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Summary: Part 1, Section 2

From Klara & Rosa looking for AFs outside to the arrival of the Cootings Machine

Later that day, Rosa remarks that they rarely see other AFs on the street outside the store. Klara begins keeping track of the AFs that pass by, and realizes that the ones that do usually cross to the other side of the street when passing the store. She suspects that the AFs on the outside are afraid that the newer models in the store will ultimately replace them. The next day, Klara sees a girl walking a few paces ahead of her AF; she realizes that the girl doesn’t love her AF, and is baffled and scared by the possibility. 

Klara begins to understand how different she is from Rosa when they both witness a brawl between two taxi drivers outside the store. Rosa reads the situation as playful and harmless, while Klara recognizes the animosity between the men and the danger of the situation. She realizes that the more she observes and learns about human emotion, the better she will be able to serve the child that chooses her. She tries to find versions of human emotions in herself to better understand them. One day, she sees a woman, who she dubs “coffee cup woman,” reunite with a long lost friend, “raincoat man.” Manager sees it too, and tells Klara that sometimes people feel pain alongside happiness. 

Read more about the ways in which Klara differs from other AFs.

Josie returns with her mother a few days later to speak to Klara through the window once more. Josie apologizes for taking so long to come back, but asks Klara if she’d like to come live with her. Klara nods and Josie grows excited; she tells Klara they’ll have a great time together, but reveals in an oblique way that sometimes things get unusual at their house. Klara communicates that she still wants to come, and Josie promises to return again soon. 

After a week and a half, Klara and Rosa are dismissed from the window. Upon reentering the store, Klara finds that things have changed. In order to make sense of these changes, Klara’s mind breaks her sight up into boxes, partitioning the unfamiliar layout of the store into separate chunks to help her make sense of the space. She sees that new, updated AFs—the B3s—have arrived. 

Klara and Rosa are relocated to mid-store, where Klara still has a good view of the outside. A construction machine that she dubs “the Cootings Machine” is placed in front of the store, pumping Pollution into the air and blocking out the sun. She feels bad for the AF boys who are now having their turn in the window, as the construction blocks the view and inconveniences the drivers and passersby outside the store. Klara worries that the presence of the Cootings Machine will prevent Josie from returning, and she begins to give up hope that Josie will come back even after the machine is removed and the Sun returns.

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