A New Friend?

This story explores the nature of friendship, and in particular the issue of "fungibility" - that you cannot simply replace a friend with someone else who is very similar. The story is followed by exploration of some questions in waiting, and a nod to Aristotle whose Ethics is the locus classicus for discussion of friendship.

Lucy's father was an inventor. He had been working for years on the Ingenium, a machine that would be able to scan someone's brain and detect their personality. If a bank was looking to employ a trustworthy, careful person to look after people’s money, the Ingenium would show who to employ. If a football manager wanted to be sure that a young player would be able to handle the pressure of playing in the next division up, the Ingenium would tell him.

Finally, the invention was working perfectly. It was so successful in telling what a person was really like that a huge company had invested millions in putting it into production at their hi-tech factory.

As part of the deal Lucy’s father had had to move with his family to the city where the factory was, so that he could supervise it personally. The company was paying for them to live in a huge house. There was even a field with stables for the horse Lucy was learning to ride. Lucy had everything she could want.

Almost everything she could want. The one thing missing was her best friend, Sadie. Lucy and Sadie had been friends since before they knew their own names. At school, they had been inseparable and they were always playing at each other's houses. Now, they were thousands of miles away from one another. Of course, they could see each other in the holidays, and they spoke often on the telephone, but that wasn't the same as seeing each other every day.

One afternoon, Lucy came home from school to find her father looking very pleased with himself, standing outside the house waiting to greet her. "There's someone inside I know you're going to be pleased to see," he said.

"Is it Sadie?" asked Lucy, her face brightening.

"Yes and no,” replied her father. “I knew how much you were missing Sadie, and Sadie was sad for you as well. So we used the Ingenium to scan Sadie's personality. Then, we placed an advert in the local paper for girls your age who would like to be friends with a millionaire’s daughter. We used the Ingenium to scan their personalities as well, until we found someone who was a perfect match for Sadie. Her name’s Nina.”

“Nina even looks and sounds like Sadie! In fact, for the last two weeks, it's her and not Sadie that you've been speaking to! Sadie was so pleased that we found you a new friend that she didn't mind helping out. So she told Nina some stories about the fun you'd had together back in the old town, and let Nina pretend to be her. It'll be just like having Sadie back again. Come on in and meet your new friend."

Lucy’s father opened the door and went back inside, beckoning Lucy to follow him.

She stood on the doorstep and hesitated.

Back in Lucy’s home town, Sadie was feeling sad. She wondered if Lucy would still want her as a friend, now that she had someone new. But maybe that was for the best. Their lives were so different now – Lucy had lots of new hobbies that went with being rich. She had a horse to ride, and a huge house to live in, and an expensive school full of new friends whose parents were rich as well.

Sadie still liked Lucy, but she wasn’t sure that you could really stay friends with someone whose life was so different. They used to have so much in common, but her life must sound so boring compared to Lucy’s. It was embarrassing that she could never buy Lucy the sorts of presents Lucy could buy for her. Maybe their friendship had had its time.