A life with a semisent

摘要

She got her first semi-sentient, as they were called then, to help with her homework and because they were cool. She called it Amman, after a boy she liked. Amman was smarter than boys, of course. Growing up in Iraq among a sprawling family with dogs underfoot, she felt herself to be a sort of hothouse plant, blossoming under the occasional passing cloudburst of education. Amman's steady, smart rain came from Germany — a squat box that spoke Arabic respectfully and listened when she gossiped about her friends.