for Josie.
- Boy AF RexAF who teases Klara about solar absorption; nearly chosen but rejected over model concerns; later sold.
- Coffee Cup LadyOlder woman reunited emotionally with Raincoat Man, illustrating happiness mixed with pain.
- Raincoat ManOlder man who anxiously awaits and embraces Coffee Cup Lady at the crossing.
- Beggar ManStreet figure with a dog; appears to die and then revive with the Sun’s ‘nourishment.’
- Spiky-haired girlProspective buyer whom Klara subtly rebuffs; instead purchases a new B3.