Chapters (21)
‘What, seeing as we’re at the cutting edge of technology? Remember when the iPhone came out? Nothing like it before. We had no idea. We looked at it, and we were like, what the fuck? They do this stuff behind closed doors, of course.’
‘Anyway, robots. Jesus. Your mum will be looked after by a robot?’
‘They asked if it was OK. I said yes. After I’d spent some time with her.’
She looks at me, her eyes narrowing.
‘And you didn’t know she was a robot until she told you?’
‘No. You would never guess.’
‘I’m sure I would.’
‘You wouldn’t. They look like humans in every way.’
‘I would know. You don’t notice these things. About women.’
‘These things? What, like I’ve met loads of robot women before and never twigged? I don’t think so.’
‘You’re not very observant.’
‘You’d better come next time. See what I mean. You can talk to one of them. You won’t be able to tell. She had skin and hair you would never ever guess wasn’t real.’
‘Skin and hair?’
‘Yes. It’s the big deal, apparently. Like, making them talk and walk and all that is one thing, but they have to feel right or it doesn’t work.’
‘It doesn’t work?’
‘You don’t feel attached to them. Humans can get attached to machines if they’re a bit unpredictable, and stuff, but mainly if they feel right.’
‘You touched her?’’
‘Her arm. Don’t look at me like that. She offered. So I would get it.’
‘And?’
‘It felt like a human arm. I mean, warm – even warmer in some places than others.’
‘You touched her in several places?’
‘Just her arm. Her hand. I looked in her mouth.’
‘In her mouth? What?’
‘Yes. I thought, surely they won’t have got the mouth right. But they had.’
‘I don’t like the sound of this. Any of this. Your mother is being cared for by a robot, and you spend the afternoon touching her up.’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘What was it like?’
‘I was being asked if I approved.’
‘Of what?’
‘Of my mum being cared for by a robot.’
‘And you said yes?’
‘The carers before were – I mean, they cared, but still – you know, they kept forgetting stuff. And they didn’t do much to try to, you know, improve life for Mum. So yes. Why not?’
‘Why not? Do I need to answer that? Do you want a list?’
‘Fuck it, Charlotte. Come with me and see for yourself. It’s astonishing. And turn on the news. There was a press conference. I bet it’s everywhere.’
She turns on the TV. The startling image of Jordan held aloft by Winifred appears on the screen. And we sit together and watch as the world’s attention becomes intently fixed on a care home in Dorking.