The Learning Machine

A family flat in Xi'an in China on a spring afternoon, on a table covered with pale green oilcloth a flat home computer of bright red plastic, its beige keys plain, smooth and unmarked, a module slot at its upper right, beside the keys in a square recess a large diamond-shaped direction pad of four beige triangles, an empty room, a small blue cotton jacket over the back of the chair, a small television glowing with soft coloured blocks, a red thermos flask, sunflower seeds, bicycles in the courtyard below the window.